US07938931B2
The embodiments provide structures and mechanisms for removal of etch byproducts, dielectric films and metal films on and near the substrate bevel edge, and chamber interior to avoid the accumulation of polymer byproduct and deposited films and to improve process yield. In an exemplary embodiment, a plasma processing chamber configured to clean a bevel edge of a substrate is provided. The plasma processing chamber includes a bottom electrode configured to receive the substrate, wherein the bottom electrode is coupled to a radio frequency (RF) power supply. The plasma processing chamber also includes a top edge electrode surrounding an insulating plate opposing the bottom electrode. The top edge electrode is electrically grounded. The plasma processing chamber further includes a bottom edge electrode surrounding the bottom electrode. The bottom edge electrode opposes the top edge electrode. The top edge electrode, the substrate disposed on the bottom electrode, and the bottom edge electrode are configured to generate a cleaning plasma to clean the bevel edge of the substrate. The bottom edge electrode and the bottom electrode are electrically coupled to one another through an RF circuit tunable to adjust the amount of RF current going between the substrate disposed on the bottom electrode, the bottom edge electrode and the top edge electrode.
US07938927B2
Embodiments of the invention generally include a filter assembly having a media pack having a single web of pleated media having at least two mini-pleated regions arranged in non-linear orientation. In one embodiment, a filter assembly includes a media pack defined by a single web of media, and an adhesive layer coupling a flat end of the media pack to a frame assembly to form a lap joint. In another embodiment, a filter assembly includes a media pack sealed to a frame assembly. A discontinuous layer of adhesive couples at least one edge of the media pack to the frame assembly.
US07938923B2
A method of repairing a composite component having a damaged area including: laying a composite patch over the damaged area; activating the shape memory polymer resin to easily and quickly mold said patch to said damaged area; deactivating said shape memory polymer so that said composite patch retains the molded shape; and bonding said composite patch to said damaged part.
US07938922B2
Core-skin bonding is improved between honeycomb and composite face sheets by applying a nylon-based (polyamide) adhesive to the edge of the honeycomb prior to bonding. Edge coating of honeycomb with polyamide adhesives is useful in further increasing the bond strength between honeycomb and prepreg face sheets, especially when the matrix resin of the prepreg is designed to adhere the prepreg to the honeycomb.
US07938920B2
An explosive composition is provided that is comprised of a Heavy ANFO and grain hulls. In one embodiment, the grain hulls are comprised of rice hulls. The grain hulls serve both as an inert bulking additive that reduces the density of the composition and as a sensitizer that reduces the energy needed to reliably detonate the composition. Also provided is a method for manufacturing an explosive composition comprised of Heavy ANFO and grain hulls, such as rice hulls. Additionally, a method of using an explosive comprised of ANFO and grain hulls in a mining operation is disclosed.
US07938914B2
A workpiece surface treatment system (1), which obtains a surface-treated workpiece by sequentially carrying a treatment cell (9) containing a workpiece to a series of apparatuses for operations in the respective apparatuses, is characterized by including: a carrying apparatus (2) for sequentially carrying the treatment cell (9) to a series of the apparatuses in the system; a carrying-in/out apparatus (3) for carrying the treatment cell in and out of the carrying apparatus; a surface treatment apparatus (4) for performing a surface treatment on the workpiece by receiving the treatment cell from the carrying apparatus and supplying a surface treatment liquid to the inside of the treatment cell while rotating the treatment cell; and a workpiece collection apparatus (5) for collecting the workpiece by receiving the treatment cell from the carrying apparatus, inverting the treatment cell, and squirting the inside of the treatment cell with water from below to flow out the workpiece, wherein the carrying apparatus carries the treatment cell to the surface treatment apparatus, and then to the workpiece collection apparatus.
US07938907B2
A device for fabricating a mask by plasma etching a semiconductor substrate comprises a semiconductor substrate part of the area whereof is partially covered by a mask for protecting at least one area that must not be etched and for exposing at least one area including a pattern to be etched, a support for the substrate and means for generating a plasma in the form of a flow of ions toward the substrate. According to the invention the device further comprises means for confining the ions, including a conductive material screen disposed over the substrate and along the limit between the pattern area to be etched and the area not to be etched.
US07938906B2
A semiconductor wafer processing and analysis apparatus (20) includes a processing micro chamber (22) for closely receiving a semiconductor wafer (27) therein. The chamber may be opened for loading and removing the semiconductor wafers and then closed for processing of the wafer wherein chemical reagents and other fluids are introduced into the chamber. Small clearances are provided between the upper surface, the lower surfaces, and the perimeter edge of the wafer and the corresponding portions of the processing chamber. A high-speed collection system is provided for collecting and removing the spent reagents and fluids from the chamber for either on-line or off-line analysis or for waste treatment.
US07938886B2
The separation of a target gas from a mixture of gases using a thermal swing adsorption process wherein a thermal wave is used, primarily in the desorption step. The process of this invention enables one to separately remove multiple contaminants from a treated gaseous stream.
US07938880B2
The invention provides an apparatus for effectively removing ruthenium when ruthenium is removed from a solution containing platinum group metal by oxidation distillation. The invention provides an apparatus for selectively removing ruthenium from a solution containing ruthenium and other platinum group metal by adding an oxidizer to the solution to convert ruthenium into ruthenium tetroxide, wherein air is sucked into a reaction tank by reducing pressure within the reaction tank, and at least one outlet of the air is arranged in the apparatus such that the lowermost part thereof is located at the height of 5-20 m from the bottom of the reaction tank, whereby the solution within the reaction tank can be effectively stirred without ruthenium tetroxide, which has large specific gravity, being concentrated at the bottom of the reaction tank.
US07938877B2
A fibrous ceramic material comprises a plurality of fibers having a modified aluminosilicate compositional structure (i.e., x(RO).y(Al2O3).z(SiO2) or w(MO).x(RO).y(Al2O3).z(SiO2)). The fibrous ceramic material is form by combining two or more x(RO).y(Al2O3).z(SiO2) or w(MO).x(RO).y(Al2O3).z(SiO2) precursors in which at least one of the two or more precursors is in fiber form. The resulting fibrous ceramic material has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (i.e., ≦4.7×10-6/° C.).
US07938876B2
A fibrous ceramic material comprises a plurality of fibers having a RxMg2Al4+xSi5−xO18 or RxMg2−xAl4Si5O18 compositional structure. The fibrous ceramic material is form by combining two or more RxMg2Al4+xSi5−xO18 or RxMg2−xAl4Si5O18 precursors in which at least one of the two or more RxMg2Al4+xSi5−xO18 or RxMg2−xAl4Si5O18 precursors is in fiber form. The fibrous ceramic material is shaped to form a fibrous body in which at least about 20% of all fibers therein are aligned in a substantially common direction.
US07938875B2
The present invention relates to a variable apparatus for separating oil from blow-by gas in an engine. More particularly, the variable apparatus of the present invention is installed in a baffle compartment of a cylinder head cover of the engine, and includes a partition wall (10), a cover (20) and an elastic member (30) that elastically supports the cover (20), thus separating oil from blow-by gas generated in the engine. The variable apparatus having the above-mentioned construction actively responds to the flow speed of the blow-by gas, thus markedly enhancing the ability to separate oil from blow-by gas even when the engine is operating at high speed.
US07938873B2
A dust suction module includes a plurality of bearing surfaces (2, 2′, 2″) with which the dust suction module (1) is mountable on an associated hand-held power tool (3), an air filter (4), a rotatable suction wheel (5), a plurality of opening outwardly, air discharge openings (6), and a plurality of opening outwardly, auxiliary discharge openings (7) formed in at least one of the plurality of bearing surfaces (2).
US07938871B2
A vehicle filter assembly includes a housing, a cyclone-inducing structure and a self-cleaning trap mechanism. The housing has an inlet, an outlet and a trap aperture. The cyclone-inducing structure is disposed within the housing between the inlet and the outlet to separate particulate from gases passing through the housing from the inlet to the outlet. The self-cleaning trap mechanism is movably arranged with respect to the trap aperture to move between a closed orientation sealing the trap aperture and an opened orientation exposing the trap aperture to release particulate from the housing.
US07938868B2
The inventive stage system for producing hydrogen consists of at least two upstream/downstream stages, respectively, each of which comprises, optionally, a catalytic reactor (C1 to C5) followed by a separator comprising a space (E1 to E4) for circulation of a gaseous mixture contacting at least one oxygen extracting membrane and a hydrogen collecting space, wherein the reactor (C1) of the upstream stage is connected to a reaction gaseous mixture source, the circulation stage (E1) of the upstream stage separator is connected to the reactor (C2) of the downstream stage and the spaces for extracting/collecting oxygen from two separators are connected to a hydrogen collecting circuit (TC, 8) which is common for two stages.
US07938862B2
An artificial joint as an endoprosthesis for a human joint, including a first joint part having two first functional surfaces, a second joint part having two second functional surfaces, the two first and second functional surfaces of each joint part being convex-concave, concave-convex, or convex-convex in a proximal-distal direction, a projection associated with the first joint part; and a recess associated with the second joint part. The recess is configured to engage with the projection so as to determine a relative position of the first and second joint parts in a transverse plane of the joint and to form a stop for a sliding movement of the first and second joint parts relative to each other. The two first functional surfaces are pivotable about a pivot axis with respect to the second functional surfaces.
US07938861B2
A polymeric implantable orthopaedic device that includes a first layer and a second layer where the first layer has a porosity that is different from the second layer is described. An associated method of producing a polymeric implantable orthopaedic device that includes a first layer and a second layer where the first layer has a porosity that is different from the second layer is also described.
US07938858B2
Embodiments of the invention include devices and methods for performing a corpectomy or spinal disc replacement. Devices may include an inferior bearing that is implantable in an inferior vertebral body and a superior bearing that is implantable in a superior vertebral body. The bearings of some embodiments have a support member rotatably coupled between the bearings, and a fixation device may attach the vertebral bodies to the support member with a fastener.
US07938842B1
Surgical apparatus and method includes a cannula that houses an endoscope and supports a dilating element near a distal end of the cannula. The dilating element has a dimension which is greater than the diameter of the cannula for enlarging a surgical cavity in tissue as the cannula is advanced through tissue at a surgical site to provide working space adjacent a target vessel within which surgical instruments may be conveniently manipulated. The dilating element of oval sided shape permits surrounding tissue to be pushed away or otherwise displaced away from the target vessel atraumatically. A locking mechanism is disposed on the cannula, which accepts a succession of mating dilating elements of progressively larger dimensions for successive insertion and enlargement of a surgical cavity as required. In one embodiment, the dilating element is made of rigid plastic, and in another embodiment, the dilating element is made of resilient material that may be confined within a retractable sheath which, in the extended position, encases and compresses the dilating element to a smaller dimension and which, in a retracted position, allows the dilating element to resiliently expand and enlarge the surgical cavity.
US07938840B2
Apparatus and methods for performing an anastomosis. More particularly, the apparatus may be used to perform a single or multiple anastomosis with the ability of maintaining fluid flow (e.g., blood) through the anastomosis vessel according to one aspect of the invention.
US07938838B2
A gripping device for a catheter assembly is disclosed providing enhanced gripping power for the operator of the catheter assembly. The gripping device is situated at the proximal portion of the catheter assembly and the proximal terminus of an external catheter sheath is attached near or to the body of the gripping device.
US07938836B2
Tools for use in the deployment of spinal implant assemblies such as spinal motion preservation assemblies adapted for use in a spinal motion segment are disclosed including the process for delivering and assembling the spinal motion preservation assemblies in the spinal motion segment via an axial channel created with a trans-sacral approach. The tools allow the deployment of a pair of spinal implant components that are not rigidly connected to one another to be driven into adjacent vertebral bodies. The tools further allow for distraction via either dissimilar thread pitch or by axially advancing a distraction tool based on a threaded engagement with a proximal component in a proximal vertebral body to impose an distraction between that vertebral body and an adjacent distal vertebral body. The tools also allow for the provision of flowable biomaterials such as prosthetic nucleus material. Delivery of flowable biomaterials can be performed while the vertebrae are being held apart by a distraction tool.
US07938834B2
The present embodiments relate to a joint treatment device for improved treatment of a diseased joint. The joint treatment device comprises first and second components, which are coupled to first and second bone portions, respectively, at the joint. The first component and the second component are configured to be coupled together in a first configuration to promote fusion of the joint, and further are configured to be coupled together in a second configuration to promote arthroplasty of the joint. Additionally, a screwdriver is disclosed that may advance the first and second component simultaneously or independently. Further, a joint distraction device is disclosed, which may be used to vary spacing between the first bone portion and the second bone portion at the joint.
US07938833B2
A resection guide having an alignment barrel with holes that pass through the entire cross-section of the alignment barrel is disclosed. An alignment guide is mounted on the alignment barrel. Alignment guide can translate and rotate with respect to alignment barrel. The alignment guide has holes that extend through it. A resection plate is located at one end of the alignment guide. The resection plate has a resection surface. The resection guide is located on a bone using a navigation system and attached to the bone by driving two nails through the holes on the alignment barrel and one nail through one of the holes on the alignment guide. The resection surface is used to guide a tool for resecting the bone.
US07938827B2
A medical device system comprising a guide catheter and a leaflet fastening applicator, the guide catheter having suitable dimensions for deployment and insertion percutaneously into a human heart in a vicinity of a heart valve, the leaflet fastening applicator having a size allowing insertion through the guide catheter and being capable of holding portions of opposing heart valve leaflets, wherein the fastening applicator comprises a pair of grasping-electrodes adapted for holding and engaging the portions of opposing heart valve leaflets together and for applying energy to fasten the portions, in which heart valve leaflets can be captured and securely fastened, thereby improving coaptation of the leaflets and improving competence of the valve.
US07938824B2
An apparatus and method for performing non-invasive treatment of the human face and body by electroporation in lieu of cosmetic surgery is provided. The apparatus comprises a high voltage pulse generator and an applicator having two or more electrodes in close mechanical and electrical contact with the patient's skin for applying the pulses to the patient's skin. The applicator may consist of two pieces with one electrode having a sharp tip and another having a flat surface. High voltage pulses delivered to the electrodes create at the tip of the sharp electrode an electric field high enough to cause death of relatively large subcutaneous fat cells by electroporation. Moving the electrode tip along the skin creates a line of necrotic subcutaneous fat cells, which later are metabolized by the body. Multiple applications of the electrode along predetermined lines on the face or neck create shrinkage of the skin and the subcutaneous fat volume underlying the treated area.
US07938815B2
An object of the present device is to provide a cover capable of preventing the administration of unmixed medicaments to a patient. The cover for being mounted on a multi-compartment infusion bag of the present device is a cover for being mounted on a multi-compartment infusion bag including a plurality of compartments partitioned by at least one easily peelable partitioning seal portion which is opened in response to an increase in the internal pressure of at least one of the plurality of compartments induced by pressing said at least one of the plurality of compartments. The cover has a pair of pinch members that pinch at least one of the plurality compartments. The pair of pinch members has engaging elements that engage each other to maintain a pinching state of the pair of pinch members until the pinching state is released in response to an increase in the internal pressure of said at least one of the compartments so that the suspension portion can be used. The pair of pinch members cover a suspension portion in the pinching state for preventing the use of the suspension portion for suspending the infusion bag until said at least one easily peelable sealing partition is opened.
US07938813B2
An absorbent article includes a stretchable substrate layer and an absorbent core formed directly on the substrate layer, and adhesively attached to the substrate layer. The absorbent core includes about 40-99% by weight superabsorbent particles and about 1-60% by weight adhesive fibers. The absorbent core does not prevent the substrate layer or absorbent article from stretching. The absorbent article can be a personal care absorbent article or a medical absorbent article, and is suitably stretchable or elastic in at least one direction.
US07938811B2
With the effect of alcohol, components of athlete's foot medicine penetrate deeply into the skin and athlete's foot is cured early and completely. The athlete's foot treatment liquid is a mixture of athlete's foot medicine and alcohol, which has a feature of penetrating into the skin well. The athlete's foot treatment liquid permeates well into the inner sock. It permeates all over the sock by capillarity. The impermeable bag, which does not have liquid medicine leak out, is worn on the inner sock. The impermeable bag is filled with the athlete's foot treatment liquid. The opening of the impermeable bag is closed tightly with the rubber band so as not to have the athlete's foot treatment liquid permeate, evaporate or leak out. The outer sock is worn on the impermeable bag. The impermeable bag is compressed inward, so that the athlete's foot treatment liquid is pushed up to an upping line.
US07938807B2
A connecting device for a catheter assembly is disclosed allowing a user to connect a catheter assembly to an adhesive pad which is then capable of anchoring the catheter assembly to a patient's leg. The connecting device may have an introducer body with an extension body and an attachment mechanism. The connecting device can be rotated along with or within a collar in a circular manner in order to facilitate the making of the connection with the adhesive pad. Additionally, the connecting device may contain an enlarged portion to enhance operability.
US07938805B2
An apparatus to control blood flow through an intravenous catheter in accordance with the present invention may include an intravenous catheter adapter and a blood control valve. The blood control valve may be retained within a hollow interior region of the intravenous catheter adapter, and may include a resilient outer shell and an inner valve portion extending inwardly therefrom. The inner valve portion may include a slit configured to open, coin-purse style, upon radially compressing the resilient outer shell. In some embodiments, a compression feature may be integrated into the intravenous catheter adapter to radially compress the resilient outer shell. A Luer device, for example, may be inserted into the intravenous catheter adapter to translate the blood control valve to a position substantially corresponding to the compression feature, thereby actuating the compression feature to open the slit.
US07938802B2
An injection device comprises a syringe (1) extendible against a spring bias (9) from a retracted position in a housing (2) to a projecting injecting position. A spring biased plunger has collapsible elbows (10) which, when the plunger is released, initially engage the end of the syringe to drive it to the projecting position, whereupon arresting of the syringe movement causes the elbows to collapse inside the syringe to allow the plunger to engage and drive the bung (3).
US07938798B2
The present invention relates to a medical device and method for treating the body tissue of a patient. The present invention is also directed to a method of making the medical device and a method of using the medical device. More particularly, the invention relates to a medical device which is inserted into the body for delivery of therapeutic patches to the surface of a body lumen, organ or cavity. Specifically, the medical device has an umbrella-like or a basket-like expandable assembly; and a therapeutic patch. The expandable assembly is capable of changing from a retracted position to an expanded position. The expandable assembly can be self-expanding or non-self-expanding.
US07938795B2
A method of making a multi-lumen catheter includes forming a catheter body including a first lumen and a second lumen, and forming a catheter tip having a first channel terminating distally in a first opening on a first side of the catheter tip, and a second channel terminating distally in a second opening on a second side of the catheter tip opposite of the first side. The first and second openings of the catheter tip extend through an outer wall of the catheter tip to a dividing section. The catheter tip is affixed to the catheter body such that the first channel is aligned with the first lumen and the second channel is aligned with the second lumen.
US07938789B2
A massager (12) includes an inductively chargeable battery (48), avoiding the need to deal with batteries and cords while providing a pleasant exothermic warmth. Different embodiments of sealing and skinning (13) make the massager (12) hygienically safe and fluid- and water-resistant. Sophisticated controls (50) provide the massager with the ability to respond to direct-mounted user controls (20, 22), wireless communication controls such as remote controls (30) and a plethora of other protocol-compatible devices, systems and media. A mating base (14) supports the massager (12) for inductive charging in a stable, aesthetically pleasant and safe relationship.
US07938780B2
An ultrasonic method for indicating a characteristic of intracranial components' volume changes includes the transmission of broadband ultrasound from a transmitting transducer positioned on one side of a human head to a receiving transducer located on another side of the human head with decomposition of the received signal into narrowband components and determination therefrom of group delay, phase angle and attenuation as a basis for derivation of the characteristic of the intracranial media.
US07938775B2
A device, system and method for in-vivo analysis. An autonomous in-vivo device may include a magnet to detain at least a portion of a sample collected from a body lumen; a sensor to sense a property of the detained sample portion; and a transmitter to transmit data of the sensed property.
US07938772B2
An insertion apparatus includes: an introducing duct including; insertion portion cover portion for covering an insertion portion extending from a distal side portion of a handling portion constituting an endoscope; and a spiral duct which is disposed on an inner circumferential surface side of the insertion portion cover portion, and has on a circumferential surface of the spiral duct, a propulsion power generating portion for applying a propulsion power for introducing the insertion portion into a deep portion in a body cavity, to the insertion portion covered by the insertion portion cover, and a rotating device comprising a rotating portion for rotating the spiral duct equipped to the introducing duct.
US07938771B2
An image pick-up unit inserted in the body picks up an image of the body, and transmits by radio the image to an extra-corporeal unit which is arranged outside the body. The image pick-up unit includes an image pick-up portion capturing an image, a data transmitting portion for transmitting the image obtained by the image pick-up portion to the extra-corporeal unit at a plurality of transmitting ratios, a characteristic amount detecting portion for detecting a predetermined amount of characteristics based on the image, and a determining portion for determining a valid image based on an output from the characteristic amount detecting portion. The data transmitting portion controls the data transmitting ratio in accordance with the determining result of the determining portion.
US07938766B2
A calcium-sodium polysulfide chemical reagent and methods for producing the reagent. The reagent is a blend of calcium polysulfide and sodium polysulfide that can be prepared using various types, sources and ratios of lime, elemental sulfur and sulfide ion using either virgin or waste materials. The reagent is amenable to inexpensive and high rate production methods at ambient or warmer temperatures. The reagent can be used to precipitate metals from wastewater, stabilize hexavalent chrome in hazardous waste residues, remove mercury from coal fired power plants, and as an electrolyte in large-scale bromide/polysulfide electrical storage batteries.
US07938765B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a centrifuge including: a rotor rotated by a driver; a chamber housing the rotor therein; a cover openable and closable with respect to the chamber; and a lock mechanism that locks the cover in a closed state, wherein the lock mechanism includes: a motor; a first hook rotated by the motor; and a second hook connected to the first hook through a connecting member, wherein the cover includes a securing portion on which the first hook and the second hook are respectively secured when the cover is locked, and wherein, during a locking operation of the cover, primary the first hook is engaged with the securing portion and pulls the cover toward the chamber, and then the second hook is engaged with the securing portion.
US07938763B2
A pair of abdominal crunch boards attachable side-by-side to an adjustable incline of an inclinable exercise device provide arm rests and hand grips for a user performing abdominal crunch exercises while positioned on a user support of the inclinable exercise device. Each abdominal crunch board includes a handle bar connected to a support frame which supports a padded board and which includes a fastener mechanism configured for releasable attachment to the adjustable incline.
US07938756B2
A powered mobile lifting, gait training and omnidirectional rolling apparatus is for personal use by persons with complete loss of motor function in lower limbs for assisted walking in an upright position in desired direction of indoor and outdoor. All operations including bringing the apparatus to a user, ingress, walking around and egress are performed by users without assistance of other persons. The apparatus lifts the user from a floor, wheelchair or elevated surface, its overall size enables passing through narrow passageways, and omnidirectional wheels provide top maneuverability. Rotation of powered omnidirectional wheels is coordinated with motion of gait stimulation devices that drive user's feet, resulting in simulated walk. The apparatus comprises a rigid ‘U’-shaped base integrating a powered lifting and supporting device, powered gait simulation devices, step length setup devices, powered omnidirectional wheels with brakes, retractable support mechanisms, control, monitoring, communication and recording means, a power supply block, and a harness.
US07938755B1
An exercise treadmill (20) is described having a number of assembly improvements. In one embodiment, a pivot assembly (50) is provided to allow a treadmill deck (32) to deflect during use. The rear pivot assembly includes a pin (56) transversely mounted on the upper surface of a treadmill frame (22). A pivot block (54) is attached to the deck and includes a lower channel (58) that engages the pin. In another embodiment, an adjustable rear foot assembly (70) is provided having a foot (74) that is rotatable within a mounting block (72). The foot is easily accessed through an upper opening (96) in the treadmill. In yet another embodiment, an air dam (100) is provided between a motor compartment (102) and an adjacent endless belt (28). In still another embodiment, a highly elastic drivebelt (120) is used between a motor assembly (104) and a roller assembly (24) that drives the endless belt (28). Lastly, an embodiment is described in which the treadmill frame (22) is assembled using swaged fasteners (38).
US07938748B2
The power transmission device has an internally meshing planetary gear mechanism that has an input shaft, an eccentric body provided on the input shaft, an externally toothed gear eccentrically oscillating via the eccentric body, and an internally toothed gear with which the externally toothed gear internally meshes. The externally toothed gear is assembled to the internally toothed gear in an interference fit.
US07938747B2
The present invention is intended for use as a game racket including a handle and a head frame with strings held in tension. In particular as a high performance game racket frame including at least one generally tubular, substantially circular pivot element located at least partially within a substantially circular mating recess on at least one portion of an outside-facing peripheral surface of the head frame profile that can rotate to cooperate with at least one string. The pivot element can rest upon at least a portion of the mating recess and therefore can have at least one adjoining surface portion. In order to reduce friction, adjoining surface(s) can be coated with a suitable anti-friction agent such as silicone or it can include a “frictionless” repelling permanent magnet portion capable of sustaining magnetic levitation between the two parts. Alternatively, at least a portion of the adjoining surfaces can include communicating electromagnetic friction plates in order to control the rate at which the pivot element rotates.
US07938744B2
The invention provides a multi-piece solid golf ball composed of a solid core encased by a cover of one or more layer, which solid core has an inner core layer and an outer core layer. The inner core layer is formed primarily of a thermoplastic resin, has a diameter of from 21 to 38 mm, has a JIS-C cross-sectional hardness of from 60 to 83 at any single point on a cross-section obtained by cutting the inner core layer in half, and has a cross-sectional hardness difference between any two points on the cross-section of within ±5. The outer core layer is formed of a rubber composition made primarily of polybutadiene rubber. The solid core has a diameter of from 35 to 42 mm. The ball has specific relationships between the hardness of the inner core layer 1 mm inside a boundary between the inner core layer and the outer core layer, the hardness of the outer core layer 1 mm outside the boundary, and the surface hardness of the outer core layer. Such a golf ball is able to achieve an increased distance.
US07938736B2
At least three clubs of a set of golf clubs may have an average volume between about 75 cm3 and about 90 cm3. The transverse dimensions of the at least three clubs may progressively decrease from a highest volume club to a lowest volume club. At least one club of a set may include a constraining member in a cavity. A linear distance between a sweet spot and a center of gravity may progressively decrease from a lower lofted club to a higher lofted club within a set. At least one golf club of a set may include a face plate portion, and at least two golf clubs of the set may include a cup face portion. At least two clubs of a set may include a progressively increasing hosel length from a lowest lofted club to a highest lofted club. The strike face of at least one club of a set may include a bulge and a roll. A first club of a set may have a face thickness that is less than a face thickness of a second club of the set.
US07938733B1
A golf swing training device comprising an illuminator mounted on the shaft of a golf club and a detector assembly including a light sensor strategically located around the stomach region of the golfer. The illuminator provides a relatively narrow beam of light wave energy, preferably along an axis that is generally coincident with the longitudinal axis of the club. The illuminator may be pulse modulated, to provide a frequency encoded light output. The detector assembly detects the light output from the illuminator, and produces a buzzing sound or a vibrating sensation, to alert the golfer that the club is following a correct path and position through the golf swing. The detector assembly may include optical filtering and signal conditioning to reduce the effects of ambient light. With such sensory feedback, the golfer develops muscle training for a consistent and correct swing pattern.
US07938731B2
A child motion device has a frame assembly and a seat supported by the frame assembly and capable of movement with a child occupying the seat. A housing is provided on a part of the frame assembly. A receptacle is provided in the housing and is positioned spaced from and faces away from the seat. A storage tray is located in the compartment and defines a storage space on the tray. The tray is movable between an opened position with the storage space and the tray extending outside the housing away from the seat and a closed position with the tray and storage space within the receptacle in the housing.
US07938726B2
A universal method and computer system for downloading game software to legacy gaming machines. A gaming machine includes a locked enclosure; a first computing device disposed within the locked enclosure, the first computing device being programmed to enable game play of the gaming machine; a second computing device disposed within the locked enclosure of the gaming machine, the second computing device being configured for network access, and an interface between the first and the second computing devices. The second computing device is configured to receive game software components over the network that are compatible with (e.g., executable by) the first computing device but not compatible with (e.g., not executable by) the second computing device and to transfer the received game software components to the first computing device over the interface. The second computing device may include, for example, a PC. When the first computing device is a PC, it may be configured with dual-boot capability between two operating computer systems. When the first operating computer system is booted, game play may be enabled and when the second operating computer system is booted, game software components may be received over the network.
US07938716B2
An apparatus and method for spiral polishing with electromagnetic abrasive has adopted the principle of electromagnetic and magnetic abrasive along with a lead screw to polish the inner or outer surface of a precise screw or a complicated part. The apparatus includes a clamp, a lead screw, a first electromagnet, and a second electromagnet assembled in an airtight space, wherein the airtight space is filled with magnetic abrasive which is driven by the rotation of the lead screw and the electromagnetic function to polish a processed part in a regular shape or in an irregular shape.
US07938696B2
For the transmission of high-frequency signals >2.5 GHz or 5 Gbps by means of a separable plug connection, the invention proposes a symmetrically shaped electric contact (1, 1′) that features a contact body (4) with the contact side (3) with U-shaped spring legs (13), as well as a connection end (5).Contact domes (15) that are directed toward one another and feature contact zones (16) that are narrower than the material thickness of the spring legs (13) are integrally formed onto both spring legs (13).When joining the two electric contacts (1, 1′) that are mated while they are turned relative to one another by 90 degrees in the mating direction, the contact domes (15) or their contact zones (16) of one electric contact (1, 1′) engage into the contact body (4) of the other electric contact (1, 1′) in a paired fashion such that electric signals travel distances with identical transit times on one leg and on the other leg and so-called stub effects, i.e., transit time differences that cause a partial obliteration of certain signal portions, due to different distances in a contact wiring are prevented.
US07938693B2
An electrical plug connector includes an insulating body supporting electrical contact elements having a connector portion and a conductor connection portion. At least one retaining element is configured to contact a respective at least one contact insert and has at least one flange with at least one punched hole configured to fasten the electrical plug connector to at least one of a housing and a control cabinet. A tension sleeve has a terminal screw configured to connect a ground conductor with the electrically conductive metal element. A U-shaped frame is configured to receive and guide the tension sleeve. A conductor bar is disposed on the electrically conductive metal element angularly offset from the U-shaped frame and is configured to engage the tension sleeve.
US07938684B2
An electrical connector with an aligning means includes an insulating body, a plurality of terminals, a lower casing, and an aligning casing. The terminals are provided on the insulating body. The lower casing is provided on the bottom of the insulating body. The aligning casing is provided on the top of the insulating body. Both sides of the aligning casing are bent and extend to form two opposite aligning portions. Via the above arrangement, the electrical connector with an aligning means can be achieved and generate an aligning effect. Thus, the electrical connector having an aligning means can be inserted with a docking connector more quickly, and the contact therebetween will not become poor due to an external force. Furthermore, the work hours for assembling can be reduced. The present invention further provides an assembly combination of the electrical connector with aligning means.
US07938673B2
The invention relates to a terminal strip (1) comprising a housing (2) and at least four insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8), the at least four insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8) being arranged in a series (3, 4). The housing (2) comprises housing walls (5) between which the insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8) are arranged. The insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8) are at a 45° angle in relation to the housing walls (5), and two separate insulation displacement contacts form a contact pair. The insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8) of a contact pair (K1, K2; K7, K8; K3, K6; K4, K5) are parallel in relation to each other, whereas adjacent insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8; K5, K6) of different contact pairs are mutually rotated by 90° about the longitudinal axis (L) of the insulation displacement contacts (K1-K8).
