US07958667B1
The bait well apparatus provides for hands-free carry of live bait within an ergonomically shaped apparatus. The concave inner surface fits against a user's hip or leg or even waist, depending upon the chosen wear location. A belt is provided that fits a user's waist or hips. A small optional belt is provided that fits a user's leg. The two clips disposed on the concave inner surface are selectively hooked over a given belt or other clothing item. The lid is hinged to open over the well within the body of the apparatus. The apparatus is provided in more than one size. One size, for example, holds 48 ounces of water. Another exemplary size holds up to 64 ounces of water.
US07958659B1
The invention includes a bag or receptacle for securely containing stray buttons and for attaching to a garment at a location of repair to identify where a button is to be reattached or replaced. In one embodiment, such a button bag is sized and shaped like a business card for displaying a business name of a dry cleaner, launderer, tailor, hotel, or other service provider. The receptacle can include a strap for attaching to an existing button, or for looping through a buttonhole corresponding to a location where a button needs to be repaired. The invention provides a solution to button repair identification that is especially useful with express laundry and dry cleaning services and that does not require a user to verbally explain where buttons need to be repaired.
US07958653B2
An orthotic is disclosed. The orthotic may include a cushioning layer configured to extend from at least the metatarsal region to the proximal heel region, the cushioning layer having a heel region with a protruding heel piece integrally molded as part of the cushioning layer. The orthotic may also include an outer shell layer fixedly coupled to the cushioning layer, the outer shell layer extending longitudinally from at least the medial cuneiform-first metatarsal joint region to the calcaneus bone region of the user, the outer shell layer configured to receive the protruding heel piece.
US07958652B2
A portable cleaning apparatus comprises a base module for movement along a surface and a plenum. The base module comprises a base housing enclosing a fan for moving air through the housing from the interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing through an exhaust outlet in the housing. The plenum fluidly communicates at one end with the exhaust outlet and at another end with at least one plenum outlet opening adjacent the surface to direct air exhausted from the housing interior along the surface.
US07958648B1
A device that provides an accurate means to mark a wall surface to aid in hanging a suspended object is herein disclosed, comprising an adhesive strip with small sealed plastic bubbles filled with dye or ink on a first side. At least one (1) ink bubble is positioned thereat a corresponding mounting aperture portions of the suspended object. The ink bubbles rupture under a small amount of applied pressure, thereby marking the wall surface. A second side of the marking device comprises adhesive, thereby allowing the device to be applied thereto the back surface of the suspended object to be hung on a wall, specifically locating where the mounting hardware needs to be installed. The marking device is then removed and the suspended object is secured by driving fasteners and other supporting hardware, using the indicating ink mark. Alternatively, the first side comprises identifying markings such as measurements, instructions, or advertising indicia.
US07958647B2
A system for controlling access to a secure area includes a lock and an electronic access device for controlling access to a secure area. The lock includes pins for locking and unlocking the lock. The access device communicates with the pins for electrically measuring movement of the pins. The access device stores an unlock pin code for the predetermined position of the pins for unlocking the lock. The electronic access device electrically measures pin movement by a key. A control device electrically communicates with the electronic access device for determining when a lock compromising technique has occurred to identify a lock tamper event.
US07958641B1
The present invention is an attachable rolling plate assembly which can be attached as a single unit to a portable cutting tool to facilitate the safe rolling movement of the portable cutting tool on the workpiece. The invention comprises a frame assembly formed from a single piece of molded material such as fiber enriched plastic having a pair of oppositely disposed longitudinal sidewalls with stabilizer fins extending therefrom, and a flat base portion having a pair of parallel stabilizer tubes molded therein. The invention further includes an adjustable bevel gear assembly by which the angle of orientation of the cutting blade can be quickly changed. The invention also includes a cutting guide assembly to facilitate a straight cut, reduce torsional rotation of the saw blade and reduce kickback of the saw.
US07958639B2
A knife includes a knife body defining a channel across which extends at least part of the cutting edge of a blade. The channel having has a base region located behind the cutting edge in the cutting direction. The knife body is provided, adjacent the base region, with flow passages on opposing sides thereof, the flow passages being out of alignment with one another.
US07958638B2
The invention relates to a sheet metal plate, especially made of steel, for producing motor vehicle body components. In order to make the body component sufficiently rigid at highly stressed points in spite of using lightweight materials, the sheet metal plate (11) is provided with local reinforcement zones (13, 14). To this avail, the sheet metal plate (11) is joined together from at least two cut metal sheets (7, 9) with a straight seam (10). At least one of the cut metal sheets (7) comprises several parallel strips (2 to 6) having different strengths while each local reinforcement zone (13, 14) lies within a reinforced strip (2, 3).
US07958637B2
A shaft is held in place within a bore of a housing with a band of resilient material that is located between the shaft and the housing and has a series of projections extending radially inwards. The shaft surface has a first part that lies closer to the longitudinal axis of the bore than a second part, when the shaft and housing are assembled. The shaft is initially inserted into the resilient band, which is held within the bore, such that the first part of the shaft surface is oriented towards one of the projections of the resilient band. In this orientation of the shaft, the projection is not compressed. By orienting the second part of the shaft surface, the projection is brought under compression and the shaft is held firmly within the bore.
US07958633B2
A block casting for an internal combustion engine and method of its manufacture provide reduced engine block size and weight, and/or increased engine displacement, through cylinder-forming walls that decrease in thickness from minimal explosion-resistant thicknesses at their combustion chamber ends to reduced thicknesses at their other ends.
US07958621B2
A method of manufacturing a rotor for a rotating electrical machine includes the steps of: preparing a first and a second pole core, a rotary shaft, and a field coil; press-fitting the rotary shaft into a through-hole of the first pole core so that the axes of the rotary shaft and the through-hole coincide with each other; mounting the field coil on one of the first and second pole cores; opposing the first and second pole cores to each other so that the axes of the through-holes thereof are in alignment with each other and contact surfaces thereof face each other with a maximum parallelism therebetween; press-fitting the second pole core onto the rotary shaft so that the contact surfaces of the first and second pole cores maximally contact with each other and the axis of the rotary shaft coincides with the axes of the through-holes of the pole cores.
US07958615B1
A nozzle mounting assembly for an in-ground swimming pool cleaning system may comprise a plurality of mounting rings that are formed within the shell of a prefabricated swimming pool. The plurality of mounting rings may couple at a first end with a corresponding plurality of trim rings. The plurality of trim rings forms a flanged ring around each of the openings in the pool surface for cleaning nozzle mechanisms. The plurality of mounting rings may further couple with a corresponding plurality of nozzle retainer bodies, where the nozzle retainer bodies provide an interface for standard cleaning system fittings. Nozzle mounting assemblies may be adapted to a variety of pool types and surfaces, and may be sized for the floor surface, the steps or the walls of a swimming pool.
US07958611B2
A number of pre-production calibration tightenings are performed at a screw joint identical to a screw joint used in production and using the same impulse wrench as to be used in production tightening. The value of one or more tightening related parameters are registered at the attainment of the desired pre-tension level, and those parameter values are used to statistically form a basis for a reference set-up. The tightening parameter values registered during production tightening are compared to the reference set-up, and an indication is obtained as to discrepancies between the reference set-up and the actually registered parameter values to get an indication as to whether the impulse wrench is malfunctioning and/or the screw joint is faulty.
US07958609B2
An apparatus for descaling hot rolled stock (17), being moved with respect to the apparatus, by spraying it with high pressure water, comprising at least one row of nozzle heads sweeping across the width of the rolled stock with a plurality of nozzle heads (20), each nozzle head being motor-driven in rotation about an axis of rotation (A) substantially perpendicular to the surface of the rolled stock and comprising at least two nozzles (1 to 8) which are disposed eccentrically with respect to the axis of rotation (A) is characterized by the nozzles (1 to 8) of each nozzle head (20) being arranged as closely as structurally possible to the circumference (25) of the nozzle head, whereby a spray pattern is created on the surface of the rolled stock in a way to at least touch the spray pattern of the adjacent nozzle head in the row of nozzle heads.
US07958604B2
Packaging tie-downs configured to retain objects secured with a retention strap in association with packaging material.
US07958602B2
A hinge mechanism in which two housings are respectively connected to a first rotation shaft and a second rotation shaft that are arranged perpendicular to each other and the housing are arbitrarily openable about either one of the shafts is provided. In the hinge mechanism 1, at an end of a rotation shaft holding section (4) of a hinge housing (1), an end of an opening and closing shaft holding section (5) is integrated together in a state of being perpendicular to each other, the rotation shaft holding section (4) being formed in it a tubular shaft hole for supporting a rotation shaft section (3), and the opening and closing shaft holding section (5) being formed in it a tubular shaft hole for supporting an opening and closing shaft section (2), and the hinge housing (1) is substantially L-shaped as a whole. When the opening and closing shaft (2) is rotated, an opening and closing limiting outer peripheral surface enters an escape recess to cause a restraining end section to be restrained by the opening and closing limiting outer peripheral surface, and as a result, rotation of the rotation shaft section (3) is restrained. When the rotation shaft section (3) is rotated, a rotation limiting outer peripheral surface of the rotation shaft section (3) enters a portion of a restraining end surface to cause rotation of the opening and closing shaft (2) to be restrained.
US07958600B2
A pivot mechanism and an electronic device applying the same are provided. The pivot mechanism includes a pedestal having a bore passing through the pedestal; a shaft inserted into the bore and having at least two leaning surfaces in parallel to an extending direction of the shaft; two bushes coupled to the shaft and fixed in the bore; and a reed set disposed in the bore and arranged between the two bushes. The reed set includes at least one reed, wherein each reed is wedged in the bore and has a hole through which the shaft penetrates. At least one position limiting portion is formed in the periphery of the hole for orienting the shaft. The position limitation portion further extends inwardly to form a slot, by which a cantilever is formed between the slot and the axis hole to lean against the shaft.
US07958599B2
A friction hinge includes a socket made up of a compressible elastomer insert sleeve inside a relatively rigid cup substrate. The insert sleeve defines an opening with a lip around the opening, and a relatively rigid ball or other center portion can be snap assembled through the lip and opening to center itself in the socket. A mount portion extends through the opening off the ball/center portion, and hand pressure on the mount portion can adjust the angular position of the joint. The size of the ball/center portion relative to the size of the cup substrate causes dimensional compression of the insert sleeve, such as about 15% of its thickness. The compression of the insert sleeve creates a controlled friction force on the ball/center portion, so the snap assembly friction hinge works consistently over a long time and over wide temperature ranges.
US07958595B2
A cleaning apparatus having a cleaning system including at least one downwardly directed spray nozzle is supported by the chassis proximal the chassis forward end and in fluid communication with at least one cleaning solution tank. The at least one spray nozzle sprays cleaning solution from the tank onto the floor. At least one ground engaging agitation brush is disposed rearwardly of the at least one spray nozzle for agitating the cleaning solution sprayed onto the floor. At least one vacuum shoe is supported by the chassis rearwardly of the at least one agitation brush, and in fluid communication with the at least one recovery tank. Cleaning solution drawn into the vacuum shoe is deposited into the at least one recovery tank. In one embodiment, the apparatus is drivable. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes a second cleaning system including a vacuum squeegee.
US07958592B2
A mop system incorporating a replaceable foam-based mop head. The mop head is adapted to wrap at least partially around a curved support mandrel and to be held in place by releasable engagement between the mandrel and connection elements disposed in localized relation along edge portions of the mop head.
US07958590B2
A cleaning tool is disclosed for cleaning adjacent surfaces. In one embodiment, for instance, the cleaning tool may be used as a toilet bowl brush. The cleaning tool includes a handle comprised of a first handle member pivotally attached to a second handle member. Each handle member terminates in a clamping plate. The clamping plates move towards and away from each other as the handle members are likewise moved towards and away from each other. The handle can include a locking member that engages the first handle member with the second handle member in order to clamp or hold a cleaning pad in between the clamping plates. The clamping plates can include raised wave-like protrusions that further assist in gripping a cleaning pad.
US07958584B2
A method and apparatus for measuring a size of a load in a basket that is rotatably supported is presented. The method comprises determining an acceleration energy (AE) required to accelerate the basket; determining a friction energy (FE) required to maintain a stable rotational speed of the basket; subtracting the friction energy (FE) from the acceleration energy (AE) to obtain a load inertial energy (LE); and determining a load size from the load inertial energy (LE).
US07958573B2
A helmet liner that is infinitely adjustable by the user in the field is provided. The helmet liner includes front, center and rear cushioning portions with integrally formed spaces between the front and center portions, and the rear and center portions. The integrally formed spaces provide the liner with the ability to independently flex [in one degree of freedom] and bend [in a second degree of freedom] to collapse the spaces without any overlapping of cushioning portions and thereby conform the liner to the hemi-spherical shape of the wearer's head. The spaces provide ventilation for the wearer's head. The helmet liner may also provide for variable thickness of one or more of cushioning portions as well as antimicrobial treatment of the fabric. By increasing the thickness of the rear cushioning portion with respect to the front cushioning portion, the number of optimum fits achieved by the liner is maximized, while biasing the wearers head toward the front of the helmet, thereby increasing the wearer's field of view (FOV).
US07958568B2
A glove with a support system is disclosed. The support system comprises a number of individual support sections, each of which is comprised of a number of arcuate support segments that encircle a portion of a finger and allow forward flexural movement while helping to reduce hyperextension of the finger. The support system is also designed to help reduce the possibility of the finger jamming.
US07958567B2
A safety fastener for mounting fitting equipment such as suspension and retention systems onto a ballistic helmet. The nut portion of the fastener fits substantially within a grommet that is attached to a strap that forms part of the suspension or retention systems. The nut retains, rather than clamps, the grommet to the helmet. The grommet can be pulled off the nut. The pull-out force is less than the fastener fracture force. The configuration of the fastener allows ballistic threat energy to be absorbed by helmet deformation and delamination along with grommet pull-out to provide energy dissipation in stages which avoids the creation of secondary projectiles from the fastener itself.
US07962965B2
There is a provided a semiconductor device having a high security whose power consumption is difficult to analyze even without setting up random characteristic to the processing time. The semiconductor device includes a target circuit (14), a sub-target circuit (15) having the same circuit configuration as the target circuit (14), and a dummy bit string generation circuit (11) for generating a bit string of a dummy serial input signal to be inputted to the sub-target circuit (15) according to the bit string of the serial input signal of the target circuit (14). The dummy bit string generation circuit (11) includes a hamming distance detection circuit (12) for detecting a hamming distance between two continuous bits of the serial input signal as a first hamming distance, and a conflicting signal generation circuit (13) for generating after the last bit, upon detection of the first hamming distance, an input bit having a hamming distance from the last bit of the bit string of the dummy serial input signal which distance is a second hamming distance conflicting with the first hamming distance.
US07962961B1
A security module detects attempted exploitations of vulnerabilities of an application executing on a computer. A robust function of the application having native error handling functionality is identified. The security module wraps the robust function with an exception handler that catches a “security violation” exception. The exception handler returns an error code of a type that is handled by the application's native error handling functionality. The security module also hooks the application. When a hook is followed, the security module determines whether a vulnerability in the application is being exploited. If an attempted exploit is detected, the security module throws the security violation exception. The application's native error handling functionality unwinds the call stack for the application until it reaches the exception handler wrapping the robust function. The exception handler catches the security violation exception and returns the error code to the application's native error handling functionality.
US07962959B1
Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for optimizing system memory utilization during execution of an antivirus application. The system provides an antivirus cache in a non-volatile system memory that may be updated with information from an antivirus database. Each update contains different types of data and executable code associated with different types of known malware. During update, the same types of data for each type of malware is collected and stored as data files in corresponding sections of the antivirus cache and executable code sections are converted into platform-specific dynamic libraries and also stored in the antivirus cache. During execution of the antivirus application, the system maps one or more data files of the antivirus cache into the physical memory, so that the memory-mapped data files and dynamic libraries of the antivirus cache may be shared and simultaneously accessed by several malware detection processes.
US07962942B1
Systems and methods for rewinding a video to a point before the video was first viewed. Video transmitted by a media source is cached by a remote server. Upon a trick-play request for the video, the server generates a rewind stream that includes the video that was transmitted by the media source before the user started to view the video. Upon receiving the rewind stream, the user's equipment may cache the rewind stream in a rewind buffer and rewind or play from the rewind buffer. The server may also generate and transmit a forward stream of the video that the media source has not yet transmitted. The user's equipment may cache the forward stream in a forward buffer. To perform trick-play operations with the video, the user's equipment may migrate the playback of the video to the rewind and forward buffers and rewind or fast-forward the video from the buffers.
US07962941B2
A method and apparatus for changing a broadcasting channel list provided in a digital broadcasting service by a user are provided. The method of providing a channel list of digital broadcasting in a mobile terminal includes providing a setting screen of the channel list according to a request for setting the channel list; receiving a digital broadcasting channel selected by a user in the channel list; allocating a predetermined sky wave broadcasting channel number to a virtual channel of the selected digital broadcasting channel according to the user's request; and completing setting of a channel list including the allocated virtual channel information.