US07938669B2
A cable assembly (100), comprises a housing (10) formed by a base portion (101) having a first top surface (1011) and a mating portion (102) having a second top surface (1021), and the housing has a receiving space therein. A plurality of conductive contacts (311, 331) are retained in the housing. A cable (7) is entered into the receiving space and electrically connected with the conductive contacts. A pulling member (52) is moveable relative to the housing in a horizontal direction, and comprises a cooperating portion (524) at a front end thereof. And a latching member (51) is cooperated with the pulling member and assembled to the housing for latching with a complementary connector. The latching member comprises an engaging section (513) assembled to the housing, a latching section (515) disposed on the top of the base portion and an actuating section (5140) disposed between the engaging section and the latching section. The actuating section is interconnected with the cooperating portion and capable of being actuated by the cooperating portion of the pulling member.
US07938658B1
The card edge connector includes: an electrical receptacle formed with an abutting surface; two fasteners pivoted to the electrical receptacle, wherein each of the fasteners is formed with a snap-fitting surface that makes contact with the fastened surface to form a fastening area, the fastening area has a contact point that is closest to a central perpendicular line of the electrical receptacle, and the contact point has a first distance from the central perpendicular line; and wherein each of the fasteners is provided with an abutting portion, and when the abutting portion abuts against the abutting surface correspondingly, an abutting area is formed which has an abutting point that is closest to the central perpendicular line of the electrical receptacle, and the abutting point has a second distance from the central perpendicular line that is less than the first distance.
US07938650B2
A connector includes an inner structure divided into first, second, and third components. The first component includes plug contacts disposed so as to form a circular plug face configured for connection to a mating connector. The second component includes a connection block having connection contacts configured for connection of a data line connection. The third component includes a printed circuit board configured to provide an adaptable connecting element between the connection block and the plug contacts. The printed circuit board includes a plurality of layers in a sandwich configuration, the plurality of layers including layers having conductive trace alternating with layers having a dielectric. A first layer having a dielectric is disposed between two layers having conductive trace so as to form a first parallel plate capacitor. A second layer having a dielectric is disposed between two layers having trace so as to form a second parallel plate capacitor. A third layer having a dielectric is disposed between the first and second parallel plate capacitors. At least one of the first and second layers is thinner than the third layer.
US07938633B2
An electric compressor includes an electric motor, a compression mechanism driven by the electric motor, and a housing for accommodating the electric motor and the compression mechanism. The housing is formed such that the stator is fitted thereto. The housing has a plurality of thick portions and a plurality of thin portions. The center of the thickness of each thick portion is located outside of the center of the thickness of each thin portion with respect to a radial direction of the housing. As a result, even if the housing is deformed, the fixation of the stator to the housing is reliably maintained. Further, the weight of the electric compressor is reduced.
US07938619B2
A turbo vacuum pump of the present invention includes a suction part for sucking gas in an axial direction; a discharge section in which rotating impellers and stationary impellers are alternately arranged; a rotating shaft for rotating the rotating impellers; and a turbine impeller part fixed to the suction side end face of the rotating shaft. The rotating impellers include one or more turbine impellers for discharging the sucked gas in the axial direction, and one or more centrifugal impellers, located downstream of the one or more turbine impellers, for further discharging the discharged gas by a centrifugal drag effect. The one or more centrifugal impellers are fixed to the rotating shaft passing therethrough. The one or more turbine impellers are included in the turbine impeller part.
US07938593B1
A split tube connector for efficiently connecting separate tubular members together. The split tube connector generally includes a first tubular member, a second tubular member separate from the first tubular member and a connector assembly including a first connector and a second connector connected to the first connector, wherein a first end of the connector assembly is removably positioned within the first tubular member and wherein a second end of the connector assembly is removably positioned with the second tubular member. The first connector and the second connector laterally adjust to engage a first inner surface of the first tubular member and a second inner surface of the second tubular member to frictionally connect the first tubular member to the second tubular member via the connector assembly.
US07938591B2
A stick-shaped material extruding container and cosmetics using the container are provided. The stick-shaped material extruding container is provided with a piston-shaped extruding portion which is located at the front end of a moving body and tightly slides in a filling part; the stick-shaped material is tightly filled within the filling part; there exists sealant between the stick-shaped material and the extruding portion, which sealant contains one or more components chosen from the group consisting of oil components which assume liquid state at room temperature and polyols which assume liquid state at room temperature; the extruding portion and the stick-shaped material maintain in a tight engagement state in the filling part by means of the sealant with the mobile body being retracted.
US07938587B2
In the present invention, when dense and sparse resist patterns are formed above a substrate, respective resist pattern dimensions are measured, and a correction value for a first processing unit is calculated based on the dimension measurement result of the dense resist pattern and a correction value for a second processing unit is calculated based on the dimension measurement result of the sparse resist pattern. Based on these calculation results, processing conditions in the first processing unit and the second processing unit are changed, and thereafter processing in these processing units are implemented under these changed conditions.
US07938582B2
A self-lubricating guiding element which is characterized in that the body thereof is made from a material with high resistance to wear and/or seizing and corrosion. Each of the ends of the bore in the body is equipped with at least one groove which is intended to prevent the lubricant from leaving the friction zone. In addition, the bore comprises oriented slots, at least between the grooves, which open into at least one of the grooves and which are used to store lubricant.
US07938579B2
An x-ray device is provided. The x-ray device includes a C-arm that may be rotatably mounted on a robotic arm. A radiation source and a radiation detector may be arranged on the C-arm. The interior of the C-arm, which is hollow at least in sections, is accessible from at least one access side to allow at least a part of the electronic components used to operate the radiation source and the radiation detector to be integrated in the interior of the arm.
US07938559B2
A LED lighting device has a number of LED's, and a multiple optical assembly defined by a number of modular units; each modular unit has a total-internal-reflection lens associated with a LED, and the modular units are connected to one another so as the lenses have respective distinct optical reflecting surfaces.
US07938558B2
An LED apparatus including (a) a mounting board, (b) a plurality of LED packages thereon, (c) a lens member over each LED package, and (d) a safety barrier positioned over the mounting board, the barrier having sufficient thickness for enclosure of electrical elements on the mounting board and including a plurality of openings each sized to permit light from an LED package to pass therethrough and through a light-transmission portion of the lens member over such LED package to prevent finger-contact of electrical elements on the mounting board when the light-transmission portion is not present.
US07938546B2
The invention is directed at least in part to a method of illuminating an imager for projecting images, implementing light-emitting diodes of different colors, the diodes being designed to provide a beam illuminating the imager. According to various embodiments of the invention, for a set of at least one imager, the method includes receiving each image of the set; determining a color base dependent on the set of at least one image, called a secondary color base; and dynamically controlling the diodes according to the secondary color base. The invention also relates to a system implementing the method and a projector comprising such a system.
US07938545B2
A projection optical system for use in an image projection apparatus illuminating a lightbulb forming an image in accordance with a modulating signal with illumination light from a light source is disclosed. The projection optical system includes first and second optical systems arranged along an optical path defining an upstream-downstream direction in the order described from upstream to downstream on the downstream side of the lightbulb. The first optical system includes at least one dioptric system and has positive power. The second optical system includes at least one reflecting surface having power and has positive power. The image formed by the lightbulb is formed as an intermediate image in the optical path, and the intermediate image is magnified and projected.
US07938542B2
An optical swiveling device is specified for imaging and/or projection of an object scene, having a supporting structure, having a detection/transmission unit arranged in the supporting structure, having a pitch frame and having a roll frame, with the pitch frame being mounted in the roll frame such that it can rotate about a pitch axis and with the roll frame being mounted in the supporting structure such that it can rotate about a roll axis. In this case the pitch axis and the roll axis intersect at an intersection angle of less than 90°. First deflection optics are arranged in the pitch frame such that a beam propagating along the pitch axis is deflected in an object-side direction which intersects the pitch axis at the intersection angle, and vice versa, and second deflection optics are arranged in the roll frame such that a beam propagating along the pitch axis is deflected in the direction along the roll axis, and vice versa.
US07938530B2
A printer cradle unit for a printer cartridge has a body defining an opening for receiving the cartridge. A cover assembly closes the opening and secures the cartridge in an operative position. An ink refill mechanism is arranged on the body to operate a refill unit to refill the cartridge with ink. A roller assembly is arranged on the body and is configured to feed print media from the cartridge.
US07938529B2
A photo printer including a printer body having a printing engine disposed therein, a conveying unit to reciprocate a printing medium supplied to the printing engine, a supplying unit disposed at an upper portion of the printer body to supply the printing medium to the printing engine, a supplying passage to guide the printing medium from the supplying unit to the printing engine, a retrograding passage disposed in the printer body to guide a preceding end of the printing medium inside and outside the printer body when the printing medium supplied to the printing engine is aligned and reciprocated, so that the printing medium is printed from a rear end thereof, and a discharging passage to discharge the printing medium outside the printer body when the printing of the printing medium is completed at the printing engine.
US07938525B2
The invention provides an ink jet recording method including applying an ink onto an ink jet recording medium by ink jet technology, the recording medium containing a support and an ink receptive layer which is provided on or above the support and contains a water-soluble aluminum compound, and the ink containing a dye and 8% by mass or more of a water-soluble solvent based on the total amount of the ink, the water-soluble solvent having a SP value of 24 (MPa)1/2 or less according to the Hoy method and a molecular weight of 220 or more.
US07938523B2
An improved fluid supply tank for a micro-fluid ejection head and method for improving operation of a micro-fluid ejection device. The fluid supply tank has a body portion for holding a fluid to be ejected. The body portion includes a fluid exit port on an exit end thereof and a cover on an opposing end thereof. An internal vent conduit is disposed in the tank between the exit end and the cover for air removal adjacent to the exit port.
US07938522B2
A printhead includes a catcher and a negative pressure source. The catcher includes a liquid drop contact structure. The liquid drop contact structure includes a plurality of pores, each of the plurality of pores having a substantially uniform size when compared to each other. The plurality of pores have a critical pressure point above which air can displace liquid from the plurality of pores. The negative pressure source is in fluid communication with the plurality of pores of the liquid contact structure. The negative pressure source includes a pressure regulator to control the negative pressure such that the negative pressure remains below the critical pressure point of the plurality of pores of the liquid drop contact structure.
US07938517B2
A method of printing and an apparatus for controlling the directionality of liquid emitted from nozzles of a printhead are provided. Example embodiments of the apparatus include directionality control of liquid jets or liquid drops using a liquid jet directionality control mechanism. Example embodiments of the liquid jet directionality control mechanism include asymmetric energy application device configurations, nozzle geometry configurations, liquid delivery channel geometry configurations, or combinations of these configurations.
US07938513B2
A heater chip has a substrate and at least one die, made of silicon, and a bond non-adhesively attaching them. The substrate, thick enough to resist bowing, has ink supply vias from back to front surfaces. The die has ink flow vias from back to front surfaces and circuitry including heater elements adjacent the front surface interspersed with ink flow vias. The at least one die is superimposed on the substrate such that ink supply vias of the substrate align with ink flow vias of the die and portions of substrate front surface and die back surface are aligned, disposed adjacent and facing one another. The bond formed between substrate and die facing surface portions is hermetic and equal in strength to a Si—O bond. By separate processing of carrier and device wafers, size and features of substrate and die can be tailored to provide a desired heater chip construction.
US07938510B2
A liquid ejection head including: an insulating nozzle plate 5 provided with a nozzle having, a liquid supply port to supply liquid and a ejection port to eject the liquid supplied from the liquid supply port onto a substrate; a cavity in communication with the liquid supply port to reserve the liquid to be ejected from the ejection port; an electrostatic voltage application device to generate an electrostatic attraction force by applying the electrostatic voltage between the liquid in the nozzle and in the cavity, and substrate; and a control device to control application of the electrostatic voltage through the electrostatic voltage application device; wherein the nozzle is a flat nozzle not protruding from the nozzle plate and the control device control the electrostatic voltage application device so as to eject the liquid from the nozzle by applying a bipolar pulse which alternates between negative and positive polarity.
US07938509B2
The present invention relates a printhead for an inkjet printer. The printhead has a plurality of nozzle arrangements, with each arrangement having a substrate defining an ink inlet channel leading to a nozzle chamber in fluid communication with the ink inlet channel and an ink ejection port through which ink from the nozzle chamber is ejected. Each arrangement also includes an ink ejection paddle extending across the nozzle chamber between the ink inlet channel and the ink ejection port, and a thermal bend actuator configured to operatively actuate the paddle. Also included is a sealing structure interposed between a working end of the actuator arm and a proximal end portion of the paddle.
US07938503B2
A printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead in an operable condition. The maintenance station comprises an elastically deformable pad having a contact surface for sealing contact with nozzles in an ink ejection face of the printhead. The contact surface has a sloping profile. The maintenance station has a motor and cam arrangement for moving the pad substantially perpendicularly with respect to the ink ejection face. The pad moves from a first position in which the contact surface is sealingly contacted with the nozzles to a second position in which the contact surface is disengaged from the face. The movement and the sloping profile of the pad causes the contact surface to be peeled away from the face during disengagement.
US07938502B2
There is provided a flushing method for a fluid ejecting device that prevents clogging of a nozzle by ejecting a fluid of a set number of droplets at each set time interval in a fluid ejecting process from the nozzle of a fluid ejecting head toward a fluid receiving part that is disposed to face a nozzle opening face of the fluid ejecting head in a state of non-contacting the nozzle opening face. The flushing method includes applying an electric field between the nozzle opening face and the fluid receiving part, ejecting the fluid from the fluid ejecting head toward the fluid receiving part, detecting a voltage change based on electrostatic induction that occurs at a time when the fluid is ejected toward the fluid receiving part, and changing one between the set time interval and the set number of the droplets based on the voltage change.
US07938501B2
A voltage pulse that keeps the ejection volume within a specified range is selected for a plurality of print element columns, based on the heater rank and ink temperature information that influences the ejection volume during ink ejection. At this time, the voltage pulse is controlled so that the voltage value of the pulse is equal for a plurality of print element columns at any ink temperature and varies according to the ink temperature. This control process enables pulses of the same voltage value to be applied at all times to a plurality of nozzle columns even if these nozzle columns in the print head have different heater ranks. As a result, the ejection volumes of all nozzle columns can be kept within a specified range with high precision over a wide range of base temperature, without requiring complicated circuit configurations.
US07938498B2
An inkjet printhead has a pair of adjacent printhead segments having overlapping ink ejection nozzles. A degree of overlap of the printhead segments is determined, and a half toning of a continuous tone image is provided. The half toning is provided by a dither matrix outputting a dither value to an adder, the adder having an overlap input signal which varies depending on the degree of overlap between the adjacent printhead segments. The half toning is adjusted in a region of overlap between the adjacent printhead segments to reduce artifacts between the adjacent printhead segments.
US07938496B1
A foldable turntable surface capable of being compactly stored therewithin a cabinet comprising two (2) folding round shelves hingedly connected to a center section is herein disclosed. The hinges divide the turntable surface in such a manner that the shelves may be folded into the center to allow the turntable to be removed through a standard cabinet door opening. This allows the turntable surface to be used in existing kitchen cabinets not equipped with a turntable during original construction.
US07938489B2
A swivel and reclining chair has a base support, a base bowl mounted on the base support, and a seating bowl slidably disposed in and over the base bowl. A plurality of friction reduction features are disposed on the inside surface of the base bowl. The outer surface of the seating bowl is spherical in shape and rests on the friction reduction features. The seating bowl is larger in area than the base bowl, and can freely slide in two dimensions as well as rotate in a spherical surface. Optionally, a guard ring is disposed outside of the base bowl and is attached to the base bowl at their rims.
US07938482B1
A moon roof assembly for a vehicle includes an actuator-driven panel having an open position and a closed position. A moon roof trim ring at least partially surrounds the panel. The moon roof trim ring includes a control housing for supporting a control system. A control system is located in the control housing. The control system includes a control member that is exposed through an opening in the moon roof trim ring for actuating the control member and moving the panel between the open position and the closed position.
US07938481B2
A vehicle frame structure allowing a footrest to support an even larger force. A foot operation zone and a driver's footrest are disposed between a lower cross member disposed so as to extend laterally across front ends of a pair of left and right lower main frames and an upper cross member disposed upward of, and extending in parallel with, the lower cross member. Connection frames connecting the lower cross member with the upper cross member are disposed between the foot operation zone and the driver's footrest.
US07938480B2
A body side structure 3 includes an outer panel 4 integratedly formed by press forming, an inner panel 5, and a reinforcement 6. The outer panel 4 includes a front pillar outer section 12, and an outer front end lower portion 13 extending downward from the front pillar outer section 12. The inner panel 5 includes a front pillar inner section 26, and an inner front end lower portion 27 extending downward from the front pillar inner section 26. A flange 43 of the reinforcement 6 is joined to the inner front end lower portion 27. A lower edge 23 of the outer front end lower portion 13 is adjacent to or in contact with an outer surface 45 of the flange 43 of the reinforcement 6 at a higher position than a lower edge 36 of the inner front end lower portion 27 and a lower edge 44 of the flange 43 of the reinforcement 6.
US07938474B2
A tailgate for a vehicle includes an upper panel having a shape such that it acts as a spoiler, and a lower panel attached to the upper panel. The lower panel may define a windshield mounting hole. The lower panel may include two side pillars and an upper crossing member, the side pillars and upper crossing member defining the windshield mounting hole. The upper crossing member and the side pillars may be welded to the upper panel.
US07938462B2
A bumper beam for a vehicle has a hat shaped profile with the crown (12-14) facing the vehicle and has a cover (17) that gives the bumper beam a closed profile. The bumper beam has two mountings (20, 21) that usually are adapted to be fitted to the side rails of the vehicle. The cover is extended on both sides past the mountings, but leaves the outer portions of the hat beam open. The crown of the open portions of the hat beam have a longitudinal indentation (32) and a profile height that decreases towards the ends.
US07938460B2
A latch release operating apparatus release a latch state of a door, for example, a vehicle door. The apparatus includes an enclosure. The enclosure includes a case having a hollow portion; a base plate arranged in the hollow portion, the base plate having an electrically conducting portion; a member made of electrically non-conducting material arranged at the electrically conducting portion of the base plate; and a cover for closing the hollow portion. At least one of the case and the cover is provided with a breathing hole so that an interior of the enclosure communicates with an exterior of the enclosure.
US07938452B2
A fluid device and a fitting are connected so that fluid supply/discharge passage in the fluid device, and a fluid passage in the fitting are in communication with each other. A functional component, which allows a fluid flowing between the fluid device and the fitting to pass there though and which exerts an action on the fluid, is interposed and sealed between the fluid device and the fitting. An annular groove and an annular projection are fitted to each other and are formed in the fluid device and the fitting, respectively.
US07938451B2
A swivelling coupling assembly for providing a swivellable interconnection between fluid-containing lines. The assembly includes a housing and a retention member for retaining the housing while cooperating with it to allow the housing to spherically swivel therein. The housing has a bore for allowing hydraulic fluid to flow between the interconnected lines. The assembly also includes at least one male component removably mountable within the bore of the housing to be swivellable therein and to prevent external leakage of the fluid. The male component is connected to one line and has a canalization allowing the fluid to flow between the pair of lines through the assembly. Multifunctional swivel functionality is achieved to reduce the torsion on interconnected lines, such as during operation with dynamic machinery.
US07938447B2
A seat belt apparatus simplifying an operation of mounting tongues to left and right respective buckles is provided. In the seat belt apparatus, a second tongue is held by a second tongue containing portion provided at a first buckle, and a first tongue is held by a first tongue containing portion provided at a second buckle. When mounting a first and second shoulder belt, and a first and second lap belt, when both of the first buckle and the second buckle are pulled to a front side of an occupant and an inserting hole of the first buckle and an inserting piece of the first tongue are opposed to each other, an inserting piece of the second tongue and an inserting hole of the second buckle are opposed to each other. When the inserting piece of the first tongue is inserted to the inserting hole of the first buckle, the inserting piece of the second tongue is inserted to the inserting hole of the second buckle.
US07938445B2
An airbag cushion has two chambers to permit the front chamber to inflate less rapidly than the back chamber for cushioning the head of an occupant in a vehicle with less force than the chest of an occupant is cushioned by the back chamber. The front chamber has at least one safety vent.
US07938439B2
A safety device for protection of vehicle occupants is described. The safety device exhibits a curtain airbag (10) located in the area of the roof frame, with an upper edge (10a), which is rolled up in quiescent state and unrolled in the case of an accident. The curtain airbag can be filled with gas. In order to enable the safety device to be used reversibly, the curtain airbag (10) is rolled up to roll around its upper edge (10a) when in quiescent state, and the upper edge is held by fixing elements in a manner which the airbag is rotatable.
US07938419B2
A standard-sized bicycle includes a main frame, a rear drive wheel and a rowing mechanism. The rowing mechanism is coupled to the main frame about a fulcrum. The fulcrum allows the rowing mechanism to oscillate forward in response to a pushing force and backward in response to a pulling force. The rowing mechanism includes a power lever and a pair of drive levers. The power lever has a handle on one end. The power lever also has a second end. The pair of drive levers extend from the second end of the power lever. Each of the pair of drive levers is in mechanical communication with the rear drive wheel such that both a forward oscillation of the rowing mechanism and a backward oscillation of the rowing mechanism drive the rear drive wheel in a same direction of rotation to propel the bicycle forward.
US07938416B2
A kit for providing an air suspension as a retrofit to an existing trailer using a leaf spring suspension makes use of hanging brackets, support arms and air bladders connected to a control system that determines whether the bladders require inflation or deflation to level the bed of the trailer.
US07938410B2
In a suspension system for a vehicle, a suspension spring, an absorber for controllably changing the damping coefficient becoming the reference of amount of its own generating damping force, a displacement force generator for controllably generating a displacement force are arranged in parallel between sprung and unsprung members. A vibration damping control is executed based on a so-called skyhook damper theory by utilizing the displacement force. In execution of the vibration damping control, when a sign of sprung-member absolute velocity Vu and a sign of sprung/unsprung-members velocity difference ΔV are the same to each other, a damping-coefficient increasing control is executed to set a target damping coefficient C* of the absorber to a coefficient value C2 that is larger than a coefficient value C1 to which the target damping coefficient C* is set when the sign of sprung-member absolute velocity Vu and the sign of sprung/unsprung-members velocity difference ΔV are different from each other. Vibration of the sprung member can be effectively damped by cooperation of the absorber and the displacement force generator.
US07938407B2
A spring seal for sealing in high temperature applications includes a jacket and a spring member disposed within the jacket. The spring member is constructed to control a sealing load or spring rate of the spring seal relative to opposing flanges while the jacket is constructed to provide a sealing surface relative to the opposing flanges. The spring member is manufactured from a cast blade alloy, thereby allowing the spring member to maintain its spring back characteristics at relatively high temperatures of about 1300° F. and greater. Accordingly, the spring member minimizes the formation of a leak path between the spring seal and the opposing flanges. In one embodiment, the spring member is manufactured with a substantially U-shaped cross-section. With such a configuration, the spring seal provides substantially balanced, opposing forces on the jacket to minimize the formation of gaps between the spring seal and the flanges.
US07938401B2
Disclosed is a gaming machine that displays a plurality of indicia-bearing game pieces 12 on a gaming grid 14. A player then selects game pieces 12 that are adjacent and that have matching indicia 16. Preferably, the matching adjacent game pieces 34 that are selected are then removed from the gaming grid 14. One or more prizes are awarded in association with the selection and removal of the matching adjacent game pieces 34. Preferably, the player is also provided with the ability to shuffle any remaining non-selected game pieces 32, after all matching adjacent game pieces that are perceived by the player are selected and removed. In this regard, it is possible that the player may overlook some matching adjacent game pieces 34. Additionally, some preferred embodiment gaming machines incorporate the use of multiple indicia 16 on each game piece 12 for potentially matching with adjacent game pieces. Finally, awards can be awarded to a player based upon game speed and the number of shuffles required to clear the grid 14, amongst other criteria. Preferably, the gaming machine also includes activation of an interactive help feature 100 for the bonus game. The help feature 100 is continuously accessible, allowing access to the help feature during play of the bonus game so that a player unfamiliar with the bonus game may receive instructions on how to play the bonus game during play of an active bonus game.
US07938398B2
A paper feeding apparatus used in a state where the apparatus accumulates paper sheets for an image forming apparatus to form images thereon and the paper feeding apparatus is attached to a main body of the image forming apparatus, wherein an engaging-holding member is provided for an exterior wall face of the paper feeding apparatus, and the engaging-holding member engages and holds the paper feeding apparatus with an exterior housing of the image forming apparatus so as to enable the paper feeding apparatus to move into/from the exterior housing of the image forming apparatus, is provided for an exterior wall face of the paper feeding apparatus, and wherein the engaging-holding member is provided for a specific one of the exterior wall faces of the paper feeding apparatus corresponding to the moving direction determined according to the specification of the image forming apparatus.
US07938394B2
A recording medium feeding device includes a recording medium cassette that is detachable from a main body and a recording medium retracting unit that retracts a recording medium lying on a recording medium feeding path back to the recording medium cassette. The recording medium cassette includes a lower tray that accommodates a recording medium, and an upper tray that accommodates a recording medium and is provided to be slidable with respect to the lower tray along a transport direction of the recording medium. The recording medium feeding device is provided with a unit for performing a retracting operation of the recording medium using the recording medium retracting unit in accordance with sliding of the upper tray in the transport direction.
US07938390B2
A document feeding device comprises a document input tray, a document output tray placed above the document input tray, and a feeding mechanism provided for a feeding path (connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position) to feed each document along the feeding path. The document output tray includes a reference tray and a pivoting tray (on the downstream side of the reference tray) pivotable with respect to the reference tray around a pivot shaft on the upstream side of the pivoting tray. The pivoting of the pivoting tray is restricted at a retracted position by a pivot restricting part when the pivoting tray has pivoted from a document stacking position to the retracted position. The pivot shaft is situated above an upstream end of a stacking surface of the pivoting tray when the pivoting tray is placed at the document stacking position.
US07938386B2
An air humidifier is disclosed, the air humidifier including a caseless humidification module, wherein sealing properties of the humidification module are optimized.
US07938384B2
An extended length strand take up device is presented that may be used to repair damaged guy wires in the field. The invention comprises two connecting bodies connected by a single tension rod that extends continuously between the two connecting bodies. Each connecting body slides over opposite ends of the tension rod and is held in place by a stop member, such as threaded nuts screwed onto the respective ends of the tension rod. The connecting bodies may further include an inwardly-facing pull tab or tabs that can be used for pre-tensioning the guy wire. An alternative embodiment of the invention comprises a single tension rod that is fixedly anchored to the ground and several connecting bodies that are fixedly mounted along the end of the guy wire at standard increments. The tension rod runs parallel to and overlaps the end of the guy wire. The connecting bodies slide along the length of the tension rod until the required tension and length is reached. A stop member, such as a threaded nut, is screwed onto the end of the tension rod holding the connecting bodies in place.
US07938381B2
An electromagnetic valve has a fixed core, a movable core, a coil attract the fixed core and the movable core each other, a valve body and a valve seat member including a funnel-shaped valve seat surface and an inlet path. The flow path is closable by retreat/advance of the valve body relative to the valve seat surface. The valve body includes a semi-spherical seal portion and a stem portion extending from the seal portion towards the movable core, a diameter of an end portion of the seal portion at the stem portion side is larger than a diameter of an end portion of the stem portion at the seal portion side. A space is defined in an area located on an extended line extending from a small diameter end portion to a large diameter end portion of the valve seat surface.
US07938379B2
A mount assembly for securing a machine base to a foundation including: a first block secured to the machine base; a second block secured to the foundation wherein the first and second blocks are configured for mating engagement that permits adjustment of the machine base relative to the first block and to the foundation along any of three mutually perpendicular axes.
US07938376B2
A clip for securing one object relative to another, such as securing an object to a vehicle door or frame is provided. The clip is useful for installing a strip of safety sensors around the circumference of a vehicle door retrofitted with a motorized assist system.
US07938375B1
A collapsible pen holder installed within a surface of an object, including an automobile dashboard or briefcase, secures and retains a pen within a cylindrical sleeve slidably engaged within a cylindrical mounting frame member, exposing a pen cap of the pen. The pen is placed within the cylindrical sleeve which is then pushed into the mounting frame member until the cylindrical sleeve is retained within the mounting frame member by a locking mechanism, exposing only an end of the pen cap. To remove the pen from the pen holder, the end of the pen head is depressed, releasing the locking mechanism and ejecting the cylindrical sleeve from the mounting frame member, projecting the cylindrical sleeve from the surface by a spring mechanism allowing the pen to be removed from the cylindrical sleeve.
US07938373B2
A vertical support structure includes a mounting plate and a support member. The support member extends vertically along a vertical axis and has a pair of vertically-elongated panel integrally connected together in a form of an angle iron to define a vertically-extending L-shaped channel between outside edges of the pair of panels. A top edge of the support member and a bottom edge of the support member are disposed vertically apart from and extend horizontally parallel to one another. The support member has a slot formed therethrough. The slot is disposed between the top and bottom edges and extends horizontally between the outside edges. The slot is sized to slidably receive the mounting plate and the mounting plate occupying the slot is connected to the support member such that the mounting plate projects perpendicularly from the support member and away from the L-shaped channel.
US07938372B2
An apparent need exists for compact devices to ergonomically support such items as laptop computers, keyboards and projectors. The AIRDESK® desk/stand design positions such items with full 3D positioning using all 6 directions of adjustment. Each direction of motion has the correct friction and range of motion for easy and secure re-positioning. Unique accessory shelves and cup holder may be attached to the device frame. A unique, flat, very thin, trip-free base provides unparalleled positioning flexibility of the unit, furniture legs may be placed directly on the base sheet. Additionally, a unique universal and quickly installed folding frame for an automobile or truck seat is provided for supporting the AirDesk positionable tray in a vehicle. AirDesks allow computing from any chair, recliner, sofa, bed, while standing or in a vehicle. The unique trip-free base may also be used for such applications as supporting medical equipment and crowd control stanchions.
US07938367B2
The disclosed embodiments relate to an airplane fuselage produced by assembling, at a circumferential joint, at least two sections including a skin and at least one stringer split into two elements and which are assembled at the joint between the two sections by at least one splicing plate. The splicing plate includes a web having a bearing surface including two surfaces bearing on lateral faces of the elements of the stringer, the two surfaces being offset by an amount ε substantially equal to an error of alignment between the lateral faces of the elements of the stringer.
US07938355B2
The device includes a supporting surface, with an initial curved surface portion, and a substantially flat surface portion. Above the supporting surface, extends at least part of a first path and of a second path of a first ply and of a second ply. The two paths are disposed adjacent to the supporting surface and the initial curved surface portion has a convexity facing the first path. Also provided is a system to supply air between the first path of the first ply and the supporting surface, to help support the web material with respect to the supporting surface.
US07938350B2
The invention refers to a knife holder for comminution devices, comprising a tooth body (1) which can be fastened on a comminution cylinder or the like, and at least one knife (2), the knife (2) being able to be arranged positive-locking on the tooth body (1).The invention is characterized by the fact that a knife receiving device is provided, the knife receiving device (3) is designed as recess (4), and, seen from the side, has the shape of a J, and the recess (4) is designed wedge-like or conically, preferably tapering-off to the outside in such a way that recess surfaces (4/1, 4/2) occur.
US07938345B2
A method for fractionating whole kernel corn into bran, germ and endosperm fractions. Corn (tempered or non-tempered) is processed through an impact mill and through a screener to divide the initial feed stream into two or more flows or substreams. The substreams or portions thereof may be further processed through a plurality of aspirators, roller mills and screeners to provide bran, germ and endosperm fractions of desired purity levels.
US07938342B2
A spray nozzle designed to be mounted in a push button of a liquid distribution system, including a body equipped with an assembly tube that is defined by a front wall in which a distribution orifice is formed, wherein the inside face of the front wall is equipped with a vortex chamber that communicates with the distribution orifice, at least two radial tubes to supply liquid to the vortex chamber, and an annular duct to supply liquid to the upstream end of the tubes, in which the lateral inside wall of the tube is equipped with at least two axial grooves which respectively extend between an upstream end opening onto the rear edge of the tube and a downstream end opening onto the annular duct, wherein the grooves are positioned angularly so that each downstream end of a groove is equidistant from the two upstream ends of the tube adjacent to it on either side along the length of the annular duct.