US07962940B2
An apparatus and a method for switching channels in a digital broadcasting system. The apparatus and method of the invention can convert an abridged channel name comprised of alphabetic letters, or a combination of alphabetic letters and Arabic numbers, inputted by a user, into a corresponding channel number and switches into a digital broadcasting channel at a tuner according to the channel number so that a user can easily switch broadcast channels.
US07962939B2
An apparatus, method and data structure for generating at least one table in a broadcast environment, are provided. The apparatus includes a generator to generate an event information table (EIT) and an extended text table (ETT). The ETT has program guide information for an n-hour span and has a transmission interval. The ETT has a transmission interval and program description information according to the EIT. The transmission interval of the EIT is shorter than the transmission interval of the ETT.
US07962935B2
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus, a data processing method and a program, and a data processing system which are configured to provide an EPG as a user interface that further facilitates decision on whether to view or record a program. By aggregating information uploaded from a user side, statistical data, such as the number of persons who viewed a program during its broadcast time, an audience rating of a program during its broadcast time, or a good impression level representing how the user feels about a program, are calculated, whereby an EPG page is automatically generated in which the statistical data and program guide data that gives guidance on programs are superimposed. The present invention is applicable to, e.g., a broadcasting system that broadcast television broadcasting programs.
US07962932B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for presenting a message on a display based on video frame types presented on the display are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method includes receiving a message having one of a plurality of priority levels for presentation on a display. Further, it is determined whether a type of a video frame for presentation on the display has a predetermined relationship to the priority level of the message. The received message is presented on the display based on the video frame type determination.
US07962926B2
A method, system and program storage device for preventing a real-time application from running out of free threads when the real-time application receives a device interface request. A set of special data packets for the main user application is provided. Shared functions are provided as part of the device interface to indicate the error condition when there is no more free thread and for a utility program to recognize a retry is needed. Thus, the retry mechanism is embedded in the shared functions running on both the main user application and all utility programs.
US07962925B2
A schema parser can be used in data binding to create a schema object model when given an XML schema. Java classes can be generated using the schema object model, which correspond to elements and types in the schema. Mapping can be done in each direction between the schema and Java classes, which can be written to a type mapping directory. The schema object model can also contain mappings between each Java class and an XSD type. The mappings in the type mapping directory can then be used to generate XML when given a Java object tree, and can be used to create and populate a Java class when given an XML instance matching the schema object model.
US07962923B2
A method of supporting condition synchronization for a shared data structure so as to provide concurrent access. A protocol is provided between a thread creating a request as part of a remove operation and a thread fulfilling a request as part of an add operation. The protocol provides for the thread making such a request to check the request_value field of the request node and then wait on its own condition variable. A requesting thread sets a requestor_id field of a request node with a value that identifies the thread. A fulfilling thread sets a request_value field of a request node with the address of the data node with the value, and then signals the requesting thread as identified by the requestor_id field. Upon receiving the signal, the requesting thread wakes up and retrieves the value from the data node pointed to it by the request_value field of the request node. If a wait times out, the requesting thread attempts to signal that the wait timed out by performing a CAS operation on the request_value field to modify it from zero to non-zero. If the CAS operation succeeds, the request timed out and the remove operation return failure. If the CAS operation fails, the request was fulfilled since the fulfilling thread set the request_value field with the address of the data node.
US07962916B2
A method of distributing load amongst two or more computer system resources. The method includes distributing load to the system resources in accordance with their modeled response times and a predetermined Service level Agreement (SLA) associated with each system resource. By modeling the response time of each resource, load can be distributed with a view to maintaining response times within a predetermined Service level Agreement (SLA). The response time may be modeled by analytical modeling, which uses a queuing network model for predicting the response time, typically along with other parameters such as, utilization, throughput and queue length.
US07962910B2
A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.
US07962908B2
A system and method are disclosed for creating and describing a configurable data set, configuring the data set and merging a resulting configured data set into a target data set. One or more configurable data elements are stored in a configurable data set that forms part of a configurable merge module. The configurable merge module also includes metadata concerning the configurable data. The metadata describes the data elements and how they can be configured and how to implement changes to the configurable data. Each configurable data element can be presented to the configurable merge module consumer through a user interface. The configurable merge module consumer can thus make configuration choices. Also provided is a transformation engine for customizing the configurable data based on configurable merge module consumer choices and a merge engine for inserting configured data into a target data set.
US07962904B2
The subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods for dynamic parsing. A dynamic parser can perform syntactic analysis or parsing of input data consisting of a set of tokens based upon a provided grammar including conditional tokens. While the parser grammar can be fixed, the dynamic parser can utilize an independent transform function at parse time to translate or replace particular tokens, effectively performing dynamic parsing. The transform function can be utilized in conjunction with conditional tokens to selectively activate and deactivate particular grammar rules. Additionally, systems and methods for automatically generating a dynamic parser from a grammar description are described herein.
US07962901B2
Model checking has been used to verify program behavior. However, exploration of the model is often impractical for many general purpose programs due to the complexity of an exploding state space. Instead, a program is instrumented with code that records pointer dereference information. The instrumented program is executed thereby recording pointer dereference frequency information. Then, a model of the program is explored using the pointer dereference frequency information to direct state space exploration of the model.
US07962900B2
A dynamic binary translator 19 converts a subject program 17 into target code 21 on a target processor 13. For a multi-threaded subject environment, the translator 19 provides a global token 501 common to each thread 171, 172, and one or more sets of local data 502, which together are employed to coordinate access to a memory 18 as a shared resource. Adjusting the global token 501 allows the local datastructures 502a,b in each thread to detect potential interference with the shared resource 18.
US07962890B2
A computer-implemented system for providing a skill level assessment of a developer of a given object, based on defects found in the object, includes: a processor configured for: receiving the object; obtaining at least one requirement associated with the object; obtaining at least one requirement associated with the developer of the object; finding defects in the object, based on the at least one requirement; mapping the defects found to a listing of actions; creating the skill level assessment of the developer using the mapped defects; and presenting the assessment to a user of the method. The system also includes a network interface, storage, and memory. In addition, logic stored in memory includes an obtain objects handler; a requirements assessment handler; a code analysis handler; a skill level handler; a report handler; and a development skill assessment database. Further, the assessment may be presented as a platform for internet content selection label associated with at least one web document related to the developer.
US07962888B2
A computer-implemented method of processing a module specification to produce predicator definitions is disclosed. The predicator definitions provide a facility for type-safe processing of generic elements (typically from markup processing or synthetic-language parsing) to specific elements suitable for accumulation as member data in an application-specific data structure. The method processes representations of modules, classes, and members. The predicators provided include a predicator base class definition, a plurality of predicator specializations, a promissary reference base class definition, and a plurality of promissary reference class definitions.
US07962873B2
Method and apparatus for approximating the average critical area of a layout or layout region, involving summing, over all the object segments of interest, respective critical area contribution values that are dependent upon particular layout parameters of the objects, each of the contribution values being representative of a plurality of defect sizes, and being defined such that for each defect size in the plurality of defect sizes, and for a particular defect type, the contribution values collectively count all critical areas arising due to the object segments of interest only once.
US07962872B2
An aspect of the present invention provides for timing analysis when integrating multiple circuit blocks while balancing resource requirements and accuracy. In an embodiment, an optimized model for a circuit block is created by combining information provided by two different models of the same circuit block and performing timing analysis based on the optimized model. In an embodiment, the two models correspond to black box and interface timing models. In the optimized model, ports for which only timing arc information is deemed necessary are modeled using corresponding information from the black box model, while ports for which more accurate or detailed information is deemed necessary are modeled using corresponding information from the interface timing model. The optimized model enables the integration to be performed with a balance of resource requirements and accuracy.
US07962871B2
An apparatus, program product and method perform static timing analysis on an integrated circuit design by concurrently modeling a plurality of timing delays associated with a connection between points in the design. The delays are conveyed in multiple clock signals of a single timing run of a static timing analysis operation. Multiple paths comprising logical user defined delay segments are assigned different delays. Only one signal may be permitted to propagate along each path.
US07962853B2
A method and system for collaborative editing of a document by an author of the document and reviewers. Program code receives from the author an identification of selected portions of the document and receives from the author: comments created by the author and an identification of at least one reviewer to which each comment is directed. The selected portions and the comments are associated with each other on a one-to-one basis. Each comment pertains to content of the selected portion that each comment is associated with. The program code parses the received comments, and utilizes the identification of the at least one reviewer to which each comment is directed, to generate a list of comments specifying for each comment the at least one reviewer to which each comment is directed. The program code makes available to each reviewer the comments on the list of comments directed to each reviewer.
US07962851B2
A method for creating informational guides includes receiving a guide specification and a guide content for a plurality of guides; publishing the plurality of guides to a Web-based network for access to users of the network; serving advertising to the plurality of published guides; and rewarding owners of the plurality of published guides by providing compensation thereto based on revenue from the served advertising.
US07962846B2
A system and process for handling clips with annotations is provided. A user annotates a document. The system gathers context information regarding the clip and displays the clip or clips with annotations to the user. A system for showing clips of content and annotations may include an input for receiving content and annotations, a processor creating a renderable image having the clips with at least one of the clips being a combination of two or more annotations, and an output for outputting the renderable image. A method of displaying clips may include receiving at least two sets of an annotation and related content, filtering the received, combining the filtered output, and displaying a combination of the filtered output.
US07962842B2
A method for marking hyperlinks, for creating an associated link spelling table, and for accessing the address of a marked hyperlink. A portion of text is selected and the hyperlinks of the selected text are identified. Then a link spelling table is created and a set of discrimination letter subsets characterizing each of the identified hyperlink is determined. Each discrimination letter subset is associated to the address of the corresponding hyperlink in the link spelling table, and the discrimination letter subset in each hyperlink of the selected text portion are marked. Then, to access the hyperlink, the user spells the discrimination letters that are then converted to extract the discrimination letter subset. The link spelling table is accessed to determine if the extracted discrimination letter subset belongs to the link spelling table. If the extracted discrimination letter subset belongs to the link spelling table, the address associated with the extracted discrimination letter subset is recovered and the data localized at that address are accessed.
US07962841B2
A majority voting Viterbi decoder includes a branch metric calculator (BMC) for measuring a difference between a received symbol and a reference symbol and outputting branch metrics from the difference; an add-compare-selection (ACS) unit for determining an optimal path using the branch metrics; a survival path memory unit for outputting decoded symbols by performing decoding based on the optimal path; and a majority voting unit for determining a final decoded symbol by performing majority voting for the decoded symbols output from the survival path memory unit. Accordingly, by adding the majority voting unit, a decoding depth can be reduced without the loss of an encoding gain required in a system, and by reducing the decoding depth, miniaturization is possible, power consumption can be reduced, and a processing delay in a memory can be minimized.
US07962840B2
A digital television (DTV) transmitter/receiver and a method of processing data in the DTV transmitter/receiver are disclosed. In the DTV transmitter, a pre-processor pre-processes the enhanced, data by coding the enhanced data for forward error correction (FEC) and expanding the FEC-coded enhanced data. A data formatter generates enhanced data packets including the pre-processed enhanced data and inserts known data to at least one of the enhanced data packets. A first multiplexer multiplexes the enhanced data packets with main data packets including the main data. And, an RS encoder RS-codes the multiplexed main and enhanced data packets, the RS encoder adding systematic parity data to each main data packet and adding RS parity plate holders to each enhanced data packet. Herein, the RS encoder may insert non-systematic RS parity data or null data into the RS parity place holders included in each enhanced data packet.
US07962836B1
A Bose, Ray-Chaudhuri, Hocquenghem (BCH) decoder is employed in non-volatile memory applications for determining the number of errors and locating the errors in a page of information. The decoder includes a syndrome calculator responsive to a sector of information. The sector includes data and overhead, with the data being organized into data sections and the overhead being organized into overhead sections. The syndrome calculator generates a syndrome for each of the data sections. A root finder is coupled to receive the calculated syndrome and to generate at least two roots. A polynomial calculator responds to the two roots and generates at least two error addresses, each identifying a location in the data wherein the error lies.
US07962826B2
A closed-loop reverse-link power control algorithm for a frequency hopping orthogonal frequency division multiple access (FH-OFDMA) system is described. The power control algorithm adjusts the user's transmit power based on effective carrier-to-interference (C/I) and Received-Power-Over-Thermal (RpOT) measurements. The algorithm is inherently stable and is effective for FH-OFDMA systems with retransmissions.
US07962810B2
A recording medium structure capable of displaying a defect rate is provided. The recording medium has at least one use area with endurance blocks, and each endurance block has an endurance value. The recording medium structure has a housing, a first and a second off-line display units arranged on the housing for respectively displaying a real defect rate and a potential defect rate of the recording medium. The real defect rate is calculated based on an error correction coed, and the potential defect rate is calculated based on an endurance values recorded in the endurance table.
US07962808B2
The present application describes a method and system for testing the compliance of a PCIE expansion system to verify that data signals transmitted through multiple data lanes in the expansion system comply with the PCIE requirements. The method for testing a PCIE expansion system comprises delivering the data signals from the data lanes to a compliance board that is configured to loop back at least a first portion of the data signals and transmit a complementary second portion of the data signals to a testing device, and testing a compliance of the second portion of the data signals with the PCIE requirements. The first portion of the data signals is then tested through a second compliance board that is configured to loop back the second portion of the data signals and transmit the first portion of the data signals to the testing device.
US07962803B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for multi-address space tracing. A trigger module establishes a trigger event with a trace level. The trigger event occurs in at least a first address space of a plurality of address spaces. The trace level defines trace data to be stored from the plurality of address spaces. A monitor monitors messages communicated within and between the plurality of address spaces. A detection module detects the trigger event. A log module logs the trace data from the plurality of address spaces defined by the trace level in response to detecting the trigger event.
US07962801B2
A link table recovery method for a flash memory having a plurality of blocks is provided. The method includes: selecting one block from the blocks; selecting a last page containing data of the selected block; checking the last page to determine whether the last page has errors; moving the correct data in the selected block to one of the spare blocks when the last page of the selected block detects errors; and updating a link table of the flash memory.
US07962796B2
A test method for a data processing device includes determining both a current state of the device and a desired state of the device. A set of instructions to transition the data processing device from the current state to the target state is obtained by initially selecting a first source state from a set of possible source states and corresponding instructions that can transition the device to the desired state. The instruction associated with the first source state is placed on an instruction stack. The source state and instruction selection process is repeated until the selected source state corresponds to the current state of the device under test. The instructions in the stack are applied to the device under test, and the resulting device state compared to the specified state to determine a test result.
US07962794B2
A method and apparatus are provided for an embedded wireless interface that is embedded in, for example, one of an input and output controller device for controlling input and output communications with off-board devices, within a memory controller device and a processor motherboard. The embedded wireless interface may be utilized as a wireless test access point to provide signal stimulations for test purposes or to monitor communications over a specified wired communication link.
US07962789B2
An apparatus is disclosed for testing a utility computing system having a plurality of hardware and/or software planes. The apparatus comprises a plurality of administration units, each administration unit being arranged to carry out test operations on a utility computing system during use, and each administration unit having associated access details usable to gain access to at least one plane of the utility computing system during use, an authenticator arranged to receive access details and to permit or restrict access by an administration unit to one or more planes of the utility computing system during use depending on whether the received access details correspond to the access details associated with the administration unit, and a dispatcher arranged, for each administration unit, to automatically forward the access details associated with the administration unit to the authenticator so as to thereby permit the administration unit to gain access to one or more planes of the utility computing system during use and carry out test operations on said accessed one or more planes.
US07962786B2
A method comprising: detecting a sub-system to be controlled in a reduced resource mode in a device having an interconnecting system architecture; sending a resource reducing request to an interconnect node of the sub-system, the interconnect node belonging to a first power/clock signal domain; and reducing resources of processing elements of the sub-system belonging to a second power/clock signal domain.
US07962785B2
A volatile or nonvolatile cache memory can cache mass storage device read data and write data. The cache memory may become inaccessible, and I/O operations may go directly to the mass storage device, bypassing the cache memory. A log of write operations may be maintained to update the cache memory when it becomes available.
US07962784B2
A scheme for block substitution within a flash memory device is disclosed which uses a programmable look-up table to store new addresses for block selection when certain input block addresses are received. The new addresses are loaded into a programmable fuse latch each time an address transition is detected in the input address. The new addresses may contain block addresses or block and bank addresses.
US07962783B2
A method and related computer program product of preventing write corruption in a redundant array in a computer system, comprising detecting a write failure from a calling application to at least one disk of the redundant array, writing failure information to non-volatile storage; returning an I/O error to the calling application; reading the failure information from the non-volatile storage during the next system reboot; and reconfiguring the array to eliminate the failed disk.