US07938341B2
A miniaturized aerosol jet, or an array of miniaturized aerosol jets for direct printing of various aerosolized materials. In the most commonly used embodiment, an aerosol stream is focused and deposited onto a planar or non-planar target, forming a pattern that is thermally or photochemically processed to achieve physical, optical, and/or electrical properties near that of the corresponding bulk material. The apparatus uses an aerosol jet deposition head to form an annularly propagating jet composed of an outer sheath flow and an inner aerosol-laden carrier flow. Miniaturization of the deposition head facilitates the fabrication and operation of arrayed deposition heads, enabling construction and operation of arrays of aerosol jets capable of independent motion and deposition. Arrayed aerosol jets provide an increased deposition rate, arrayed deposition, and multi-material deposition.
US07938331B2
Described are a system and a method for anti-counterfeit barcode labels. The system may include an automatic identification symbol reader obtaining item data and a first spectral signature data; a spectral signature reader obtaining a second spectral signature data from a spectral signature; and a processor for decoding and validating a automatic identification symbol as a function of a comparison of the first spectral signature data and the second spectral signature data.
US07938320B2
Disclosed herein are systems and methods that provide a temporary payment instrument having a barcode with an encrypted account number and expiration date assigned to a consumer. For example, such systems and methods screen a consumer to determine whether he or she meets credit eligibility requirements established by a merchant card provider. If the candidate meets the credit eligibility, such systems and methods may assign a payment card account number and expiration date to the consumer, encrypt the payment card account number and expiration date, and generate a barcode that includes the payment card and account number embedded therein.
US07938312B2
A carton for containing a bag having dispensable material therein. The carton comprises a plurality of panels that extend at least partially around an interior of the carton. The plurality of panels comprises a first end panel, a second end panel, a first side panel, and a second side panel. At least two end flaps respectively foldably attached to respective panels of the plurality of panels. The end flaps are overlapped with respect to one another and thereby at least partially form a closed end of the carton. A closure removably attached to the carton having an aperture for receiving at least a portion of the bag to close the bag and seal the material held therein.
US07938306B2
A stapler clincher mechanism which bends two leg portions of a staple struck and penetrated through papers by a staple driving unit, includes: two first clinchers respectively disposed downwardly of the two leg portions of the staple and respectively including guide inclined surfaces which guides the two leg portions in such a manner that the two leg portions are curved inwardly; a second clincher interposed between the two first clinchers and including a projection portion which presses leading ends of the two curved leg portions toward a paper surface of the papers; and a drive mechanism, after the two leg portions of the staple are curved by the guide inclined surfaces, which retreats the first clinchers along the paper surface and moves the second clincher toward the paper surface.
US07938286B2
A container that may be used for retaining and dispensing matter is provided. The container includes a closure having a downwardly depending skirt with a plurality of space apart vertical projections supported at an inside surface of the skirt. The projections are configured to releasably engage an open end of the container for securing the closure to the container. The projections include a guide surface for guiding the projections over the open end of the container and a retaining surface for retaining the projections on the container.
US07938285B2
A wood chip soaking apparatus has a fluid holding base container having end walls suited for supporting at least one, and suitably two, or even more, wood chip baskets in the container for pre-soaking the wood chips to be added to a barbeque heat source. Wood chips are preferably supported in the base container on handles projecting from the wood chip baskets. The base container preferably is provided with elevated side walls for supporting the wood chip baskets in an elevated position after soaking for draining the fluid from the baskets.
US07938280B2
A half rack includes a main section having a primary platform area, a secondary platform area, a side support edge, and a cutout portion. The half rack further includes a removable section adapted to be removably secured to the main section, wherein a frame of the main section includes a rear crossbar, and an elongated stiffener is provided across a portion of the primary platform area and a portion of the secondary platform area and coupled to the rear crossbar to provide strength to the main section. The main section of the half rack can include flattened areas on first and second side edges of the main section.
US07938278B2
A golf club holder and display adaptable to the desired configuration of the user. The display includes a support member and a cradle, with the cradle being adjustably removable relative to the support member. The support member may accept different numbers and types of cradles, and the user can select the cradles based on the desired display configuration. The golf club holder and display is also adaptable to supporting both right-handed and left-handed golf clubs.
US07938272B2
A screening machine including at least one screen surface, feeding means that feed material to be screened towards the screen surface and onto the screen surface where the material is separated into a first fraction remaining on the screen surface and into a second fraction passed through the screen surface while the material is moving along the screen surface. In a method for controlling the screening machine, the amount of material on the screen surface is determined by automatic measurement, and the speed of the feeding means is controlled on the basis of the measurement by automatic control.
US07938263B2
An improved package for wrapping at least one article or a pre arranged group of articles, said package being defined by a formed longitudinal tube body of flexible wrapping sheet material having a length, height and width dimension, the said height and/or width dimension being less than the length dimension but greater than one tenth of the length dimension, a fin seal and two cross seals and no end seals, characterized in that the fin seal is formed along the height or width dimension of the package perpendicular to the length dimension and the cross seals are formed along the length dimension, the cross seals being generally perpendicular to the fin seal, the ends of the package being seal-free.
US07938255B2
A contact lens package includes a container, a contact lens, and an internal member configured facilitate a restoration of the contact lens to a desired shape when the package is opened by the user.
US07938251B2
A material stacking device including: an elevated truss supported at opposite ends by first and second pillars, the first pillar includes a pivot allowing the truss to pivot about the location of the first pillar and the second pillar moving in an arc as the truss turns about the first pillar, and a material conveyor extending at least part way along the truss and discharging material to be deposited to an upper section of a material pile below the truss.
US07938250B2
A conveyor belt cleaning device which can handle conveyor belts with damaged areas, mechanical joints, and/or head pulleys with profile spaces causing the conveyor belt to run unevenly, is provided. The scraper blade is attached to a plurality of T-shaped elements each of which has pressure applied by an air bladder held within a housing. The T-shaped elements move freely within the housing to permit movement of the scraper blade in a direction tangential to as well as perpendicular to the conveyor belt.
US07938235B2
A brake includes a braking portion for braking a rotatable element, a swinging portion secured with the braking portion, a resilient portion integrally formed with the swinging portion for generating a restoring force to make the braking portion contact the rotatable element, and a forced portion for being operated to counteract the restoring force and rotate the braking portion via the swinging portion. When the forced portion is acted, the resilient portion is compressed and the braking portion is driven to separate from the rotatable element, and when the forced portion is free, the resilient portion restores to drive the braking portion to contact with the rotatable element.
US07938224B2
A coating for acoustic treatment relative to an aircraft's surface, in particular a leading edge such as an air intake of an aircraft nacelle, includes an acoustically resistive layer, at least one alveolar structure (30), and a reflective layer. The alveolar structure (30) includes a number of tubes that empty out, on the one hand, at a first imaginary surface (34), and, on the other hand, at a second imaginary surface (36). The alveolar structure (30) includes cut-outs or openings (38) made at the side walls of certain tubes that make it possible to link adjacent tubes so as to create a network of communicating tubes that isolate at least one tube or a group of non-communicating tubes, whereby at least one of the communicating tubes is connected to at least one hot gas intake (40).
US07938223B2
Sintered elements for use in hazardous areas comprise a first flame path having a first length and a first pore size, and a second flame path having a second length and a second pore size. The second length is greater than the first length and the second pore size is greater than the first pore size. Sounders and loud speakers for use in hazardous areas comprise a housing having a horn and a rear enclosure, a driver assembly, and a sintered element.
US07938216B2
The moving carrier which sticks to the surface is provided with easy transverse movements on the surface. The moving carrier has at least two sets of driving wheels or one set of caterpillar on each of its right and the left sides relative to its traveling direction. One of the driving wheels is situated in the vicinity of the center of the sticking force; and another of the driving wheels is situated away from the center of the sticking force. The moving carrier can pivot at contact area as the pivot axis; at the contact area, one of the driving wheels situated in the vicinity of the center of the sticking force is contacted with the surface; and one of the moving units is driven and another moving units is not driven.
US07938210B2
An in-the-wheel suspension system including a drive mechanism for coupling the rotational motion of a wheel rim to the drive shaft of an electric motor and for supporting the wheel rim with respect to the vehicle chassis using one or more springs and dampers. In a hubless version, a spring member supports extend between a frame member attached to the chassis and a bearing member that engages with the rim. In a version used with a wheel hub, the hub is supported by an axle and the spring member supports the axle in movable relation to the frame member. A pivoting support arm that is attached to the axel and pivots about a pivot point attached to the frame member at a location spaced from the wheel axis may be used to support the hub. A Peaucellier linkage may be used to support the axle for movement along a straight line vertical path, the linkage being attached to the frame member at two fixed pivot points. The wheel suspension units perform all the traditional drivetrain functions independently and can be attached to the chassis in a manner that allows for easy removal.
US07938204B2
A reamer bit for use in earth boring operations comprising a body, mounting elements on the bit body having rolling cutters, and nozzles configured to emit a cleaning spray that is angled with respect to the well bottom. The cleaning spray may be angled up to about 20° with respect to the well bottom. The reamer may further include a pilot bit on a drill pipe extending downward from the reamer body.
US07938200B2
A downhole motor to drill a wellbore including a pumping apparatus having a first chamber configured to receive a first fluid and a second fluid, and a first flexible diaphragm disposed with the first chamber configured to separate the first and second fluid, wherein the first flexible diaphragm is configured to transfer a hydraulic energy between the first fluid and the second fluid. In addition, the downhole motor includes a motor portion coupled to the pumping apparatus and configured to receive the second fluid and convert the hydraulic energy of the second fluid into a mechanical energy, thereby creating a torque. Further, the downhole motor includes a bit shaft coupled to the motor portion, configured to receive the torque from the motor portion and the first fluid from the pumping apparatus.
US07938190B2
A riserless mud recovery system including a mud return line secured by an anchor is disclosed. Some system embodiments for drilling a well bore in an offshore location having a water surface and a subsea formation include an offshore structure positioned on a platform at a water surface, a drill string for forming the well bore suspended from the offshore structure, a drilling fluid source on the platform for supplying drilling fluid through the drill string, a suction module for collecting the drilling fluid emerging from the well bore, a return pipe coupled to the suction module, a pump for receiving the drilling fluid from the suction module and pumping the drilling fluid through the return pipe to a location at the water surface, and an anchor for securing the return pipe, where the anchor is coupled to the return pipe and the subsea formation.
US07938167B2
A method for operating a two-roll casting machine for casting molten metal into cast strip, which machine has two casting rolls which are each rotatively driven in opposite directions about an axis of rotation and between them delimit a casting gap on its longitudinal sides, with side plates that can be placed on the casting rolls, which side plates seal the casting gap on its narrow sides in the casting operation, bridging the casting gap with a refractory material, wherein the side plates are moved during the casting operation in a direction which is aligned parallel to the direction of conveying in which the cast strip leaves the casting gap. With such a method the formation of grooves distorting the casting result and the casting operation can be suppressed with increased certainty and the service life of the side plates can be increased, compared to the prior art.
US07938152B2
The invention is directed to lock levers for use in an automatic beverage machine for filling cans for example. The lock lever may have an L-shaped configuration with a first and second leg, and a first engagement surface on a side of the second leg which transitions to a second engagement surface at the distal end of the second leg. The lock lever is selectively rotated between operational and non-operational positions, and the first engagement surface transitions into the second engagement surface. The transition from the first engagement surface to the second engagement surface positions the second engagement surface at a predetermined height without the first or second engagement surface extending above the predetermined height.
US07938141B2
Disclosed is a cylindrical, single-component two-stage regulator for controlling a pressure and a flow rate of a gas. The regulator includes a housing for holding the two stages having an ingress adapted for connection to a source of gas at a high input pressure and an egress adapted for supplying gas at a lower output pressure than the high input pressure; a first stage for reducing the pressure of the gas from the high input pressure to a fixed intermediate pressure; and a second stage for reducing the pressure of the gas from the fixed intermediate pressure to the lower output pressure and regulating the flow rate of the gas out of the egress. One application of the present invention is for use in SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) applications, where it replaces the traditional two-component user-adjustable regulator. The regulator may be made out of stainless steel, and is small enough to fit into a user's mouthpiece.
US07938138B2
A self-sealing valve comprises a valve housing having a fluid conduit, a valve seat, a diaphragm and a support member. The valve housing is configured to pass fluid through the fluid conduit. The diaphragm provides a self-seal of the fluid conduit. The support member is configured to retain a portion of a diaphragm. The support member and diaphragm are configured to position the flexible diaphragm against the valve seat to seal the fluid conduit in a closed position of the self-sealing valve, and to facilitate movement of the diaphragm under a bias in a first direction away from the valve seat to an open position.
US07938136B1
An inexpensive method for quickly and safely sealing illicit taps in a pipe, such as for example a pipe through which a combustible material like oil or gasoline is flowing. The method first seals the valve outlet of the illicit tap with epoxy and removes the valve handle from the valve. Finally the entire tap including the valve and surrounding pipe area is wrapped with an epoxy impregnated material such as fiberglass or carbon composite fabric.
US07938132B2
A vehicle canopy includes a canopy frame defining a canopy area therein. A front cloth panel, a rear cloth panel and two side cloth panels are connected with each other to form a canopy cloth structure to cover the canopy frame so as to normally conceal the canopy area within the canopy frame. One of the front and rear cloth panels provides a door for entrance and exit and the side cloth panels provide side doors which are constructed to be selectively closed or opened for facilitating entrance and exit. The top canopy provides a plurality of ventilating skylights constructed to be selectively closed or opened for allowing air passing therethrough for ventilating the canopy area via the ventilating skylights. In addition, the height of the vehicle canopy is constructed to be adjustable.
US07938127B1
A nail polish bottle holding device for holding bottles of nail polish comprising a base having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein a plurality of slots and cups are disposed in the top surface of the base. The slots and cups are for holding bottles of nail polish and are light translucent. A plurality of light sources is disposed inside the base, and light from the light sources can penetrate through the slots and cups. A prop is disposed on the top surface of the base. The nail polish bottle holding device of the present invention allows a user to easily see the color of the nail polish in the nail polish bottles.
US07938126B2
A low ignition propensity cigarette according to the invention includes a high-density region formed in the center of the paper tube and containing normal shred tobacco filled to be a filling density of 0.15 to 0.35 g/cm3, for example 0.25 g/cm3, and a low density region formed between the paper tube and the high-density region and containing expanded shred tobacco filled to a filling density of 0.05 to 0.15 g/cm3, for example 0.14 g/cm3. The thickness of the low-density region defined between the paper tube and the high-density region is in the range of 1 to 3 mm.
US07938123B2
A method for decreasing responsiveness or decreasing resistance to airflow of airways involves the transfer of energy to or from the airway walls to prevent or reduce airway constriction and other symptoms of lung diseases. The treatment reduces the ability of the airways to contract during an acute narrowing of the airways, reduces mucus plugging of the airways, and/or increases the airway diameter. The methods according to the present invention provide a longer duration and/or more effective treatment for lung diseases than currently used drug treatments, and obviate patient compliance issues.
US07938122B2
A nipple reconstruction device includes a core component having a substantially circular hollow opening therein for receiving a person's nipple; padding attached to a lower part of the core and substantially lining the lower part of the core and at least a portion of the hollow opening in the core, and an attaching component constructed and adapted to hold the device in place on the person's skin. The core may be a semi-rigid, pliable, high durometer material. The padding may be gauze, woven rayon cellulose, cotton, a cotton/polyester blend material; or a non-woven, one-sided medical tape. The attaching component may be an adhesive tape having a plurality of tabs for holding the device in place on the person's skin.
US07938117B2
The present invention is a system for stiffening a portion of the perimeter of a respiratory mask that has a formable element disposed about its perimeter, thereby making the respiratory mask more comfortable to wear.
US07938114B2
A bi-level pressure support system and method of treating disordered breathing that optimizes the pressure delivered to the patient during inspiration and expiration to treat the disordered breathing while minimizing the delivered pressure for patient comfort. The pressure generating system generates a flow of breathing gas at an inspiratory positive airway pressure (IPAP) during inspiration and at an expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP) during expirations. A controller monitor at least one of the following conditions: (1) snoring, (2) apneas, (3) hypopneas, or (4) a big leak in the pressure support system and adjusts the IPAP and the EPAP independently based on the occurrence of any one of these conditions.
US07938106B2
The invention relates to a device for controlling an exhaust gas stream. Said device comprises a housing (1, 101) with at least a first, second and third connection (2, 3, 4, 102, 103, 104) that form links to a first, second and third exhaust gas conduit for conducting the exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine, a first sliding element (6, 106) with a displaceable first sliding rod (6a, 106a) and a first sealing member (6c, 106c) that is located on said rod, a second sliding element (7, 107) with a displaceable second sliding rod (7, 107a) and a second sealing member (7c, 107c) that is located on said rod and an actuator for a force-assisted actuation of the device. According to the invention, a link (4c, 104b) can be established between the first and the second connection and can be adjusted by means of the first sealing member (6, 106) and a link (3c, 103b) can be established and adjusted between the first and the third connection by means of the second sealing member (7c, 107c). The device is equipped with a control mechanism (8, 108) that is connected to the actuator, said mechanism (8, 108) permitting the first sliding element (6, 106) and the second sliding element (7, 107) to be displaced.
US07938103B2
An internal combustion system and a water injection nozzle to position a water mist within an internal chamber of an internal combustion engine. In one form, the apical cone of the injection is altered with respect to the position of the piston within the interior chamber. In another form, the air fuel mixture is charged at an opposing charge to the water mist to create a water droplet gaseous fuel mixture for combustion within the anterior chamber.
US07938100B2
A variable valve device, which is capable of controlling a fuel injection amount or the like if a control shaft sensor has a failure, uses a brushless DC motor to rotate the control shaft, detects the rotation angle of the motor using its magnetic pole sensors, and calculates an estimated rotation angle of the control shaft based on the rotation angle. The variable valve device further determines that the control shaft sensor has a failure if the difference between the actual rotation angle of the control shaft detected by the control shaft sensor and the calculated estimated rotation angle exceeds a prescribed value and controls the fuel injection amount, fuel injection timing and ignition timing of the engine based on the calculated estimated rotation angle.
US07938097B2
Presented is a very low speed, high torque, horizontally opposed, rotary, valveless, Otto cycle piston engine producing four power strokes per revolution, the engine consisting of a fixed engine case assembly having upper and lower plates, the engine rotor assembly having upper and lower plates, sandwiching a single, closed ended cylinder assembly, the cylinder containing intake and exhaust-intake ports, independently reciprocating power and head pistons, each piston being reciprocally controlled by its vertically projecting piston bearing sets contacting respective sets of upper and lower, inner and outer peripheral cam plates, the engine being thus rotated, the cylinder being lubricated by a sealed, recirculating air-oil mist system, the engine rotor assembly having a lower, vertically projecting gear box housing containing a gas porting cap, a vertical drive shaft, two counter rotating output shafts, intake and exhaust pipes, and an exhaust gas filter canister.
US07938086B2
A multipurpose leash including an elongated strap, a fastener on each end of the strap, an adjustable ring that is movable along the strap, and at least one stationary ring attached to the strap, such as a first stationary ring affixed at an end of the strap and a second stationary ring attached along the length of the strap. The adjustable ring preferably slides along the strap with an oval, circular or D-shaped ring transverse to the strap. The multiple uses and functions include use with two pets, hands-free use with one end of the strap capable of being wrapped around the waist of the human user, and an adjustable length with fasteners connected to various rings.
US07938083B1
A pet feeding system and storage compartment in which to store and transport various pet supplies (e.g. food, etc.). The pet feeding system and storage compartment generally includes a base unit including a compartment, wherein the compartment extends within the base unit, a cover unit movably attached to the base unit, wherein the cover unit includes an open position and a closed position with respect to the compartment of the base unit and at least one container secured to the cover unit. The compartment is sealed in the closed position and may be accessed in the open position. The container is separate from the compartment so as to prevent access to the compartment from the container.
US07938076B2
A keel (1) mechanism for a sailboat (10), wherein the keel (1) comprises a drive mechanism for moving the keel (1) linearly along the axis (x) extending from the fore end to rear end of the sailboat (10), and swinging the keel around the axis (x) extending from the fore end to rear end of the sailboat (10), and swinging the keel around the axis extending from larboard to starboard of the sailboat in response to conditions taking place.
US07938074B2
A pressure sensing system for a seeding machine such as a planter to measure the down force on a planter row unit uses a wireless pressure sensor embedded in a load carrying wheel of the row unit. In a preferred embodiment, the pressure sensor is a passive piezoelectric pressure sensor that is a transmitter only, transmitting both pressure and RFID the information that identifies the particular sensor. Multiple sensors may be employed in each wheel and sensors may be employed in more than one wheel of the row unit, such as the gauge wheels on opposite sides of the trench opening disks. The sensors may be made of a PVDF, a known piezoelectric material. A wireless receiver is located on the planter frame or could be located elsewhere to receive the signals from the pressure sensor. A controller determines from the signal, any change in down force and commands the change to a down force generator on the row unit.
US07938058B2
The present invention utilizes rolling elements, such as balls or rollers acting as bearings carried in openings in the skirt or equivalent portion of a piston, to engage the cylinder walls and replace the sliding bearings of the skirt with the roller elements in the skirt. The rolling elements then absorb all or some of the thrust loads conventionally absorbed by the skirt walls sliding along surfaces of an associated cylinder and thereby reduce the friction forces developed by the reciprocating action of the piston skirt.
US07938056B2
A pneumatic brake booster with a booster housing, which comprises a first and a second housing shell and is subdivided into a working chamber and a vacuum chamber by an axially movable wall to which a pneumatic differential pressure can be applied, with the movable wall being formed of a diaphragm plate and a diaphragm abutting thereon that includes a radially inward sealing bead and a radially outward sealing bead for sealing the two chambers and the radially outward sealing bead is compressible between the housing shells. To improve the compression of the radially outward sealing bead, the radially outward sealing bead has a circumferential, uniform rib structure.
US07938055B2
A semi-automatic or automatic rifle is provided. The semi-automatic or automatic rifle includes a receiver having an integral hand guard portion, a barrel having a bore. The bore is removably connected to the receiver, the hand guard portion extending over and surrounding the barrel, an indirect gas operating system has a gas block and a piston. The gas block has a cylinder, the gas block is fitted to the barrel, the cylinder is in communication with the bore. The piston has a piston end and a striking end, the piston end is fitted to the cylinder and has a bolt carrier having a striking surface. When a cartridge is fired, gas displaces the piston end and causes the striking end to strike the striking surface displacing the bolt assembly, wherein, the cylinder and the piston are together removable as an assembly from the firearm without disassembly of the rifle.
US07938054B2
The characteristic of one or more of the gas springs themselves used in a revolver cannon or breech cannon is adjusted while the system is in operation. This is done by a separate, self-contained system, which can adjust the gas spring from hard to soft, for example, and back to harder/hard and can thus adjust the characteristic of the gas spring without the loss of gas. In the simplest embodiment, this system has two additional elements, preferably a reserve tank and a connecting line that connects the reserve tank to the gas spring via a valve.
US07938050B2
A miter saw has a base assembly, a table assembly rotatably disposed on the base assembly, a support housing connected to the table assembly, and a saw assembly pivotably attached to the support housing. The saw assembly is pivotable downwardly for cutting a workpiece disposed on the table assembly. The saw has a miter lock assembly including a shoe assembly connected to the table housing and movable between a first position not contacting the base assembly and a second position contacting the base assembly. The shoe assembly has a movable shoe for adjusting the angular position of the table assembly relative to the base assembly.
US07938048B2
A basic body for tools for chip removing machining, including an internal duct, and an inlet including a female thread for the supply of liquid to the duct. The female thread of the inlet is formed in a cage, which is inserted in a seating delimited by an endless inner wall as well as a bottom, the duct mouthing in the seating.
US07938035B2
An actuating device for a transmission of a vehicle, particularly a commercial vehicle, a bus, or the like, moves a trip cam of the transmission forward or backward in the longitudinal direction, and in the transverse direction in one direction or the other transversely to the longitudinal direction. It has a spindle, which includes two axially adjacent thread sections with opposing thread directions, with a spindle nut on each thread section of the spindle, with a drive motor for each spindle nut to drive it in a rotary manner, and with a coupling member that engages with the trip cam and moves it in the longitudinal and transverse directions, and which is actuatable using the spindle.
US07938033B2
A continuously variable speed transmission includes a first guideway, a second guideway, wherein the first guideway and the second guideway remain stationary during operation at a particular speed ratio. The transmission further includes a first member moveably connected to the first guideway and the second guideway, the first member further comprising gear teeth and a second member having gear teeth positioned at an adjustable angle relative to the first member. A gear engages the gear teeth of the first member and the gear teeth of the second member. The speed ratio of the transmission is determined based on angle of the second member relative to the first member. Either of the first member or the second member may be the input with the other member being the output depending upon whether a speed increase or a speed decrease is desired.
US07938028B2
A force sensor comprises a force sensor chip, and a buffering device for dampening and applying incoming external force to the force sensor chip. The buffering device comprises an input portion to which external force is input, a sensor mount for fixing the force sensor chip to the exterior, a dampening mechanism for dampening external force, and a transmission portion for transmitting the dampened external force to the active sensing portion.
US07938027B2
Systems, methods and machine readable media related to determining a condition of an exercise machine belt are disclosed. An example system includes a sensor to detect an event related to the exercise machine belt. The example system also includes a counter to selectively change a count based on the event as well as an output device to output a notification associated with the condition of the exercise machine belt based on the count.
US07938025B2
In an array type capacitance sensor (1), a slit (2b) is provided between each pair of adjacent ones of multiple movable electrodes (6) on a movable-electrode-side substrate (2) so as to extend in parallel with the movable electrodes (6). This allows providing an array type capacitance sensor capable of being produced inexpensively and measuring pressure precisely and stably even on a curved surface.
US07938024B2
A weight sensing device providing an accurate measurement of only a passenger's vertical load without an interference of moment and lateral load caused upon sudden braking and a variation in traveling conditions of a vehicle. The weight sensing device includes a sensor body having a center hole for fastening of the sensor body with a seat frame, a diaphragm provided around the center hole, a pair of fixing holes provided at opposite sides of the center hole and arranged coaxially with the center hole for fastening of the sensor body with a slide rail, supporting planes containing the fixing holes and located at opposite sides of the diaphragm, and a mounting recess defined between the diaphragm and the supporting planes, a semiconductor strain gauge and a printed circuit board attached to the diaphragm of the sensor body, and a connector electrically connected with the printed circuit board, to transmit a value output from the semiconductor strain gauge to an airbag controller.
US07938021B2
A compact vibratory flowmeter (200) for measuring flow characteristics of a cement flow material at a cement flow material pressure of greater than about 10 pounds-per-square-inch (psi) is provided according to an embodiment of the invention. The compact vibratory flowmeter (200) includes at least two pickoff sensors (308) and a driver (309). The compact vibratory flowmeter (200) further includes one or more flow conduits (301). The at least two pickoff sensors (308) are affixed to the one or more flow conduits (301) and the driver (309) is configured to vibrate the one or more flow conduits (301). The one or more flow conduits (301) include a drive frequency that is less than about 200 Hertz (Hz) and a frequency ratio of the drive frequency to a fluid resonant frequency of the cement flow material that is less than about 0.8.
US07938018B2
A liquid flow sensing system for sensing the flow of liquid within a supply line (2) of a metering pumping machine, the system including a magnetic member (4) arranged for movement relative to a pneumatic switch (8) operated by the presence or absence of a magnetic field, the magnetic member (4) being contained within a sealed unit (5) located within the supply line (2) and the arrangement being such that, when the liquid flow rate falls below a predetermined level, the magnetic member (4) moves downwardly from a first operative position into a second operative position.
US07938015B2
The present invention includes: a pair of columnar members 12a and 12b disposed on both sides of a specimen SP; a crosshead 15, constructed so as to bridge the pair of columnar members 12a and 12b, that applies a load to the specimen SP by moving in a direction of a longitudinal axis of the columnar members 12a and 12b; and a support pole 35 at which a mounting fixture is to be attached, that extends in the direction of the longitudinal axis circumjacent the pair of columnar members 12a and 12b. The support pole 35 is provided with a sliding attachment unit 35b to 35d that extends in the direction of the longitudinal axis and slides a mounting fixture for use in material testing to change a position at which the mounting fixture is attached.
US07938014B2
A sealed capacitive sensor includes a substrate having a diaphragm forming a first plate of a capacitor; a second fixed plate of the capacitor spaced from the diaphragm and defining a predetermined dielectric gap and a sealing medium connecting together the substrate and fixed plate in an integrated structure and hermetically sealing the gap.
US07938012B2
A smart coat with damage following feature for damage detection information, a detecting device and a damage detecting method using said smart coat, the smart coat could be set on a subject body and comprises a sensing layer, said sensing layer is composed of electrically-conductive material and has a thickness from 10 nanometers to 100 micrometers.
US07938010B2
A passive, remote sensor including an optical subsystem for receiving electromagnetic radiation scattered off a surface. A detector is responsive to electromagnetic radiation received by the optical subsystem and generates a composite signal comprising a DC current component and an AC current component. A filter extracts the DC current component from the composite signal. A light emitting device is driven by the DC current component. A detector is responsive to the light emitting device and is connected to the first detector to subtract at least a portion of the DC component from the composite signal producing a modified signal. An amplifier is responsive to the modified signal detects vibrations of the surface to be detected.
US07937998B2
A wheel assembly comprises a wheel, a tire mounted to the wheel, a tire condition sensor unit, and a sensor mount. The sensor mount mounts the sensor unit to an outside diameter surface of a rim of the wheel in a desired circumferential mounting location relative to the wheel, and comprises an endless loop self-tightening device positioned around the wheel.
US07937996B2
A method of diagnosing operation of a turbo speed sensor that monitors a turbocharger in an internal combustion engine system includes determining whether the engine system is operating in one of a high speed and a low speed range and determining a threshold turbo speed value based on whether engine system is operating in one of the high speed and the low speed range. An actual turbo speed value of the turbocharger is monitored based on a signal generated by the turbo speed sensor. The actual turbo speed value is compared to the threshold turbo speed value and a diagnostic signal is generated based on the step of comparing.
US07937991B2
A controller for cantilever-based instruments, including atomic force microscopes, molecular force probe instruments, high-resolution profilometers and chemical or biological sensing probes. The controller samples the output of the photo-detector commonly used to detect cantilever deflection in these instruments with a very fast analog/digital converter (ADC). The resulting digitized representation of the output signal is then processed with field programmable gate arrays and digital signal processors without making use of analog electronics. Analog signal processing is inherently noisy while digital calculations are inherently “perfect” in that they do not add any random noise to the measured signal. Processing by field programmable gate arrays and digital signal processors maximizes the flexibility of the controller because it can be varied through programming means, without modification of the controller hardware.
US07937990B2
A separation column and a liquid chromatograph using the separation column, which are capable of carrying out a high-speed analysis under high pressure and without a reduction in separation performance of the separation column. In the separation column, a sample and a mobile phase are introduced into a packing material. The chromatograph has a covering member for covering an outer surface of the packing material and a supporting member having the packing material covered with the covering member inserted therein, wherein the level of pressure generated within a gap located between the covering member and the supporting member on the outflow side of the gap, where the fluid-flows out of the gap, is lower than that of pressure generated within the gap on the inflow side of the gap, where the fluid is introduced.
US07937984B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate a gas sensor system comprising a gas generating device adapted to generate a test gas, a target gas sensor positioned near the gas generating device, a test gas sensor positioned near the gas generating device and in communication with the target gas sensor and wherein the test gas sensor is sensitive to the test gas.
US07937983B2
A curved surface forming apparatus includes a first member to be curved; a second member which is placed with a distance from the first member and holds the first member; and a pressurizing mechanism which pressurizes the first member and the second member to curve at least a part of the first member toward at least the second member.
US07937978B2
An elongation rolling control method is provided which can manufacture a hollow shell of high dimensional accuracy and can suppress rolling problems. It is an elongation rolling control method in which the groove bottom wall thickness of a hollow shell P in stand #1 having an ultrasonic wall thickness wall gauge 1 installed between it and stand #2 is measured, the outer diameter of a mandrel bar B is calculated based on the set value of the roll gap in stand #1 and the groove bottom wall thickness of the hollow shell P, the location in the lengthwise direction of the mandrel bar B for which the outer diameter was calculated is determined based on positional information on a bar retainer BR, the distribution in the lengthwise direction of the outer diameter of the mandrel bar is calculated by repeating the above steps, the location in the lengthwise direction of the mandrel bar which contacts the hollow shell in a subsequent stand is determined based on positional information on the bar retainer, and the roll gap in the subsequent stand is set based on the outer diameter of the determined location in the lengthwise direction of the mandrel bar.
US07937975B2
A boot is positionable about a rotatable wheel having an axle extending therefrom. A pair of mating components include interconnecting elements for attaching the elements about the wheel preventing non-destructible detachment of the mating components. Flanges extend from the mating components to prevent attempts to rotate the boot about the wheel. The flanges which support the interconnecting elements are frangibly removable from the body to permit destructible detachment of the mating components from the wheel. The boot may support an electronic tag such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or an electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag.
US07937973B2
The present invention relates to a weft-knitted tubular spacer fabric for use in orthopaedic products comprising a first outer layer, a second outer layer, and an intermediate spacer layer integrated with said first and second outer layers, said tube having a length. According to invention the spacer fabric is knitted in a tubular form with a circumference less than 1000 mm, said tubular spacer fabric not being cut open in its length direction, thereby conforming seamlessly to a body part or limb of a wearer. Hereby, a tubular spacer fabric is obtained which most expediently conforms seamlessly to a body part or limb of a wearer. This has the advantage that the seamless tubular spacer fabric may be used directly as a wrap, a bandage, a support or may be used as liner under casting.
US07937971B2
Methods for producing optical fibers along nonlinear paths include incorporating fluid bearings. An optical fiber is drawn from a preform along a first pathway, contacted with a region of fluid cushion of a fluid bearing, and redirected along a second pathway as the fiber is drawn across said region of fluid cushion.
US07937970B2
A method for preparing pre-reacted synthetic batches, with a low content of carbon dioxide, for the production of glass formulas, which comprises mixing stoichiometric amounts of substances, containing molecular systems of silica-sodium, silica-sodium-calcium, silica-sodium-magnesium, silica-calcium-magnesium, silica-sodium-calcium-magnesium and mixtures thereof, having reaction temperatures which do not form a liquid phase, that are selected from invariant points or from points on a line connecting invariant points of phase diagrams of said molecular systems, to complete a desired molecular formula; adding cullet to the mixture; and calcining the mixture to a reaction temperature which do not form a liquid phase and wherein the CO2 is liberated.
US07937962B2
A refrigerated transport system includes a prioritizing algorithm to limit the maximum amount of refrigerant flow available to at least one limited cooling compartment by holding a delta T (difference between the supply air temperature and return air temperature) instead of a setpoint temperature in the at least one limited cooling compartment when the available cooling capacity is insufficient to hold a substantially constant temperature in all compartments. A method for creating multiple refrigerated compartment spaces having precision temperature control includes the steps of: prioritizing the compartments by identifying at least one priority compartment to be held at a setpoint temperature; and limiting refrigerant flow to all but the priority compartment when there is insufficient cooling capacity to maintain all compartments at their respective setpoint temperatures.
US07937961B2
A system for controlling multiple air conditioners. The system includes a demand control unit configured to calculate an estimated power amount to be used by the multiple air conditioners based on an amount of power consumed by the multiple air conditioners during a predetermined time period, and to forcibly control an operation rate of one or more air conditioners based on a priority level assigned to the one or more air conditioners.
US07937958B2
An object is to provide a method of manufacturing a low-temperature storage in which an insulating performance of an insulating box article is enhanced, and an amount of contents of an inner box can be enlarged. In the low-temperature storage comprising: the insulating box article constituted by placing a foamed insulating material between an outer box and the inner box; and a vacuum insulating panel disposed on the surface of the outer box on the side of the foamed insulating material, a thickness dimension of the foamed insulating material between the inner box and the vacuum insulating panel is set so that a temperature of the surface of the vacuum insulating panel on the side of the inner box is not less than a predetermined temperature.
US07937956B2
A method and apparatus for the manipulation and management process of cryogen such that it controls both the fluid body movement as well as internal currents within the cryogen. Small volumes of a desired substance introduced into this managed cryogen for the production of frozen or solidified pellets or granules are better managed as to shape, size, deformation, frozen satellites, fines and agglomeration and overall desired quality. These benefits result from the dispersion of the gas produced, as well as the heat transferred, resulting from the introduction of the relatively hot substance to the cryogen. The fluid body movement assists in maintaining a distance between the individual solidifying pellets or granules thereby minimizing deformation as a result of physical contact. The output characteristics and desired quality of the pellets can be more effectively controlled and managed, as desired.
US07937941B2
A method for operating an internal combustion engine in which fresh air, under ambient pressure, is compressed with the aid of a compressor, in particular an exhaust gas turbocharger, and supplied to a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine via a throttle device, the rotational speed of the compressor being ascertained with the aid of a sensor, in particular a pressure sensor, the rotational speed of the compressor being used for determining the ambient pressure or a boost pressure applied downstream from the compressor and upstream from the throttle device.
US07937939B2
A thermodynamic cycle heat engine including a regenerator; a chamber in fluid communication with the regenerator; first and second rotors within the chamber, forming at least a pair of spaces within the chamber; and at least one actuator. The regenerator and the chamber form a portion of a closed space for a working fluid, the actuator is arranged to displace the rotors about an axis of rotation for the rotors, and at least a portion of the actuator is fixedly secured to the rotors. In some aspects, the actuator is arranged to receive energy from the rotors and operate as a generator, or a sensor is arranged to detect a condition associated with operation of the chamber and a controller is arranged to control the actuator responsive to the detected condition. In some aspects, the engine includes a heat exchanger in fluid communication between the regenerator and the chamber.
US07937938B2
A machine includes a hydraulic fan system for circulating cooling air through an engine compartment. Periodically, the fan rotation direction is briefly reversed in order to dislodge any material debris that may have accumulated at the inlet to the engine compartment. When a fan reversal event is initiated, the fan motor will continue to rotate due to angular momentum even after the pump output flow has been switched from a first motor port to a second motor port. During this continued rotation as the fan decelerates to zero speed, vacuum pressure levels can arise at the first motor port, and a pressure spike can develop at the second motor port. In order to alleviate these conditions, a pressure transfer valve briefly opens to facilitate fluid flow directly from the second motor port to the first motor port as the fan motor decelerates towards zero speed before reversing direction, simultaneously alleviating vacuum and pressure spike conditions.
US07937935B2
A system for managing regeneration of a CDPF in a diesel engine. The system determines volatility of the accumulated soot by a weighting/indexing method to select a regeneration control strategy that protects the CDPF from thermal damage. The system determines the mass of wet soot and dry soot accumulated over the previous driving cycle and selects a management strategy to control the rate of temperature increase and the thermal gradient imposed upon the filter. The wet soot percent is an index for setting the regeneration temperature control profile for an allowable total accumulated soot mass as a function of the accumulated wet soot. The method also scales the soot mass regeneration threshold value based upon wet soot accumulation and accumulation rate and provides an indicator of combustibility of the soot accumulation. The method provides a temperature ramp rate, total regeneration time, and exhaust oxygen level required to control regeneration.
US07937933B2
Exhaust gas post treatment system for nitrogen oxide and particle reduction of an internal combustion engines operated with excess air. An oxidation catalytic converter is disposed in the exhaust gas stream of the engine for converting at least a portion of the nitric oxide of the exhaust gas into nitrogen dioxide. A metering device adds reduction agent to the exhaust gas stream downstream of the oxidation catalytic converter and/or to a partial exhaust gas stream branched off upstream of the oxidation catalytic converter and returned to the exhaust gas stream downstream thereof. The reduction agent is ammonia or a material that releases ammonia downstream of the supply location due to the hot exhaust gas. A particle separator or filter is disposed in the exhaust gas stream downstream of the oxidation catalytic converter and of the supply location, and converts carbon particles accumulated in the separator or filter into carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and nitric oxide with the aid of nitrogen dioxide in the exhaust gas stream. An SCR catalytic converter is disposed downstream of the separator or filter for reducing nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas stream into nitrogen and water vapor with the aid of ammonia or released ammonia by selective catalytic reduction.
US07937929B2
An exhaust duct for directing a stream of exhaust gases in a gas turbine engine is provided. The exhaust duct comprises an inlet for receiving the stream of exhaust gases from a turbine section of the gas turbine engine; an outlet in fluid communication with the inlet; and a transition portion defining a passage between the inlet and the outlet. The passage comprises an annular region having a first side portion and a second side portion that are separated by a flow splitter. At least one bypass channel interconnects the first side portion and the second side portion of the annular region.
US07937928B2
A method of operating a steam turbine in a combined-cycle power system is provided. The method includes channeling a first amount of steam from a first steam generator to the steam turbine to facilitate powering the steam turbine, generating a second amount of steam within a second steam generator that is coupled in flow communication with the steam turbine, and calculating a predicted stress level within the steam turbine in the event the second amount of steam is channeled from the second steam generator into the steam turbine. An initiation time at which to channel the second amount of steam into the steam turbine is determined such that the calculated predicted stress level will not exceed a predetermined stress limit of the steam turbine. The second amount of steam is automatically channeled from the second steam generator to the steam turbine at the determined initiation time.
US07937923B2
A tractor comprises an electronic tractor controller. A baler comprises a crop receiver, a baling chamber, a rear door, a rear door actuator, a bale size sensor associated with the baling chamber, and an electronic baler controller. The baler controller is operable to submit a halt signal to the tractor controller when a bale size signal provided by the bale size sensor indicates that a bale has reached a size corresponding to a predetermined size. The tractor controller then halts the tractor and the bale is wrapped. The rear door is opened automatically after the bale has been wrapped, but only if an obstacle sensor detects no obstacle in a detection zone behind the baler.
US07937921B2
A tubular metal finger for a retracting finger auger assembly has a mounting portion adjacent the normally inner end of the finger, a working portion adjacent the opposite, normally outer end of the finger, and a weakened break-away portion between the mounting and working portions. Weakening of the sidewall of the tube in the break-away portion is accomplished through the provision of a pair of diametrically opposed, circular holes through the tube.
US07937913B2
Proposed are a method and a device for consolidation of a number n of items, whose weight varies within predefined limits, in a container to a single unit with a predefined target weight. For this purpose, n−1 portions are combined and the weight of all of the n−1 portions is determined. Then the difference between the target weight of the n portions on the one hand and the weight of the n−1 portions on the other is determined. Ultimately, an nth portion with a precise weight is cut-off from a piece, where the weight equals the weight of the nth portion of the difference. For this purpose, the device is provided with a first and a second insertion station, a scale, a computer, and a portioning and cutting device.
US07937909B2
A method for making a two component device where the two components are in separate containers with one container inside the other. The method includes placing a first container between the top and bottom of a second container in a die that draws a vacuum between the top and bottom of the second container when they are sealed to form the container. The vacuum preferably ranges from about 8 to about 13 psi. The two components are selected to react to achieve a result, such as the generation of heat.
US07937906B2
This invention relates to a filling apparatus (2) and a process for intermittently receiving and discharging specific quantities of bulk product, in particular for delivering specific quantities of bulk product from a weighing machine to a packaging machine. The filling apparatus (2) comprises two partial vessels (8, 10), with each partial vessel (8, 10) comprising a feed opening (20, 22) and an outlet opening (26, 28). Furthermore, an outlet element (30) is provided which is movable at least into a first and into a second position. In the first position, the outlet element (30) closes the outlet opening (26) of a first partial vessel (8) and releases the outlet opening (28) of the second partial vessel (10). In the second position, the outlet element (30) closes the outlet opening (28) of the second partial vessel (10) and releases the outlet opening (26) of the first partial vessel (8).
US07937904B2
A corner joint between two frame lineals of a pultruded window frame is defined by inserting a leg of a corner member into a hollow interior of each lineal and attaching the legs to the lineals by adhesive. Each leg has a plurality of surfaces thereof each having a first portion at the corner which lies closely adjacent a corresponding surface of the first lineal and a second portion, at the end of the first portion remote from the corner which tapers inwardly away from the corresponding surface of the first lineal such that a spacing therebetween increases in the direction away from the corner. The adhesive is applied to the tapered portion and the taper acts to force the adhesive along the leg to the first portion and to the ends of the lineals where the excess can be wiped away.
US07937900B1
A metal roof retrofit skylight preferably includes a glazing pane, a pane retention frame and at least one self-stick sealing sheet. The pane retention frame preferably includes a bottom leg and a top leg. One end of the bottom and top legs preferably form a fastening flange. The other end of the top is offset from the bottom leg to form a pane space that is sized to receive a thickness of the glazing pane. Each self-stick sealing sheet includes a sealing sheet and release paper. The sealing sheet is applied over a portion of the glazing pane and a membrane roofing material to provide a seal between the membrane roofing material and the glazing pane. An optional condensation collector is installed in a skylight opening in the metal roof. The metal roof retrofit skylight is attached to the metal roof around a perimeter of the skylight opening.
US07937893B2
The invention is a sliding door assembly operable move a vehicle door between an open and a closed position. The assembly includes a motor, reversibly operable to move the door towards one of the open and the closed position. A handle is mounted to the door and a handle sensor is provided, operable to detect the grasping of the handle. When the handle is grasped, a controller activates the motor to move the door when the handle sensor is triggered. Moving the door using the handle by at least a predetermined distance causes the controller to deactivate the motor, allowing manual movement of the door.
US07937873B2
A collapsible buttstock which is adapted primarily for use with military and tactical carbines, is supported by an extension tube which is connectable to the receiver of a carbine on which the collapsible buttstock is to be mounted. A storage enclosure is formed in the body of the buttstock and is sized and dimensioned so that it can receive a clip or magazine, typically able to carry 20 rounds, that is usable with the carbine on which the collapsible buttstock is mounted. The enclosure is provided with an openable cover that is hingably attached to the buttstock body. An easily operable cover latch assembly is usable to secure the cover in a closed position while facilitating expeditious opening of the cover to afford access to the spare magazine storage enclosure.
US07937864B2
The illumination of a display of a religious, meditative, or ceremonial image is coordinated with sound produced and associated with the use of the image, such as a chant associated with the image. The sound can be produced by the device of the invention in which case the device coordinates the illumination with the sound produced by the device, or the sound can be produced by a user of the device in which case the device coordinates the illumination with the sound produced by the user. The device includes a display for illuminating and displaying the visual image and circuitry for coordinating the illumination of the visual image and the sound associated with use of the image.
US07937860B2
A dispensing device, such as a calendar is formed of a plurality of substrates. A first substrate carries indicia thereon which identifies selected time periods, such as days or months of the year. A second substrate is positioned adjacent to the first substrate. The second substrate defines a plurality of cavities dimensioned to individually retain a respective information carrying article, such as a web. Each of the cavities is corresponding supplied with a respective information carrying article. Each indicia on the first substrate is positionally associated with a respective cavity in the second substrate. A third substrate, positioned adjacent to the second substrate, is positioned to retain the information carrying articles releasably within the second substrate. The third substrate provides a rupturable cover over each of the cavities of the second substrate whereby upon the application of a sufficient lateral force on the information carrying article within a selected cavity, the article passes through the cover to a location wherein the article may be retrieved by the user. The lateral force may be applied by the user's finger or alternatively a tool or other object adapted for the application of such force.
US07937857B2
The invention relates to a ground-working machine (11) equipped with a drive and with advancement members (21). Its advancement members (21) serve inter alia to carry a supporting structure (23) set apart from the positioning plane of the machine, on which supporting structure (23) there is arranged, in the region of a central axis (Z), a kirving tool (25) with at least one transverse kirving roller (13) for working a substrate on which the ground-working machine is standing. The kirving roller (13) is rotatable about its roller axis (V). The roller axis (V) is pivotable about a steering axis (W), which steering axis (W) is arranged in the direction of the central axis (Z) set apart from the advancement members (21).
US07937853B2
The present invention relates to a health and diet footwear with buffering means that has a plurality of spring members mounted on the lower portion thereof, thereby obtaining substantially higher exercising effects as compared to a general footwear. The health and diet footwear with buffering means of the invention can detachably mount fixed plates on a sole by means of screws and have a plurality of spring members disposed between the fixed plates disposed on the upper ends of the spring members and a support plate disposed on the lower ends of the spring members by means of detachable mounting or spiral coupling, so that the spring members can be easily and rigidly coupled therebetween. Further, when a part of the spring members is damaged or broken, it can be exchanged individually. Therefore, this invention can couple the fixed plates and the support plate in a more rigid and easier manner when compared with the conventional practice, which allows a wearer to wear the footwear of this invention more stably for a long time.
US07937851B2
A method and apparatus for continuously treating a moist biomass feedstock is disclosed. The method includes treating a biomass feedstock with a swelling agent in a pressurized first vessel, transferring the feedstock to a second vessel at a lower operating pressure than the first vessel such that the biomass fibers rupture. At least portions the swelling agent, and/or the moisture are recycled in the process.
US07937847B1
This invention, precision level device, provides the leveling of the subjects.An improved precision level device comprises a transparent body including an aperture, a cap, a lower horizontal and upper horizontal walls of the transparent body, the first vertical and second vertical walls of the transparent body, recess, fluid, graduation line(s), horizontal graduation line, vertical graduation line, diagonal graduation line(s), magnetic element, and a front wall of the transparent body.
US07937845B2
An electronic compass has a 2D magnetometer for determining two of the three components of the earth-magnetic field vector. Values for the magnitude and inclination of the field at the location of the device are given. If at least one of the body axes of the device is held horizontally in operational use, an educated guess can be made about the actual orientation of the device (e.g., heading and tilt angles) with respect to the earth. Accordingly, this compass is a very-low cost device.
US07937841B2
An electric saw (2) includes a stroke arrangement (4) driven in a reciprocating manner and having a tool receptacle (8) for a saw blade (10), a housing (14) which extends along a stroke axis (A) of the stroke arrangement (4) and which forms at a working tool-side end (12) a housing opening (16) from which the stroke arrangement (4) projects, and which forms a receiving space (26) in which is arranged a motion transforming device (24), the stroke arrangement (4) being supported at the housing (14) by a bearing element (30) which forms a sliding bearing (28) and is arranged between the motion transforming device (24) and the housing opening (16), with an air flow (L) being directed toward the housing opening (16) so that particles (P) can be prevented from entering the sliding bearing (28), with the bearing element (30) limiting the receiving space (26) toward the housing opening (16), and with a flow path (46) by which the air flow (L) is guided being provided at an outer side (40) of the bearing element (30) facing the housing opening (16).
US07937838B2
A hydraulic rescue tool (10) with a quick-change head (26) that incorporates a cylinder (20) having a piston rod (22) and a forward end structure (24). The forward end structure (24) has a separable head and a cylinder attaching bifurcated yoke (28). A pair of yoke quick release pins (48) jointly engage the head (26) and the bifurcated yoke (28) thus, creating an attachment therebetween. A pair of cutting blades (50) are connected to the head (26), and links (54) connect to the piston rod on a first end and to the cutting blades (50) on a second end, thereby forcing the cutting blades from an open position to a closed position by movement of the piston rod (22). A pair of link quick release pins (60) engage the links (54), creating an attachment therebetween, permitting the links to be released by manually disengaging the quick release pins, thereby allowing the head, including the cutting blades, to be rapidly removed or repaired.
US07937832B2
A wired circuit board having improved adhesion between the conductive pattern and an insulating layer to prevent a plating solution from remaining between a metal plating layer and the insulating layer. The invention prevents ionic impurities in the plating solution from remaining as residual or ionic contamination, thereby preventing a short circuit from developing when electric current flows through the circuit under a high temperature and high humidity environment. Lower end portions of the terminal portions that are formed on an insulating base layer and lower end portions of side surfaces and metal plating layers that cover the terminal portions are embedded in the insulating base layer in a flexible wired circuit board.
US07937826B2
A cup attaching apparatus for attaching a cup to an eyeglass lens, comprises: a lens mount on which the lens is to be mounted; at least three support pins provided on the lens mount to support the lens when a rear refractive surface of the lens is brought in contact with the support pins; and a first moving mechanism adapted to simultaneously move the support pins to change a distance of each support pin from a central axis for attachment of the cup.
US07937810B2
A flat panel display (FPD) support has a panel bracket being attached to an FPD, two hinge assemblies being mounted on the panel bracket and an U-shaped supporting bracket being attached to the hinge assemblies. The supporting bracket supports the FPD to allow the FPD to stand on a plane and can pivot to adjust an angle of the FPD relative to the plane with the hinge assemblies. The FPD with the FPD support shows a light, simple and portable shape, can be conveniently packaged for sell or moving and will not occupy life space while using.
US07937807B2
Universal impact-hinder device, comprising a body (1); a guiding pin (4) arranged at the closed first end of an inside cylindrical cavity of the body (1), a spring (7) on the guiding pin (4); a ring (5) at the opposite end of the cavity; and a piston having a T-shaped head and an inside cavity in which the spring (7) is supported, which piston can move until the ring (5), while the guiding pin (4) is within the inside cavity of the piston. The T-shaped head is provided with a groove and a movable O-ring (6) within that, having two end positions in the groove. In first end position a surface of the groove having artificial damages (31) and the contacting O-ring (6) determine a first flow-through capacity, in second end position an orifice (21) between the cavity of the body and the groove determines a greater second flow-through capacity.
US07937806B1
An apparatus is disclosed for permitting or preventing a panel from closing an opening within a wall. A hinge secures the panel to the wall for pivoting the panel relative to the opening. The apparatus comprises an inverted generally u-shaped frame defining a slot for positioning to the panel. A bar member includes a first end and a second end. A fulcrum pivot is interposed between the first end and the second end for pivotably mounting the bar member to the inverted generally u-shaped frame. The fulcrum pivot pivots the bar member between a generally vertical position and a generally horizontal position. The bar member pivots to the generally vertical position for disengaging the second end from the wall for permitting the panel to close the opening of the wall. The bar member pivots into the generally horizontal position for engaging the stopper end with the wall for preventing the panel from closing the opening of the wall.
US07937801B2
A floor cleaning appliance has a brush head in which a brush roller is rotatably mounted and which has at least one suction nozzle which is disposed next to the brush roller. Further, the floor cleaning appliance has a shank which is mounted on the brush head in a pivotable manner and on which a suction unit is disposed, as is a cleaning liquid container for cleaning liquid which can be applied to the floor surface to be cleaned, and a dirty liquid container for accommodating dirty liquid which is sucked up from the floor surface by means of the suction unit, the cleaning liquid container and the dirty liquid container together forming a container assembly which is adapted to be releasably connected to the shank. In order to develop the floor cleaning appliance in such a way that it is easier to handle, it is proposed that the cleaning liquid container is adapted to be releasably connected to the dirty liquid container.
US07937798B2
A wiper blade assembly for a windshield wiper. In one embodiment, the wiper blade assembly includes a connector pivotably mounted on a blade support element. The connector has a receiving portion shaped to receive a first part of the end portion of a wiper arm and further has a securing portion shaped to secure a second part of the end portion of the wiper arm.
US07937780B2
Body armor for ballistic protection of a user's extremities preferably comprising right and left arm protection units and/or right and left leg protection units. The units include a ballistic protection material which preferably covers most of the user's upper arm, elbow region, lower arm, shoulder, upper leg, knee region, and lower leg except for ventilation zones preferably located on the inner portion of the upper arm and the inner part of the upper leg. The back of the knee is preferably covered by a protective flap.
US07937779B2
A surgical garment includes a head gear apparatus for supporting a face shield and shroud. The head gear apparatus includes a helmet that supports a fan assembly, and that defines forward and rear ventilation passageways. The helmet includes a chin bar that defines a centrally located slot, and an upper ledge. The upper edge of the face shield contacts the upper ledge, while the lower edge of the shield includes a tab that extends through the slot. The chin bar and face shield include a plurality of magnetic elements that magnetically connect the lower edge of the face shield to the chin bar. The helmet is suspended from a strap assembly that is carried directly on the head of the wearer. The strap assembly includes an adjustable occipital support that bears against the occiput of the wearer. The face shield can include a plurality of film layers that can be removed when soiled. The fan assembly includes an inlet opening and the shroud includes a filter assembly that is sized to overlay the inlet opening and a portion of the helmet surrounding the inlet opening.
US07937777B2
A disposable wearing article has a front waist covering panel, a rear waist covering panel and a crotch covering panel, a body facing sheet and an undergarment facing sheet in the front and rear waist covering panels are elastically stretchable in a waist-surrounding direction. These sheets are made of nonwoven fabrics and have regions in which these sheets are placed upon each other and the undergarment facing sheet repetitively undulates in the waist-surrounding direction to form a plurality of gathers.
US07937776B1
The short belt has a free end and fixed end with a buckle or other fastener adjacent the fixed end. The belt is formed of an elongate body of flexible material which can be secured to the buckle or other fastener to cause the belt to have a fixed circumference less than a diameter of a garment with which the belt is to be used. The short belt is routed through at least two loops on a garment with the short belt first being routed under the loops and then being routed over the loops and fastened into a circuit utilizing the buckle or other fastener. The circuit thus passes both under the loops and over the loops with a single circuit having a circumference less than a circumference of the garment adjacent the loops on the garment.
US07937771B2
Elastic inserts (15, 25) are incorporated in selected zones such as the legs and arms of an article of garment for motorcyclists, for example a leather suit, said inserts having a shape and manner of application such that the configuration of the garment in the rest condition corresponds to the position of the person wearing the garment when riding a motorcycle, but also allows said person to move freely when not sat in the saddle of the motorcycle.
US07937767B2
A garment including a pant having at least one attachment member integral with each leg portion proximal the open end thereof and forming one half of a detachable attachment system. A kit further includes a pair of socks each having at least one attachment member extending therefrom, the attachment members of the socks and pants being complementary for forming a detachable connection. Also, a garment including an inner pant having an inner torso portion, two inner leg portions, and at least one protective pad, and an outer pant retainable around the inner pant and having an outer torso portion covering the inner torso portion, two tubular outer leg portions enclosing the inner leg portions, the outer pant being independent from the inner pant.
US07941865B2
A method and system for authenticating a smart battery having a smart battery and an electronic device. Both the device and the smart battery generate encrypted random strings using key material based by A/D noise bits as a seed value. A pseudo random number is generated from the A/D noise that is transmitted to both the electronic device and the smart battery. The pseudo random number is used by both devices as a key index to select one of a plurality of keys stored in separate key libraries. The keys, or key material, is used to execute an encryption algorithm. The two encryption data streams are then compared to authenticate the smart battery.
US07941859B2
Method, system, and storage medium for reducing or minimizing access to sensitive information. A method includes identifying processes and data associated with a computer system and classifying each of the data as one of either sensitive information or non-sensitive information. The sensitive information includes at least one of: data that is personal to an individual, confidential data, and data that is legally subject to conditions of restricted use. For each of the processes the method includes selecting a process and a sensitive data item, modifying the sensitive data item, analyzing the behavior of at least the selected process, and preventing access of the sensitive data item by the selected process if, as a result of the analyzing, the sensitive data item is determined not to be needed by the selected process.
US07941851B2
The invention is a comprehensive conceptual and computational architecture that enables monitoring accumulated time-oriented data using knowledge related to the operation of elements of a computer network and deriving temporal abstractions from the accumulated data and the knowledge in order to identify electronic threat patterns and create alerts. The architecture of the invention supports two main modes of operation: a. an automated, continuous mode for monitoring, recognition and detection of known eThreats; and b. an interactive, human-operated intelligent tool for dynamic exploration of the contents of a security storage service to identify new temporal patterns that characterize such threats, and to add them to the monitoring database. The architecture of the invention can analyze data collected from various sources, such as end-user devices, network element, network links etc., to identify potentially infected devices, files, sub-streams or network segments.
US07941846B2
A method of securing the learning mode of a device includes an assembly of at least one command transmitter, communicating with a command receiver capable of driving an element providing for the security and/or the comfort of a building and capable of being switched to learning mode by one or more activation functions, wherein one or more actions of which at least one is applied to a particular command transmitter of the assembly, termed secure, causes the disabling of at least one function of activation of the learning mode of the command receiver.
US07941833B2
An Enhanced Shared Secret Provisioning Protocol (ESSPP) provides a novel method and system for adding devices to a network in a secure manner. A registration process is launched at two network devices together within a predetermined time interval. These two devices then automatically register with each other. When two devices running ESSPP detect each other, they exchange identities and establish a key that can later be used by the devices to mutually authenticate each other and generate session encryption keys. With ESSPP, two ESSPP devices that are attempting to register with each other will only provision a key when they detect that they are the only two ESSPP devices on the wireless network running ESSPP. If additional devices running ESSPP are detected, the ESSPP protocol is either terminated or suspended.
US07941830B1
In one embodiment, an authentication protocol used in a network security service is performed over non-secure connection, such as HTTP. A router subscribing to the service may send a service request for information about a URL to a server computer providing the service. The service request may be included in a first data set posted by the router to the server computer. The first data set may be described by an HTML form and include an encrypted device authenticator used by the server computer to validate the router. The first data set may further include a server authentication code. In responding to the service request, the server computer returns the server authentication code to the router along with information about the URL. The response may be in a second data set, such as an XML document sent by the server computer to the router over an HTTP connection.
US07941818B2
A system and method for utilizing data stored in an EPG database for modifying advertisement information. In this way, a service provider and/or an advertiser can transmit a single advertisement to all the television stations regardless of their geographic location and other user specific information, and need not re-transmit the advertisement even if there is a change in the show's program description. When the advertisement is displayed, the correct updated information is retrieved from the EPG database and inserted into the advertisement.In one aspect, the present invention describes a method for modifying an advertisement in an EPG comprising the steps of: storing television schedule information in a first database; storing advertisement information in a second database; incorporating a portion of the television schedule information into a portion of the advertisement information to form a modified advertisement; and displaying the modified advertisement on a screen.
US07941817B2
A method and a device that presents a broadcast commercial message selects a commercial message for presentation based on user profile criteria. A programming content signal is received at a customer premises equipment (CPE). A stored commercial message is selected for presentation during presentation of the programming content signal. The selected commercial message contains summary information related to an informational content of the selected commercial message, and is selected based on the summary information contained by the selected commercial message. Each selected commercial message is then presented during the programming content signal by inserting each selected commercial message into the received programming content signal by presenting the selected commercial message in place of the programming content signal. Information relating to each commercial message presented and/or an interaction with a user can be recorded and sent to a central location.
US07941813B1
A method, system and computer program product for providing driver functionality in computing system includes installing an operating system on the computing system; forming a plurality of isolated sandboxes running on the computing system under control of the operating system; during an attempt to install a driver, installing driver stub in the operating system; installing the driver in one of the isolated sandboxes, wherein the driver directly uses at least part of system resources; using a gateway between the driver stub and the installed driver to provide an interface for transmitting requests from the driver stub to driver.
US07941805B2
A computer-implemented method for distributing a plurality of tasks over a plurality of processing nodes in a processor network includes the following steps: calculating a task process consumption value for the tasks; calculating a measured node processor consumption value for the nodes; calculating a target node processor consumption value for the nodes, the target node processor consumption value indicating optimal node processor consumption; calculating a load index value as a difference between the calculated node processor consumption value for a node i and the target node processor consumption value for node i; and distributing the tasks among the nodes to balance a processor workload among the nodes, according to the calculated load index value, such that the calculated load index value of each node is substantially zero. The method further embodies a multi-dimensional balancing matrix, each dimension of the matrix representing a node corresponding to a different processor type and each cell representing tasks assigned to multiple nodes.