US07962782B2
Systems and methods to modify a set of connection records are described. A determination is made that an application failed to access a first database via a connection record, where the connection record includes data to access the first database. A determination is made that a second database is accessible, where the second database is a failover database to the first database. A set of connection records associated with the first database is modified to enable access to the second database.
US07962775B1
A mobile electronic communication device power management method and apparatus are disclosed for use in multiple processor hardware schemes having asymmetrical power demands between processors. Upon reaching an long duration idle state, a high-level processor with high power consumption requirements handling low-level system tasks updates a data set shared between processor subsystems containing information necessary to perform such low-level tasks. A proxy software module is initiated on a base-band processor with lower power consumption requirements. The proxy module accesses the shared data set and begins to control low-level system tasks, allowing the high-level processor to enter a dormant low power state. Upon the occurrence of a wake-up event, the high-level processor enters an active state. The shared data set is updated by the proxy software module and the proxy module is terminated. The high-level processor accesses the shared data set and resumes control of low-level system tasks.
US07962770B2
A method, system and program are provided for dynamically reconfiguring a pipelined processor to operate with reduced power consumption without reducing existing performance. By monitoring or detecting the performance of individual units or stages in the processor as they execute a given workload, each stage may use high-performance circuitry until such time as a drop in the throughput performance is detected, at which point the stages are reconfigured to use lower-performance circuitry so as to meet the reduced performance throughput requirements using less power. By configuring the processor to back off from high-performance designs to low-performance designs to meet the detected performance characteristics of the executing workload warrant, power dissipation may be optimized.
US07962766B2
Encryption-based design obfuscation for an integrated circuit includes creating multiple functional circuit paths for an integrated circuit design and selecting among the multiple functional circuit paths during scan testing. Encrypting selection data corresponding to an intended function of the integrated circuit design avoids revealing the intended function as a result of the scan testing.
US07962762B2
The invention relates to methods for storing and accessing user data (48) and configuration data (62) in a mobile device (10) that is connected to a user module (12). According to a first aspect of the invention, the user data (48) is stored in the mobile device (10) at least partially in encrypted form, and is decrypted, in access operations, using a decrypting function (66) of the user module (12). According to a second aspect of the invention, the configuration data (62) is stored in the user module (12). The configuration data (62) indicates whether, or to what extent, an application program (46) is allowed to be executed by the mobile device (10). Security and protection against unauthorised access to user data (48) and application programs (46) in the mobile device (10) are increased by the invention.
US07962761B1
The invention relates to a computer implemented method for generating a pseudonym for a user comprising entering a user-selected secret, storing the user-selected secret in memory, computing a private key by applying an embedding and randomizing function onto the secret, storing the private key in the memory, computing a public key using the private key, the public key and the private key forming an asymmetric cryptographic key, erasing the secret and the private key from the memory, and outputting the public key for providing the pseudonym.
US07962759B2
A computer program product and system for reducing the boot time of a TCPA based computing system. A flash memory in the TCPA based computing system may include a register comprising bits configured to indicate whether the segments of the flash memory have been updated. The flash memory may further include a table configured to store measurements of the segments of the flash memory. The flash memory may further include a boot block code that includes a Core Root of Trust for Measurement (CRTM). The CRTM may read the bits in the register to determine if any of the segments of the flash memory have been updated. The CRTM may further obtain the measurement values in the table for those segments that store the POST BIOS code that have not been updated thereby saving time from measuring the POST BIOS code and consequently reducing the boot time.
US07962754B2
A cryptographic method and equipment decrypting a cryptographic key by generating an auxiliary code based on a randomly determined numeric key and including a result of encryption into a cryptogram. Upon decryption, the cryptographic key is restored using the numeric key restored according to the entire cryptogram. A cryptographic method and equipment scrambles and encrypts physical characteristic information, and descrambles a result of a decryption, thereby enabling any alteration to a cryptogram to be detected because even a minor alteration thereto changes the result of the decryption. A remote identification system encrypts physical characteristic information using a password as a cryptographic key, and fluctuation of the physical characteristic information, authenticating information represented as a different bit pattern at each identifying processing is generated and sent to a transmission medium.
US07962745B2
With each embodiment of the present invention, a content providing system comprises a content encrypting section which encrypts content by use of a session key and a header generating section which encrypts the session key by use of an encryption key in such a manner that the session key can be obtained by use of a decryption key assigned to a user system and generates header information including the encrypted session key and one or more values based on user identification information of each of the user systems that are permitted to obtain the session key. The content providing system transmits the encrypted content and the header information to each user system. Since the header information does not explicitly include user identification information of the user systems, information about whose decryption keys have been revoked is not leaked out in the block box tracing.
US07962739B2
A system, method, and program product is provided that recovers from a sector error affecting a critical file. A damaged sector prevents a critical file from being read prevents the computer system from booting. A controller records a sector number corresponding to the damaged sector. The system is rebooted using an alternative boot media. The system accesses the primary nonvolatile storage media after the rebooting. The damaged sector number is read from the error log and a file map is used to determine the critical file that is stored in the damaged sector. A backup copy of the critical file is retrieved from a backup media. The backup copy is written to the primary media using undamaged sectors and the critical file is mapped to the undamaged sectors. The system is subsequently booted successfully from the primary nonvolatile storage media.
US07962720B2
A distributed processing system includes at least two processing elements (100 and 200) which are mutually connected, and each processing element having at least a processing section, a memory section, and a communication section. A first processing section (102) stores data in a predetermined area of a first memory section (101), or reads data stored in a predetermined area of the first memory section (101). A first communication section (103) of one processing element (100) transmits data read from the first memory section (101) to the other processing element (200), or stores data received from the other processing element (200) to the first memory section (101).
US07962713B2
A device and method is provided for maintaining, upon unlocking of a memory, the lock status of the memory prior to the memory being unlocked and recreating the lock status when power is turned on again. An information storage device, such as a memory card, performs unlocking of a memory in response to a command input from an information processing apparatus and stores lock status data prior to the memory being unlocked in a non-volatile memory (NVM). When the information storage device is turned off and then on, the information storage device recreates a lock status of the memory on the basis of the lock status data stored in the storage means and performs memory access control based on the recreated lock status.
US07962710B1
Techniques for creating checkpoints are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for creating file system checkpoints comprising the steps of modifying a first data block and a second data block with a first transaction, associating the first data block with a first stamp, and associating the second data block with a second stamp, wherein the first stamp and the second stamp are substantially similar.
US07962701B2
In one aspect of the invention, text data recorded on a CD conforming to the CD-TEXT format is displayed using a minimum amount of memory. Storage capacity to be used per data item is calculated by dividing the available storage capacity by the number of text data items to be displayed on a display section, and the text data is read from the CD and is stored in a memory by limiting the storage capacity per data item to the thus calculated storage capacity. Priority may be given to a specific data item for which full data is acquired, and the remaining capacity may be equally divided among the other data items. In another aspect of the invention, text data recorded in a plurality of different languages on a CD conforming to the CD-TEXT format is acquired in as many languages as possible by using a minimum amount of memory. A block selected based on a predetermined criterion, such as the starting block or a block recorded in a specific language, is acquired first, and then a further block or blocks are selected and acquired as the remaining memory capacity allows.
US07962699B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates avoiding locks by speculatively executing critical sections of code. During operation, the system allows a process to speculatively execute a critical section of code within a program without first acquiring a lock associated with the critical section. If the process subsequently completes the critical section without encountering an interfering data access from another process, the system commits changes made during the speculative execution, and resumes normal non-speculative execution of the program past the critical section. Otherwise, if an interfering data access from another process is encountered during execution of the critical section, the system discards changes made during the speculative execution, and attempts to re-execute the critical section.
US07962698B1
An embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of deterministic collision detection involving at least two ports. The method includes receiving a read/write operation at a first data rate at a first port of a multi-port device, receiving a read/write operation at a second data rate at a second port of the multi-port device, detecting a collision between the first port and the second port if a same address space is accessed by the first port and the second port coincidentally, asserting a busy signal at least one of said first port and said second port a number of clock cycles after detecting said collision, storing an address location of said address space in a memory register, and deterministically report the collision using the address location and the number of clock cycles.
US07962696B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for updating owner predictor structures. In one embodiment, a multi-processor system includes an owner predictor control that provides an ownership update message corresponding to a block of data to at least one of a plurality of owner predictors in response to a change in an ownership state of the block of data. The update message comprises an address tag associated with the block of data and an identification associated with an owner node of the block of data.
US07962689B1
A storage system architecture ensures transactional processing of operations directed to one or more data containers stored on a plurality of volumes distributed across a plurality of nodes interconnected as a cluster. The volumes are organized as a striped volume set (SVS) comprising one meta-data volume configured to store a canonical copy of certain meta-data associated with all data containers stored on the SVS, and one or more data volumes configured to store, at least, data content of those containers. In addition, for each data container stored on the SVS, one volume is designated a container attribute volume and, as such, is configured to store a canonical copy of certain, rapidly-changing attribute meta-data associated with that container. Notably, the invention provides a plurality of SVS operations that enables transactional performance in the cluster using persistent storage and/or systematic accesses to the data/meta-data stored on the SVS volumes.
US07962686B1
A technique for efficiently preserving the ordering of data being written to a nonvolatile memory through a subsystem of a network storage system in the event of a power disruption, where the subsystem does not inherently guarantee that the ordering of the data will be preserved. The subsystem can be, for example, a memory controller hub. During normal operation of the system, data is written to the nonvolatile memory without flushing the data to the nonvolatile memory. In response to a power disruption in the system, data sources in the system that can initiate write transactions destined for the nonvolatile memory are inhibited from initiating write transactions destined for the nonvolatile memory, and pending write data within the subsystem is allowed to be committed to the nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory is then placed into a self-refresh state.
US07962684B2
The operating firmware of a portable flash memory storage device is stored in the relatively large file storage memory, which is non executable. It is logically parsed into overlays to fit into an executable memory. The overlays can be of differing sizes to organize function calls efficiently while minimizing dead space or unnecessarily separating functions that should be within one or a group of frequently accessed overlays. Eviction of the overlays is preferably carried out on a least recently loaded basis. These features minimize latency caused by calling overlays unnecessarily and minimize fragmentation of the random access memory used for the overlays.
US07962683B2
A method for operating a flash memory is provided. The flash memory comprises a controller, a cache, and a plurality of blocks. By using a cache to preload data from the host, the buffer of the controller can be smaller than the capacity of a single block or omitted entirely. Smooth data transmission is still maintained.
US07962671B2
A storage apparatus 10 includes channel devices (each being CHA_PK 11) and microprocessors (each being MP_PK 12). CHA_PK 11 and MP_PK 12 respectively store therein control information being information designating logical volumes (LDEVs) 171 accessible by respective MP_PKs 12. Upon receipt of an I/O request from a management apparatus 20, CHA_PK 11 transmits, based on the control information stored therein, an I/O command to MP_PK 12 having an access right to a logical volume to which the I/O request is directed. In the storage apparatus 10, MP_PK 12 having received the I/O command from CHA_PK 11 judges based on the control information stored therein whether MP_PK 12 itself has an access right to the logical volume, and transmits the control information therein to CHA_PK 11 when judging that it does not have the access right, whereby the control information in CHA_PK 11 is updated.
US07962663B2
Disclosed is a signal input system to input an image signal from source equipment to sink equipment through a High Definition Multimedia Interface, wherein the source equipment comprises a transmission section to transmit a format signal to the sink equipment through a predetermined first line in the High Definition Multimedia Interface, the format signal having a voltage value corresponding to a format of the image signal and the sink equipment comprises: a reception section to receive the format signal transmitted through the first line by the transmission section; a judging section to judge the format of the image signal based on the voltage value of the format signal which is received by the reception section; and a setting section to set an image output based on a judgment result of the judging section.
US07962660B2
An information processing apparatus is disclosed that is connected to a device and generates data processable by the device based on device information about the device. The information processing apparatus includes a processing content setting unit that specifies, based on the device information, processing content to be executed by the device; a command retrieving unit that, if the processing content specified by the processing content setting unit contains unknown information, retrieves a command corresponding to the unknown information from the device information; and a data generating unit that generates, based on the command retrieved by the command retrieving unit and the processing content, data processable by the device.
US07962650B2
Method, system and computer usable program code for dynamic component placement in an event processing system having producers, consumers, a plurality of nodes between the producers and the consumers, and a flow graph representing computational components to be executed between the producers and the consumers. A description of a change to the system is received. At each node, next-hop neighbor nodes for each consumer are identified. A routing value is assigned to each next-hop neighbor node for each consumer. Using the routing values in a context of the change, a performance cost of the system is estimated based on hypothetical changed placements of the computational components at nodes along paths from a producer to a consumer through the next-hop neighbor nodes for each consumer, and a changed placement of the computational components that minimizes performance cost of the system relative to the hypothetical changed placements is selected.
US07962634B2
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the submission of metadata content and media content to a media distribution system. The media content can include, for example, audio, video, image, or podcast data. In accordance with one embodiment, a client submitting metadata content can validate the metadata content prior to submission of the metadata content and/or associated media content. A media distribution system receiving metadata content can also validate the metadata content.
US07962630B2
An improved method, mechanism, and system for implementing, generating, and maintaining for implementing session pools is disclosed. A session in a session pool can be customized to with a specific set of affinities and attributes. Tags can be associated with the customized sessions. When a later request is made for a session having a set of desired characteristics, the tags can be used to search for and identify a session in the session pool having the requested characteristics. Also disclosed is a method, mechanism, and system for dynamic sizing of session pools.
US07962623B2
In an embodiment, techniques for sustaining session connections are provided. The techniques send heartbeat messages when not sending a message may cause the session connection to close because of a timeout condition. Heartbeat messages are valid transport layer messages that will be ignored by protocols at higher levels of a data communications stack. As an example, the techniques may send a TCP message containing only a carriage return and line feed (“CRLF”) in its payload. Because the TCP layer considers a message containing only a CRLF to be a valid TCP message, intermediary computing devices such as proxy servers may not interpret heartbeat messages as “keep alive” messages, and may sustain session connections.
US07962621B2
Described herein are embodiments for setting, managing, and monitoring connection policies for a plurality of network paths from a first endpoint to a second endpoint. In embodiments, a set of candidate addresses from a first endpoint and a set of candidate addresses from a second endpoint are received. Each candidate address of the first endpoint is paired with each candidate address of the second endpoint to create a plurality of candidate address pairs. Each candidate address pair has an associated network path. The network path is the route by which data flows to and from the various endpoints. Once all network paths between each candidate address pair have been determined, a connection policy is set for each network address pair and the associated network path.
US07962613B2
A system includes a monitoring module, a request allocation module, and a request distribution module. The monitoring module is configured to determine a resource utilization of a preferred server and a non-preferred server. The request allocation module is configured to modify an allocation scheme in response to the resource utilization of the preferred server and the non-preferred server. The request distribution module is configured to distribute a plurality of requests from a plurality of users according to the allocation scheme.
US07962607B1
A system and a method are disclosed for establishing a baseline and the corresponding bands of data for alarming, etc. Historical raw data are aggregated and grouped. For example, the data may be and hourly grouped as 168 groups of data in a weekly frame. Clusters of the groups of data are then formed based on dynamic data window by analyzing statistical similarity among the 168 groups of data. Data in each cluster of groups, originated from the raw data at specific hour(s) of day on specific day(s) of week, are used as historical data to predict a baseline and the envelopes at these associated hour(s) and day(s). Generating a baseline includes determining a mapping function, which transforms data in a cluster to become normal or nearly normal. A mean and standard deviation of the transformed data are calculated. Envelopes are determined using the mean and the standard deviation. An inverse transformation function is uniquely derived. The mean and the envelopes are inversely transformed using the inverse function. This operationally decides a baseline and the corresponding bands for every weekly time frame hour.
US07962606B2
A system for analyzing a packet-based network includes a correlator processor that is configured to receive packet records corresponding to packets communicated over a network and store the packet records in a data store. The correlator processor is also configured to generate correlated packet records from the packet records stored in the data store, the correlated packet records representative of the order in which the packets were transmitted in the network.
US07962601B2
The present invention provides techniques for creation, operation, management, and access control of network-based storage services. Specific embodiments provide improved efficiency of the service management tasks used for designing, operating and accounting the robust and profitable network services, for example. In representative embodiments, techniques for constructing integrated network and storage services are provided. In a specific embodiment, the service comprises of three major service components: virtual private networks (VPN), application servers and storage area networks (SAN). Each of these service components has its own customer identification information, such as VPN identifier for VPN services, process identifier for application servers and logical unit number (LUN) for storage devices.
US07962597B2
A system and method for management and processing of resource requests is provided. A content delivery network service provider receives a DNS query from a client computing device. The DNS query corresponds to a requested resource from the client computing device. The content delivery network service provider associates the client computing device with a cluster of other client computing devices. Based on routing information for the cluster, the content delivery network service provider routes the DNS query. The process can further include monitoring performance data associated with the delivery of the requested resource and updating the routing information for the cluster based on the performance data for use in processing subsequent requests from client computing devices in the cluster.
US07962593B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and a method for publishing advertisement service information. The system includes an advertisement Portal sever, a data storage device, and an advertisement service central server. The method includes receiving, by the advertisement service Portal server of the system for publishing advertisement service information, advertisement information including advertisement contents and an advertisement mode and saving the advertisement information in the data storage device; acquiring, by the advertisement service central server, the advertisement information from the data storage device or receiving the advertisement information from the advertisement service Portal server; and transferring the advertisement information including advertisement contents to the service application system according to the advertisement mode. According to the present invention, sharing information resources is realized, which avoids the repeated constructions of various service application systems for implementing an advertisement service and implements uniform management on the various service application systems.
US07962591B2
Objects can be extracted from data flows captured by a capture device. Each captured object can then be classified according to content. In one embodiment, the present invention includes determining whether a captured object is binary or textual in nature, and classifying the captured object as one of a plurality of textual content types based tokens found in the captured object if the captured object is determined to be textual in nature.
US07962589B1
A method is disclosed for providing notification of network alarms using a plurality of distributed layers. A message is received that indicates an event occurred at a primary entity. The event is bound to a managed object, which represents the primary entity, to create a bound event. An overall condition is determined for the primary entity, based at least in part on the bound event, to create one or more condition notifications. The impact of a particular condition notification on one or more entities, which are related to the primary entity, is analyzed to create one or more impact notifications. One or more first alarms, which indicate the one or more related entities are impacted by a particular impact notification, are created. One or more second alarms are created based on the one or more first alarms.
US07962583B2
Dynamically adding n partitions to a distributed directory setup having x existing servers by modifying the configuration file to include the n new servers and implementing a replication setup mechanism with agreements to x+n−1 servers. The migration to dynamically add partitions is carried out while continuing to serve clients.
US07962579B2
A method for delivering electronic services in a personal area network (PAN) can include providing a kiosk in a publicly traversable area. The kiosk can be configured to deliver electronic services over short-range radio communications links to wireless devices in a personal area network (PAN). The kiosk also can be configured to communicate over an existing physical communications link medium. A PAN can be established in the publicly traversable area. Electronic services can be selectably retrieved through the existing physical communications link medium into the kiosk. Finally, the retrieved selected electronic services can be delivered to wireless devices in the PAN over the short-range radio communications link. Notably, the step of establishing a PAN in the publicly traversable area can include establishing a BLUETOOTH-based PAN with wireless devices in the publicly traversable area. In addition, the step of providing a kiosk first can include retrofitting an existing kiosk both with a short-range radio frequency communications system, and with a host computing device for selectively retrieving electronic services over the existing physical communications link medium, and for delivering selected electronic services to the wireless devices in the PAN. Second, the retrofitted kiosk can be activated in the publicly traversable area.
US07962578B2
The present invention is uniquely designed to interact with web retailer's customers with real agent reaction times as they give astute answers directly concerning web retailer's products and goals. The entire process is manageable through a third-party website which includes scripting, settings and other parameters selected by the web retailer. An artificial intelligence engine uses the combination of Bayesian probability keyword selection, natural language parsing and regular expression processing. The technology updates its response database with every client interaction-learning always takes place as it simulates a live agent, in real time. Every client interaction is recorded and analyzed, and as a result of the analysis the changes in the answer database are made.
US07962569B2
An embodiment is directed to a method for selectively routing a DNS request in which a DNS request to translate a domain name is received from a local client device. The DNS request is directed to a remote DNS server on a remote network. A link status to the remote network is identified. If the link status indicates that a connection to the remote network is not possible, the DNS request is routed to a locally embedded DNS server. If the link status indicates that a connection to the remote network is possible, the DNS request is routed to the remote DNS server on the remote network.
US07962553B2
A method for distributing low-priority maintenance tasks in a computer system employing a plurality of central processing units. In an illustrative embodiment, an activity flag is assigned to each of the plurality of central processing units. After a network packet is received, it is processed in one of the plurality of central processing units and the maintenance tasks are assigned to a central processing unit based on the status of its activity flag.
US07962528B1
A system and method accelerates update of a metadata search database using PCPI differencing. After first populating the search database, a search agent generates a PCPI and utilizes a PCPI differencing technique to quickly identify changes between inode files of first and second PCPIs. The differences are noted as modified metadata and are written to a log file, which is later read by the search agent to update the search database.
US07962523B2
The present invention relates to methods, systems, and computer readable media comprising instructions for detecting templates within one or more web pages comprising a website. The method of the present invention comprises generating one or more groups of hyperlinks within a respective web page of the one or more web pages comprising the website. An in-link score is calculated for a given uniform resource locator associated with the one or more web pages comprising the website. The hyperlink groups in which the uniform resource locators associated with the one or more web pages comprising the website appear are identified. A template score is assigned to the identified hyperlinks groups on the basis of the in-link score associated with the uniform resource locators to which the hyperlinks comprising the hyperlink group correspond. The hyperlink groups with template scores exceeding a given template score threshold are thereafter identified as templates.
US07962518B2
A method and apparatus controls an MTP device to manage a media file transmitted by an MTP host. According to the method, when the number of files in a folder assigned by the MTP host is equal to or more than a predetermined number while storing a media file received from the MTP host, the MTP device generates a new folder and stores the corresponding media file in the new folder. Accordingly, the files within the predetermined number can be stored in one file. Since the number of files stored in one folder is limited, delay in processing media files due to the large number of files can be reduced.
US07962508B2
A system and method is provided which utilizes a threading service to offer enhanced features for a document management system including an email system. Various enhanced email features may be provided through one or more of the following components: a delete module, a reply module, a profile module, and a search module. The delete module enables a user to delete a selected message, a set of related messages, or the whole set except for the selected message. The reply module enables a user to send a reply message to all addresses associated and involved with an entire set of related messages. The profile module enables a dynamic interest profile to contain all relevant information from an outgoing message and a set of messages related to the outgoing message. The search module enables search results to include documents which match the user's query as well as documents related to the documents which match the user's query.
US07962505B2
Disclosed are embodiments of systems and methods for recommending relevant users to other users in a user community. In one implementation of such a method, two different sets of data are considered: a) music (or other items) that users have been listening to (or otherwise engaging), and b) music (or other items) recommendations that users have been given. In some embodiments, pre-computation methods allow the system to efficiently compare item sets and recommended item sets among the users in the community. Such comparisons may also comprise metrics that the system can use to figure out which users should be recommended for a given target user.
US07962499B2
In an example of an embodiment of the invention, a repeating pattern is identified within stored data comprising a plurality of data files, each data file comprising at least a header section and a data section stored in an unknown format. At least one occurrence of the repeating pattern is identified as a header section of a respective data file, and a data section of the respective data file is identified based, at least in part, on a location of the at least one occurrence of the repeating pattern. The identified data section of the respective data file is backed up. Systems are also disclosed.
US07962477B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for blending mobile search results. A method includes receiving a search query and multiple search results. The search results each satisfy the search query and have a respective search result quality score. The search results include generic and mobile search results. The generic and mobile search results each identify a generic and mobile resource, respectively. The search result quality scores include mobile and generic search result quality scores for the mobile and generic search results, respectively. The mobile search result quality scores and the generic search result quality scores were generated according to different scoring formulas. Based on one or more terms in the search query, the search query is classified as a mobile query. As a consequence, one or more search result quality scores are modified to improve the sorting of search results that include both mobile and generic search results.
US07962472B2
A self-optimizing algorithm for real-time problem resolution using historical data. Upon receiving failure symptom characteristics for a product or process failure, the algorithm queries historical failure data to locate historical failure symptoms and corrective actions matching the failure symptom characteristics. If a total number of the historical corrective actions identified meets a minimum match threshold, the algorithm selectively prunes a failure symptom characteristic having the lowest priority level to form an adjusted search query. The algorithm may repeat the querying, identifying, and determining steps using the adjusted search query until the total number of historical corrective actions identified meets the minimum match threshold. Once the threshold is met, the algorithm sorts the historical corrective actions to form a list of recommended corrective actions for the failure symptom characteristics and provides the list of recommended corrective actions to an end user.
US07962471B2
Demographic information of an Internet user is predicted based on an analysis of accessed web pages. Web pages accessed by the Internet user are detected and mapped to a user path vector which is converted to a normalized weighted user path vector. A centroid vector identifies web page access patterns of users with a shared user profile attribute. The user profile attribute is assigned to the Internet user based on a comparison of the vectors. Bias values are also assigned to a set of web pages and a user profile attribute can be predicted for an Internet user based on the bias values of web pages accessed by the user. User attributes can also be predicted based on the results of an expectation maximization process. Demographic information can be predicted based on the combined results of a vector comparison, bias determination, or expectation maximization process.
US07962470B2
Generally, systems and methods for managing and searching web services are provided. Example software comprises computer readable instructions operable to receive a query from a first client for one or more requested web services via a graphical user interface. The software then identifies at least one web service stored in a Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) registry based on the query and an index of web service metadata. Information associated with the one or more identified web services is then presented via the graphical user interface.
US07962468B2
The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for improving image labeling using content-based image retrieval. The method according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises selecting an image query and identifying a first image related to the image query. The method then selects a plurality of second images related to the first image and assigns weights to the plurality of second images. Finally, the method displays the first images and the second images on a client device.
US07962467B2
The search results of a first iteration of a biometric search are used to form a probe for subsequent iterations searches in a biometric database. his enables the search methodology to “drill down” into the database to find matching biometric templates. In addition, the results of a search using a template of first biometric type are used to limit the search applied using a template of a second biometric type to improve the effectiveness of a one to many search for matching data in a biometric database. These search methods are used in various combinations with different types of biometric templates and demographic information of an individual who is subject of the one to many search.
US07962466B2
An automated tool for human assisted analysis of search results for obtaining precise results responsive to a request. A single query entry triggers a search using one or more resources and results returned from the resources are displayed in a corresponding embedded renderer. A human provider analyzes the returned results and extracts pertinent information for delivery to a requestor who submitted the query.
US07962456B2
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for supporting parallel nested transactions in a transactional memory system. For example, pessimistic reads are supported. A pessimistic duplication detection data structure is created for a parallel nested transaction. An entry is made into the data structure for each pessimistic read in the parallel nested transaction. When committing the parallel nested transaction, new pessimistic read locks are passed to an immediate parent, and an entry is made into a separate pessimistic duplication detection data structure of the immediate parent with synchronization between sibling transactions. The pessimistic duplication detection data structures can also be used for upgrades from pessimistic reads to write locks. Retry operations are supported with parallel nested transactions. Write abort compensation maps can be used with parallel nested transactions to detect and handle falsely doomed parent transactions.
US07962454B2
A central database server (10) supports a central database (12) that contains central database content. A first archiving module (30) archives central database content into a content archive (32). A second archiving module (44) archives the content archive (32) and supporting software (18, 46) into an application archive (50). An application server (20) supports a computer code execution environment (60) for executing the application archive (50) to organize the content of the content archive (32) into a database on the application server (20).
US07962447B2
Techniques for replicating modified data to a hierarchical database. A first list comprises records included in a set of records before at least one modification thereto. A second list comprises records included in the set of records after the at least one modification thereto. For each pre-modification record included in the first list and each post-modification record included in the second list having equal identifying values, a target record at the database and having a matching identifying value is modified. Specifically, if both records include corresponding indexes, information about a structure pointed to by the pre-modification record is removed from an index included in the target record, and information about a structure pointed to by the post-modification record is added to the index. If neither record includes an index, the target record is modified to contain at least one changed value included in the post-modification record.
US07962440B2
Systems and methods that provide for adaptive processes in an industrial setting. Historian data, in conjunction with current collected data, can be converted into decision making information that is subsequently employed for modifying a process in real time. A process trend component, which is associated with a controller, can access historian data (e.g., trends collected via historians) to determine/predict an outcome of a current industrial process. Such enables a tight control and short reaction time to correcting process parameters.
US07962430B1
Preferred embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods of facilitating and evaluating user thinking about an arbitrary problem with additional search capabilities. Some different embodiments of the invention utilize archetypes based on exemplary problem solving to facilitate the development of user models, determine search arguments and search results, and others.
US07962429B2
A hardware-implemented method for proofreading updates of connections in a hardware artificial neural network (hANN) includes computing a draft weight change independently at a connection between neuroids and at a corresponding dedicated special purpose nousoid, determining whether the draft weight changes agree, and executing a weight change at the connection equal to the draft weight change upon determining that the draft weight changes agree.
US07962423B2
A method and system for a virtual stamp dispensing metering system is provided wherein indicia of varying values are calculated at a data center and downloaded to a mailing machine on a periodic basis. The mailing machine securely stores the indicia and dispenses the indicia as needed. At the end of the period, any unused indicia are returned to the data center, the user's account is credited, and a new set of indicia are downloaded to the mailing machine. Accordingly, the processing requirements of the meter are reduced, as there is no longer any need to generate digital signatures, an attacker is prevented from generating indicia indefinitely if the security of the meter is compromised, as the cryptographic key is not resident at the meter, and tracking requirements of the meter are reduced, as the meter alone can not be used to generate postage funds.
US07962418B1
A method is disclosed that includes receiving a request for a transaction from a customer at a seller server system via an electronic-commerce website and identifying a customer account stored at the seller server system based on an identity of the customer. A plurality of financial instruments is associated with the customer account. The plurality of financial instruments has a customer-specific sequence including at least a first financial instrument pre-selected by the customer and a second financial instrument. The method includes automatically attempting to collect a particular payment associated with the transaction from a first financial service provider corresponding to the first financial instrument and automatically attempting to collect the particular payment from a second financial service provider corresponding to the second financial instrument in response to data received at the seller server system indicating a denial of the payment.
US07962413B2
An end-user system for the blocking of recording digital content at during the rendering of encrypted digital multimedia files. Before the process of rendering of encrypted digital multimedia can be started all rendered media stream during playback are opened to ensure that this multimedia content is not recorded. This blocks the usage of the multimedia interfaces including devices and/or ports that can be used to store un-encrypted content that has been decrypted for the purposes of playing or rendering. The method also includes an exception, which allows recording with permission from the present invention.
US07962404B1
A loan opportunity system is configured to analyze loan data and/or population data in order to determine loan opportunities for a lender, such as a credit union. In one embodiment a lender is initially provided with one or more estimated loan opportunity indicators, such as indicators of quantities of loans in a specific geographic region for which the lender can likely offer lower rates. Subsequently, upon completion of a payment agreement with a loan opportunity provider, for example, and establishment of loan parameters associated with borrowers (and their existing loans) to which the lender would like to make firm offers of credit, the lender is provided with a loan opportunity list indicating details of borrowers and their respective loans for which the particular lender can likely offer lower rates.
US07962401B2
The invention relates to a method and a trading system for consolidating messages in intermediate server layers. It is operated in at least one of a data- and telecommunication network. Message distribution is introduced by collecting and distributing them through hold-back time frames, thereby, eliminating transactional overhead and achieving a substantial gain in message throughput time in the trading system.
US07962397B2
An online auction process for derivative securities is used to determine a fair market value of an asset or benefit provided to others, such as employee stock options. In one embodiment, the derivative securities track the intrinsic value realized by employees when exercising the employee stock options granted to them by their employers. The derivative securities may include rules for handling modifications to an employee stock option grant and/or rules for handling forfeitures of some or all of the employee stock options.
US07962392B2
A retirement planning method for computing possible future values of a portfolio of an investor. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of (a) receiving a plurality of user inputs comprising an initial value of the portfolio and a current age of the investor; (b) providing data indicating one of cumulative probabilities of living to an age of death and cumulative probabilities dying at an age of death for persons of a given age group; (c) randomly drawing a number between 0 and 1 for the investor; (d) defining the randomly drawn number as one of said one of cumulative probabilities of living to an age of death and cumulative probabilities of dying at an age of death; (e) determining an age of death of the investor in accordance with said data based on the current age of the investor and the randomly drawn number; (f) computing a future value of the portfolio using the age of death of the investor determined in step (e), a predetermined rate of return, and the initial value of the portfolio; and (g) outputting the computed future value of the portfolio.
US07962383B2
Provided is a sealed cartridge for housing audio video media, the cartridge comprising an electrical counter displaying at least two different counting languages. The electrical counter configured to increment a count when the cartridge is in an audio video player device and the housed audio video media is accessed. An audio video media incorporating the electrical counter and a method of monitoring access to audio video media are also provided. Communication of usage counts over the Internet and processing payments to retailers, copyright holder and others are also provided.