US07941798B2
A software-based customer relationship management system and method.
US07941797B2
A mechanism is provided for providing a native code library from a server to an application written in an interpreted programming language for execution on a remote computer. An installer object is invoked from within a main class of the interpreted programming language application. The install object extracts a file list from the server including at least one native code library filename indicating a native code library. The native code library indicated by the native code library filename is installed to a target directory on the remote computer and the main class of the interpreted programming language application is then invoked on the remote computer. Additional native code library dependencies are also installed to the target directory on the remote computer.
US07941782B2
In a pattern layout which includes a first device pattern having a uniformly repeated pattern group having first lines and first spaces formed parallel to one anther and uniformly arranged with constant width at a constant pitch and a non-uniformly repeated pattern group having first lines and first spaces non-uniformly arranged, and a second device pattern arranged adjacent to the end portion of the non-uniformly repeated pattern group in an arrangement direction thereof and having second lines and second spaces whose widths are larger than the widths of the first lines and first spaces of the non-uniformly repeated pattern group, at least part of the widths of the first lines and the first spaces of the non-uniformly repeated pattern group is made larger than the width of the first line or the width of the first space of the uniformly repeated pattern group.
US07941772B2
Method for correcting timing failures in an integrated circuit and device for monitoring an integrated circuit. The method includes placing a first and second latch near a critical path. The first latch has an input comprising a data value on the critical path. The method further includes generating a delayed data value from the data value, latching the delayed data value in the second latch, comparing the data value with the delayed data value to determine whether the critical path comprises a timing failure condition, and executing a predetermined corrective measure for the critical path.
US07941757B2
Some embodiments of the invention provide a computerized method for creating and editing a multimedia item. The method provides a menu theme for a multimedia item. The menu theme includes a display section for displaying a multimedia item, an adjustable text section for displaying several selectable text options, and a special effect built into the menu theme for applying to the multimedia item. The method presents the multimedia item on display after applying the special effect to the multimedia item.
US07941756B1
In the graphical display object system, a user can create a class of graphical display objects such that the various members of the class may share common features. In addition, the graphical display object system builds the graphical display objects based upon the common class definitions as well as the custom features of the graphical display object.
US07941754B2
A method includes providing an expandable element associated with a message transmit key of a device. An outer border of the expandable element moves or expands to reflect a number of recipients of a message to be sent from the device. The message transmit key of the device is contacted to cause the initiation of the message transmitted to each of the recipients, and a size of an inner region within the outer border is expanded to reflect a state of the message transmission to each of the recipients, wherein the size of the inner regions expands to fill an area within the outer border in order to send the message to each recipient.
US07941746B2
A CSSX (Extended Cascading Style Sheets) file including non-CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) extensions is used to define and reference variables and inheritance sets. A CSSX file compiler determines a value of the defined variable, modifies the CSSX file by replacing all references to the defined variable with the value, and generates the CSS file from the modified CSSX file. The inheritance set is defined in the CSSX file and includes a reference to a previously defined CSS rule set. The CSSX file compiler defines a new CSS rule set as a function of the determined attributes included in the previously defined CSS rule set of the defined inheritance set and generates the CSS file including the newly defined CSS rule set.
US07941738B2
A bit detection event within a read period is characterized by sub-dividing each read period into elementary time intervals. Certain ones of the elementary intervals are selected to for a window and a counting operation for a number of bits detected during the intervals within the window is performed. The elementary time intervals are defined by a difference between a frequency corresponding to the read period and a bit detection timing frequency. The counting result for the intervals in the window over several consecutive read periods is statistically processed. A reduction of an integrated electronic circuit test duration results from limiting the counting operations performed to the selected elementary time intervals.
US07941732B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for measuring the performance of a read channel. A number of detection techniques, such as SOVA and maximum-a-posteriori (MAP) detectors, produce a bit decision and a corresponding reliability value associated with the bit decision. The reliability value associated with the bit decision may be expressed, for example, in the form of log likelihood ratios (LLRs). The reliability value can be monitored and used as a performance measure. The present invention provides a channel performance measure that generally correlates directly to the BER but can be collected in less time.
US07941730B2
A semiconductor memory has a field programmable unit in which logic to inter-convert external signals to be input/output to/from a memory system and internal signals to be input/output to/from a memory cell array is programmed. A program for constructing the logic of the field programmable unit is stored in a nonvolatile program memory unit. Through the field programmable unit, a controller can access the memory cell array, even when the interface of the controller accessing the semiconductor memory is different from an interface for accessing the memory cell array. Therefore, one kind of semiconductor memory can be used as plural kinds of semiconductor memories. This eliminates the need to develop plural kinds of semiconductor memories, reducing a development cost.
US07941727B2
One embodiment relates to a method of generating an N-bit checksum for variable-length data. An N-bit data word of the variable-length data is received by data input circuitry, and an N-bit input checksum generator is used to calculate an updated value of the N-bit checksum for N-bit data words. A plurality of smaller checksum generators and the N-bit input checksum generator are each used to calculate a last value of the N-bit checksum for the last data word of the variable-length data. Control signals are used to controllably select the last value of the N-bit checksum from outputs of said checksum generators. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed.
US07941725B2
A method and a system for coding digital data represented by source symbols (Si) with an error-correction code. The error-correction code generates parity symbols (Pj) based on, for each parity symbol, several source symbols and at least one parity symbol of preceding rank. At least a part of the source symbols is submitted to at least a first ciphering. The obtained ciphered symbols and the rest of the unciphered source symbols are submitted to the error-correction code.
US07941720B2
A scan test circuit in the present invention includes a control FF for inputting a control signal, and a scan path chain configured of scan storage elements to operate in a shift operation mode when an output of the control FF is a first status value, and in a normal operation mode when the output is a second status value. When the control signal is switched from the first status value to the second status value, the control FF outputs the second status value to multiple scan storage elements synchronously with a first clock pulse, after the switching, of a clock provided to multiple scan storage elements. When the scan control signal is switched from the second status value to the first status value, the control FF outputs the first status value to multiple scan storage elements at a timing of the control signal switching.
US07941708B2
A system and method for computer error management initially detects an error and creates an error report. The error report is then sent to a server where it is hosted on the World Wide Web. The server additionally notifies designated users of the error and can allow the users to correct the error.
US07941705B2
A computer system having a plurality of devices including a data storage part which includes a plurality of cells to store data, and a controller to inspect whether there is a defective cell in the data storage part if a condition to execute a cell inspection function is met, and sets the defective cell to be assigned to one of the devices if a defective cell is found.
US07941696B2
Methods and apparatuses for enhanced protection of data stored in a FLASH memory system involve a controller capable of protecting data using page stripes and auxiliary protection stripes. The controller stores the data in a manner such that the pages making up each page stripe include a plurality of data pages and at least one data protection page and the pages making up each auxiliary protection stripe include a plurality of data pages and an auxiliary protection page. At least a plurality of data pages are within one page stripe and one auxiliary protection stripe such that each data page is protected both by a data protection page in the page stripe and an auxiliary protection page in the auxiliary protection stripe.
US07941695B2
A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc.
US07941692B2
Techniques to recover data from an indirected non-volatile memory system after unexpected power failure, as, e.g., NAND memory in electronic devices are disclosed.
US07941684B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises one or more processors and a controller coupled to the processors. Each processor comprises at least one processor time stamp counter (TSC) and a first control unit configured to maintain the processor TSC. The controller comprises at least one controller TSC and a second control unit configured to maintain the controller TSC. The controller is configured to signal the processor responsive to determining that the processor TSC is out of synchronization with the controller TSC. In response to having been signalled that the processor TSC is out of synchronization, the processor is configured to resynchronize the processor TSC to the controller TSC before generating a result for a read TSC instruction. In response to having not been signalled that the processor TSC is out of synchronization, the processor is configured to generate the result responsive to the processor TSC without resynchronizing.
US07941682B2
Optimum power management of system on chip based on tiered states of operation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system on chip includes a hardware module including one or more of a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a DSP core, a memory, a timing source, a peripheral, and an external interface to have a real time counter module of the peripheral isolated from a rest of the hardware module using a plurality of voltage level shifting cells and/or a plurality of voltage island cells. Also, the system on chip includes a software module associated with the real time counter module to generate one or more control signals to one or more devices external to the system on chip during a sleep mode of the system on chip.
US07941681B2
Proactive power management in a parallel computer, the parallel computer including a service node and a plurality of compute nodes, the service node connected to the compute nodes through an out-of-band service network, each compute node including a computer processor and a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor. Embodiments include receiving, by the service node, a user instruction to initiate a job on an operational group of compute nodes in the parallel computer, the instruction including power management attributes for the compute nodes; setting, by the service node in accordance with the power management attributes for the compute nodes of the operational group, power consumption ratios for each compute node of the operational group including a computer processor power consumption ratio and a computer memory power consumption ratio; and initiating, by the service node, the job on the compute nodes of the operational group of the parallel computer.
US07941679B2
A method for computing the power savings in an integrated circuit (IC) design is disclosed. The method computes the difference in power savings between techniques used for clock gating. Based on the computation results, the method outputs a script to control the implementation tool so as to provide for the best implementation clock gating technique in terms of power and area savings.
US07941678B2
An image processing apparatus includes a data reading and writing unit for reading and writing data with respect to a specific recording medium; a data incompatibility avoiding unit for performing a data incompatibility avoiding process during reading and writing the data associated with cut-off of power; an incompatibility avoiding process starting unit for detecting a cut-off signal of power and controlling the data incompatibility avoiding unit to start the data incompatibility avoiding process; and a power cut-off delaying unit for delaying cut-off of the power for a specific period of time after the cut-off signal is detected when the data incompatibility avoiding unit starts the data incompatibility avoiding process. The data incompatibility avoiding unit performs the data incompatibility avoiding process within the specific period of time.
US07941674B2
A portable storage device including a microprocessor and a secure user data area, the microprocessor operable to perform on-the-fly encryption/decryption of secure data stored on the storage device under a user password, the microprocessor also operable to exclude access to the secure user data area unless the user password is provided.
US07941668B2
A method and system for secure managing transactions between application devices over a network. The present invention provides a method and system for receiving data from an application device, such as computer workstation, ATM, credit card point-of-sale terminal, or application software, and transferring that data securely over a network to a recipient application device. The method and system provide secure cryptographic key and enterprise management of embedded, standalone and tightly coupled information assurance components.
US07941667B2
A need exists for a technology for guaranteeing the authenticity of an electronic document, and an information disclosure system, which can guarantee the authenticity of a disclosed document and delete information regarded as inappropriate for disclosure. An electronic document is divided into components, and a random number generated from a seed value is concatenated to each of the components. A hash value is calculated for each of the components with which the random numbers have been concatenated. The calculated hash values are further concatenated using a hash function to generate data to which an digital signature is applied.
US07941663B2
A system is provided that includes at least one processor and instructions that when executed by the processor promote exchanging extensible authentication protocol (EAP) messages for authentication by sending a plurality of data packets formatted in accordance with an IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The EAP messages are encapsulated within a data field of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard data packet and wherein the encapsulated EAP message comprises an EAP header and a data portion.
US07941658B2
A computer system includes: a processor for executing a program code, a first non-volatile memory for storing a first program code for starting the computer system, the first non-volatile memory being functionally connected to the processor, and a system monitoring module which is functionally connected to the processor and to the first non-volatile memory and is configured to monitor the computer system for the occurrence of a predetermined condition. The system monitoring module includes a second non-volatile memory for storing a second program code for starting the computer system and is configured to copy the second program code from the second non-volatile memory into the first non-volatile memory when the predetermined condition occurs, so that the second program code replaces the first program code and is available for subsequent starting of the computer system.
US07941653B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for performing a jump operation in a pipelined digital processor. The method includes writing target addresses of jump instructions to be executed to a memory table, detecting a first jump instruction being executed by the processor, the first jump instruction referencing a pointer to a first target address in the memory table, the processor executing the first jump instruction by jumping to the first target address and modifying the pointer to point to a second target address in the memory table, the second target address corresponding to a second jump instruction. The execution of the first jump instruction may include prefetching at least one future target address from the memory table and writing the future target address in a local memory. The second target address may be accessed in the local memory in response to detection of the second jump instruction.
US07941652B2
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for implementing atomic data tracing in a processor system including an auxiliary processor unit (APU) coupled to a central processor unit (CPU). The auxiliary processor unit (APU) processes a trace instruction. When a trace instruction is identified by the APU, the APU signals the CPU with a pipeline stall signal for stalling the CPU and checks for an enabled trace engine as specified by the trace instruction. When the trace engine for the trace instruction is enabled, then the trace data is written into a trace buffer. The APU signals the CPU with an op done signal for allowing the CPU to continue with instruction processing.
US07941651B1
A method and apparatus for combining micro-operations to process immediate data. The immediate data may be wider than the immediate data storage capacity of a micro-operation. A first micro-operation is issued to process a first portion of the immediate data, which can be processed within the immediate data storage capacity of a micro-operation. A second micro-operation is issued to process a second portion of the immediate data, which can be processed within the immediate data storage capacity of a micro-operation. Execution of the first and second micro-operations and optionally of a third micro-operation serves to reconstruct the immediate data comprising the first portion and the second portion of the immediate data.
US07941640B1
A processor includes an instruction fetcher, a decoder, and an instruction processor. The instruction fetcher retrieves encoded machine-language instructions. The encoded machine-language instructions are encoded according to a predetermined key assigned only to the processor. The predetermined key is independent of opcodes of the processor. The decoder decodes each of the encoded machine-language instructions according to the predetermined key. The instruction processor executes the decoded machine-language instructions.
US07941635B2
The high-performance, RISC core based microprocessor architecture includes an instruction fetch unit for fetching instruction sets from an instruction store and an execution unit that implements the concurrent execution of a plurality of instructions through a parallel array of functional units. The fetch unit generally maintains a predetermined number of instructions in an instruction buffer. The execution unit includes an instruction selection unit, coupled to the instruction buffer, for selecting instructions for execution, and a plurality of functional units for performing instruction specified functional operations. A unified instruction scheduler, within the instruction selection unit, initiates the processing of instructions through the functional units when instructions are determined to be available for execution and for which at least one of the functional units implementing a necessary computational function is available. Unified scheduling is performed across multiple execution data paths, where each execution data path, and corresponding functional units, is generally optimized for the type of computational function that is to be performed on the data: integer, floating point, and boolean. The number, type and computational specifics of the functional units provided in each data path, and as between data paths, are mutually independent.
US07941631B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) to store entries each having a translation portion to store a virtual address (VA)-to-physical address (PA) translation and a second portion to store bits for a memory page associated with the VA-to-PA translation, where the bits indicate attributes of information in the memory page. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07941625B2
In a storage management system in which a storage apparatus is connected via a network to a volume allocation management server having a performance requirement analysis unit, a volume allocation unit, and a volume performance determining unit, the performance requirements of a business application using volume-allocating data and the performance characteristics of a volume serving as a data storage destination are determined, and on the basis of the resulting information, a volume which satisfies the performance requirements is selected as the data storage destination.
US07941621B1
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for sharing non-distributed, random-access storage resources among a plurality of computer systems. A first backup or restore operation may be initiated. In response to initiation of the first backup or restore operation, a volume of a random-access storage device may be automatically mounted at a first computer system. The random-access storage device may be coupled to the first computer system by a network, and the volume may store a non-distributed file system. The first backup or restore operation may be completed by transmitting a first set of data between the random-access storage device and the first computer system. In response to completion of the first backup or restore operation, the volume of the random-access storage device may be automatically unmounted at the first computer system.
US07941620B2
A data-allocation data-replication system includes a controller adapted to respond to back-up requests from host systems by first allocating an accumulated data set containing multiple source data sets. An index data set is then allocated incorporating index keys and other information helpful to restore the source data sets, such as locations of individual source data sets within the accumulated data set.
US07941613B2
Disclosed herein is an apparatus which may comprise a plurality of nodes. In one example embodiment, each of the plurality of nodes may include one or more central processing units (CPUs), a random access memory device, and a parallel link input/output port. The random access memory device may include a local memory address space and a global memory address space. The local memory address space may be accessible to the one or more CPUs of the node that comprises the random access memory device. The global memory address space may be accessible to CPUs of all the nodes. The parallel link input/output port may be configured to send data frames to, and receive data frames from, the global memory address space comprised by the random access memory device(s) of the other nodes.
US07941610B2
Coherency directory updating is provided in a multiprocessor computing system. A plurality of memory resources have a directory, and are operably connected to an interconnect fabric. A cell is operably connected to the interconnect fabric. The cell has a cache including an entry for each of a plurality of coherency units, each coherency unit included in a memory block representing a contiguous portion of the plurality of memory resources. A controller is operably connected to the interconnect fabric. The controller is configured to control a portion of the plurality of memory resources, and has a comparator configured to identify whether a memory block is local. If the memory block is local, the controller is configured to set a state of the directory to exclusive for a write transaction. If the memory block is not local, the controller is configured to set the state to invalid for a write transaction.
US07941600B2
The storage system includes a disk controller for receiving write commands from a computer, and a plurality of disk devices in which data is written in accordance with the control of the disk controller. The size of the first block which constitutes the data unit handled in the execution of the input/output processing of the data in accordance with the write command by the disk controller is different from the size of the second block which constitutes the data unit handled in the execution of the input/output processing of data by the plurality of disk devices. The disk controller issues an instruction for the writing of data to the disk devices using a third block unit of a size corresponding to a common multiple of the size of the first block and the size of the second block.
US07941595B2
A storage system that may include one or more memory devices, a memory interface device corresponding to one or more of the memory devices, which are organized in sections, and a section controller. In this system, a data request for the data may be received over a communications path by a section controller. The section controller determines the addresses in the memory devices storing the requested data, transfers these addresses to those memory devices storing the requested data, and transfers an identifier to the memory interface device. The memory device, in response, reads the data and transfers the data to its corresponding memory interface device. The memory interface device then adds to the data the identifier it received from the section controller and forwards the requested bits towards their destination, such that the data need not pass through the section controller.
US07941594B2
A system and method for sharing a single synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) unit between two chips, each having an SDRAM controller. Each SDRAM controller is effectively divided into a control block and a data block. The first SDRAM controller drives or reads directly from the SDRAM unit's data bus instead of employing a dedicated data bus for communication between the first and second SDRAM units. The data section of the second SDRAM controller responds to requests from the first SDRAM controller as if the requests had come from the second SDRAM controller's own control block. In other embodiments of the present invention, the second SDRAM controller can accept control signals generated by the first SDRAM. If the second SDRAM controller detects that the first SDRAM controller is initiating a request, the second SDRAM controller terminates any active requests of its own using burst termination. Thereafter, the second SDRAM controller processes the first SDRAM controller's request with the SDRAM unit as appropriate.
US07941584B2
A data processing apparatus and method are provided for performing hazard detection in a series of access requests issued by processing circuitry for handling by one or more slaves. The requests include one or more write access requests to be performec by an addressed slave device. Hazard detection circuitry comprises a pending write access history storage having at least one buffer and at least one counter for keeping a record of each pending write access request. Update circuitry responds receipt of a write access request to perform an update process to identify that write access request as a pending write access request in one of the buffers, and if the identity of another pending write access request is overwritten by that update process, to increment a count value a counter. Hazard checking circuitry is then responsive to at least a subset of the access requests to be issued by the processing circuitry, to reference pending write access history storage in order to determine whether a hazard condition occurs. The manner in which the update circuitry jses a combination of buffers aid counters to keep a record of each pending write access request provides improved performance with respect to known prior art techniques, without the hardware cost that would be associated with increasing the number of buffers.
US07941576B2
A programmatic time-gap defect correction apparatus and method corrects errors which may go undetected by a computer system. Buffer underruns or overruns, which may incur errors in data transfers, yet remain undetected and uncorrected in a computer system, are corrected by an error avoidance module in accordance with the invention. Bytes transferred to and from buffers, used by an I/O controllers to temporarily store data while being transferred between synchronous and asynchronous devices, are counted and an error condition is forced based on the count. If the count exceeds the capacity of the buffer, an error condition is forced, thereby reducing chances that errors are incurred into the data transfer.
US07941566B2
A multi-service network system which forms a wide area network connecting a plurality of metropolitan areas, including a primary network ring including at least one primary node and at least one secondary node; and a secondary network ring connecting the at least one secondary node to business premises equipment, wherein the business premises equipment are associated with respective customer premises equipment.
US07941565B2
A network interface device in a manufacturing system may receive communications from remote users in a database query language. The network interface device may translate or forward commands and queries in a pump-supported language. The network interface device may communicate the commands and queries to pumps and other components on the manufacturing process using the pump-supported language. The results of the command or query may be returned to the network interface device, which may send the information to a database. A GUI allows the remote user to check states of pumps or other functions.
US07941556B2
A platform that may be used to dynamically reallocate resources to support an Internet application is disclosed. In an embodiment, the platform may include two layers of distribution, one at the domain name server (DNS) layer and one at an Internet data center layer. The platform may include a dynamic resource allocation manager that causes instances of applications to be initiated in Internet data centers in response to dynamic conditions and characteristics of the application. A monitoring system module may be provided to keep the dynamic resource allocation manager informed as the health and utilization of instances of the application.
US07941545B2
System and article of manufacture for establishing and requesting status on a computational resource
Provided are a system and article of manufacture for establishing and requesting status on a computational resource. An operation is performed to establish a computational resource, wherein the computational resource is not available until the establish operation is completed. A determination is made as to whether a status request to determine status of the computational resource is pending before the establish operation has completed. Indication is made to resubmit the status request if there is a status request for the computational resource pending before the establish operation has completed.
US07941543B2
An information processing system comprises a legacy application, a web services consumption copybook, and a set of application program interfaces for enabling the legacy application to access a selected web service via a web services consumption server. The web services consumption copybook represents data structures of the selected web service. The system can either connect to or include a set of web service proxies that each correspond to a web service available via a network connection. A web services consumption server is optionally used to route service requests from the application to the appropriate web service proxy. The system can also optionally include a developer tool for adapting legacy systems or environments to be able to consume web services using modem protocols thus allowing the migration of legacy subsystems to a networked loosely-coupled environment.
US07941540B2
According to some embodiments, a registry is displayed. The registry may, for example, indicate resources available from a plurality of remote network access devices via a communications network. Moreover, a personal network address may be associated with each available resource, the personal network address including an destination address portion and an application program identifier portion. A direct communications link may then be established between a first network access device hosting an available resource and a second network address device using the personal network address associated with the resource.
US07941536B2
According to some embodiments, a registry is displayed. The registry may, for example, indicate resources available from a plurality of remote network access devices via a communications network. Moreover, a personal network address may be associated with each available resource, the personal network address including an destination address portion and an application program identifier portion. A direct communications link may then be established between a first network access device hosting an available resource and a second network address device using the personal network address associated with the resource.
US07941531B2
A method resolves collisions in a networking system that includes a plurality of entities operable to transmit an intention to reserve a resource. A first request to reserve resources, which includes a listing of the resources along the first transmission path and a first intention priority value, is broadcast through the networking system. The first intention priority value is determined as a function of other intention priority values previously broadcast through the networking system. A second request is received. The second request includes a second intention priority value and at least one of the same resources included in the first request, thereby indicating a collision. The collision is resolved by comparing the first intention priority value to the second intention priority value. If the collision is resolved in favor of the first request, data is routed through the networking system using the resources along the first transmission path.
US07941530B2
The present invention provides apparatuses and computer readable media for obtaining status information from a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and sending the status information to a remote networked device using a data container. A thermostat obtains status information from a HVAC system, associates the status information with a corresponding index number, and includes the index number and HVAC information in a data container. The data container can assume different forms, including a customer-defined cluster or a publicly accessible cluster. The HVAC information may be encoded so that the HVAC information can be included as an attribute of the publicly accessible cluster. HVAC information may include relay status of a relay in the HVAC system. The relay is identified by an index number that is included in an attribute. A networked device typically receives the HVAC information from the thermostat in at least one data container.
US07941529B2
In some example embodiments, a apparatus and method are shown that include receiving a subscription instruction identifying a subscription to management information from a network device. Additionally, the apparatus and method includes periodically retrieving the management information from the network device. Further, the apparatus and method includes formatting the management information according to an export template. The apparatus and method also includes transmitting the management information utilizing a protocol. A apparatus and network device are also shown that include receiving a management information snapshot as part of a periodic subscription. This apparatus and method includes processing the management information snapshot based upon an export template, the export template defined as part of an IPFIX protocol.
US07941528B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing application services to an end user domain are disclosed. A method includes providing a multimedia applications gateway that is connected to an access gateway for the end user domain of the application services or a multimedia applications gateway that includes an integrated access gateway function. The access gateway is communicatively coupled to end user devices at the end user domain. The method also includes configuring the multimedia applications gateway to convert network communications of a selected application service that is downloaded to the access gateway and transmitted from the access gateway to an end user device into communications having an open standards protocol recognized by each of the end user devices. The method further includes executing the selected application service via a virtual machine operating on an operating system of the multimedia applications gateway, and monitoring activities occurring in response to execution of the selected application service.
US07941527B1
In one embodiment, flows are monitored that are open for a length of time until ending by either a distinct ending or by being silent longer than a configured aging timer (wherein a silent flow is a “zombie flow”). In response to each first flow ending, a total flow time value may be increased by a length of time that first flow was open, and in response to each second flow ending by aging, a zombie flow time value may be increased by the aging timer. A ratio of zombie flows at a particular time in the computer network that will be ended by aging may be estimated as the zombie flow time value divided by the total flow time value. Also, in other embodiments, a capacity improvement, performance hit, and accuracy hit may be predicted based on a new aging timer value.
US07941525B1
A method for tracking an activity of a user, the method includes: downloading, over a network, web page content that comprises a tracking code; tracking, at least partially by executing the tracking code by a user computer, user activities that are responsive to at least a portion of the downloaded web page content, wherein the tracking comprises generating user activity information; compressing and buffering a portion of the user activity information; and transmitting to a tracking entity, at least a compressed portion of the user activity information when a first transmission criterion is fulfilled.
US07941524B2
Event data associated with state data corresponding to an instance of a process is collected by an interceptor associated with a server that performs an operation to modify the state data. The server performs a single transaction with the database to store both the modified state data and the associated event data, the transaction either succeeding or failing, whereby if the transaction succeeds, then both the state data and the event data are stored at the database, and if the transaction fails, then both the state data and the event data are not stored at the database. The event data stored at the database is then transmitted to a tracking service for conversion into a query-able format.
US07941522B2
A security system is described which controls the access of applications to system resources in the field of interactive multimedia. The system establishes a framework for application security, including a signature system, and further provides file formats that support security. Signed applications are afforded high access privileges, while unsigned applications are afforded low access privileges. The combination of signed and unsigned applications on, e.g., a disk, provides for low access privileges for all applications, signed and unsigned.
US07941519B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for implementing ontological domain services are provided. A method includes gathering information elements relating to an individual from trusted sources of information via secure channels of communication. The method also includes creating an ontological domain that is specific to the individual using the information elements accrued from the sources. The information elements are acquired from detectable behaviors of the individual over time. The ontological domain is automatically generated from the detectable behaviors and absent any intervention by the individual. The method also includes determining an interest that is specific to the individual based upon relevancy analyses performed with respect to the information elements and making the interest available to the individual or entity.
US07941515B2
Applying a filter to state information sent from a server to a subscribing client includes receiving a subscription request from the subscribing client, where the subscription request requests a subscription for the subscribing client. A subscriber value is established from the subscription request. A filter set corresponding to the subscriber value is implicitly determined. The filter set comprises one or more filters, where a filter operates to filter state information sent from a server to the subscribing client. The filter set is recorded in a subscription record of the subscription for the subscribing client.
US07941509B2
A method, an apparatus, and computer instructions are provided for a secure network install. One aspect of the present invention provides a proxy server within the same subnet of the client for performing a lookup of the boot image file and downloading the boot image file from a boot file server in a secure manner. The client in turn downloads the file from the proxy TFTP server. Another aspect of the present invention modifies the client remote boot code to include a secure boot file download discovery (SBDD) mode. The client starts the SBDD mode by sending a request for a boot image file to a subnet broadcast address and port, which is listened by a proxy TFTP server. The proxy TFTP server receives the client request and downloads the boot image file. The client in turn downloads the boot image file from the proxy TFTP server.
US07941506B2
Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products to capture discovery task information are described. More specifically, a graphical user interface is described that simplifies the task of defining what types of components (hardware and software), domains and methods are to be used during an IT infrastructure discovery operation. One benefit of using the described user interface is that the user is relieved of the burden of determining what aspects of the discovery action need be defined. Another benefit is that a user may be asked for input for only those elements necessary to the discovery—based on the user's prior input. For example, if the only type of component identified for discovery are JAVA® platforms, only those discovery methods (e.g., JMX) related to JAVA® platforms will be proffered to the user during that phase of specifying the discovery operation.
US07941502B2
A method and system for migrating content on a network. In one method embodiment, the present invention accesses a directory having a network address. A business rule is created and a directory is scripted based on the business rule. Next, a content switch automatically directs future access to the directory to a new environment based on the scripting, wherein the future access to the directory uses the same network address. In so doing, the migration of content on a network is greatly simplified.
US07941495B2
Techniques for managing instant message (IM) communications are provided. In various embodiments, IM communications in a plurality of network implementations are managed using one or more policies. A policy in the one or more policies includes an action applicable for an IM communication. Once an IM communications is received from an IM client, a policy that is applicable for that IM communication is determined. After determining an applicable policy, an action associated with the policy for the instant message communication is performed. Examples of actions that may be taken include recording the IM communication, modifying the IM communication, blocking the IM communication, forwarding the IM communication, and the like.
US07941492B2
A workflow manager application transfers message data received from an originating device via a communication network to a target application for processing. A graphical user interface displays the received message data and allows the user to view and designate one or more target applications for processing the message data. The workflow manger application is responsive to user input to transfer message data to the designated one or more target applications for processing the message data. Alternatively, the workflow manager application analyzes received message data to identify one or more target applications, and transfers the message data to the identified one or more target applications for processing.
US07941491B2
A method and system that dynamically ranks electronic messages based on their situational and inherent dimensions, which are judged by a set of filters. These filters evaluate the different elemental metadata constituting a message and produce a priority value based on filters relevance and importance. The system iterates through queued messages, examine the structured content for expected attributes, statistically analyze unstructured content, apply dynamically weighted rules and policies to deliver a priority ranking, and then display the message and its vital attributes in accordance with the priority ranking. The system also adaptive learns and adjusts its weighted rules and policies to permit priority ranking to change on real-time or interval-based (may be user-defined) schedule. The system includes a GUI for increasing reading and processing efficiency. The GUI performs supervised and unsupervised learning from the user's behaviors, and displays messages in accordance with their priority classification.
US07941490B1
A method and system for a character-based document comparison are described. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving an email message and determining a level of noise present in the message. The level of noise present in the email message is then utilized to determine whether the message is indicative of spam.
US07941487B2
An electronic mail processing apparatus includes a data receiving section (101) that receives mail data including video data or audio data, a cited data detecting section (103) that detects a cited part of the received video data or audio data as cited data from the mail data received by the data receiving section, and a reproduction control section (104) that controls a reproducing method of the received mail data. The reproduction control section (104) controls the reproduction method so that a reproduction method (for example, reproduction speed) for the cited data is deferent from a reproduction method for data other than the cited data in the received mail data.
US07941484B2
A method to provide user interfaces for multi-locale context-aware systems management problem analysis comprises receiving a request for information associated with a systems management event, dynamically identifying a first locale designation associated with a first user of a systems management tool and a second locale designation associated with a second user of the systems management tool, and the systems management tool concurrently displaying the information according to the first and second locale designations.
US07941483B2
Control techniques support low latency display operations on thin client devices. In response to a request to render a page in a user interface, the control may distinguish fields that likely have immediately displayable content from fields that are unlikely to have immediately displayable content. The control may retrieve data for those fields that are likely to have immediately displayable content and render them in an initial page. Content for the fields that are unlikely to have immediately displayable content may be generated as a background process and may be rendered in supplemental page(s) as they become available. The control permits quick rendering of basic pages, which may include navigation functionality, and therefore promote early navigation operations or quick review of data which can be made immediately available.
US07941481B1
A method of accessing and updating an electronic phonebook over electronic communications networks such as a telephone and computer networks is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create, user profiles for customization. The user profile can include personalized phonebook entries that include names and telephone numbers of relevance to the user. Additionally, the voice portal can connect the user to numbers contained in the personalized phonebook in response to spoken commands. The profile can also be updated with additional phonebook entries over the interne using a web browser.
US07941474B2
To provide a floating point arithmetic circuit for efficiently defecting an error, which has a large numerical error, with a less circuit amount, the floating point arithmetic circuit comprises a first arithmetic unit for outputting a first arithmetic result, a second arithmetic unit for outputting a second arithmetic result, and a comparison circuit for making a comparison between the first and the second arithmetic results by a predetermined bit width.
US07941466B2
An audit tool (AT) operates in cooperation with an audit tool manager (ATM), a policy file (PF) and a query file (QF) in order to provide a real time display of usage within an on-demand service system. The ATM identifies the data to be gathered. Using the ATM, the user identifies comparison points, maps the comparison points to audit controls, defines policies and develops SQL queries to report transactions and record quantities. The AT gathers data, displays the gathered data, and compares the data points, and alerts the user to a discrepancy. The AT displays the compared data points side by side so that real time visual verification can be made, and the AT also alerts the user to discrepancies.
US07941444B2
Systems and articles of manufacture for managing annotations made for a variety of different type data objects manipulated (e.g., created, edited, and viewed) by a variety of different type applications are provided. Some embodiments allow users collaborating on a project to create, view, and edit annotations from within the applications used to manipulate the annotated data objects, which may facilitate and encourage the capturing and sharing of tacit knowledge through annotations. Further, annotations may be stored separate from the application data they describe, decoupling the tacit knowledge captured in the annotations from the applications used to manipulate the annotated data.
US07941433B2
A system and method for maintaining a data cluster of records referring to a same object or phenomenon in a context-rich database are provided. The method comprises assessing each record of the data cluster entered by a source on a predetermined number of parameters to develop a quality score for the source. The method further comprises assessing each field of a record entered by the source on parameters related to quality or performance of the data. The method further comprises storing one or more scores based on the assessments so as to enhance answering requests about a portion of the database.
US07941425B2
Techniques for scoring and comparing query execution plans are provided. Predefined parameter types are identified in query execution plans and predefined weighted values are assigned to any identified parameters within the query execution plans. The weights are summed on a per processing step bases and the sum of the processing steps represents a total score for a particular query execution plan. The total scores or individual step scores from different query execution plans can then be compared or evaluated against one another for optimization and problem detection analysis.
US07941422B2
A method, article of manufacture and apparatus for performing private retrieval of information from a database is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprising obtaining an index corresponding to information to be retrieved from the database and generating a query that does not reveal the index to the database. The query is an arithmetic function of the index and a secret value, wherein the arithmetic function includes a multiplication group specified by a modulus of a random value whose order is divisible by a prime power, such that the prime power is an order of the random value. The secret value is an arithmetic function of the index that comprises a factorization into prime numbers of the modulus. The method further comprises communicating the query to the database for execution of the arithmetic function against the entirety of the database.
US07941420B2
Techniques are described for organizing structurally similar web pages for a website. Fingerprints are made of the structure of the web pages using shingling by placing the web page's HTML tags and attributes in sequence and encoding the tags and attributes using a standard encoding technique. Fixed-size portions of the encoded sequence are taken and a set of values extracted using independent hash functions to compute the shingles. Alternatively, a DOM tree representation of HTML of the web page is generated and each path of the DOM tree encoded and values extracted using independent hash functions to compute the shingles. A specified number of shingles are retained as the fingerprint. The pages are then clustered based upon the URL and the similarity of the shingles. The clustered hierarchal organization of pages is further pruned by various criteria including similarity of shingles or support of the cluster node in the hierarchy.
US07941419B2
A flexible and extensible architecture allows for secure searching across an enterprise. Such an architecture can provide a simple Internet-like search experience to users searching secure content inside (and outside) the enterprise. The architecture allows for the crawling and searching of a variety of sources across an enterprise, regardless of whether any of these sources conform to a conventional user role model. The architecture further allows for security attributes to be submitted at query time, for example, in order to provide real-time secure access to enterprise resources. The user query also can be transformed to provide for dynamic querying that provides for a more current result list than can be obtained for static queries.
US07941410B2
Generally, the described system and process enables resolution of conflicts in a synchronized folder. Within the described mesh operating environment, each of the devices may be configured to do the same processing so that the file system view of the synchronized folder looks the same on all devices (pending local capabilities). Updates that cannot be immediately realized to the local store due to conflicts may be deferred for later attempts when, for example, additional updates at the system level or local level are made to resolve or eliminate the conflict for the update item. Generally, further changes may be propagated by a user in addressing a particular conflict that the user is notified about (e.g., via a selected winner that the user disagrees with). Alternatively, the conflict may resolve itself when a further update occurs that overrides or renders moot the previous update (e.g., a deleted item having a modified enclosure, where the enclosure had a previous concurrency conflict).Depending on the local file system, the described system and process may perform additional fix ups for file name, attributes, etc. In this case, the described system and process may be configured not to update a main replication feed since the updates are local or node application specific. Resolution may primarily depend on the user. When the user does resolve a conflict, the feed may be updated and the resolution propagated to all nodes.
US07941400B2
Systems, methods, and computer program for maintaining a state of a document in a document-centric model to maintain a task across systems with the document. Exemplary embodiments include a method for maintaining a state of a document in a document-centric model to maintain a task across systems with the document, the method including opening the document on a first device, loading and rendering the document on the first device, activating a first plugin on the first device, checking the document for a marker record in a first marker registry database associated with the first device, performing scrolling operations to position a view of the user at a specified location as defined in the marker entry and performing a synchronization between the first device and a second device, the synchronization including transferring the marker entry to a second marker registry database associated with the second device.
US07941396B2
A process control method that automatically and comprehensively manages the creation, storage and use of electronic records during the operation of a controlled process and for governing and documenting the users that operate the computer systems that are involved in the creation, storage and use of the electronic records. The method controls a process, such as a chemical process, by receiving measurement information relating to the process, applying rules to the received measurement information to determine a desired response, and sending control information to at least one device associated with the process, so as to modify the process. The method maintains the rules, measurements and control activity in transaction logs or audit trails related thereto in a secure database. By providing convenient, centralized control of the process within a secure database, the method enhances compliance with the FDA regulations that permit electronic records to be regarded as the equivalent to paper records under 21 CFR Part 11.
US07941394B2
A system and method provide a summary comparison of data. The summary may compare filtered and unfiltered data or one set of filtered data to another. The system presents a status pane or window to a user in conjunction with filtered data that is dynamically updated to correspond to the data. A summary of the filtered data is available for display side by side with other filtered data or unfiltered data. The reports and summary are dynamically updated.
US07941391B2
A collection of web pages is considered as a directed graph in which the pages themselves are nodes and the hyperlinks between the pages are directed edges in the graph. A trusted entity identifies training examples for spam pages and normal pages. A random walk is conducted through the directed graph that includes the collection of web pages and the stationary probabilities, and transitional probabilities, among the nodes in the directed graph are obtained. A classifier training component estimates a classification function that changes slowly on densely connected subgraphs within the directed graph. The classification function assigns a value to each of the nodes in the directed graph and identifies them as spam or normal pages based upon whether the value meets a given function threshold value.
US07941388B2
A method of facilitating the construction, maintenance, and usage of social-trust networks is disclosed. The illustrative embodiment monitors the call processing details of communication events between users of a telecommunications system as the basis for estimating whether or not a relationship exists between the users that can be exploited in a social-trust network. This is possible because the call processing details of communication events between users is an excellent indicator of the nature of the relationship between users. For example, if Alice calls Brian three times a day on average, including nights, weekends, and holidays, and Brian answers Alice's calls quickly and returns her unanswered calls quickly, then it is reasonable to infer that Alice and Brian have a relationship that is substantial enough to be used in a social-trust network.
US07941382B2
A malicious behavior detection/prevention system, such as an intrusion detection system, is provided that uses active learning to classify entries into multiple classes. A single entry can correspond to either the occurrence of one or more events or the non-occurrence of one or more events. During a training phase, entries are automatically classified into one of multiple classes. After classifying the entry, a generated model for the determined class is utilized to determine how well an entry corresponds to the model. Ambiguous classifications along with entries that do not fit the model well for the determined class are selected for labeling by a human analyst. The selected entries are presented to a human analyst for labeling. These labels are used to further train the classifier and the models. During an evaluation phase, entries are automatically classified using the trained classifier and a policy associated with determined class is applied.
US07941378B2
A method for detection of fraudulent postage indicia such as a stamp or permit marking includes an initial step of introducing a mail piece for processing on an automated facing and canceling machine and imaging the mail piece as it is being processed on the automated facing and canceling machine, which image includes an image of the postage indicia. The image is analyzed according to predetermined criteria stored in a database to determine if the postage indicia meets the predetermined criteria and therefore has an enhanced probability of being valid. If the analysis is step results in a determination that the postage indicia as an enhanced probability of being invalid, then the method involved determining that the information corresponds to counterfeit postage indicia; and storing the resulting information and decision in the database.
US07941371B1
Embodiments of a system and method for administering a deposit account are disclosed. In an embodiment, a secured party may directly access a deposit account electronically and withdraw funds that are pledged to secure an obligation under the terms of a deposit account control agreement, without prior notification of such withdrawal to the bank, and without the active human participation of bank employees. An embodiment of the method includes the secured party accessing the deposit account electronically using a joint account holder personal identification number. An alternative embodiment of the method includes the secured party accessing the deposit account electronically using the secured party's personal identification number. An embodiment of the system includes a user interface for displaying deposit account information and accepting instructions to transfer funds out of the deposit account. An embodiment of the system includes a user interface for displaying information about two or more deposit accounts.
US07941369B2
A method of assisting a business in acquiring merchant services includes the following steps: gathering the information of the business; comparing the gathered information to a repopulated rate grid from merchant acquirers; and providing the business with at least one competitive acquirer rate.
US07941368B2
A method for electronic transaction settlement includes a customer providing an account identifier and contact information to a merchant, the merchant contacting a settlement house and transmitting the account identifier and a transaction amount, the settlement house contacting the customer, preferably via a mobile communication device. The customer then chooses a payment method such as a credit card and the settlement house contacts a credit provider for authorization. If the settlement house receives an authorization, the settlement house transmits it to the client, who approves the amount. The settlement house then completes the transaction with the credit provider and the merchant's bank.
US07941359B2
A computer-based method for combining investment recommendations of individual research providers such as stock analysts. The method includes providing a server running a research team management module. A list of individual research providers is displayed on a client node linked to the server network. A research team is generated based on user input including a number of the research providers. Team rules are assigned to the team defining an algorithm for processing recommendations from the members of the team. Recommendations for securities are retrieved for the research providers on the team, and team recommendations are generated by applying the team rules to the recommendations. Team recommendations are reported to the client node for guiding investments. Processing of the individual recommendations may include applying differing weights to the positive and negative recommendations and combining the weighted recommendations, with the weights being user-selected differentiating strengths of members of the research team.
US07941358B2
The present invention relates to systems and methods for administering combination annuity products and to combination annuity products themselves. Certain embodiments of the invention can be used in connection with variable universal life insurance and variable life insurance contracts.
US07941355B1
A system for and method of providing payment protection upon the occurrence of trigger events. The system and method include an account, which may be associated with a credit card or other financial product. An accountholder may select trigger events and associated benefits. Upon the occurrence of a trigger event, the issuing entity will evaluate whether the accountholder is entitled to receive an associated benefit. Each benefit is intended to address at least one payment obligation. For example, an account may include payment protection in the form of automatic payment of minimum monthly credit card fees should the accountholder involuntarily become unemployed.
US07941348B2
According to the present invention, there is provided a method to facilitate propagating a plurality of transaction listings to a network-based transaction facility. An input interface is presented at a seller application to receive from a user, a plurality of transaction listings, each transaction listing including an associated start time. Also, a data file is composed at the seller application to include the plurality of transaction listings. Moreover, the data file is propagated, using the seller application, from the client computer to the network-based transaction facility.
US07941345B2
A method is disclosed for providing a requested contents and associated contents to a user of a client computer system. A provider's server receives a request from the client computer system to send a first object in an HTML page for display on the client computer system. The provider examines the requested first object and includes a related second object in the HTML page. The HTML page with both objects is then sent to the client computer system for display. In an alternative embodiment, the HTML page is sent to the user with code to receive and display one or more objects sent independently from a second server to the user based on the first content or on user action within the first content.
US07941344B1
A method and apparatus for time incremented purchase price discounting includes a process for time incremented purchase price discounting whereby a seller offers a product for sale on a seller website at an initial purchase price and then the product purchase price is automatically discounted by a predetermined amount at predetermined increments of time until either, the product is sold, or a seller determined minimum product purchase price is reached.
US07941339B2
A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for evaluating a customer network value of a set of customers for a given marketing campaign, said method comprising the steps of storing for each customer static information, collecting for each customer, historical and time cumulative network behavior data, building a customer network map from network behavior data said map describing network relation between nodes, one node representing one customer, computing the social network parameters for the nodes of the network map, selecting the most relevant social network parameters according to the objectives of the given marketing campaign, and, computing for each customer a Customer Network Value Index (NVI) by combining the most relevant social network parameters and static information. When a static information profile is defined for an extended customer population, applying data mining techniques on this population allows estimating a probabilistic NVI for each customer in the extended customer population for which no NVI has been computed.
US07941335B2
In a system and method for conjoint analysis, corresponding utility values are determined for a plurality of individual concept elements and for combinations of multiple concept elements, e.g., pair wise combinations of concept elements. A regression technique, e.g., least squares linear regression, may be used to determine the utility values.
US07941330B1
Information may be received regarding items purchased or otherwise acquired by a user, and the items may be added to an electronic home inventory maintained by an institution system and the items may be added to an insurance policy issued by the institution system. The institution system may receive information about an item from the merchant who sold the item, an appraiser, the user, from a barcode that is provided on the receipt associated with the purchase, by a barcode generated by the user (e.g., using data from the receipt and other information from the user), and/or via data from a financial card transaction directed to the purchase. The user may be provided with a listing of the items, and can select which items are to be included in the home inventory and which items are to be added to an insurance policy.
US07941323B2
A system and method is described that enables a health care provider to monitor and manage a health condition of a patient. The system includes a health care provider apparatus operated by a health care provider and a remotely programmable patient apparatus that is operated by a patient. The health care provider develops a script program using the health care provider apparatus and then sends the script program to a remotely programmable patient apparatus through a communication network such as the World Wide Web. The script program is a computer-executable patient protocol that provides information to the patient about the patient's health condition and that interactively monitors the patient health condition by asking the patient questions and by receiving answers to those questions. The answers to these health related questions are then forwarded as patient data from the remotely programmable patient apparatus to the health care provider apparatus through the communication network. The patient data may also include information supplied by a physiological monitoring device such as a blood glucose monitor that is connected to the remotely programmable patient apparatus. When the patient data arrives at the health care provider apparatus, the patient data is processed for further management of the patient's health condition by the health care provider, such as forwarding another script program to the remotely programmable patient apparatus.
US07941319B2
An energy corrector (105) for correcting a target energy for high-frequency components and a corrective coefficient calculator (106) for calculating an energy corrective coefficient from low-frequency subband signals are newly provided. These processors perform a process for correcting a target energy that is required when a band expanding process is performed on a real number only. Thus, a real subband combining filter and a real band expander which require a smaller amount of calculations can be used instead of a complex subband combining filter and a complex band expander, while maintaining a high sound-quality level, and the required amount of calculations and the apparatus scale can be reduced.
US07941318B2
A public speaking self-evaluation tool that helps a user practice public speaking in terms of avoiding undesirable words or sounds, maintaining a desirable speech rhythm, and ensuring that the user is regularly glancing at the audience. The system provides a user interface through which the user is able to define the undesirable words or sounds that are to be avoided, as well as a maximum frequency of occurrence threshold to be used for providing warning signals based on detection of such filler or undesirable words or sounds. The user interface allows a user to define a speech rhythm, e.g. in terms of spoken syllables per minute, that is another maximum threshold for providing a visual warning indication. The disclosed system also provides a visual indication when the user fails to glance at the audience at least as often as defined by a predefined minimum threshold.
US07941315B2
Accepting the speech having the noise superimposed thereon and converting it into a signal on a time axis of the speech, an amplitude component of a speech for each predetermined frequency band of the converted signal on the frequency axis is calculated. Calculating a noise reduction coefficient, the noise component is reduced by multiplying the signal on the frequency axis of the original signal by the calculated noise reduction coefficient. By estimating the target value of the remaining noise for each frequency band, a signal on a frequency axis in which a signal corresponding to a frequency band of which target value estimated by the noise target value is larger than the value of the amplitude component of the signal on the frequency axis of which noise component is reduced is corrected to a signal corresponding to the target value is restored, into a signal on a time axis.
US07941312B2
Disclosed are a method (500), apparatus (100) and computer program product for generating a mixed-initiative dialog to obtain information for dialog slots. A composite grammar dependent upon a set of unfilled slots is constructed (501). A prompt, dependent upon the a set of unfilled slots, is presented (309) to a user. An utterance is received (301) from the user in response to said prompt. Relevant information is determined based upon the further utterance. One or more said unfilled slots are filled (302) with said relevant information.
US07941304B2
The layout and configuration of wind turbines in a wind power plant includes identifying constraints of a power plant site and defining at least one region in the site for placement of a plurality of wind turbines. The wind state at the region in the site is determined. An actual wind condition at the various possible wind turbine locations within the site is determined by modeling the wind state with wake effects at the respective wind turbine locations. Individual wind turbine configuration and location within the region is then selected as a function of the actual wind conditions each of the individual wind turbine locations to optimize power output of the individual wind turbines. The selection of turbine configuration includes selection of a turbine hub height that minimizes wake loss of the individual wind turbines as a function of the actual wind conditions predicted for the turbine location.
US07941291B2
A method and apparatus for calculating distance in an assembly operation. The method includes the steps of providing an assembly comprising a first part, a second part and a driver coupled to the first part. The driver arranged to selectively move the first part relative to the second part. The method also includes actuating the driver to selectively move the first part between a first known position and a second position and registering speed and/or acceleration data of the driver between the first known position and the second position. The time interval for the first part to move between the first known position and the second position is measured. The distance moved by the first part between the first known position and the second position using the measured time interval and the data registered from the driver can then be calculated.
US07941289B2
Systems and processes may provide calibration of a fuel dispenser. In particular implementations, fuel dispenser systems and processes may include the ability to determine whether a fuel delivery measurement of a fuel dispenser should be calibrated and adjust the fuel dispenser in response to the calibration.
US07941287B2
Methodologies are disclosed for analyzing periodic jitter is a signal pattern using a continuous time interval analyzer. Sampled signal patterns may be correlated using time interval error calculations to determine start and stop sequences within sampled blocks of signal data while sampling synchronization may be achieved based on time interval calculations or pattern interval error calculations.
US07941286B2
Systems and techniques for varying a scan rate in a measurement instrument. The techniques may be used in scanning probe instruments, including atomic force microscopes (AFMs) and other scanning probe microscopes, as well as profilometers and confocal optical microscopes. This allows the selective imaging of particular regions of a sample surface for accurate measurement of critical dimensions within a relatively small data acquisition time.
US07941280B2
A procedure for checking the functionality of a tank ventilation valve of a tank ventilation system for a motor vehicle with a fuel tank, an adsorbing filter, which is connected to the fuel tank over a filter line and which provides a vent pipe, and with the tank ventilation valve, which is connected to the inlet manifold of a combustion engine that provides an actuator for the idle mode over valve pipes, is thereby characterized, in that the mass flow that flows through the tank ventilation valve in the idle mode of the combustion engine and the mass flow that flows through the actuator for the idle mode are detected and in that the functionality of the tank ventilation valve is deduced from a variation of the actuator for the idle mode.
US07941278B2
Disclosed are methods of identifying microRNA motifs or microRNA precursors for a target gene or a set of target genes. Also disclosed are related computer-readable media.
US07941272B2
A wireless terminal displays its location and navigation information (map segment) on its display. The wireless terminal accesses a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the wireless terminal to determine its location coordinates. The wireless terminal determines a maximum data size for navigation information to be downloaded. The wireless terminal sends a navigation information download request to a map server via a supporting wireless network infrastructure that includes the location coordinates and the maximum data size. The wireless terminal receives navigation information that has a data size no greater than the maximum data size and displays the navigation information on the display. The wireless terminal may display a map segment and an icon representing the wireless terminal at a location corresponding to the location coordinates of the wireless terminal with respect to the map segment. The wireless terminal may download a premises map from a premises map server.
US07941268B2
A bearing calculator provided with a geomagnetic sensor for detecting earth-geomagnetism and a control unit for calculating a geographical bearing based on detection values of the geomagnetic sensor. The control unit can execute offset error correction processing for correcting the offset error to the geomagnetic sensor based on a change in the magnetic field inside the bearing calculator. When detection values of the geomagnetic sensor enter an abnormal state, it performs said offset error correction processing when the abnormal state continues for a predetermined time, while does not perform the offset error correction processing when the abnormal state ends within a predetermined time.
US07941267B2
Systems, methods and computer program products are provided for matching a passenger with a driver for a trip to a destination. Characteristic information about a plurality of drivers is received and a plurality of selection criteria are received from the passenger. A request for the trip is received from the passenger. One of the drivers is automatically identified as a candidate driver for the trip based on the selection criteria and the characteristic information responsive to the received request. Contact information is provided to the passenger and/or the identified candidate driver to match the passenger with the identified candidate driver. One or more of the drivers may be associated with transportation service providing companies and the request for the trip may be a reservation request for a planned trip at a scheduled time in the future and the reservation request may include a date and/or time defining the scheduled time in the future.
US07941264B2
When it is detected in a fuel supply device for a flexible-fuel internal combustion engine that a refueling operation has been performed for a fuel tank, a return suppression process in which fuel in a delivery pipe is prohibited from returning to the fuel tank through a high-pressure return passage is executed until a concentration learning process is started. After the concentration learning process is started, a compulsory return process in which fuel in the delivery pipe is compulsorily returned to the fuel tank through the high-pressure return passage is executed.
US07941256B2
A vehicle suspension wear prediction and indication method includes processing data inputs from a suspension system and converting the data inputs into a cumulative wear estimate. The data inputs are selected to model a magnitude factor and a duration factor related to the operation of the suspension system.
US07941255B2
In a method and apparatus for detecting shock absorber damage, features of a shock absorber are determined by analyzing a signal of an antilock braking system rotational wheel speed sensor.
US07941246B2
An automatic generation control (AGC) augmentation system and method for wind power plant integration for controlling the power contribution to a grid by the wind plant is disclosed that provides for the calculation of the area control error (ACE) by actively communicating to the wind plant ramp rate limits and curtailment requests contributing to the ACE calculation. The augmented control of the ACE minimizes the amount of lost energy production by the wind plant.
US07941240B2
A position ensuring system includes an A-axis calibration system which measures a displacement angle, which is an error between a target value and a measured value of the pivot angle of the spindle head about the A-axis, and corrects the pivot angle about the A-axis in such a manner that the displacement angle as measured with the corrected pivot angle as a target value fall within a tolerable range. A corrected data storage device stores the corrected pivot angle about the A-axis. An A-axis control system reads out the corrected pivot angle about the A-axis, the corrected pivot angle about the A-axis to pivot the spindle head when executing oblique machining of the inclined hole.
US07941236B2
A production and inventory control for a manufacturing facility is provided that facilitates and coordinates improved planning and execution of such facility in a supply chain with a focus on providing an improved and robust planning, production and inventory control, even in the presence of uncertainty. This may include Optimal Planning that can balance the need for low inventory, low cost (i.e., high utilization of equipment and labor), and efficient on-time delivery. The result of such planning is not a schedule per se but a set of parameters that form a dynamic policy that generates an evolving schedule as conditions (demand, production) materialize. An Optimal Execution applies the dynamic policy resulting in a manufacturing system that is robust enough to accommodate moderate changes in demand and/or capacity without the need to reschedule. Optimal Execution may also involve a “Capacity Trigger” that detects when the assumptions regarding demand and capacity used to determine the dynamic policy are no longer valid. The Capacity Trigger also may provide a Trigger Signal to the planner indicating the need for either more or less capacity.
US07941234B2
An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to radiation based on parameters. The apparatus includes a display, an input device, and a processor configured to execute a program for editing the parameters. The processor is configured to cause, in accordance with the program, the display to display a first group of a first classification name for classifying the parameters, a plurality of names of works to be executed by the apparatus, a second group of a second classification name for classifying the parameters, a plurality of names of functions, each of which is contained in at least one of the works, and contents of parameters corresponding to a combination of one of the plurality of names of works of the first classification name and one of the plurality of names of functions of the second classification name, respectively selected by the input device.
US07941230B1
The present invention provides a control apparatus and the like capable of performing exclusive control in a network without adding a new configuration to an existing apparatus to be controlled and, even in the case where the apparatus to be controlled or the like drops from the network, capable of maintaining and continuing the original exclusive control state.In a bus system S in which an apparatus C to be controlled and a control apparatus CC are exclusively associated with each other and the operation of one apparatus C to be controlled is controlled by one control apparatus CC, exclusive control information indicating correspondence between operation of each of the apparatuses C to be controlled and a control apparatus CC which controls the operation is stored similarly in all of the control apparatuses CC with respect to each of the apparatuses to be controlled. The operation in any of the apparatuses C to be controlled is controlled by the control apparatus CC on the basis of the stored exclusive control information.
US07941226B2
A medical device lead is presented. The medical device lead includes a lead body, an electrode shaft, and a tip electrode. A magnetostrictive element is coupled to the electrode shaft. The magnetostrictive element comprises either terfenol-D and/or galfenol or any material with sufficient magnetostrictive properties. The magnetostrictive element expands when exposed to magnetic resonance imaging.
US07941225B2
A medical device lead is presented. The medical device lead includes a lead body, an electrode shaft, and a tip electrode. A magnetostrictive element is coupled to the electrode shaft. The magnetostrictive element comprises either terfenol-D and/or galfenol or any material with sufficient magnetostrictive properties. The magnetostrictive element expands when exposed to magnetic resonance imaging.
US07941222B2
A vision regeneration assisting apparatus for regenerating vision of a patient includes an extracorporeal device and an intracorporeal device. The extracorporeal device includes a transmitting unit that converts an electrical stimulation pulse signal data of image data and power into a predetermined signal and transmitting the signal. The intracorporeal device includes a receiving unit that receives the signal transmitted from the transmitting unit, and a conductor that is covered with a resin having biocompatibility and insulating property and electrically connects a first control unit for converting the received stimulation pulse signal data and the power into a predetermined alternating current signal and a second control unit for outputting an electrical stimulation pulse signal from electrodes based on the alternating current signal to each other to send the alternating current signal.
US07941218B2
Methods and apparatus for optimizing an atrioventricular (AV) pacing delay interval based upon ECG-based optimization is calculated as a linear function of P-wave duration, sensed PR (intrinsic) interval, sensed or paced QRS duration and heart rate. Since the relationship among these parameters is linear, once the coefficients are solved (which can be any value, including null) with reference to a known optimized AV interval (AVopt) such as from an echocardiographic study, an AVopt value can be dynamically adjusted in an ambulatory subject. The various combinations of values can be loaded into a look up table or calculated automatically. And, since some of the parameters do not typically change much over time they can be determined acutely and fed into the equation while the other values can be measured frequently. The parameter values can be measured by an implantable medical device such as a dual- or triple-chamber pacemaker.
US07941216B2
A method and device for treating myocardial ischemia are described in which the stress experienced by a myocardial region identified as vulnerable to becoming ischemic is varied with pre-excitation pacing. In an unloading mode, pacing is applied in proximity to the vulnerable region to reduce stress and the metabolic demand of the region. In a loading mode, pacing is applied to a region remote from the vulnerable region in order to produce a conditioning effect.
US07941212B2
A method for local delivery of a drug is provided. The method comprises the acts of (a) implanting a medical device carrying a drug-containing coating in a patient for the sustained local delivery of the drug, wherein at least a portion of the coating is transformed from crystalline structure to amorphous structure; and (b) applying an electric current for an interval of time to the device for increasing the rate of release of the drug, wherein the coating is further transformed from crystalline structure to amorphous structure; and (c) terminating the current after an interval of time, wherein at least a portion of the amorphous structure in the coating is at least partially restored to crystalline structure.
US07941208B2
Methods and systems for identifying tachyarrhythmia episode types and delivering therapy to mitigate the identified tachyarrhythmia episode types are described. Electrogram signals of cardiac activity are sensed and stored by an implantable cardiac device. Tachyarrhythmia episodes are detected and tachyarrhythmia episode types are identified based on characteristics of the electrogram signals. In preparation for performing ablation, a tachyarrhythmia episode is induced. The features of the induced tachyarrhythmia episode are compared to characteristics of the identified episode types. A similarity between the induced tachyarrhythmia episode and at least one of the episode types identified from the stored electrogram signals is indicated to facilitate performing the ablation.
US07941204B1
Methods of acquiring magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data for angiography. The present invention includes novel magnetization preparation schemes where the navigator and fat saturation pulses are executed in steady state after the preparatory pulses in order to minimize the delay between the magnetization preparation and the image echoes. The present invention also provides for improved methods of contrast-enhanced MRI where data are collected along non-linear trajectories through k-space and may also involve novel view ordering. In addition, the present methods employ novel motion corrections that minimize motion artifacts. The present invention further provides novel methods of self-calibrated sensitivity-encoded parallel imaging that allow for accurate and rapid scanning of subjects.
US07941192B2
A torsion coil spring has first and second coil parts and first to third straight line parts. One end of the first coil part is continued to a first straight line part, while the other end is continued to one end of a second straight line part. The other end of the second straight line part is continued to one end of a second coil part, and the other end of the second coil part is continued to one end of the third straight line part. Also, a mobile terminal having a first housing slidably coupled to a second housing is provided. On the surface of the second housing, a pair of rail parts is provided extending in a sliding direction of the first housing. Between the rail parts, the torsion coil spring is provided for aiding sliding of the first housing on the rail parts of the second housing.
US07941187B2
In the wireless communication base station sharing apparatus, a first signal combiner/distributor is connected to a main system duplexer through a first port, distributes a signal received through the first port to second and third ports, combines the signals received through the second and third ports according to the phases of the signals, and provides the combined signal through the first port or a fourth port. A second signal combiner/distributor is connected to a subsystem duplexer through a fifth port and the antenna through an eighth port, distributes a signal received through the fifth port to sixth and seventh ports, combines the signals received through the sixth and seventh ports according to the phases of the signals, and provides the combined signal through the fifth or eighth port. Variable filters are provided in signal paths between the first and second signal combiner/distributors.
US07941185B2
A mobile terminal of displaying data by individual SIM cards and a display method of sorting data according to individual SIM cards includes the steps of authenticating a SIM card that is inserted into the mobile terminal when the power is on by retrieving subscriber information stored in the SIM card and displaying data stored by the authenticated SIM card user in a different form than other data. When a mobile terminal is shared by a plurality of users, data may be displayed in different forms according to the SIM card inserted into the mobile terminal.