US07962378B2
A process and methodology are disclosed to maintain consistency across disparate systems. An interface is provided comprised of a fulfillment client in which to place orders, a middleware to pass data, manufacturing and shipment systems to process orders, and a shipping and packing information repository system to house data. The methodology implements, inter alia, remote function calls to the asynchronously/synchronously interfaced systems during defined points of order processing to establish the status of the systems availability and the status of the order at the exact time of a predetermined activity. Also, information regarding the order status is posted as both a displayed on-line message to a user and in distinct status fields for future review. Furthermore, this method dynamically reacts to failed communication through the resetting of orders to a previous state to ensure data integrity across the distributed computing environment.
US07962374B2
A system and method for turning a buyer into a prospective seller in an electronic marketplace. After the buyer enters into a binding agreement to purchase an item, the buyer is provided with an option of re-listing the purchased item for resale. The purchased item is re-listed if the buyer opts to re-list it. An ecommerce listing to sell the purchased item is automatically generated based on the previous listing. The user only needs to provide the selling price to complete the listing. The purchased item can be re-listed in the same marketplace where the item was purchased or in a different marketplace.
US07962363B2
A data processing system enables a network of interconnected public access computers (250) to act as a continuous transactional exchange for electronic advertising. The system customizes paid advertising, enabling dynamic pricing and price discovery. The system provides extensive real-time tracking which supports a hybrid pay for performance model as well as a process for multi-stage optimization.
US07962361B2
A method for outputting information about a person includes identifying the person utilizing a wireless system upon entry into a physical location, and also includes locating the person within the physical structure. An engagement plan is retrieved based on the identification of the person and output. The engagement plan has information useful for interacting with the person. The engagement plan is created based at least in part on personal information of the person, the preferences of the person, and the past transactions of the person. A system for outputting information about a person, such as a customer, includes an object carried by the person, which is capable of being identified by a wireless system. A wireless interface communicates with the object. A computing device correlates the identification of the object with the person. An output device outputs information relating to the person.
US07962338B2
When the degree of similarity of the recognition candidates is greater than the second threshold value, the speech verification unit outputs the recognition candidates as a recognition result, and when the degree of similarity of the recognition candidates is smaller than the second threshold value, it outputs the recognition candidates as a recognition result if the degree of similarity of the recognition candidates is greater than the first threshold value and, at the same time, the degree of similarity of the recognition candidates is greater than the degree of similarity of the rejection candidates. It should be noted that the first threshold value is a measure used for rejecting input speech. The second threshold value is larger than the first threshold value and is used as a measure for outputting recognition candidates as a recognition result.
US07962337B2
In methods of operating a speech recognition system, a speech signal from a user is analyzed for recognizing speech information contained in the speech signal. When situated in an active receive mode, an acknowledgement of receive activity is produced in response to an inquiry about the receive activity from a user. In another embodiment, before speech data including at least a portion of the speech signal and/or at least a portion of the speech information are transmitted from an internal user-controlled area into an external area, the respective speech data are filtered and/or a message is sent to the user that a transmission of the speech data to the external area is imminent.
US07962335B2
Techniques and tools related to delayed or lost coded audio information are described. For example, a concealment technique for one or more missing frames is selected based on one or more factors that include a classification of each of one or more available frames near the one or more missing frames. As another example, information from a concealment signal is used to produce substitute information that is relied on in decoding a subsequent frame. As yet another example, a data structure having nodes corresponding to received packet delays is used to determine a desired decoder packet delay value.
US07962334B2
A receiving device receives a transmission unit signal that is sent from a sending end and accommodates a result of dividing, the result of the dividing being obtained by quantizing a value based on relative differences between a plurality of sampling values having temporal prior-posterior relationship therebetween, and dividing data produced in a time series in accordance with a result of the quantizing, at the sending end. The receiving device includes a need-of-adjustment determining means which determines whether or not an amplitude adjustment needs to be made in accordance with a value of an amplitude of a signal waveform indicated by a decoding result of the produced data accommodated in the transmission unit signal; and an amplitude adjusting means which transparently passes the signal waveform when the need-of-adjustment determining means determines that the amplitude adjustment does not need to be made, and performs predetermined amplitude adjusting processing to pass the signal waveform when the need-of-adjustment determining means determines that the amplitude adjustment needs to be made.
US07962333B2
A method and apparatus for a voice transcoder that converts a bitstream representing frames of data encoded according to a first voice compression standard to a bitstream representing frames of data according to a second voice compression standard using perceptual weighting that uses tuned weighting factors, such that the bitstream of a second voice compression standard to produce a higher quality decoded voice signal than a comparable tandem transcoding solution. The method includes pre-computing weighting factors for a perceptual weighting filter optimized to a specific source and destination codec pair, pre-configuring the transcoding strategies, mapping CELP parameters in the CELP parameter space according to the selected coding strategy, performing Linear Prediction analysis if specified by the transcoding strategy, perceptually weighting the speech using with tuned weighting factors, and searching for adaptive codebook and fixed-codebook parameters to obtain a quantized set of destination codec parameters.
US07962330B2
An apparatus for automatic dissection of segmented audio signals, wherein at least one information signal for identifying programs included in said audio signals and for identifying contents included in said programs. Content detection device detects programs and contents belonging to the respective programs in the information signal. Program weighting device weights each program includes in the information signal based on the contents of the respective program detected by the content detection device. Program ranking device indentifies programmers of the same category and ranking said programs based on a weighting result for each program provided by the program weighting device.
US07962328B2
A computer-implemented method provides, to a user, representations of a plurality of discriminants of meanings of a plurality of symbols in a natural language. Each of the plurality of discriminants is associated with a corresponding finite set of mutually exclusive answers to the discriminant. The discriminants are orthogonal to each other. The method receives, from the user, input representing a plurality of answers to the plurality of discriminants. Each of the plurality of answers from the user is selected from the finite set of mutually exclusive answers to the corresponding discriminant. The method generates, in response to the input, a data structure tangibly stored in a computer-readable memory. The data structure includes data representing the plurality of answers from the user and thereby represents a meaning of one of the plurality of symbols in the natural language.
US07962317B1
A method and apparatus may linearize a model representing a dynamic system without using perturbation techniques. The model may include a differential-algebraic system of equations to represent the dynamic system. The mass matrix of the model may be singular. The linear model of the system may be generated in a state-space representation using the analytic Jacobians of the model.
US07962314B2
A processor having one or more processor cores includes execution logic that may execute instructions including one or more processes. Each process may include one or more execution threads. The processor also includes a profiling mechanism that includes monitor logic and a monitor process. The monitor logic may monitor the one or more processes and provide access to performance data associated with the one or more processes without interrupting a flow of control of the one or more processes being monitored. The monitor process may gather the performance data. In addition, the monitor process may include program instructions executable by the one more processor cores while operating in user mode.
US07962312B2
A method involves using at least one device supported by a user while the user is in locomotion on foot during an outing to automatically measure amounts of time taken by the user to complete respective distance intervals. During the outing, data representing the automatically measured amounts of time may be automatically stored in memory of the least one device. Another method involves using at least one device supported by a user while the user is in locomotion on foot during an outing to automatically identify occasions on which a user completes respective distance intervals.
US07962309B2
The invention relates to measuring devices to be used in physical measuring, and more particularly, to a method and a device for measuring the progress of a moving person. In the solution according to the invention the quantities describing the progress of the moving person can be calculated based on vertical acceleration values of the body measured by means of an acceleration sensor, and on the measured time. The invention aims at providing a solution, better and simpler than prior solutions, for measuring the progress of a moving person, which solution is applicable for use in a multitude of measuring solutions for ways of locomotion of various types.
US07962308B2
A body motion detecting method calculates an acceleration-of-gravity vector from acceleration vectors, which are detection outputs of a multi-axial acceleration sensor. The method extracts a vertical component of acceleration, using the acceleration vectors from the acceleration sensor and the calculated acceleration-of-gravity vector. The method further detects peaks in the extracted vertical component of acceleration, and detects body motion in the vertical direction by analyzing the detected peaks. Related body motion detecting device and computer readable medium are also described.
US07962301B2
A data compression technique is disclosed for Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS). A statistical analysis is applied to the data in the frequency domain since most of this data is a result of randomly distributed electronic noise. A fit of the whole frequency dataset to the distribution is made to determine preliminary moments of the distribution. The data in the tail of that distribution (which is mainly the peak data) is then removed and the remaining data points are re-fitted to the distribution, to identify the moments of distribution of that remaining noise data. A noise threshold for the mass spectrum is then applied using the calculated moments. The data above the threshold is kept. The whole spectrum can be reconstituted by storing the moments of distribution along with the peak data and then regenerating the noise from those moments and adding it to the peak data.
US07962297B2
A failure determination device for a cell voltage monitor is provided. The cell voltage monitor detects cell voltages of a plurality of single cells. The failure determination device includes a minimum value determination unit for determining whether or not a present cell voltage which the cell voltage monitor detects is equal to or lower than a minimum detectable cell voltage, and a failure determination unit for determining that the cell voltage monitor has a failure. A failure is detected when the present cell voltage is equal to or lower than the minimum value cell voltage, and a cell voltage detected by the cell voltage monitor in the past and stored in the memory is greater than a determination cell voltage.
US07962285B2
System for determining position of a vehicle includes an integral inertial measurement unit (IMU) including accelerometers and gyroscopes for providing raw data about movement of the vehicle and a correction unit coupled to the IMU and arranged to receive and/or derive positional corrections and the raw data from the IMU and generate accurate positional information about the vehicle based on the raw data and positional corrections. A navigation system is coupled to the correction unit and receives and acts upon the positional information of the vehicle provided by the correction unit. The IMU may be a MEMS-packaged IMU and integrated with the correction unit in combination with one another. A map database may be coupled to the navigation system which would receive information about a travel lane the vehicle is travelling on and could guide an operator of the vehicle based on the accurate positional information and travel lane information.
US07962281B2
Digital tile-based mapping techniques are disclosed that enable efficient online serving of aesthetically pleasing maps. In one particular embodiment, an image tile-based digital mapping system is configured for generating map tiles during an offline session, and serving selected sets of those tiles to a client when requested. Also provided are solutions for handling map labels and other such features in a tile-based mapping system, such as when a map label crosses map tile boundaries. Various processing environments (e.g., servers or other computing devices) can be employed in the system.
US07962277B2
During the operation of an internal combustion engine, a check is made whether the engine functions in an error-free manner in relation to the engine noise. If not, a current value of a cylinder-specific fuel quantity in a cylinder is determined. A check is made whether a current injected cylinder-specific fuel quantity in one of the cylinders is too low or high to check with respect to a cylinder-specific motor speed N_CYL, by comparing a current value of the cylinder-specific injection quantity in the relevant cylinder with a stored reference value of the cylinder-specific injection quantity of the relevant cylinder at the current operating point. A check with respect to the cylinder-specific motor speeds of one of the cylinders is deactivated, if the current injected cylinder-specific fuel quantity in the relevant cylinder is too low or high to check the relevant cylinder with respect to the cylinder-specific motor speed N_CYL.
US07962273B2
In an engine control for an internal combustion engine (1) and in a method, a pressure signal (pA) reproducing the pressure (pA) in one of the combustion chambers (2A) is supplied to an evaluation unit (5) by a pressure signal sensor (4). The evaluation unit (5) uses the pressure signal (pA) to determine the pressure (pB, pC, pD) in at least one other combustion chamber (2B, 2C, 2D).
US07962267B2
A control apparatus for an automatic transmission includes a target-value setting section configured to set a target rotational-speed difference between input and output rotational speeds of at least one of first and second friction-engagement elements; a total torque-capacity calculating section configured to calculate a total torque capacity of the first and second friction-engagement elements by adding a transmission input torque to a correction value calculated from a deviation between the target rotational-speed difference and an actual rotational-speed difference; a distribution-ratio setting section configured to set a distribution ratio; an individual torque-capacity calculating section configured to calculate individual torque capacities of both second friction-engagement elements on the basis of the total torque capacity and the distribution ratio; and an engagement control section configured to control engagement states of the both friction-engagement elements in accordance with the individual torque capacities.
US07962262B2
A first computing section stores a plurality of types of variable transmission ratio characteristics prescribed in correspondence with different modes in the form of maps. With reference to one of the maps corresponding to a selected one of the modes, the first computing section computes a first command angle by which the variable transmission ratio characteristics prescribed by the map are brought about. In this manner, variable gear ratio control is carried out. After a subsequent mode has been selected, the first computing section does not switch the maps which are referred to in the variable gear ratio control if the steering wheel turning angle θs is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value α.
US07962261B2
There is provided a vehicle suspension. More specifically, in one or more embodiments, there is provided an apparatus including an actuator system having a combination of actuators including a linear electromagnetic actuator and a rotary electromagnetic actuator, wherein the actuator system provides force between the sprung mass and an unsprung mass of a vehicle.
US07962260B2
A remote programmer for remotely programming a vehicle control system is provided. The remote programmer includes a display, an input for receiving user input data, a first interface for interfacing with a computer, wherein the first interface receives data associated with programming the vehicle control system from the computer; a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting the data associated with programming the vehicle control system to the vehicle control system; and a controller for controlling operations of the remote programmer, wherein the controller stores the data associated with programming the vehicle control system and controls operations of the first interface and the transmitter in accordance with the user input data.
US07962254B2
A system determines a limit angle of climb corresponding to a climb angle of an aircraft for flying over the ground along an avoidance path and displays a characteristic sign representing the limit angle of climb on a display screen.
US07962242B1
A spatial photomask flipper provides up to four access gates for an unloading of a clamped photomask after its reorientation along a single photomask transfer axis. The clamping frames holding the photomask are secured by a locking control cam that prevents their inadvertent opening in any other but the two main flip orientations. The flipper is part of an automated system including a digital camera and an image recognition algorithm that interpret an arbitrary initial photomask loading orientation from a circumferential photomask identification number. An eventual pellicle on the photomask may be also automatically detected via a pellicle detection sensor. Alternately, the digital camera may be employed for pellicle detection together with a pellicle detection algorithm that processes the digital image for well known components of the pellicle such as the pellicle frame.
US07962241B2
A method and a system for shipping objects and/or goods which are transferred from a drop-off point (4) constructed as an organized franking system for the application of at least partially coded labels to a delivery service (7-10) for transport of the objects to a remote destination, wherein the delivery or transport of the objects is determined or handled by the franking system or franking machine (3), which is equipped with control functions. In the system for shipping objects and/or goods, which are provided with at least partially coded labels and are sent from a drop-off point (4) equipped with a franking machine (3) to a remote destination by a delivery service (7-10), the franking machine (3) can be connected to an information system (6) which processes the data of a delivery service (7-10) and generates shipping data for the franking machine (3), so that the shipping order can be handled.
US07962239B2
A sewing machine and a sewing machine operating program stored on a computer-readable medium for changing display items displayed on a liquid crystal display of a sewing machine on a page by page basis, when an output signal of an operation of rolling forward or backward a mouse wheel is detected. The sewing machine may include a display device that displays a variety of information related to sewing and a display item storage device that stores display items to be displayed on the display device. The sewing machine may also include an operation device that includes an operating member for performing plural types of operations and a display control device that changes the display item displayed on the display device in response to at least one of the operation type or the operation quantity outputted by the operation device.
US07962232B2
A method of processing a circuit board including providing a circuit board having disposed thereon a conductive pattern, the pattern comprising a trace terminating at a terminal and depositing conductive material on the terminal and trace to form a land extending away from the terminal on the trace past a projection line. The method also includes applying a soldermask to the circuit board to form a soldermask opening having an opening edge located at and aligned with the projection line, with the opening framing the terminal and a first portion of the land, and to cover a second portion of the land.
US07962231B2
An apparatus for providing data for wave field synthesis rendering in a wave field synthesis system with plurality of renderer modules, at least one loudspeaker being associated with each renderer module, and the loudspeakers associated with the renderer modules being attachable at different positions in a reproduction room, includes a provider for providing a plurality of audio files, wherein a virtual source at a source position is associated with an audio file, and a data output for providing the audio file to a renderer with which an active loudspeaker is associated, with the data output further formed to not provide the audio file to a renderer if all loudspeakers associated with the renderer are not to be active for the reproduction of the source. Thus, unnecessary data transmissions in the wave field synthesis system are avoided, while making optimum use of the renderer maximum capacity in a multi-renderer system.
US07962229B2
Systems and methods are provided that enable various interface applications that more efficiently communicate data to users in an industrial control system. In one aspect, an industrial automation system is provided. The system includes a base presentation component to display one or more elements of an industrial control environment. Various display items can be dynamically superimposed on the base presentation component to provide industrial control information to a user. In another aspect of the industrial automation system, a location component is provided to identify a physical or a virtual location for a user in an industrial control environment. This can include a context component to determine at least one attribute for the user in view of the physical or virtual location. A presentation component then provides information to the user based in part on the physical or virtual location and the determined attribute.
US07962226B2
An elongate electrode carrier member including a longitudinally-extending central region, two side regions laterally extending from opposing sides of the central region, a lateral surface defined by the central and side regions together forming a convex circumferential surface, a medial surface defined by a convex surface of the central region and a concave surface for each of the side regions, a plurality of longitudinally-spaced electrodes disposed on or in the convex surface of the central region of the medial surface, and a support structure including a plurality of longitudinally extending wires each connected to one or more of the electrodes, wherein a subset of the plurality of wires is disposed in the central region and at least one of the plurality of wires is disposed in one of the side regions.
US07962224B1
In one embodiment, a stimulation lead for delivering electrical pulses from a pulse generator to tissue of a patient, comprises: a plurality of electrodes; a plurality of terminals; a plurality of conductors electrically coupling the plurality of electrodes with the plurality of terminals; a lead body of insulative material for enclosing the plurality of conductors; and at least one magnetic-field actuated switch for limiting MRI-induced current between the plurality of electrodes and the plurality of terminals, wherein the magnetic-field actuated switch is actuated by magnetostrictive material.
US07962222B2
Circuitry useable to protect and reliably charge a rechargeable battery, even from a zero-volt state, is disclosed, and is particularly useful when employed in an implantable medical device. The circuit includes two charging paths, a first path for trickle charging the battery at a relatively low current when the battery voltage is below a threshold, and a second path for charging the battery at relatively higher currents that the battery voltage is above a certain threshold. A passive diode is used in the first trickle-charging path which allows trickle charging even when the battery voltage is too low for reliable gating, while a gateable switch (preferably a PMOS transistor) is used in the second higher-current charging path when the voltage is higher and the switch can therefore be gated more reliably. A second diode between the two paths ensures no leakage to the substrate through the gateable switch during trickle charging. The load couples to the battery through the switch, and preferably through a second switch specifically used for decoupling the load.
US07962219B2
Methods of treating a medical condition include applying at least one stimulus to a motor cortex within a brain of a patient with an implanted system control unit in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters. Systems for treating a medical condition include a system control unit implanted within the patient that is configured to apply at least one stimulus to a motor cortex within a brain of a patient in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters.
US07962209B2
A method and system for generating a characterization of one beat of a patient's supraventricular rhythm (SVR) involves performing such characterization while the heart is being paced. During SVR characterization, various pacing parameters are modified and the patient's supraventricular rhythm is characterized while the pacing parameters are modified. The SVR characterization process is effective in single and multiple chamber pacing modes.
US07962208B2
Cardiac protection pacing is applied to prevent or reduce cardiac injury and/or occurrences of arrhythmia associated with an ischemic event including the occlusion of a blood vessel during a revascularization procedure. Pacing pulses are generated from a pacemaker and delivered through one or more pacing electrodes incorporated onto a percutaneous transluminal vascular intervention (PTVI) device used in the revascularization procedure. The pacemaker generates the pacing pulses according to a predetermined cardiac protection pacing sequence before, during, and/or after the ischemic event.
US07962189B2
A non-invasive living body measuring device is described, a representative one of which includes: a non-invasive living body measuring device for measuring the components contained in blood, comprising: an imaging part for imaging a living body; a display part; and a display control part for generating a blood vessel image showing blood vessels within a living body image obtained by the imaging part, and displaying the blood vessel image on the display part, wherein an index representing a suitable region for imaging by the imaging part is displayed on the display part.
US07962188B2
A robust alarm system has an alarm controller adapted to input an alarm trigger and to generate at least one alarm drive signal in response. Alarm subsystems input the alarm drive signal and activate one or more of multiple alarms accordingly. A subsystem function signal provides feedback to the alarm controller as to alarm subsystem integrity. A malfunction indicator is output from the alarm controller in response to a failure within the alarm subsystems.
US07962187B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting at least one region of a sample having an absorption level different from a background level of absorption in the sample by obtaining thicknesses of the sample and intensities of light transmitted through the sample at a plurality of locations. The system includes glass plates (10) for compressing the tissue, distance sensors (20, 30), illuminations fibers (40) connected to a light source (70), and collection fibers (50) connected to spectrograph (110). Spatial second derivatives are calculated from products of the thicknesses of the sample and the intensities of the transmitted light for the locations. The data points are compared to detect the region of the sample having an absorption level different from the background level of absorption within the sample. The new systems and method can be used to optically image, detect, and characterize tissue, lesions, such as cancer.
US07962185B2
A sliding type electronic device includes a slide mechanism, and first and second casings coupled slidably to each other through the slide mechanism. The second casing is disposed on the first casing, and includes a frame seat and an auxiliary casing received in the frame seat. The slide-type electronic device further includes a guiding unit and a pivot unit. The guiding unit is provided on the first casing, and the pivot unit is provided on the auxiliary casing. When the second casing slides relative to the first casing, the auxiliary casing flips up relative to the frame seat.
US07962176B2
The present invention discloses a base station system, including an indoor part and a remote RF subsystem (RRS). The indoor part includes a RIU, a CCU, a BBU, a GPSU and a local interface unit. The RRS includes a remote interface unit, a RF transceiver unit (TRU) and an antenna. The local interface unit and the remote interface unit are for signal intercommunicating between the indoor part of the base station and the RSS. The TRU is a RF transceiver module of the conventional RFU, for amplifying an analog RF signal from the remote interface unit and transmitting the signal to the antenna. By flexibly selecting between an optical cable and an If cable, the interface unit of the present invention provides a digital baseband remote manner and an IF remote manner. According to the structure of the base station of the present invention, the number of the base station sites and the network operating cost decreases; on the other side, since one base station may cover a cell by smart antenna with only one optical cable or IF cable, the difficulty in mounting is reduced.
US07962171B2
In a dual processor mobile device one processor is a radio processor and one processor is an application processor, the mobile device further including a polyphonic audio chip, a method and apparatus for audio control, the method having the steps of: connecting the polyphonic audio chip between the controller and a highly integrated audio codec; connecting the radio processor to the highly integrated audio codec; controlling the highly integrated audio codec from the radio processor; and coordinating between the application processor and the radio processor to allow the radio processor to control the highly integrated audio codec through the radio processor.
US07962160B2
A method for getting user equipment information through short messages includes: sending, by a third party service equipment, a request message for inquiring current state information of a user equipment to a short message service center; sending, by the short message service center, a get routing message to a Home Location Register to get the current state information of the user equipment; returning, by the Home Location Register, a get routing message response to the short message service center upon receiving the get routing message, the get routing message response containing the current state information of the user equipment; responding, by the short message service center, to the third party service equipment with the current state information of the user equipment in the getting routing message response.
US07962158B2
The present invention discloses a handling method after updating of privacy profile of a target user equipment (UE). When the location service (LCS) system is aware that the privacy profile of a target UE was updated, for every outstanding Location Request against that UE, the location service (LCS) system perform a new privacy check based on the updated privacy profile. If the said location request passes the privacy check, the location service system continues to handle the said location request until the handling process is ended; if the location request fails in the privacy check, the location service system initials a cancellation procedure to the said location request. In accordance with this invention, When the location service (LCS) system is aware that the privacy profile of a target UE was updated, the LCS system will be able to perform a new privacy check for the location request based on the updated privacy profile of the target UE, and implement corresponding processing depending on the result of the privacy check for the location request, e.g. for a location request fails in the privacy check, the LCS system shall initiate a cancellation procedure. In this case, the processing is ended earlier and the system resource is saved.
US07962156B2
A probabilistic prediction is made of the location of a wireless-enabled mobile station in a wireless local area network. The prediction includes calculating a vector representing movement of the mobile station through a space in which two or more access points of the network are located, and determining a region surrounding the vector in which the mobile station has at least a given probability to be located within a certain period of time.
US07962153B2
A method of Secure User Plane Location includes: receiving, by a home SUPL Location Platform (H-SLP) of a target SUPL Enabled Terminal (target SET), a positioning request of the target SET from an SUPL Agent; positioning, by the H-SLP, the target SET and obtaining a position estimate of the target SET; sending, by the H-SLP, a location notification message carrying the position estimate of the target SET to a third party client based on information of the third party client obtained. Embodiments of the present invention also disclose an SUPL system including: an SUPL Agent, an H-SLP and a third party client. The technical solutions in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention meet the demand of informing the third party client of the position estimate of the target SET and further extend the application scope of the SUPL protocol.
US07962151B2
A user who loses or has stolen his wireless telephone can access an Internet server that prompts the phone to send to the server (and, hence, the user) the GPS location of the phone. Also, when a wireless telephone reaches a low voltage state, indicating the imminent loss of the ability to call the phone to cause it to ring as a location aid, the phone automatically sends its last GPS location to the server.
US07962140B2
A method to be performed by a user terminal with WWAN and WLAN interfaces, comprising steps of: communicating via the WWAN interface; inspecting whether its WLAN interface is available; entering into a WWAN-to WLAN state from a WWAN active state if its WLAN interface is available; said user terminal provides a public server with known network address with its presence information said WWAN-to-WLAN state; and acquiring the network address of another user terminal communicating with said user terminal from said server, sending a WLAN call request to said another user terminal by using said address; entering into WLAN active state after receiving the message for accepting the WLAN call request from said another user terminal.
US07962138B2
A method and apparatus is provided for reducing a signaling overhead in routing area update performed by a mobile station in a mobile communication system. The method includes grouping cells of the mobile communication system into predetermined cell groups by the network entity, wherein each of the predetermined cell groups is a minimum unit for routing area update; determining cell group identifiers of the cell groups by the network entity; and determining metric information for determining a shape of the routing area by the network entity.
US07962136B2
A handheld electronic device adapted to display a listing of known networks, scan for available networks, display a listing of the available networks and enable the entry of information relating to manually entered networks. In addition, the device is adapted to (1) enable the addition of preferred networks to a preferred network list wherein the preferred networks are one or more of: (i) certain of the known networks selected from the listing of known networks, (ii) certain of the available networks selected from the listing of available networks, and (iii) the manually entered networks; (2) enable the assignment of a priority value to each of the preferred networks; and (3) utilize the preferred networks for performing wireless communications when the device is in a roaming situation, wherein the preferred networks are utilized in a priority order that is based on the priority value assigned to each of the preferred networks.
US07962117B2
A single chip receiver is disclosed herein. The chip only requires an external antenna for operation. A decoder is formed on chip for performing logical operations on demodulated digital data. A baseband filter is controlled by external control signals to have one of a plurality of discrete frequency response bandwidths depending on the type of signal to be received. To compensate for process variations in the implementation of the IC, bias currents setting the operating conditions for various amplifiers and other components in the system are adjusted based on frequency control signals in a PLL circuit in the local oscillator. Since the magnitude of the control signal reflects the process variations, the bias currents are adjusted based on the control signal to offset these variations in other portions of the receiver. To further improve the signal to noise ratio of the receiver, the IF filter is tuned within a range so as not to include any integer multiple or integer divisor of the timing reference frequency. Various techniques are described for enabling a complete receiver to be implemented on a single chip which receives an antenna input signal and outputs a digital data signal.
US07962112B2
A heterodyne receiver comprising a gain controllable RF mixer (14) which has a first input connected to a first local oscillator (16) and a second input connected to an RF input. The receiver comprises a peak detector (38) which detects a peak value of an input signal at the second input of the HF mixer and generates a digital control signal if it is determined that the peak value of the input signal is above a predetermined level. A digital automatic gain control circuit (34) decreases upon reception of the digital control signal the gain of the RF mixer.
US07962107B2
In a transmission device including an RF power amplifier with less number of terminals for monitoring an input/output signal of the RF power amplifier, there are provided with an input signal detector detecting the input signal; an output signal detector detecting the output signal; a first power amplifier switch switching ON or OFF the power amplifier; a monitor terminal; and an RF switch selecting an input signal or output signal of the power amplifier to be transmitted to the monitor terminal, in association with the first power amplifier switch being switched ON or OFF.
US07962103B2
A PDMA terminal establishes communication by forming a plurality of spatial paths to another single radio apparatus. A plurality of antennas constituting an array antenna are divided into a plurality of subarrays corresponding to the plurality of spatial paths respectively. An adaptive array processing unit can perform an adaptive array processing for each of the plurality of subarrays. A memory stores in advance information on the number of antennas associated with the number of spatial paths that can be formed by the array antenna. A control unit controls a processing to transmit possible multiplicity information to another radio apparatus at a prescribed timing.
US07962098B2
To provide a receiving apparatus capable of dealing with various uses with a simple configuration. The receiving apparatus includes an antenna unit and a receiving apparatus main body. The antenna unit includes a receiving antenna that receives a radio signal including image data transmitted by a capsule endoscope inserted in a subject, and the receiving apparatus main body is detachably attached to the antenna unit. The antenna unit functions such that it demodulates the radio signal received via the receiving antenna into a baseband signal. The receiving apparatus main body acquires the image data based on at least the baseband signal.
US07962093B2
A telecommunications network for mobile users includes a user subsystem and a transport subsystem connected to an access subsystem. The access subsystem provides a user access communications interface and a transport access communications interface for exchange of information among the subsystems. The access subsystem is identified with a coverage area of the cellular telecommunication network. The access subsystem is associated with interconnection means in order to receive second information signals broadcast from one or more geostationary satellites and send them via the telecommunications network for mobile users to users located within the coverage area of the mobile telecommunications network.
US07962089B1
A radio network having more than one radio node is disclosed having a cell broadcast system configured to broadcast network policies. The network includes a first group of radio nodes configured to receive the broadcast network policies. The first group of radio nodes is configured to both receive and send the network policies. A second group of radios receives the network policies from the first group of radios.
US07962087B2
System and methods providing a plurality of fusers, and one or more radius profiled media handling transports for transporting media in a radius, in an image forming device. The system includes one or more of a plurality of fusers, and radius profiled media handling transport devices arranged in a fashion allowing for improved throughput of media while reducing operating costs. The plurality of fusers allows for the use of individual low capacity fusers that are equal to or less than the overall capacity of the image forming device. Media transport devices transport media on stretch belts across a radius of rollers with a means for providing an adhering force for stabilizing the media to the belt. The rollers are arranged along one side of the frame, along which the media is transported, and a frame may contain an air plenum so as to allow for the drawing of a vacuum through the rollers. The media transport device allows for optimizing a configuration of the image forming device.
US07962084B2
A fixing device comprises a heating roll; an endless belt; and a pressurizing member that forms a pressure contact portion for pushing the endless belt against an outer peripheral surface part of the heating roll from an inner peripheral surface side of the pressurizing member so that a recording medium holding an unfixed image passes between the pressure contact portion and the heating roll, wherein the pressurizing member includes: a hard pressurizing member and a soft pressurizing member the hard pressurizing member, and the soft pressurizing member are disposed in a state in which a clearance is present between the hard pressurizing member and the soft pressurizing member in a specific region part so that at least a specific recording medium passes in a fixing region of the pressure contact portion in the rotating axis direction of the heating roll.
US07962079B2
A disclosed fixing device includes a fixing member configured to heat and melt a toner image to fix it onto a recording medium; a pressure member abutting the fixing member to form a nip into which the recording medium is fed; a separating member disposed on the downstream side in the moving direction of the fixing member in relation to the nip in a manner to oppose the fixing member, and configured to perform a separating operation to prevent the recording medium from winding around the fixing member; an electrically grounded frame supporting the fixing member, the pressure member and the separating member; and a conductive member inserted between a supporting portion of the frame and a supported portion of the separating member and having a higher electric resistance than the frame. The separating member and the frame are rendered electrically conductive to each other only via the conductive member.
US07962077B2
Developing roller comprising a conductive mandrel with at least an elastic conductive base layer and a charge providing layer. The base layer is located closer to the mandrel than the charge providing layer. The base layer is roughened before the charge providing layer is applied to the base layer.
US07962073B2
An image forming apparatus having an image carrier for forming an electrostatic latent image and a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image with a two-component developing agent, the developing unit includes: a developing agent carrier for developing the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image, having inside thereof a development main magnetic pole for forming a bristle of a magnetic brush; and a plurality of magnetic poles for conveying the developing agent, wherein the developing unit performs a counter type contact developing method, and wherein, a development area is formed so that, a contact width of the bristle of the magnetic brush is 70% or less with respect to a development width, and a center position of the contact width is positioned on an upstream side with respect to a center position of the development width in a rotation direction of the image carrier.
US07962056B2
A speed change detection apparatus includes an image carrier for carrying a latent image, and a latent image pattern forming device for forming a latent pattern image on the image carrier. The pattern image includes periodically formed line or dot images. An alternating current conversion type surface potential sensor is provided to detect a potential of the surface of the photoconductive member. The alternating current conversion type surface potential sensor further detects a change in speed of the image carrier by detecting a moiré appearing on the latent image pattern.
US07962054B2
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an acquiring unit that acquires a plurality of types of operation control information of the image forming apparatus that indicate deterioration of a toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of a component of the image forming apparatus. An index value calculating unit calculates an index value indicating a state of the image forming apparatus based on the acquired operation control information. An abnormality judging unit judges whether the image forming apparatus abnormality has occurred and predicts an occurrence of a failure that requires maintenance of the image forming apparatus due to deterioration of the toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of the component of the image forming apparatus based on the index value.