US07941183B2
A telephone and an incoming call notification method for the telephone in which telephone book data can be used to sound an incoming call sound of a specified date such as a birthday for a specific caller. When an incoming call to the mobile telephone of the present invention arrives from another telephone (s21), a control part of the mobile telephone determines whether or not a notification of the caller's telephone number has been made (s22). The birthday or the like of the caller can be quickly relayed before the telephone is taken off-hook, and an entertainment function can be provided.
US07941180B2
A hand held radio host includes circuitry for selectively providing power to radiating transceiver elements and non-radiating application elements according to a plurality of power modes of operation to achieve desired effects and in a way that saves power and extends battery life. In one embodiment of the invention, the hand held host operates in one of three modes. In a full power mode, any selected application element as well as all transceiver elements are powered on at the same time. Thus, for example, a cell phone module, a wireless personal access network module, a wireless local area network module and one of a pager/short message service message module may all be powered on at the same time to receive corresponding messages, calls, data sessions, etc. At the same time that all of the transceiver elements are powered on, any selected application element receives power. Thus, application elements such as address books, calendar functions, games, word processors, etc may receive power when selected.
US07941179B2
A system and method providing concurrent multimode communication through multimode signal multiplexing. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise, during a first time period, transmitting a first portion of a first communication in a first communication mode in a serial wireless transmission stream. During a second time period after the first time period, a first portion of a second communication may be transmitted in a second communication mode in the serial wireless transmission stream. Also, during a third time period after the second time period, a second portion of the first communication may be transmitted in the first communication mode in the serial wireless transmission stream. In an exemplary scenario, prior to communicating various communications, transmission time may be allocated between the first and second communication modes. In another exemplary scenario, transmission may be switched between a plurality of communication modes in response to detected communication conditions.
US07941178B2
Embodiments of systems and methods for Bluetooth and WiMAX coexistence are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. In some embodiments systems and methods are described to determine a temporal reference associated a frame, and then align another wireless frame with that temporal reference. Once aligned, transmissions and receptions in one wireless frame may be arranged to not temporally overlap with transmissions or reception the other wireless frame.
US07941170B2
A wireless transmitter comprises ID signal storage module for storing an ID signal that identifies a group to which a data signal to be transmitted belongs and provides, for each group, second or higher-order statistic properties unique to each group; modulator for modulating the data signal; wireless signal ID assignment module for associating the modulated signal thus modulated with the stored ID signal and for generating a signal to be transmitted, by assigning second or higher-order statistic properties that correspond with the ID signal to the modulated signal that is associated with the ID signal; and wireless signal transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the signal thus generated.
US07941166B2
Data is transmitted via time division multiple access methods and every radio cell includes one base station each for the radio coverage of a plurality of mobile stations assigned to the radio cell. The base station receives, in addition to mobile station signals of its own radio cell, mobile station signals of neighboring radio cells and determines, on the basis of the mobile station signals received, a time synchronization value and/or a frequency synchronization value to which the base station synchronizes itself.
US07941164B2
A cellular communicating device (10). The device comprises means (221) for communicating bi-directional data to and from a cellular transceiver station along a bi -directional channel (30S). The device also comprises means (222) for receiving SPS information. The device also comprises means (223) for receiving broadcast Doppler information from a source other than the bi-directional channel and an SPS system. Lastly, the device also comprises means (24) for determining a location fix of the electronic device in response to the SPS information and the broadcast Doppler information.
US07941161B2
System for providing alert-based communication services for which corresponding alert conditions to be met by mobile stations are defined. The system includes an alert engine capable of firing alerts associated with the alert-based communication services if location data regarding the mobile stations is indicative of the mobile stations meeting the alert conditions corresponding to the alert-based communication services. A requirements engine is provided for determining an expected earliest future time at which at least one alert condition is capable of being met by a particular mobile station and outputting a data element indicative of a requirement to obtain updated location data about the particular mobile station in advance of the expected earliest future time. Also provided is a scheduler for receiving expiry times data indicative of a plurality of expiry times relating to respective location requests, processing the expiry times data for determining an order for servicing the location requests by positioning determining equipment (PDE) at least in part on a basis on the expiry times of the location requests and an output for interfacing with the PDE, allowing it to service the location requests according to the order determined.
US07941159B2
A radio device that is capable of positioning itself within a broadcast radio system includes a receiver operable to receive a plurality of broadcast radio signals, each broadcast from a respective one of a plurality of broadcast radio signal sources. The radio device further includes processing circuitry operable to determine respective call station identification information for each of the broadcast radio signal sources from the broadcast radio signals, measure respective signal quality characteristics for each of the received broadcast radio signals, identify station position data associated with each of the broadcast radio signal sources from the respective call station identification information, and calculate a location of the radio device using the signal quality characteristics and station position data associated with at least three broadcast radio signal sources.
US07941154B2
A method for providing, in a communication network including at least a first and a second set of resources, a service to users of at least a first and a second type. The users of the first type are in a condition to be provided said service only by means of said first set of resources, while the users of the second type are in a condition to be provided said service both by means of the first set of resources and by means of the second set of resources. The method includes the steps of detecting during at least one time interval, the total number of requests for service coming from said users, identifying within the total number the fraction of requests adapted to be met only by means of the first set of resources, identifying at least one parameter representative of said fraction, and providing the service to the users of the second type by means of the second set of resources as a function of the at least one parameter.
US07941151B2
A method and wireless communication system for providing channel assignment information used to support an uplink (UL) channel and a downlink (DL) channel. The system includes at least one Node-B and at least one wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). The WTRU communicates with the Node-B via a common control channel, the UL channel and the DL channel. The WTRU receives a message from the Node-B via the common control channel. The message includes an indication of whether the message is intended for assigning radio resources to the UL channel or the DL channel. The WTRU determines whether the message is intended for the WTRU and, if so, the WTRU determines whether the message is for assigning radio resources to the UL channel or the DL channel. The WTRU takes an appropriate action based on whether the message is for assigning radio resources to the UL channel or the DL channel.
US07941150B2
A method and system for allocating shareable wireless transmission resources. A resource pool is established. The resource pool is divided into a plurality of physical layer allocation units usable for wirelessly transmitting control information and traffic data. The allocation units are assigned at the media access control layer for the wireless transmission of the control information and traffic data. The system and method of the present invention also allows mobile stations to be dynamically grouped into multicast groupings to reduce system overhead resource requirements.
US07941138B2
A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is operated in conjunction with a wired Local Area Network (wired LAN) to service a premises, e.g., a campus setting. The wired LAN services the wired communication needs of the premises and serves as the wired backbone of the WLAN. A plurality of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) of the WLAN couple to the wired backbone and are serviced by the LAN. With this shared structure, wired network components, e.g., multi-layer switches, manage the operation of WLAN components, i.e., WAPs. Such management includes ensuring that the WAPs provide sufficient bandwidth to support wireless packetized voice communications. Additional management operations include WAP access, wireless terminal registration, and channel resource allocation, among others.
US07941134B2
The communication form of each terminal which participates in PTT communication is registered in a call control server in advance. When performing PTT communication, a call control server (100a) detects the communication form of each terminal. As a result, speech data is extracted from moving image data transmitted from a transmission terminal and is delivered to a speech PTT terminal which can receive only speech data (S11, S12). On the other hand, moving image data transmitted from a transmission terminal is delivered to a moving image PTT terminal compatible with moving image data without any change (S13). This makes it possible to implement PTT communication in accordance with the communication form of each terminal.
US07941133B2
A method for managing appointments using a wireless device includes receiving scheduling data for a future appointment including a time associated with the future appointment. A current location of the wireless device is determined, and a reminder for the future appointment is provided at a time prior to the future appointment based on the current location of the wireless device. For example, the reminder may be provided at a time that varies based on the current location of the wireless device, a location associated with the future appointment, and an estimated travel time between the current location of the device and the location associated with the future appointment. Related methods, devices, and computer program products are also discussed.
US07941132B2
A mobile communication device (100) downloads an application file (300), which includes an application (302) and a menu parameter set (306). The mobile communication device uses custom menu categories (502), and the application is delivered using standardized categories. The mobile communication device maps the application's standardized category to one of the custom categories, and adds the application name to the custom category.
US07941112B2
The method according to the invention for adjusting the tuning of a receiver circuit for receiving modulated a high frequency signal within a frequency range, the high frequency signal comprising a sync signal, uses the steps of shifting a frequency of a local oscillator within the frequency range and looking for the sync signal, and storing the value of a first frequency, when a sync signal is recognized. Then, the frequency of the local oscillator is continuously shifted in the same frequency direction across the bandwidth of the modulated high frequency signal by controlling the presence of the sync signal. The frequency, at which the sync signal is lost, is stored as a second frequency. From the first and the second frequency in a further step an optimum tuning frequency, located between the first and second frequency, is calculated for the reception for the high frequency signal. The receiver circuit comprises in particular a sync signal detector coupled to an output of an intermediate frequency filter and a controller circuit coupled to the sync signal detector and a local oscillator for performing the method.
US07941107B2
A communications transceiver includes a baseband processor, a receiver section, and a transmitter section that includes a power amplifier. The receiver and transmitter sections communicatively couple to the baseband processor. In a calibration operation, the baseband processor produces a test signal to the transmitter section. Further, the baseband processor causes each of a plurality of power amplifier bias settings to be applied to the power amplifier. For each of the plurality of power amplifier bias settings, the power amplifier produces an amplified test signal, the receiver section couples back a portion of the amplified test signal to the baseband processor, and the baseband processor produces a characterization of the amplified test signal respective. Based upon a plurality of characterizations of the amplified test signal and respective power amplifier bias settings, the baseband processor determines power amplifier bias control settings. The baseband processor then applies the power amplifier bias control settings to the power amplifier.
US07941105B1
The present invention is an RF cancellation circuit located between the output of a power amplifier and downstream circuitry, such as a transmitting antenna. The RF cancellation circuit cancels reflections resulting from antenna impedance mismatches, thereby presenting a constant load impedance to the output of the power amplifier. The RF cancellation circuit extracts a portion of the reflected signal, phase-shifts by 180 degrees and amplifies the extracted portion of the reflected signal to create a cancellation signal, and then cancels the balance of the reflected signal by adding in the cancellation signal. Directional circuitry is used to process the reflected signals without interfering with normal transmitted signals. Presenting a constant load impedance to the output of the power amplifier helps facilitate compliance with total radiated power into load mismatch specifications.
US07941101B2
Apparatus and method for removing interference noise in a personal communication terminal. A function of removing interference noise is adapted to the personal communication terminal, and adjustment parameters for removing interference noises are continuously set to up-to-date adjustment parameters, so that, in the activation of broadcast receiving, a turn-on stabilizing time of the personal communication terminal can be reduced, and the broadcast receiving performance can be maintained at an optimum state.
US07941097B1
The present invention is a transponder for transmitting a RFID signal for shot tracking a golfer's round of golf while conserving battery power, comprising a battery in electrical communication with a resistor, the resistor in electrical communication with a capacitor and a load switch, which in turn is in electrical communication with a microprocessor comprising a radiofrequency transceiver.
US07941093B2
A method for frequency conversion within a satellite-based repeater system. An uplink radio frequency signal having a frequency fRF is received. A first and at least a second local oscillator signal having frequencies fL01 and fLO2, respectively, is generated. The uplink signal is mixed at a first frequency conversion stage with the first local oscillator signal to generate an intermediate signal having a frequency fMF. The intermediate signal is mixed at a second frequency conversion stage with the at least second local oscillator signal to generate a downlink signal having a frequency fIF. The generation and mixing of the signals are performed such that: fLO1 and fLO2>fRF and fIF fMF=fLO1−fRF, and fIF=fLO2−fMF.
US07941089B2
A image forming system that can prevent a toner from coming off while reducing the amount of consumption of a clear toner in binding sheets into a book. An image forming apparatus 100 forms an image on a sheet. A clear coating apparatus 200 forms a clear coating image on the sheet using the clear toner that becomes transparent after fixing. A bookbinding apparatus 600 connected to the image forming apparatus 100 and the clear coating apparatus 200 subjects the sheet to folding process. A job controller 501 and an image controller 502 cause the clear coating apparatus 200 to form the clear toner image at a folding position on the sheet in response to designation of a folding mode in the bookbinding apparatus 600.
US07941085B2
A system for stabilizing a fuser core in an imaging device. The system includes a fuser core having a body and two opposing ends, and a pair of hubs. The opposing ends of the fuser core are configured with ratchet type geometric profiles that mate with ratchet type geometric profiles configured on the corresponding hubs. The system also includes two elastomeric collars each of which is at least partially disposed between the end of the fuser core and the corresponding mating hub.
US07941077B2
A conductive member includes a conductive supporter, an electric resistance adjusting layer formed on the conductive supporter and gap retaining members which are of a different material from that of the electric resistance adjusting layer and are disposed respectively at both ends of the electric resistance adjusting layer for contacting an image carrier so as to maintain a predetermined gap between the electric resistance adjusting layer and the image carrier, wherein the electric resistance adjusting layer is made from a resin composition containing a thermoplastic resin containing an ether group, an organic phosphonium salt and a fluorine-containing organic anion salt.
US07941067B2
An apparatus (100) that detects blade deflection from a print assembly contact surface is disclosed. The apparatus can include a print assembly (110) rotationally supported in the apparatus, where the print assembly can have a print assembly contact surface (112) and a print assembly conductor (114). The apparatus can include a blade (120) configured to be coupled to the print assembly contact surface and a blade conductive layer (130) coupled to the blade. The apparatus can include a sensor (140) configured to measure a capacitance between the blade conductive layer and the print assembly conductor.
US07941066B2
An image forming apparatus comprising a heating rotating body which heats a toner image while nipping and conveying a recording material bearing the toner image, a fan which cools down the heating rotating body, and a duct adapted in such a manner that air which is blown by the fan so as to cool down the heating rotating body does not pass through a recording material conveying path.
US07941059B1
In one embodiment, a down conversion receiver is provided for a phase modulated optical signal. This may include an optical coupler coupled to be capable of receiving a phase modulated signal and a local oscillator signal, and a modulator coupled to an input of the optical coupler so as to be capable of modulating one of: (1) a phase modulated signal; or (2) a local oscillator signal. A photodetector circuit is located to be capable of detecting signals coupled by the optical coupler, with a sub-band selector circuit coupled to be capable of receiving signals from the photodetector circuit. The sub-band selector circuit has an output coupled to a modulating input of the modulator.
US07941057B2
An optical transmitter is disclosed for transmitting a signal along a dispersive medium to a receiver. The optical transmitter generates adiabatically chirped profile having an initial pulse width and frequency excursion chosen such that high frequency data sequences include one bits that interfere destructively at a middle point of an intervening zero bit upon arrival at the receiver.
US07941045B2
A camera body that includes a lens attaching unit to which an interchangeable lens unit including a lens-side contact is mountable and that communicates information with the interchangeable lens unit when the interchangeable lens unit is attached to the lens attaching unit, the camera body comprising: a substrate; a holding member fixed to the substrate and formed of a conductive material; a body-side contact that is electrically connected to the lens-side contact when the interchangeable lens unit is mounted to the camera body and that is held by the holding member so as to be movable between a projected position at which the body-side contact projects from the holding member and a retracted position; and a biasing unit that biases the body-side contact to the projected position, wherein the body-side contact is electrically connected to the holding member.
US07941039B1
Provided herein are assemblies that, when coupled to an object, are capable of keeping the object at a uniform elevated temperature while removing large amounts of heat from an external source. Applications include various integrated circuit fabrication processes that use such external sources to expose wafers to radiation. In certain embodiments, the assemblies include a pedestal for supporting the wafer or other object. In certain embodiments, the assemblies include a calibrated heat resistance that allows heat be conducted away from the pedestal and wafer to maintain the desired set-point temperature. In certain embodiments, the pedestal may have one or more protrusions used to dissipate or transfer heat from the pedestal to a heat sink. Also, in certain embodiments, the pedestal surface is configured to have a spectral reflectivity of desired values in such way as to reflect the wavelengths that are emitted by an external radiant heat source.
US07941035B2
There are provided an information storage medium capable of real-time recording/playback of digital moving picture information, and a digital information recording/playback system using this medium. In a medium that records/plays back data including video data and control information, the control information (DA21 in FIG. 4; RTR_VMG in FIG. 30) includes information (VOBU entry in FIG. 31) for accessing a specific portion (VOBU) of the video data.
US07941033B2
In case continuous reproduction is commanded from a first AV stream to a second AV stream, a third AV stream, made up of a preset portion of the first AV stream and a preset portion of the second AV stream, is generated. The third AV stream is reproduced when reproduction is switched from the first AV stream to the second AV stream. As information pertinent to the third AV stream, the address information of a source packet of the first AV stream at a time of switching from the first AV stream to the third AV stream and the address information of a source packet of the second AV stream at a time of switching from the third AV stream to the second AV stream, are generated. This enables reproduction such as to maintain continuity between separately recorded AV streams.
US07941021B2
The present disclosure is generally directed to a fiber optic distribution cable assembly having an interior portion and an exterior portion. A distribution cable includes a plurality of optical fibers disposed within the interior portion and at least one predetermined mid-span access location positioned along a length of the distribution cable to provide access from the exterior portion to the interior portion. At least one optical fiber of the distribution cable is accessed and terminated from the distribution cable within the interior portion of the distribution cable. A tether having a first end is attached to the distribution cable through the mid-span access location. The tether has at least one optical fiber optically connected to the at least one terminated optical fiber of the distribution cable at a location within the interior portion of the distribution cable.
US07941016B2
A touch panel optical waveguide which obviates the need for positioning light receiving cores of the optical waveguide with respect to light emitting cores of the optical waveguide, and to provide a touch panel employing the optical waveguide. A projection (5) is provided in one of longitudinally opposite end portions of an elongated optical waveguide (A), and a recess (6) to be engaged with the projection (5) is provided in the other end portion of the elongated optical waveguide (A). By engaging the projection (5) with the recess (6), distal ends of light emitting cores (3) are automatically and accurately opposed to distal ends of light receiving cores (3) with the intervention of a display screen of a touch panel.
US07941004B2
A computer implemented technique for producing super resolution images from ordinary images or videos containing a number of images wherein a number of non-smooth low resolution patches comprising an image are found using edge detection methodologies. The low resolution patches are then transformed using selected basis of a Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Gaussian process regression is used to generate high resolution patches using a trained model. The high resolution patches are then combined into a high resolution image or video.
US07941000B2
An image of a physical object is produced by receiving a plurality of raw images, dividing the plurality of raw images into a first subset of primary images and a second subset of secondary images according to a predetermined criterion. From the first subset of primary images an intermediate image is determined while from the second subset of secondary images a mask image is determined. Afterwards a registration of the intermediate image and the mask image is performed by using direct registration of predetermined features present in the intermediate image and the mask image. A fused image of the physical object is generated out of the mask image and the intermediate image.
US07940999B2
A method of registering 3-dimensional digitized images to 2-dimensional digitized images during a medical procedure includes providing a pair of correctly-registered training images L={lr, lf} and their joint intensity distribution pl(ir, if), wherein ir and if are reference and floating images, respectively, providing a pair of observed images O={or, of} and their joint intensity distribution po(ir, if), mapping a marginal intensity distribution of the observed pair O={or, of} to a marginal intensity distribution of the training pair L={lr, lf}, and estimating a set of parameters T that registers image of to image or by maximizing a weighted sum of a Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) of a joint intensity distribution of the observed pair and a joint intensity distribution of the training pair and a similarity measure between the observed images.
US07940996B2
An image comprises columns and rows of blocks of pixels. In each row and/or column, a series of pairs of blocks of pixels comprise first and second adjacent blocks of pixels, with the second block in a previous pair of blocks corresponding to the first block in a next pair of blocks. For at least a part of the pairs of blocks in at least a part of the rows and/or columns of blocks in the image, a method determines an indication of a block boundary between the first and second blocks. The method decides based on the determined indication whether the block boundary is a visible or invisible block boundary. These steps are then repeated for a next pair. If at least one invisible block boundary is present between two visible block boundaries, it is decided that a uniform image distortion zone has been detected.
US07940991B2
Reference grid information is supplied from a tiling unit to an order control unit. The order control unit generates three control signals on the basis of the reference grid information and outputs them. The first control signal is a signal for controlling the execution order of a vertical low-pass filter and a vertical high-pass filter. The second control signal is a signal for controlling the execution order of a horizontal low-pass filter and a horizontal high-pass filter. The third control signal is a signal for controlling the execution order of a horizontal low-pass filter and a horizontal high-pass filter.
US07940983B2
An image processing method includes: inputting color image data obtained by capturing an image at a given imaging sensitivity level; and converting the color image data to a specific uniform color space determined in correspondence to the imaging sensitivity level.
US07940979B2
A method includes receiving a request for a first check image and a second check image. The request includes a first identifier associated with the first check image and a second identifier associated with the second check image. The method further includes retrieving the first check image using the first identifier. The method also includes retrieving the second check image using the second identifier. The method further includes transmitting the first check image and the second check image in response to the request.
US07940971B2
A method and system for extracting motion-based layers from fluoroscopic image sequences are disclosed. Portions of multiple objects, such as anatomical structures, are detected in the fluoroscopic images. Motion of the objects is estimated between the images is the sequence of fluoroscopic images. The images in the fluoroscopic image sequence are then divided into layers based on the estimated motion. In a particular implementation, the coronary vessel tree and the diaphragm can be extracted in separate motion layers from coronary angiograph fluoroscopic image sequence.
US07940966B2
A system, computer program product, and related methods are described for obtaining, processing, and/or and archiving full-field breast image data, such as full-field breast ultrasound (FFBU) data, in a manner that promotes ready integration with current x-ray mammogram-based breast cancer screening methodologies, and which can alternatively be used to support a full-field-only environment. Two-dimensional thick-slice images computed from a three-dimensional data volume are used to facilitate efficient archiving for a breast imaging session, the two-dimensional thick-slice images corresponding to slab-like subvolumes of the breast. Clinician data overload problems that can arise from the existence of large amounts of three-dimensional full-field breast image data are reduced. Archive space is also preserved while still providing sufficient information data for future reference purposes. Related adjunctive full-field workflow methods are also described. The described embodiments are applicable to FFBU imaging and other full-field breast imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, PET, and others.
US07940964B2
Image data obtained by capturing an image including a human is received. The image data is analyzed and a part of the image including a human face is extracted. A prescribed part of the extracted human face is detected. Brightness of the image data is adjusted with reference to the prescribed part to obtain adjusted image data. An image is printed based on the adjusted image data.
US07940954B2
Techniques for watermarking digital representations such as MPEG audio frames that spread the watermark information across the entire audio frame. The techniques work in conjunction with lossy compression techniques and are compatible with the perception models that are often used with lossy compression techniques. The watermark information is spread by means of transformations between the space/time domain and the frequency domain. When a MPEG audio frame is being watermarked, the compressed audio frame as it is produced by the quantizer is transformed from the frequency domain to the time domain; the time domain transformation is then randomized using a key and the randomized time domain transformation is transformed into the frequency domain. The watermark information is added at a predetermined frequency in the frequency domain transformation and the sequence of transformations is done in reverse order, with the randomization and derandomization serving to distribute the watermark information across the frequency domain representation of the watermarked audio frame.
US07940952B2
An electro-acoustic transducer includes a generally V-shaped diaphragm comprising a folded sheet of film material. The diaphragm also comprises two upper ends, a lower end, an inner surface, and an outer surface. A frame supports the diaphragm in at least the two upper ends of the diaphragm and a structured conductive layer is arranged on a surface of the diaphragm. Permanent magnets are attached to the frame adjacent to the upper two ends and the lower end of the diaphragm.
US07940945B2
There is provided a method for operating a receiver unit (12) for receiving audio signals from a remote transmission unit (10) via a wireless audio link (56), comprising: connecting an audio signal output (41) of the receiver unit (12) to an audio signal input (42) of a hearing instrument (14A, 14B) comprising means (52) located at a user's ear or in the user's ear canal for stimulating the user's hearing according to the audio signals from the receiver unit (12) and a microphone arrangement (44); measuring by means (34, 38) included in the receiver unit (12) the impedance of the audio signal input (42) of the hearing instrument (14A, 14B); and adjusting the impedance of the audio signal output (41) of the receiver unit (12) according to the measured impedance of the audio signal input (42) of the hearing instrument (14A, 14B).
US07940944B2
A directional silicon condenser microphone having an additional back chamber is disclosed. The directional silicon condenser microphone comprises a case having a front sound hole for passing through a front sound; a acoustic delay device for delaying a phase of a sound; a substrate including a chamber case, a MEMS chip having an additional back chamber formed by the chamber case, an ASIC chip for operating the MEMS chip, a conductive pattern for bonding the substrate to the case, and a rear sound hole for passing through a rear sound; a fixing means for fixing the case to the substrate; and an adhesive for bonding the case and the substrate, wherein the adhesive is applied to an entirety of a bonding surface of the case and the substrate fixed by the fixing means.
US07940942B2
A microphone including a connector with a plurality of electrical contacts. The microphone interfaces with a computer system via a digital bus. The microphone can transmit data to the computer system via the connector that is related to at least one of the following: the microphone manufacturer, the microphone manufacture date, the microphone model number, the microphone serial number, the microphone frequency response, whether the microphone uses phantom power, the desired pre-amplifier gain, and the microphone dynamic response.
US07940938B2
A sound reproducing apparatus which can be relatively inexpensive as a whole and also be simple in construction with reduced wiring even in the case where many speakers are used. Pulse-width modulated (PWM) pulses are generated based on respective audio signals for multiple-channel speakers. PWM pulses are time-division multiplexed and amplified, and then output as digital driving signals. The multiple-channel speakers are selectively turned on/off such that the digital driving signals are supplied to the respective multiple-channel speakers of corresponding channels.
US07940933B2
A communications protocol is used to provide data privacy, message integrity, message freshness, and user authentication to telemetric traffic, such as to and from implantable medical devices in a body area network. In certain embodiments, encryption, message integrity, and message freshness are provided through use of token-like nonces and ephemeral session-keys derived from device identification numbers and pseudorandom numbers.
US07940932B2
An electronic circuit 120 includes a more-secure processor (600) having hardware based security (138) for storing data. A less-secure processor (200) eventually utilizes the data. By a data transfer request-response arrangement (2010, 2050, 2070, 2090) between the more-secure processor (600) and the less-secure processor (200), the more-secure processor (600) confers greater security of the data on the less-secure processor (200). A manufacturing process makes a handheld device (110) having a storage space (222), a less-secure processor (200) for executing modem software and a more-secure processor (600) having a protected application (2090) and a secure storage (2210). A manufacturing process involves generating a per-device private key and public key pair, storing the private key in a secure storage (2210) where it can be accessed by the protected application (2090), combining the public key with the modem software to produce a combined software, signing the combined software; and storing the signed combined software into the storage space (222). Other processes of manufacture, processes of operation, circuits, devices, wireless and wireline communications products, wireless handsets and systems are disclosed and claimed.
US07940915B2
This apparatus calculates, from the spoken dialogue data between a customer and an operator, the speech length of each speech. Then, it estimates the structure of the spoken dialogue data based on the speech length and specifies a speech-length-characteristic change time point (time) when the speaker who makes longer speeches changes. Then it extracts an information search time point (time) when the operator performs information search from operation log information about operator's operations performed during this conversation and determined both the ending time point of a part-to-elicit from the information search time point and the starting time point of the part-to-elicit from the speech length-characteristic change time point.
US07940914B2
A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for detecting emotion using statistics. First, a database is provided. The database has statistics including human associations of voice parameters with emotions. Next, a voice signal is received. At least one feature is extracted from the voice signal. Then the extracted voice feature is compared to the voice parameters in the database. An emotion is selected from the database based on the comparison of the extracted voice feature to the voice parameters and is then output.
US07940913B2
A system and method for servicing a caller at a contact center includes prompting the caller for a password associated with a certificate of disability of the caller, then accessing a database that contains the certificate authenticating the password to retrieve information listed in the certificate. The certificate information includes a type of disability of the caller. Following authentication, the system provides a service response appropriate for the type of disability of the caller. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US07940908B2
A telecommunications device and/or service enable a user to establish and maintain a profile which is then associated with the user or the user's telecommunication device (the “calling device”). The profile is stored on a profile server that is in communication with the telecommunications service provider. A receiving device receives a call from the calling device and is provided with the profile during call set-up. Some or all of the profile is used in connection with the incoming call on the receiving device.
US07940895B2
Modifications made to physical plant in maintaining a communication network may be tracked by receiving notices corresponding to incidences in which physical plant is modified in performing maintenance tasks on a communication network and associated time information, receiving information specifying a total number of maintenance tasks performed on the communication network during a defined time interval, and storing information associated with the maintenance tasks in which physical plant is modified and the total number of maintenance tasks performed on the communication network in a searchable database.
US07940887B2
An X-ray tube and a flat panel X-ray detector (FPD) are constructed movable parallel to each other in the same direction along a body axis which is a longitudinal direction of a patient. The X-ray tube intermittently emits radiation and the FPD detects radiation transmitted through the patient irradiated intermittently whenever the X-ray tube and FPD move every pitch. X-ray images O1, O2, . . . , OI, . . . , and OM are decomposed for every pitch noted above. The decomposed images are composed for each projection angle to obtain projection images P1, P2 and so on. Therefore, a sectional image with a long field of view in the longitudinal direction can be obtained by carrying out a reconstruction process based on the composed projection images.
US07940886B2
A medical imaging system generates 3D anatomical images from acquired 2D anatomical images. The system includes a synchronization processor for providing a synchronization signal identifying a particular phase of heart operation of a particular patient. An image acquisition device acquires 2D anatomical images of a patient heart in angularly variable imaging planes over multiple different heart cycles at the particular phase of heart operation in response to the synchronization signal and in response to recorded data indicating imaging previously being performed at particular imaging plane angles. An image processor stores the recorded data to prevent imaging overlap at the particular imaging plane angles and to prevent unnecessary radiation exposure of the patient. The image processor processes 2D images acquired by the image acquisition device of the patient heart in multiple different imaging planes having relative angular separation, to provide a 3D image reconstruction of the patient heart.
US07940883B1
A fuel assembly is charged in a reactor core of a nuclear reactor using a liquid metal as a coolant and includes a wrapper tube storing a plurality of fuel pins and including an entrance nozzle at a lower end thereof for introducing the coolant and an operation handling head at an upper end thereof, grids for supporting the plurality of fuel pins in the wrapper tube in the radial direction of the wrapper tube, liner tubes inserted in the wrapper tube for fixedly holding the grids in the axial direction of the wrapper tube, and peripheral flow suppressing members disposed in a peripheral flow passage extending between peripherally disposed ones of the fuel pins and the wrapper tube over a length corresponding to a heat generation length, which is a length range in the axial direction of the fuel pins storing a radioactive fuel material.
US07940882B2
There is provided a method for selecting and configuring spent nuclear fuel bundles for casks so that the heat load for each of the casks is about the average heat load for all of the casks. The spent nuclear fuel bundles are disposed in the casks as low as reasonably achievable regarding the heat load.
US07940876B2
A universal series bus (USB) frequency synchronous apparatus using a start of frame (SOF) signal generated by a master device to mark a reference interval is disclosed. The frequency synchronizing apparatus includes a frequency divider, a counter unit with a default pulse number, an arithmetic unit, and an adjusting unit. The frequency divider divides a high frequency signal by a variable frequency factor to generate a lock frequency signal. The counter is used to detect a pulse number of the lock frequency signal at a reference interval and obtain a pulse difference between the default pulse number and the detected pulse number of the lock frequency signal.
US07940874B2
Receiver for receiving a data stream via a data bus, which receiver samples the bits of the data stream in an over-sampling process, in which n bit strobe offsets are used and n data sets with i bits are sampled,—applies a decision criterion for identifying those data sets with correct bit values. This decision uses checksum CRC,—selects one of the identified data sets with correct bit values and—uses the bit strobe offset, which was used for receiving the selected data streams, for receiving the data stream. In this way the multiphase clock with optimal phase shifts is selected.