US07962052B2
A fixing device of the present invention is equipped with a heated body whose fixing temperature applied to toner is changed and which is heated in accordance with a type of toner that has been discriminated by a toner type discriminating unit that discriminates types of toner classified at least as a result of their melting points differing. When toner with a relatively high melting point has been used, the fixing device is rotated on the basis of a limiting control unit that limits a number of sheets of recording paper that can be continuously fixed.
US07962046B2
The present application is directed to an apparatus and method for the automated compensation of dispersion over a broad wavelength range for coherent optical pulses. In one embodiment, the present application discloses an automatic dispersion compensating optical apparatus configured to change chirp introduced into an optical signal by an optical system in optical communication with the dispersion compensating optical apparatus and includes at least one wavelength-tunable source of coherent optical pulses configured to output at least one optical signal, at least one dispersion compensation device configured to receive the optical signal from the coherent source, and at least one controller in communication with the dispersion compensation device and configured to adjust chirp introduced into the optical signal by the dispersion compensation device as the wavelength of the optical signal is varied.
US07962044B2
An optical transmitter is disclosed having a temperature stabilization system for an optical filter for maintaining constant the frequency response of the filter. The filter is mounted within a housing having a substantially higher thermal conductivity. The housing may include a copper-tungsten alloy and extend along the optical axis of the filter. The housing is in thermal contact with a thermo-electric cooler (TEC) and a temperature sensor. The TEC and temperature sensor are electrically coupled to a controller which adjusts the temperature of the TEC according to the output of the temperature sensor.
US07962035B2
Providing a viewfinder optical system capable of obtaining given magnification and a given eyepoint, suitable for an SLR digital camera and an SLR camera, an optical apparatus equipped therewith, and a method for expanding observation. The viewfinder optical system M including an eyepiece optical system 15 for observing a real image of an object formed by an objective lens 11 through an erecting image forming member 14, the eyepiece optical system 15 consisting of, in order from the object along an optical axis, a double concave negative lens, a double convex positive lens, a lens, and a meniscus lens having a convex surface facing the object; an optical apparatus 10 equipped therewith; and a method for expanding observation.
US07962033B2
Method and apparatus for full-resolution light-field capture and rendering. A radiance camera is described in which the microlenses in a microlens array are focused on the image plane of the main lens instead of on the main lens, as in conventional plenoptic cameras. The microlens array may be located at distances greater than f from the photosensor, where f is the focal length of the microlenses. Radiance cameras in which the distance of the microlens array from the photosensor is adjustable, and in which other characteristics of the camera are adjustable, are described. Digital and film embodiments of the radiance camera are described. A full-resolution light-field rendering method may be applied to light-fields captured by a radiance camera to render higher-resolution output images than are possible with conventional plenoptic cameras and rendering methods.
US07962032B2
A portable composite apparatus and a method of controlling photographing modes. The portable composite apparatus includes a decision unit to decide whether current time information is included in a time range corresponding to a current photographing mode by referring to a prestored time information table, and an operation control unit to change priority levels of photographing modes based on the decision result from the decision unit and the time information table. As photographing modes of the portable composite apparatus are prioritized differently based on the current time information and the time information table, user convenience and expedition of operating (or setting) a desired photographing mode can be enhanced.
US07962029B2
Disclosed is an auto focus system having an auto focus (AF) frame auto-tracking function that detects the image of an object to be tracked as an AF target using a pattern matching process and moves an AF frame indicating an AF target range to the position of the object, thereby tracking the object. When a person's face (face image) is included in the AF frame, the auto focus system having an AF frame auto-tracking function automatically sets the AF frame in an appropriate range so as to correspond to the position and size of the face image. Therefore, even when the size of the face image is changed, it is possible to appropriately track the face and perform focusing on the face.
US07962028B2
A lens apparatus comprises a barrel 100 which houses an imaging optical system including magnification-varying lens units 26 and 27, a focus lens unit 25, and a beam separation element 29 which separates a part of a light beam from an object out of a light beam directed to an imaging surface, operating members 1, 2, and 3 disposed on an outer circumference of the barrel and configured to be manually operated, a drive unit 200 disposed outside the barrel and including actuators 45 and 50 which drives each of the magnification-varying lens unit and the focus lens unit, and a controller 60 which controls the actuator, and a focus detector 31 disposed outside the barrel and configured to detect a focus state of the imaging optical system using the light beam separated by the beam separation element. The focus detector is embedded in the drive unit.
US07962025B2
An imager comprising is provided having an image-capturing device, a display, and a view angle controller. The first in-focus detector is movable with respect to a stationary platform, and detects whether a subject image is in focus of an image sensor. The shake detector detects a shake transmitted to the first in-focus detector. The first driver repositions the first in-focus detector with respect to the stationary platform according to a shake detected by the shake detector. The first in-focus detector provided on an in-focus light path is different from a photographing light path on which light is directed to the image sensor, and detects whether a subject image is in focus using incoming light along the in-focus light path.
US07962021B2
A photographic apparatus comprises a movable platform, an acceleration sensor, and a controller. The movable platform has an imager, and is movable and rotatable in an xy plane. The acceleration sensor detects a first gravitational component and a second gravitational component. The first gravitational component is the component of gravitational acceleration in the x direction. The second gravitational component is the component of gravitational acceleration in the y direction. The controller calculates an inclination angle of the photographic apparatus formed by rotation of the photographic apparatus around the optical axis, as measured with respect to a level plane perpendicular to the direction of gravitational force, on the basis of a magnitude relation between the absolute value of the first gravitational component and the absolute value of the second gravitational component, and performs a first movement control of the movable platform for an inclination correction based on the inclination angle.
US07962019B2
An apparatus for controlling the temperature of a warm bore of a superconducting magnet in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) includes a plurality of warm bore thermal sensors positioned on a surface of the warm bore and a plurality of heater elements positioned on the surface of the warm bore. A heater element thermal sensor is coupled to each of the plurality of heater elements and configured to monitor the temperature of the corresponding heater element. A controller is coupled to the plurality of warm bore thermal sensors and the plurality of heater element thermal sensors. The controller is configured to control each of the plurality of heater elements to maintain a predetermined temperature of the warm bore.
US07962018B2
A breathing assistance apparatus adapted to deliver humidified gases at a desired level of humidity to a patient including a humidifier and a heated conduit is disclosed. The humidifier includes a controller which controls the humidifier, or the humidifier and the heated conduit to deliver the gases to the patient at the required humidity or temperature, without the requirement for sensors in the gases stream. The controller uses information already available to the controller, without the requirement for additional information to be provided by sensors in the gases stream. This means the need for sensors in the gases stream is dispensed with. A significant benefit is achieved as sensors are not required in the conduit and thus the apparatus is simple and less bulky.
US07962013B2
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.
US07962010B2
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.
US07962009B2
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.
US07962008B2
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.
US07962007B2
A signal processing device and a signal processing method can accurately detect CMs out of broadcast signals and also be used for storing, accessing, retrieving and viewing/listening to CMs. CM detecting section (202) detects CM sections out of a broadcast signal. CM extracting section (201) extracts the signal part for the CM section from the broadcast signal on the basis of the CM section detection signal (202a) of the CM detecting section (202) and CM characteristics extracting section (203) extracts the characteristic value of the CM. Then, CM recording section (205) records the signal of the CM section and the characteristic value. CM index generating section (206) generates CM index information by using the signal of the CM section and the characteristic value and characteristics comparing section (204) determines agreement/disagreement of CMs. CM viewing section (208) displays CM retrieval information and reproduce the CM signal from the CM recording scanning (205) in response to the instruction of the user (209). As a result, the user (209) can view, listen to and retrieve the desired CM.
US07961990B2
Embodiments of a system are described. This system includes an array of chip modules (CMs) and a baseplate, where the baseplate is configured to communicate data signals via optical communication. Moreover, the array includes first CMs mechanically coupled to first alignment features on the baseplate, and adjacent second CMs mechanically coupled to second alignment features on the baseplate. In this array, a given first CM is electrically coupled to a given set of electrical proximity connectors. Additionally, the array includes bridge components, wherein a given bridge component is electrically coupled to the second SCM and another set of electrical proximity connectors, which is electrically coupled to the set of electrical proximity connectors, thereby facilitating communication of other data signals between adjacent first CMs and second CMs via electrical proximity communication. Moreover, the given bridge component is optically coupled to the baseplate, thereby facilitating optical communication of the data signals between CMs via the baseplate.
US07961985B2
An image processing apparatus of the invention generates one still image having a high pixel density from multiple images. The image processing apparatus includes: an image extraction module that extracts the multiple images used for generation of the one still image; a deviation computation module that computes a degree of deviation between each combination of the extracted multiple images; an exclusion module that excludes any image having the computed degree of deviation out of a preset threshold range from the extracted multiple images; and an image composition module that combines remaining images other than the excluded image to generate the one still image. This arrangement of the invention ensures efficient image processing to generate one high-resolution still image from multiple images.
US07961976B2
A method for restoring still image data acquired by capturing a subject image with an imaging element, includes: acquiring blur information regarding blur in a Y direction of the imaging element upon image capturing; sets a recovery matrix for recovering, from the still image data, image data to be acquired upon capturing the subject image in a state where there is no blur; recovers the image data by multiplying the recovery matrix and the still image data; computes plural types of noises which derive from the recovery matrix and which are periodically superimposed on the recovered image data in the Y direction, based on (i) noise period information regarding a noise superimposition period of each noise, (ii) the recovered image data, and (iii) the still image data; and eliminates the computed noise from the recovered image data.
US07961971B2
A method and apparatus for performing parallel box filtering in region based image processing is provided. The method of performing parallel box filtering in region based image processing includes selecting parallel pixel blocks having a size of M×N to be operated in parallel, selecting pixels included in a mask region having a size of K×L that is a parallel pixel operation region and a first region having a size of (M+K−1)×(N+L−1) that corresponds to overlapping masks of M*N, selecting pixels of a second region commonly included in the mask regions of M*N and storing the results of operation with respect to the pixels of the second region as repeated operation values, and operating block operation values with respect to the parallel pixel blocks using the repeated operation values.
US07961968B2
Areas, allowed to overlap, are set for respective pixels in an image, and a maximum density value and a minimum density value, among inherent density values of the pixels in each area, are extracted and specified as maximum and minimum density values common to the pixels in the area. Among the density values specified from the overlapping areas, the largest minimum density value is set as a local minimum value and the smallest maximum density value is set as a local maximum value to thereby generate a minimum density plane and a maximum density plane including the pixels having the values. The density values of the pixels at the corresponding positions in the minimum density plane and the maximum density plane are corresponded to the common minimum and maximum values set separately, to thereby linearly convert the whole. Thereby, the pixel density values of the original image are linearly converted simultaneously.
US07961964B2
A predetermined area of input image data (100) is read and stored into a memory section (1). As soon as data is stored in the data read memory section (1), wavelet conversion filtering is performed on the image area, in the horizontal or vertical direction, by a wavelet conversion section (5). The wavelet conversion section (5) comprises a fixed-point type wavelet conversion section (3) and an integer type wavelet conversion section (4). Data from the data read memory section (1) is switched and controlled by a switching section (2), and supplied to either the fixed-point wavelet conversion section (3) or the integer type wavelet conversion section (4).
US07961958B2
A system and method for rendering a binary volume in a GPU are provided. The method for rendering a binary volume comprises: storing eight bits of the binary volume along an x-axis in a byte of memory to form a compact representation of the binary volume; generating a two-dimensional decoding table of the compact representation of the binary volume; extracting a byte including a bit of interest from the compact representation of the binary volume; determining a bit coordinate for the bit of interest and extracting a decoded value of the bit of interest from the two-dimensional decoding table; obtaining a gray value of the decoded value of the bit of interest and classifying the gray value; and multiplying the decoded value of the bit of interest by the gray value to form a resultant value.
US07961944B2
A method for modeling a 2-dimensional tubular structure in a digitized image includes providing a digitized image of a tubular structure containing a plurality of 2D balls of differing radii, initializing a plurality of connected spline segments that form an envelope surrounding the plurality of 2D balls, each the spline segment Si being parameterized by positions of the ith and i+1th balls and contact angles αi, αi+1 from the center of each respective ball to a point on the perimeter of each the ball contacting the spline segment Si, each the αi affecting spline segment Si and Si−1, and updating the angles by minimizing an energy that is a functional of the angles, where the updating is repeated until the energy is minimized subject to a constraint that the envelope is tangent to each ball at each point of contact, where the envelope is represented by the contact angles.
US07961942B2
A catalog of images whose lightness has been changed in accordance with human vision is generated. For this purpose, a first image having reference shadow lightness, a second image having reference highlight lightness, a third image having desired lightness, a fourth image having lightness that is visually perceived to evenly divide the lightness between the first image and the third image, and a fifth image having lightness that is visually perceived to evenly divide the lightness between the third image and the second image are generated. The first to fifth images are included in a catalog image.
US07961939B2
A method for modifying original display device pixel values for a display device to maintain colorfulness, the method comprises the steps of obtaining original display device pixel values of an image; measuring white luminance from a viewing surface; and maintaining the colorfulness by calculating new pixel values based on the original display device pixel values, the measured luminance and a standard white luminance.
US07961935B2
A method of providing dental-related imaging data of a patient to a dental practitioner is provided, the dental-related imaging data being obtained by a third party imaging provider at a third-party imaging provider site using a three-dimensional digital imaging device. Three-dimensional image data of the maxillofacial complex of the patient is obtained with the imaging device and analyzed to form a diagnosis. A two-dimensional image associated with the diagnosis is formed from the three-dimensional image data, and the two-dimensional image and diagnosis are combined into a composite file as part of the dental-related imaging data. The dental-related imaging data is stored in encrypted read-only format executable by a standard multi-media player and made available to the dental provider in a secure arrangement. The composite file is thereby selectively viewable by the dental provider for determining an appropriate treatment for the patient. Associated methods and apparatuses are also provided.
US07961927B2
A multi-modality system (10) includes a nuclear imaging system (12) and a computed tomography (CT) scanner (14). The nuclear system (12) includes a PET scanner (28) which acquires electronic data that is reconstructed into a PET blob image by a PET reconstruction processor (50). The CT scanner (14) acquires the scanned data which is reconstructed into a 3D CT voxel image by a CT reconstruction processor (56). An interpolation processor (62) interpolates the PET blob image directly into the CT voxel space. Once the PET and CT images are in the same space, they are combined by a combining means (110). A video processor (66) processes the received composite PET-CT data for a display on a monitor (68).
US07961922B2
Systems and methods for processing medical image data with increased sensitivity to facilitate comparisons among groups of subjects are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a first three-dimensional image comprising a plurality of voxels, reducing a regional trend within the three-dimensional image, computing a semivariogram for a region of interest, defining at least one block of spatially correlated voxels, calculating voxel weights for each voxel within the at least one block, and determining a block average count and variance for the at least one block.
US07961916B2
The present invention provides an identification method. A video capture device captures an identification video at a random time. Then a suitable identification image is obtained from the identification video. Subsequently, a current user characteristic value obtained from the identification image is compared with a stored user characteristic value of a user data stored in a recognition database. When the current user characteristic value corresponds to the stored user characteristic value, then returns to capture the identification video step. When the current user characteristic value does not corresponds to the stored user characteristic value, then an error counter is incremented, and returns to the acquiring the identification video step.
US07961911B2
A method and system providing a transfer container crane with container code recognition of a container identified by a container code to a container inventory management system is disclosed. The system and method are capable of performing these tasks without the use of non-standard container tagging.
US07961910B2
An image such as a depth image of a scene may be received, observed, or captured by a device. A grid of voxels may then be generated based on the depth image such that the depth image may be downsampled. A model may be adjusted based on a location or position of one or more extremities estimated or determined for a human target in the grid of voxels. The model may also be adjusted based on a default location or position of the model in a default pose such as a T-pose, a DaVinci pose, and/or a natural pose.
US07961909B2
A system that has a remote control, e.g., a wand, equipped with a relative motion sensor that outputs data indicative of a change in position of the wand. The system also has one or more light sources and a photodetector that detects their light and outputs data indicative of the detected light. The system uses one or more controllers to determine the absolute position of the wand based on the data output by the relative motion sensor and by the photodetector. The data enables determination of the absolute pose of the wand, which includes the absolute position of a reference point chosen on the wand and the absolute orientation of the wand. To properly express the absolute parameters of position and/or orientation of the wand a reference location is chosen with respect to which the calculations are performed. The system is coupled to a display that shows an image defined by a first and second orthogonal axes such as two axes belonging to world coordinates (Xo,Yo,Zo). The one or more controllers are configured to generate signals that are a function of the absolute position of the wand in or along a third axis for rendering the display. To simplify the mapping of a real three-dimensional environment in which the wand is operated to the cyberspace of the application that the system is running, the third axis is preferably the third Cartesian coordinate axis of world coordinates (Xo,Yo,Zo).