US07940870B2
The present invention provides digital subscriber line noise mitigation techniques, and applications thereof. In an embodiment, the present invention provides a toolbox of methods and techniques for mitigating the effects of noise in xDSL systems. These methods and techniques are controllable and locatable at one or both ends of a DSL communication link (e.g., within a central office transceiver unit or a remote transceiver unit). These novel methods and techniques include: (1) per tone noise margin modification, (2) data framer constraints modification, (3) improved noise measurements; (4) more robust on-line reconfiguration processes, (5) worst case noise monitoring, (6) induced bit rate limitations, and (7) distortion noise mitigation. These methods and techniques are particularly useful for mitigating the effects of time-varying noise and impulse noise.
US07940869B2
Radio communication system includes terminal including unit detecting radar wave transmitted through second-frequency channel, first-and-second-frequency channels through which radar wave fails to be transmitted being simultaneously utilized or one of first-and-second-frequency channels being utilized, unit generating radar-detection information including information indicating detection time when detecting unit detects radar wave, and information indicating frequency channel through which radar wave is transmitted, and unit transmitting radar-detection information, and base station including unit receiving radar-detection information, unit generating radar-occurrence information based on received-radar-detection information, radar-occurrence information including information indicating occurrence time when radar wave occurs, information indicating period of occurrence of radar wave, and information indicating frequency channel through which radar wave is transmitted, and unit transmitting radar-occurrence information, terminal further including unit receiving radar-occurrence information, and unit communicating with other terminals through second-frequency channel without using base station when radar wave fails to occur, based on received-radar-occurrence information.
US07940862B2
A data decoding method judges a signal state where there is a transition from a low level to a high level or from a high level to a low level at the center portion of a bit interval as logical “1” or “0”, and a signal state where a low level continues or a high level continues over the entire bit interval as logical “0” or “1”. The method has the steps of: measuring a first time duration in which the bit series signal transitions from a low level to the next low level, measuring a second time duration in which the bit series signal transitions from a high level to the next high level, and deciding a logical “0” or “1” value for the target bit to be decided based on the combination of the first time duration and the second time duration measured for the target bit.
US07940861B2
The present invention relates to a method for reducing cycle slips in a carrier recovery loop for a phase detector, the method comprising the steps of receiving an input signal consisting of samples, each received sample having an in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) component, providing the input signal to a phase error estimator adapted to determine a phase error estimate, providing the phase error estimate to a loop filter, and forming an output signal from the carrier recovery loop by subtracting an output from the loop filter from the input signal, wherein the phase error estimate is determined based on a combination of the amplitude and phase of the samples and a probability measure for a specifically transmitted symbol, thereby improving phase tracking performance of the carrier recovery loop.Advantages with the present invention includes reduction of cycle slips without using a high performance, and expensive, hardware solution, at the same time as it is possible to suppress the effects of decision errors which enables higher gain, thereby giving an improvement in Bit Error Rate (BER) in low SNR conditions.The present invention also relates to a corresponding phase detector.
US07940855B2
A digital broadcast transmitter and a method of processing a DTV signal in the digital broadcast transmitter are disclosed. The digital broadcast transmitter includes a pre-processor, a first multiplexer, a post-processor, and a second multiplexer. The pre-processor includes a first interleaver, a group formatter, and a packer formatter. The first interleaver interleaves symbols corresponding to mobile service data. The group formatter maps data corresponding to the interleaved symbols into at least one region of a data group and adds place holders for main service data and non-systematic RS parity data to the data group. The packet formatter removes the place holders for the main service data and the non-systematic RS parity data, and generates mobile service data packets having data in the data group in which the place holders for the main service data and the non-systematic RS parity data are removed.
US07940853B2
A method for calculating zero-crossing reference sequences ({ti}) for the data detection of a sequence of zero crossings ({{circumflex over (t)}i}) of a received signal is disclosed. The data detection is determined in a receiver, wherein the received signal is based on a data symbol sequence ({dk}) angle-modulated at a transmitter and transmitted to the receiver. The zero-crossing reference sequences ({ti}) are calculated in accordance with an equation specifying an output of a finite state machine that describes, at least approximately, the signal generation in the transmitter.
US07940850B2
In applications where data is transmitted in frames of symbols and the transmission medium is such that the probability of correct reception of symbols is, on the average, not uniform for different symbols in a frame, transmission of test frames enables creation of information about the different probabilities of correct reception, and that information is employed by the transmitter to control the manner in which symbols are transmitted so as to ameliorate the effects of the different probabilities of correct reception.
US07940846B2
A test circuit for a serial link receiver includes a first current source coupled to a first input of the serial link receiver, and a second current source coupled to a second input of the serial link receiver. The first current source is symmetrically matched to the second current source. A first switch of the first current source is turned on to permit a charge-retaining mechanism thereof to be charged. A second switch of the first current source is turned on to permit the retained charge retained to be asserted on the first input. The charge turns on a control switch of the first current source, through which the charge is asserted on the first input. A charge-draining mechanism of the first current source is turned on to thereafter permit the charge to be drained in a controlled manner after the charge has been asserted.
US07940843B1
The rate controller in a digital video encoding system is responsible for allocating a bit budget for video frames to be encoded. The rate controller considers many different factors when determining the frame bit budget. One of the factors considered is the complexity of the frames being compressed. Occasionally there will be a very complex frame that is not representative of the overall video frame sequence. Such a rare complex frame may cause a disproportionate affect on the bit budget allocation. The system of the present invention limits the amount that a very complex frame can change the bit budget allocation. The rate controller of the present invention also includes a relaxation factor. The relaxation factor allows a user to determine if the rate controller should strictly allocate its bit budget or relax its standards such that the rate controller may not be so conservative when allocating bits to frames.
US07940840B2
Methods and apparatus relating to dual barrel receiver equalization architectures are described. In an embodiment, a receiver logic may include an amplifier and two comparators to equalize frequency components of a received signal. The receiver logic may further include offset adjustment (or cancelation) logic to generate an offset adjustment (or cancelation) signal coupled to the amplifier. Other embodiments are also described.
US07940838B1
This invention provides a system for evaluating the performance of electronic components and systems by minimizing or eliminating intersymbol interference (ISI). The apparatus includes a transmitter, a device under test, a receiver, and at least one electrical connection between the transmitter and receiver that bypasses the device under test. The electrical connection between the transmitter and receiver transmits information characterizing the intersymbol interference of the transmitted signal to the receiver. The receiver includes an equalizer that uses the information characterizing the intersymbol interference of the transmitted signal to minimize or eliminate intersymbol interference in the received signal where the distortion introduced by the device under test can be isolated and characterized. The methods and devices can be used to evaluate the performance of data transmission systems and components, for example, software models of high-speed data transmission systems, and, among other things, reduces the need for fabricating prototype hardware for testing.
US07940832B2
A method and apparatus is provided for efficient processing of signal in a communication system. The processing of the signal for transmission may include encoding a block of data at an encoding rate 1/R. The encoding produces R number of data symbols for every data bit in the block of data. A block of RAM (299, 600) is partitioned into a plurality of blocks of RAM to allow reading simultaneously data symbols from the plurality of blocks of RAM to produce an in-phase and a quad-phase data symbols simultaneously. At least two scramblers (306 and 307) are used for simultaneously scrambling the in-phase and quad-phase data symbols. A Walsh covering/summing block (700) followed by the scramblers provides efficient Walsh covering and summing of signals for a combined transmission from the communication system.
US07940821B2
A temperature compensating method of laser power in an optical disk storage apparatus is disclosed whereby temperature is compensated so that laser power outputted by a laser diode can be constantly outputted regardless of temperature changes. According to the present invention, a current temperature for operating the laser diode is detected and a linear Equation of a laser power voltage outputted by the laser diode in response to an input current is obtained from the detected current temperature. An input current corresponding to a laser power voltage desired by the obtained linear Equation is calculated and is supplied to the laser diode. Therefore, a laser power desired by the laser diode can be outputted regardless of the temperature changes, thereby enabling to establish an accurate input current.
US07940813B2
An apparatus and method for demultiplexing sampled data at a first data rate on a data line using a non-standard demultiplex mode is achieved by first demultiplexing the sampled data using a standard, factor of two, demultiplex mode, to produce n data lines at 1/n time the first data rate, and then down-converting n data lines to m data lines at 1/m times the first data rate to produce the non-standard demultiplex mode. As a specific example sampled data is demultiplexed using a standard 4× mode and then converted to a non-standard 3× mode.
US07940808B2
A communications system includes a physical layer device (PLD) and a logical link device (LLD), each having respective send and receive interfaces being substantially identical to define symmetrical interfaces for the system. Accordingly, design and manufacturing is simplified compared to conventional systems. In addition, advantages are also provided in terms of loopback capability and packaging options. The PLD comprises a PLD send interface including PLD parallel information outputs, and a PLD receive interface including PLD parallel information inputs. Similarly, the LLD comprises an LLD receive interface including LLD parallel information inputs, and an LLD send interface including LLD parallel information outputs. Parallel communications channels connect the PLD information outputs to respective LLD information inputs, and connect the LLD information outputs to respective PLD information inputs. The PLD send interface and the LLD send interface are substantially identical, and the PLD receive interface and the LLD receive interface are substantially identical to thereby define the symmetrical interfaces for the system. In view of the symmetrical interfaces, the PLD and the LLD may operate in a push-push configuration. Deskewing features are also provided.
US07940807B2
Methods of searching for a sync word in an MPEG compressed audio bitstream including a plurality of MPEG audio frames can include determining whether first data in the bitstream has a value equal to a sync word value. It can be determined whether the first data is a valid sync word based on a comparison of a plurality of data that are separated in the bitstream from the first data by at least a frame length to the sync word value.
US07940806B1
A system and method are provided for mapping information into Synchronous Payload Envelopes (SPEs). The method provides information bytes at a nominal system clock-based data rate, which is about equal to a system clock, but may be adjusted. An external clock has a rate approximately equal to the system clock rate. The method generates SPEs with identically-positioned information bytes, regardless of differences between the system and external clock rates. The SPEs are combined with Transport Overhead (TOH) and transmitted as a message frame at the external clock rate. SPEs are generated maintaining the positions of the information bytes within each SPE, without pointer adjustments, despite differences between the system and external clock rates. Expressed another way, message frames are generated with payload and TOH sections, and the information bytes are located exclusively in the payload sections. As a result, constant pointer values (e.g., H1/H2 or V1/V2) are maintained for all the SPEs.
US07940802B2
A reading unit for reading data from a digital data carrier, the reading unit comprising: a reading head including a sensor for sensing data from the data carrier and generating a sensor signal indicative for the sensed data; head positioning apparatus for positioning the head relative to the data carrier in response to a head positioning control signal; a head positioning controller for receiving the sensed data and being operable in accordance with a stored instruction set to process the sensed data to generate the head positioning control signal; and a data decoder for decoding the sensed data to form a digital output signal.
US07940798B2
A terrestrial digital video broadcasting (DVB-T) network is used to transmit IP datagrams to receiving devices using multiprotocol encapsulation (MPE). MPE datagram section and, if forward error correction (FEC) is used, MPE-FEC datagram sections may include time-slicing parameters, such as a “delta-t” parameter for specifying a time until the next burst is transmitted and a flag for indicating the end of a burst. Thus, MPE and MPE-FEC datagram sections can be transmitted in bursts. Other types of sections, however, do not include such time-slicing parameters and thus cannot usually be transmitted in bursts. Nevertheless, by assembling a burst including at least one MPE or MPE-FEC datagram section which specifies delta-t and MPE or MPE-FEC datagram section at the end of a burst which indicates its position, other types of sections can benefit from being transmitted in bursts.
US07940793B2
A media application server, comprising a network interface and a processor adapted to establish voice connections with opposite end devices and to perform on the connections at least one media application task for signals of a plurality of different signal formats, the processor being adapted to establish the connection in a negotiation procedure in which it advertises itself as supporting fewer than the plurality of signal formats.
US07940792B2
The present invention comprises a system and methods for facilitating third-party call control using a peer-to-peer configuration with SIP. More specifically, the present invention comprises a system and methods, including protocols, for: modeling a communication device as a logical representation and a physical representation thereof; associating the logical representation and the physical representation with unique identifiers; identifying all of the communication devices on a network; determining the relationships between the identified communication devices; establishing a device control channel for each physical representation; establishing a call control channel for each logical representation; controlling the logical representation and the physical representation via the call and device control channels; monitoring the state of the logical representation and the physical representation via the call and device control channels; and, storing data representing the state of the logical representation and the physical representation.
US07940786B2
A communication system includes a first ingress content processor that receives information associated with a first traffic type. The first ingress content processor places the information associated with the first traffic type into a system cell having a common system cell format. A second ingress content processor receives information associated with a second traffic type. The second ingress content processor places the information associated with the second traffic type into a system cell having the common system cell format. A switch fabric receives system cells from the first and second ingress content processors. System cells from the first ingress content processor are automatically sent to the switch fabric while system cells from the second ingress content processor are required to be scheduled before being sent to the switch fabric. The switch fabric separately queues system cells carrying payloads associated with the first traffic type from system cells carrying payloads associated with the second traffic type. The switch fabric services system cells carrying payloads associated with the first traffic type prior to servicing system cells carrying payloads associated with the second traffic type.
US07940785B2
A method, computer program product, and system for managing packets received by an Ethernet adapter shared by a plurality of threads are provided. The method, computer program product, and system provide for a first function operable to add a connection to a connection table of the Ethernet adapter and associate the connection with a queue pair and a second function operable to remove the connection from the connection table of the Ethernet adapter, wherein the Ethernet adapter is operable to route any packet corresponding to the connection received by the Ethernet adapter to the queue pair associated with the connection responsive to the connection being in the connection table.
US07940784B2
Example methods and apparatus to advertise network routes to implement a hybrid network topology are disclosed. An example method involves receiving a route advertisement from a first node and identifying a first destination internet protocol address associated with the route advertisement. When the first destination internet protocol address matches a second destination internet protocol address, the route advertisement is associated with a first route target value equal to an import route target value of a second node. The first network node is a first spoke node in a hub-and-spoke network, and the second network node is a second spoke node in the hub-and-spoke network.
US07940781B2
A network device such as a terminal set in a distributed peer-to-peer communications network receives periodic notifications from other network devices indicating which network devices are currently receiving pages. When the network device wishes to send a page to a set of target network devices, it ascertains whether the target devices are already receiving a page. If not, the network device notifies other network devices that it is claiming the target devices for its exclusive paging use. Each device receiving the notification ascertains whether it is one of the target devices, and if so, prepares to receive a page. Absent any objections, the initiating device sends the page (e.g. audio or video) to the target devices. Upon completion, the network device relinquishes its claim to the target devices. If a target network device becomes engaged in a call while receiving a page, playing of the page may be ceased.
US07940780B2
Data communication system enabling data communication between communication devices through a server
A method and a system for speeding up session establishment are provided, wherein the time required to establish a session is reduced, even in the case where a session management server requires a large amount of time to process respective functions required for establishing the session (such as making a decision regarding whether to permit or deny provision of a service, or generating a session key).The session management server is provided with means for conducting, in parallel, processing to issue processing requests for respective functions required for establishing a session (such as making a decision regarding whether to permit or deny provision of a service, or generating a session key) and processing to forward a communication message transmitted by a communications device or another session management server attempting to establish a session.
US07940779B2
A communication network, such as a mobile IP network, includes at least one mobile terminal and a plurality of home agents adapted to provide, within working sessions, communication services to the above mobile terminal. In the network, there is an authentication, authorization and accounting platform configured for identifying, within the above plurality, the home agent that serves the at least one mobile terminal in a selective and varying way within a single working session.
US07940773B2
A system, method, and apparatus for network service provisioning includes receiving a network address request from a subscriber device. The network address request includes at least one data cell including a channel identifier associated with the subscriber device. The channel identifier identifies the subscriber device for a cell-switched network The method further includes determining the channel identifier from the network address request, and generating a customer tag using the channel identifier. The customer tag identifies the subscriber device for a packet-switched network The method further includes storing the channel identifier and the customer tag in a provisioning table for use in provisioning the subscriber device for the packet-switched network
US07940771B2
A method for requesting packet retransmission in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes checking, by a receiving-side Automatic Retransmission reQuest (ARQ) layer, sequence numbers of received packets to determine whether there is any missing packet, and starting a first timer in association with the missing packet; stopping the first timer upon receiving an Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) reception failure indicator corresponding to the missing packet, provided from a receiving-side HARQ layer; and stopping generation of a status report message corresponding to the missing packet, and waiting for an ARQ packet corresponding to the missing packet, retransmitted from a transmitting-side ARQ layer.
US07940760B2
A method of discovering a component in a sub-network, the method including: receiving unique information on at least one component included in a first sub-network of a network by a first component in the first sub-network; and broadcasting the unique information on the at least one component to a second sub-network of the network, by joining the first component in the second sub-network.
US07940758B2
A technique is disclosed that enables a set of information to be represented by data packets, where those data packets can then be distributed as needed throughout the telecommunications system that uses the data. The data packet of the illustrative embodiment is an autonomous encapsulation of data, a subsection of a data model at a certain time in relation to other data in the system at another time. The data packet is identified at a particular time and value with a globally unique identifier. Relationships of the data packet to other data packets are made known by using references to the other packets. As a result, referenced data packets are retrieved throughout the system based on their relationships to each other. Whenever a data packet is transmitted or received, each node involved in the transmission applies rules that determine where the data has to be transmitted to and what to do with the data when received.
US07940753B2
A system and related method for enhancing routing optimality in IP networks requiring path establishment, including one or more of the following: first and second network clouds including a plurality of communication elements, ones of the plurality of communication elements in the network clouds being first and second communication element, the network clouds having boundaries beyond which each of the plurality of communication elements are unable to see a connectivity between any other communication elements outside the respective network clouds; a path computational element that automatically computes an explicit optimal network route between the first and second communication elements and having an overview of all communication elements in the network clouds, the path computational element providing the computed explicit optimal network route to a routing engine; commissioning a path through the first network cloud and the second network cloud from the first communication element to the second communication element using the provided explicit optimal network route; establishing a path using the computed explicit optimal network route; switching to an alternative route that is inferior to the computed explicit optimal network route upon a failure of the computed explicit optimal network route to function properly; attempting to renegotiate the commissioned path to the computed explicit optimal network route; determining that the explicit optimal network route is again available; and switching the commissioned path back to the computed explicit optimal network route when that route is determined to be again available.
US07940752B2
A rake reception apparatus for determining whether a paging channel is received in a mobile terminal using a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mode. A searcher searches for a multi-path signal using a received signal output from a Radio Frequency (RF) part, and calculates an energy value for each hypothesis. A demodulator demodulates a Paging Indicator (PI) for a hypothesis for which an energy value calculated by the searcher exceeds a valid path threshold. A controller determines whether a paging channel is received, according to the demodulated signal output from the demodulator, and performs finger allocation using a multi-path search of the searcher if it is determined that the paging channel is transmitted.
US07940747B2
An apparatus for replacing lost PSTN data in a packet network and for generating variable power white noise, includes a lost packet detection unit (402) for detecting lost data packets, a data processing unit (404) for producing in response a lost data output indicating when replacement data needed, data playout unit (408) or data replacement unit (406), each may be implemented as a variable power white noise generator (FIG. 3) to generate replacement data by reusing data stored in an extended playback buffer, and placing the re-used replacement data on an external network.
US07940742B2
A method for identifying traffic information includes receiving traffic data including a first identifier, information corresponding to a predicted amount of time to traverse a particular link, and information corresponding to a location associated with the particular link, where the first identifier enables a determination of a type of the information that is included within the received traffic data. The method also includes determining a type of information included within the received traffic data based on the first identifier and determining travel time prediction information based on the predicted amount of time included in the received traffic data only if the first identifier enables a determination that the received traffic data includes a prediction related to an amount of time. The method further includes determining location information based on the information that is included in the received traffic data corresponding to the location associated with the particular link and identifying traffic information based on the determined travel time prediction information and the determined location information.
US07940733B2
Provided are a device for setting a service zone for a predetermined zone-based service provided by a mobile communication system for at least one mobile communication unit to which a mobile communication service is provided by the mobile communication system, the device comprising a local area wireless communication unit, wherein the local area wireless communication unit performs local area wireless communication with the mobile communication unit and the device sets a range in which the local area wireless communication is available as the service zone of the mobile communication unit, a method and a system for providing a zone-based service using the device, and a mobile communication unit for providing the zone-based service.
US07940726B2
The disclosure relates to building a topology map that can be used to provide a requesting wireless terminal with information relevant to its current location. Information on neighboring cells of different access networks is maintained in the topology map. An inter-access network (IAN) topology apparatus builds to topology map based on results of previous IAN session transfers such as handovers from one access network to a different access network. When the requesting wireless terminal currently accessing a current network makes a request for topology information, the IAN topology apparatus provides a list of cells of other than the current access network in the area of the requesting wireless terminal. The requesting wireless terminal uses the information to scan for cells of other access networks to potentially perform the IAN session transfer. The requesting wireless terminal conserves power by scanning only for accessible cells indicated to be in its area.
US07940715B2
The present invention relates generally to computer systems in the field of signals intelligence, and more particularly, to entropic activity detection and monitoring computer systems for collecting and analyzing data packets wirelessly transmitted from a wireless transmitter by applying information theoretic metrics (Tsallis entropy).
US07940711B2
Provided are a device of a node and method for beacon scheduling in an ad-hoc network and a data transmitting method thereof, which reduce power consumptions of nodes in an ad-hoc network when data communications between the nodes occur frequently. A beacon transmitting node checks its residual power. If the residual power is lower than a predetermined level, the beacon transmitting node notifies a plan to change its beacon cycle to other nodes. Thereafter, the beacon transmitting node increases the beacon cycle and transmits a beacon at the increased beacon cycles. Consequently, the beacon transmitting node can change its beacon cycle dynamically according to its power condition. Thus, the life span of the node can be increased. Therefore, it is possible to reduce an overhead of reconstructing a sensor network.
US07940703B2
A technique for providing real-time multimedia conferencing services with guaranteed performance, in a hybrid networking environment, by interconnecting cable modem-based premises networks via hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) access networks and an ATM wide area network is disclosed. The ATM wide area network may be divided into a plurality of access network domains and one backbone network domain to provide efficient and intelligent multimedia conferencing services. Each ATM access network domain has one cable modem server as well as access multimedia bridge server. There is only one central network server and one central multimedia bridge server within the backbone network domain. Each cable modem server located in an ATM access network domain maintains necessary information of how the cable network bandwidth is used by existing calls, and will be allocated when new multimedia conference calls are initiated, in accordance with desired priority and performance levels.
US07940695B1
In general, principles of the invention relate to techniques for detecting data plane failures in Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label-Switched Paths (LSPs) that may be tunneled over one or more other LSPs. More specifically, the techniques described herein allow for testing connectivity of an LSP that is tunneled through at least one other LSP, and testing connectivity of an inter-autonomous system LSP. For example, a method comprises providing, with an intermediate label-switching router (LSR) of an LSP, instructions to an ingress LSR of the LSP to modify a forwarding equivalence class (FEC) stack of MPLS echo request packets. The intermediate LSR may provide the instructions within an MPLS echo reply packet.
US07940684B2
A method and apparatus for testing a VoIP telephone line are provided, the method including determining which of a plurality of VoIP call control protocols and/or CODECs is compatible with the telephone line, and conducting a series of tests on the telephone line in accordance therewith. The method and apparatus also includes steps and the means to connect to a network and capturing a stream of data therefrom to determine configuration settings of a VoIP telephone connected thereto to facilitate the previous testing.
US07940668B2
In one embodiment, a system, method, and apparatus for preventing excessive transmission of routing information in a communications network occurs by receiving a network routing address at a connection node in a communications network, the network routing address allowing the transmission of data packets from a source node to a destination node in the communications network; determining a longest summary route covering a path to the destination node; creating a list comprising a summary of all neighbor connection nodes of the connection node; and transmitting an update of the longest summary route of the network routing address towards all neighbor nodes advertising a destination address comprising a shorter address prefix, wherein the transmitting process occurs sequentially beginning with a first neighbor connection node entered in the list.
US07940663B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate mitigating effects of mismatch errors related to incorrectly decoded acknowledgments indicative of successfully decoded data packets in a wireless network environment. Misinterpretation of a cumulative acknowledgment related to a number of successfully decoded data packets can be identified, and data packet transmission mismatch errors caused thereby can be evaluated to determine an optimal manner in which to decode and acknowledge remaining data packets to alleviate mismatch and restore synchronization between a transmitter of the data packets and a receiver thereof.
US07940662B2
Data received from a bursty interface is received on a burst-by-burst basis. Once a burst is received, it is stored in a processing queue. A complete burst is received so long a processing queue can accommodate a data burst. The complete data burst is directed to an output and used to create a complete data burst on said output. The output burst is dispatched so long as a receiving port is able to accept the output burst.
US07940654B2
A method and apparatus of protecting a first network from unauthorized access includes storing profile information for each call session, and determining if an unauthorized access of the first network is occurring based on the profile information. The profile information includes a predetermined threshold indicating a maximum acceptable rate of incoming data units from an external network to the first network. If the incoming data unit rate exceeds the predetermined threshold, then a security action is taken, such as generating an alarm or preventing further transport of data units from the external network to the first network.
US07940652B1
Providing protection to network traffic includes sending a Pseudowire protection configuration parameter for configuring a standby Pseudowire between a source node and a destination node, receiving a Pseudowire configuration acknowledgement indicating whether the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node, and in the event that the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node, using the standby Pseudowire, wherein the standby Pseudowire is configured based at least in part on the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter.
US07940650B1
This application describes techniques for peer-agnostic socket replication to implement graceful failover. An exemplary method to enable non-stop routing includes receiving a packet with a first routing engine of a network device having the first routing engine and a second routing engine configured as a backup routing engine, replicating, before processing the packet at a transport layer, the packet to form a replicated packet, sending the replicated packet from the first routing engine to the second routing engine, receiving, at the first routing engine, an acknowledgement from the second routing engine acknowledging reception of the replicated packet, after receiving the acknowledgment, processing the packet at the transport layer of the first routing engine to extract application-layer data and assemble a routing message, and storing the application-layer data from the processed packet in a socket associated with a routing process of the first routing engine.
US07940646B1
Techniques are described for performing non-revertive failover with network devices. A network device comprising a control unit and interface cards receives routing information protocol (RIP) updates each having a metric value. The control unit signals bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) sessions based on the metric values of each of the RIP updates with, for example, a media gateway. The control unit also selectively installs a RIP route based on the metric values. The media gateway monitors the BFD sessions, and upon failure of an active BFD session, indicates the network device to perform non-revertive failover by sending a revised plurality of RIP updates. The network device performs non-revertive failover according to the revised plurality of RIP updates. Because of the flexibility of BFD, the network device need not revert back to a previous RIP route, therefore curtailing excessive failover.
US07940639B2
An IS-OFDM system for point-to-point wireless communications that suppresses narrow-band interference comprises an IS-OFDM transmitter and an IS-OFDM receiver, wherein a transmitted signal comprises a plurality of subcarriers, and further wherein each subcarrier contains more than one and potentially all symbols transmitted in a given frame. The IS-OFDM transmitted signal is at a data rate that is equal to the data rate of the input data stream via the use of P/S converters.
US07940636B2
A recording medium of the recordable type in the form of a multi-layer disc or the like which is improved in compatibility and feasibility in use and a recording apparatus and a recording method ready for the recording medium are disclosed. A region for recording interlayer folding back position information is set on the recording medium (for example, “End sector number in Layer 0” or a session item type 3). In response to a fact that recording on a certain recording layer reaches a maximum recording range or that data recording advances from a certain recording layer to a next recording layer, interlayer folding back position information is recorded on the recording medium. This signifies that such recording is performed when advancement of the data recording to another recording layer is performed at a stage prior to disc closing or session closing or when it is predicted that such advancement of the data recording occurs soon. Also where the disc is of the type for which multi-session recording is performed, interlayer folding back position information is recorded with regard to a session in which folding back is performed.
US07940633B2
A recording device has a recording unit for recording information in a medium having a first layer and a second layer; a forming unit for forming a buffer area in each of the first and second layers; and a control unit for controlling the forming unit to form the buffer area in the first layer to have a prescribed size and an edge on an outer circumference side of the buffer area in the second layer at a position, shifted from an area section of the second layer corresponding to the edge on the outer circumference side of the buffer area by a relative positional shift between an address at a prescribed position in the first layer and an address relating to the prescribed position in the second layer, or at a position shifted by a tolerance length indicating a tolerance range of such positional shift.
US07940632B2
A recording medium in which data supplied from an information processing device is recorded includes: position detecting means for detecting a position of the recording medium; user authentication means for authenticating a user intending to use the data; recording means for recording data use limitation information; and data use limitation control means for controlling the limitation on the user's use of data on the basis of the data use limitation information.
US07940631B2
An optical pickup device includes a diffraction grating 12 for separating an emitted light beam into at least three light beams. The diffraction grating 12 is divided into three regions by dividing lines D1 and D2 extending in a first direction parallel to a tangent line of a track of an optical information recording medium. A second region 12B is divided into four sub-blocks by a dividing line D3 extending in the first direction and a dividing line D4 extending in a second direction that crosses the first direction. The sub-blocks located diagonally opposite to each other have a same phase, and the sub-blocks located adjacent to each other have a phase difference of approximately 180 degrees. The first region 12A has a phase difference of approximately 90 degrees from each sub-block of the second region 12B, and the first region 12A has a phase difference of approximately 180 degrees from the third region 12C.
US07940627B2
It is possible to manage an empty region in a disc partition while satisfying an inhibit matter of the ROM standard not recording a space bit map describer (SBD). The SBD is recorded upon disc initialization and additional recording into the partition is performed by using the SBD regardless of the access type in the device. When ejecting the disc, pointer information to the SBD recorded in the partition describer (PD) is hacked up in the SBD pointer information save file or save data and then the pointer information is erased. Upon disc recognition, the existence of the save file/data is confirmed and the SBD is restored.
US07940624B2
A method of adjusting a write strategy of a recordable disc comprises steps of: generating a test pattern on a power calibrating area of the recordable disc according to a first write strategy, a first write power, and a first target β value; establishing a Pit-to-Land Inter-Symbol Interference table and a Land-to-Pit Inter-Symbol Interference table by measuring a plurality of Pits and Lands with different time lengths in the test pattern; generating an updated timing parameter set by adjusting a timing parameter set of the first write strategy according to the Pit-to-Land Inter-Symbol Interference table and the Land-to-Pit Inter-Symbol Interference table; and generating an updated target β value according to the updated timing parameter set.
US07940618B2
A method of identifying a type of a disc includes steps of: obtaining a first address of a first position on the disc; moving a pick-up unit to a second position of the disc; obtaining a second address of the second position; calculating a difference between the first address and the second address; and identifying the type of the disc by comparing the difference with a predetermined value.
US07940617B2
A method for calibrating an SA compensation level of an optical drive is provided. The method includes steps of providing a plurality of SA compensation levels; obtaining a peak-to-peak value of an S curve corresponding to each of the SA compensation levels; selecting a maximum of the peak-to-peak values of the S curves and the SA compensation level corresponding to the maximum; and setting the selected SA compensation level to be an optimal SA compensation level.
US07940613B2
A drive apparatus of the present invention includes a recording/reproduction section and a drive control section. The drive control section at least performs a process including: performing an RMW process of reproducing data recorded in an original ECC cluster including the location specified by the recording instruction, modifying at least a portion of the reproduced data, and recording the modified data in a replacement ECC cluster; determining whether or not there is any physical sector, in which the reproduction of data has failed, in the original ECC cluster in the RMW process; and setting status information value in status information of replacement management information when it is determined that there is any physical sector, in which the reproduction of data has failed, in the original ECC cluster in the RMW process, the status information value indicating that there is any physical sector, in which the reproduction of data has failed, in the original ECC cluster, the status information indicating that the original ECC cluster is replaced with the replacement ECC cluster.