US07961905B2
A printed image can be redundantly encoded by printing a visible image using a colorant with a luminance that contrasts with that of the output sheet and printing a redundant image using a colorant with a luminance that varies only slightly from that of the output sheet. Accordingly, the visible image can be easily read by a user while the redundant image is substantially invisible to the human eye at normal reading distances, yet capable of being captured by a conventional digital scanner. In one aspect, redundantly encoded images may be printed on a white background, with visible images printed in black text and redundant images printed in blue in content regions of the visible image and in yellow in its background regions.
US07961902B2
A speaker apparatus comprises: a drive cone transferring a drive power of a voice coil to the diaphragm; a diaphragm disposed in a driving direction; and a diaphragm disposed in a driving direction. The drive cone is fixed to a diaphragm support of a frame. An outer circumference of the diaphragm is fixed to the diaphragm support of the frame. An outer circumference of the diaphragm is fixed to the diaphragm support of the frame. The diaphragm, the drive cone and the frame surround a sealed space where the diaphragm and the drive cone are connected through a non-ring-shaped connection piece. A vibration system is supported through a voice coil bobbin by a spring property of air contained in the sealed space.
US07961888B2
The quality of music output from audio systems is improved by simulating the effect of low frequency signals in the human ear. This thus allows listeners to perceive the lower frequency signals, even though the speakers may be incapable of providing such low frequency outputs. A method is provided for processing enhancing bass effect in audio signals. The method also results in the bass enhancement being computationally less intensive. The bass effect enhancement techniques are based on the response of sine and cosine transfer functions and on the directional independence of low frequency components. The human ear is unable to resolve directions from low frequency components. The bass effect enhancement technique alternatively is based on response of an exponential transfer function.
US07961887B2
A content distribution system encrypts a content by using different session keys assigned to user systems, encrypts each of the session keys with a public key corresponding to a decryption key unique to each user system, generates, for a group of user identification information items, header information including the encrypted session keys, and a first vector which corresponds to a session key of the session keys and is assigned to arbitrary user identification information u in the group, the first vector being set such that an inner product of the first vector and a second vector concerning the user identification information u becomes equal to zjuv (where zj is a constant value of a session key sj assigned to the user identification information u, and v is group identification information to the group), and transmits the header information and one of the encrypted contents to the user systems.
US07961886B2
A Radio Frequency based security system for providing security for wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) that allows the creation and maintenance of arbitrarily shaped secure wireless access areas with boundaries around said wireless Local Area Network and prevents access to the said wireless LAN from outside the perimeter of the secure area. The system includes a plurality of perimeter Radio Frequency Sentry Devices (RFSDs) that are employed to establish the boundaries of said secure area around said wireless LAN. The wireless LAN being secured may be an industry standard IEEE 802.11a, 801.11b or 802.11g based wireless LAN or any other wireless LAN that uses packet based communication protocols. The said RFSDs may be stand-alone devices or they may be connected to a wired or wireless Local Area Network.
US07961879B1
A system is provided that uses identity-based encryption (IBE) to allow a sender to securely convey information in a message to a recipient over a communications network. IBE public key information may be used to encrypt messages and corresponding IBE private key information may be used to decrypt messages. Information on which IBE public key information was used in encrypting a given message may be provided to the message recipient with the message. Multiple IBE public keys may be used to encrypt a single message. A less sensitive IBE public key may be used to encrypt a more sensitive public key, so that the more sensitive public key can remain hidden as it is sent to the recipient.
US07961871B2
A process, a device, and a computer-readable medium storing a program, for encryption. A conversion table having regions each of which stores 2i character codes associated with index values is provided, where i is a natural number predetermined for each region, the 2i character codes are defined in a predetermined character encoding scheme, and the index values have a minimum necessary bit length for uniquely identifying the 2i character codes within each region. First character codes constituting a plaintext are converted into index values by reference to respectively corresponding regions of the conversion table. Then, the index values are encrypted without changing the bit lengths, and the encrypted values are converted into second character codes associated with index values identical to the encrypted values by reference to the respectively corresponding regions of the conversion table, a sequence of the second character codes is outputted as an encrypted text.
US07961860B1
A system and method for graphically demonstrating a call-processing operation include receiving data representing signals in a telephone call and data from an event-detecting algorithm, the data from the event-detecting algorithm describing an operation of the algorithm on the telephone call, and generating a graphical display including a waveform based on the data representing signals in the telephone call and a graph of the operation of the event-detection algorithm.
US07961855B2
Voice communications apparatus intervenes between a telephone set and a broad-band transmission path that has a communication band broader than a voice band limited by the transmitter and receiver characteristics of the telephone set. The voice communications apparatus includes a transmitter frequency characteristic corrector circuit for correcting the frequency characteristic of a signal input from the telephone set, and a receiver frequency characteristic corrector circuit for correcting the frequency characteristic of a signal to be input to the telephone set.
US07961852B2
A method and device for sending a request (R) from a requesting machine (H) to a domain name server (1, 2, 3). A prior test of the validity of the destination telephone number (NTEL) of the request (R) is executed automatically and locally to the requesting machine (H) relative to a database (BD) local to said requesting machine (H) in order to forward the request (R) from the requesting machine (H) to the domain name server (1, 2, 3) only if its telephone number (NTEL) passes said test.
US07961842B2
An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer which includes a calculating device (10) operable to calculate the theoretical intensity of secondary X-rays (6), emanated from each of elements contained in a sample (13), based on the assumed composition and then to successively approximately modify and calculate the assumed composition so that the theoretical intensity and the converted and measured intensity, which have been detected by a detecting device (9) and then converted in a theoretical intensity scale, can match with each other, to thereby calculate the composition of the sample (13). The calculating device (10), when calculating the theoretical intensity, performs a simulation to determine the theoretical intensity of the secondary X-rays (6) for each of optical paths, using the size of the sample (13), and the intensity and the incident angle (φ) of primary X-rays (2) impinged upon various areas of the sample surface (13a) as parameters.
US07961836B2
The present invention provides a nuclear fuel assembly, where a boron-containing compound is used as a burnable poison and is distributed in a majority of the rods in the assembly. The assembly comprises a plurality of fuel rods, each fuel rod containing a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets, wherein at least one fuel pellet in more than 50% of the fuel rods in the fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of a metal oxide, metal carbide or metal nitride and a boron-containing compound.
US07961832B2
A symbol clock (16) associated with a symbol stream (5) in a synchronized communication receiver can be recovered by adjusting the phase of a symbol clock signal (12). The phase adjustment is accomplished by applying a digitally controlled delay (13) to the symbol clock signal based on a timing relationship between the symbol clock and symbol transitions (17) in the symbol stream.
US07961829B2
A system and method of transmitting a data stream from a data source over a baseband wireless communication system to one or more receivers. The receivers simultaneously recover the data and clock signals of the original data stream from the wireless transmitted data so that the data stream can be provided by the receivers to a data sink at the same rate as the original data stream, with low jitter performance.
US07961821B2
A D.C. offset canceling and gain adjusting techniques permitting completion of correction of D.C. offsets and gain adjustment of amplifiers for amplifying reception signals in a radio communication system are provided. A communication semiconductor integrated circuit has a plurality of low-pass filters and variable gain amplifiers which are alternately connected in multiple stages, and high gain amplifier circuits for amplifying reception signals to a predetermined amplitude level. Offset cancellation values are generated by detecting D.C. offsets of amplifiers for amplifying reception signals according to a set gain, and stored into a memory, and read out of the memory to cancel the D.C. offsets of the amplifiers when starting reception and altering the gain. Gain setting in a high gain amplifying section is accomplished using rough and precise settings.
US07961820B2
In an example embodiment, a clock generation circuit comprises two programmable ring oscillators arranged and configured to operate in a mutually exclusive manner, and a variable programmable delay element (not shown). An input programming pattern is provided as an input to the oscillating circuit, the programming pattern providing data representative of the sequence of frequencies at which the clock signal is required to be generated. The outputs of both the oscillators are connected to a clock switch (16), from which the generated clock signal is output. When a request for a change of frequency is received, the currently idle oscillator is first activated with the next required frequency, the output of the currently operative oscillator is then gated when the clock signal thereof goes low. Next, the previously gated output of oscillator is un-gated when its output goes low, and then oscillator is de-activated.
US07961819B1
A wireless communications system including an antenna configured to receive a sequence of symbols through a channel, in which the sequence of symbols comprise bits of user data that have been previously mapped to the sequence of symbols. The wireless communications system further includes a demodulator configured to generate a sequence of demodulated symbols by multiplying the sequence of symbols by a conjugate of a channel response of the channel; a demultiplexer configured to generate an in-phase component and a quadrature component of each demodulated symbol in the sequence of demodulated symbols; a slicer configured to, for each demodulated symbol, generate a decoded symbol by performing a hard decision based on the in-phase component and the quadrature component of the demodulated symbol; and a bit mapping module configured to determine the bits of user data associated with each decoded symbol.
US07961817B2
In a receiver, an AC-coupling solution uses a fully integrated circuit for simultaneously providing both baseline wander compensation and common-mode voltage generation. Usefully, an integrated capacitor is placed between the receiver input pin and the input buffer, and a high resistive impedance element is connected to the internal high-speed data node after the capacitor. An on-chip voltage generation and correction circuit is connected to the other side of the impedance element to generate a common-mode voltage, and to provide dynamic, fine adjustment for the received data voltage level. The voltage correction circuit is controlled by the feedback of data detected by the clock and data recovery unit (CDRU) of the receiver. The feedback data passes through a weighting element, wherein the amount of feedback gain is adjustable to provide a summing weight and thereby achieve a desired BLW compensation. Register bits are used to control an on-chip reference voltage generator that consists of a resistor ladder to generate the reference voltage.
US07961816B2
A device for signal synchronization in a communication system is configured to perform a first sliding correlation for a received signal and a pseudo-random noise (PN) sequence to obtain information on symbol timing, identify a fractional carrier frequency offset (FCFO) using the information on symbol timing and the cyclic extension property of the PN guard interval (GI), and provide a first product by multiplying the received signal with the FCFO. The device is also configured to provide a set of second products by multiplying the first product with each of a set of phases related to integral carrier frequency offsets (ICFOs), perform a second sliding correlation for the PN sequence and each one of the set of the second products to thereby provide a set of peak values, and identify an ICFO by detecting an index number of a maximal value among the set of peak values.
US07961814B2
The invention relates to method and apparatus for generating modulation symbols according to a second symbol mapping scheme by a symbol mapping unit being adapted to generate symbols according to a first symbol mapping scheme, wherein the first and second symbol mapping schemes define different mappings of data words of a stream to modulation symbols of a modulation scheme according to the respective symbol mapping scheme. Further, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating a mapping of data words to modulation symbols of a square 16 QAM constellation, the modulation symbols being representable by an inphase component and quadrature component. One aspect of the invention is the introduction of a bit sequence transformer unit transforming the data words to be mapped to modulation symbols prior to mapping thereby changing the Hamming distance properties of the mapping. Another aspect of the invention is the generation of a new AICO (Antipodal Inverted COnstellation) mapping scheme.
US07961807B2
A multi-user multiple input multiple output (MIMO) downlink beamforming system with limited feed forward (200) is provided to enable precoding matrix information to be efficiently provided to a subset of user equipment devices (201.i), where zero-forcing transmit beamformers (wi) are computed at the base station (210) and assembled into a precoding matrix (W). The precoding matrix is encoded using a compact reference signal codebook (225, 207.i) for forward link signaling, either by sending bits indicating the index of the transmission matrix used, or by transmitting one or more precoded pilots or reference signals wherein the pilot signals are precoded using vectors uniquely representative of the transmission matrix used which includes candidate reference signal matrices which meet a predetermined condition number requirement, such as a condition number threshold.
US07961806B2
A multi-path receiving system is provided. The multi-path receiving system includes a multi-path analyzer, a channel estimator and an equalizer. The multi-path analyzer analyzes a channel impulse response (CIR) of the multi-path channel from the received stream. The channel estimator calculates a channel estimation result from the received stream. The channel estimator comprises a frequency domain interpolation filter performing channel estimation. The frequency domain interpolation filter consumes an amount of power according to the CIR result output from the multi-path analyzer. The equalizer equalizes the received stream based on the channel estimation result.
US07961803B2
The invention relates to a method for the COFDM demodulation of a signal received from a transmission channel. The inventive method includes performing the fast Fourier transform of the signal received in a window corresponding to a symbol, each symbol being associated with a guard time reproducing one part of the symbol; supplying a set of estimated values for the module impulse response; determining coefficients, each coefficient being obtained from the product of the aforementioned set and a filtering function (FE) for a determined relative position of the filtering function in relation to the set; determining the maximum coefficient and the corresponding relative position; and positioning the window as a function of the relative position, the filtering function including a central part (LMAX) which has a constant amplitude and a duration equal to the duration of the guard time and which is surrounded by non-zero decreasing edges.
US07961791B2
A decoding apparatus includes a decoder configured to receive a series of encoded pictures and to decode each of the encoded pictures to produce a series of decoded pictures, each of the encoded pictures being either intra-encoded or inter-encoded, and each of the decoded pictures being either referred or, non-referred, a blocking noise suppressor configured to suppress blocking noise of each of the decoded pictures, and a controller configured to detect an amount of a load, to run each of the referred decoded pictures through the blocking noise suppressor if the detected amount of the load is no lower than a given threshold, and to have each of the non-referred decoded pictures bypass the blocking noise suppressor if the detected amount of the load is no lower than the threshold.
US07961788B2
A video encoding method includes generating a primary error image by performing motion estimation and compensation on a current frame with reference to a previous frame, generating a secondary error image by performing motion estimation and compensation on the primary error image of the generated current frame with reference to an error image of the previous frame. The error image of the previous frame is obtained by performing motion estimation and motion compensation on the previous frame when the previous frame is encoded.
US07961787B2
Methods of video content complexity estimation, scene change detection and video encoding are provided. The video content complexity estimation and the scene change detecting are performed before a video encoding loop is processed. The method of video content complexity estimation includes calculating an absolute difference value diffi of the ith pixel between a current frame and a reference frame, a mean value mean(R) of pixel region R, a deviation value deviation(R) of pixel region R, a complexity value X of a target frame and an adjusted complexity Ĉtarget of the target frame by using equations mean ( R ) = 1 NM ∑ i ∈ R diff i , deviation ( R ) = ∑ i ∈ R abs ( diff i - mean ( R ) ) , X = ∑ R ∈ frame mean ( R ) · deviation ( R ) and Ĉtarget=a·X/b, respectively. Wherein, R represents N*M pixel region, a=b·SADtarget/X, b is power of 2 and SADtarget represents a true motion compensation sum of absolute difference for the target frame.
US07961775B2
Aspects of a method and system for a delta quantizer for MIMO pre-coders with finite rate channel state information feedback may comprise quantizing a change in channel state information in a MIMO pre-coding system onto at least a first and a second codebook, each of which comprises one or more unitary matrices, using a cost function; and generating the at least first and second codebook based on at least the channel state information. The channel state information may be a matrix V and the cost function may be defined by the following relationship: f ( A ) = ( 1 N ∑ j = 1 N a j j 2 ) where A is a matrix of size N by N and aij is element (i,j) of matrix A. One or more unitary matrices may be generated for the at least first codebook from at least a first set of matrices and a second set of matrices.
US07961771B2
A laser amplifier includes a laser active slab with a source of pump power to amplify an input laser beam, the laser active slab including a block of laser active material having opposed lateral faces defining a wedge lateral dihedral angle specified to minimize parasitic amplified spontaneous emission. The laser amplifier may include one or more external mirrors highly reflecting at the lasing wavelength positioned and oriented to provide for zig-zag passes through the gain sheet for the input laser beam to yield a multi-pass-amplified laser beam. The source of pump power may be one or more laser diode bars and microlenses producing a gain sheet in the laser active slab.
US07961765B2
Narrow surface corrugated gratings for integrated optical components and their method of manufacture. An embodiment includes a grating having a width narrower than a width of the waveguide on which the grating is formed. In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, masked photolithography is employed to form narrowed gratings having a desired grating strength. In an embodiment, an optical cavity of a laser is formed with a reflector grating having a width narrower than a width of the waveguide. In another embodiment an integrated optical communication system includes one or more narrow surface corrugated gratings.
US07961760B2
A method and a system for network synchronization are provided. In this method, when a node attempts to join a network, a parent node is searched from all other nodes already joined the network per specific time interval. If the parent node can be found, sync-information sent by the parent node is received by the node so as to synchronize with the parent node and enter a working mode. When a sleeping instruction sent by the parent node is received, or a timer determines that a network ending time is reached according to the sync-information, the node switches to a sleeping mode. However, when the timer determines that a network wakeup time is reached according to the sync-information, the node attempts to join the network again. All nodes in the network can work and sleep simultaneously so as to extend the lifetime of the battery.
US07961758B2
In one form of the invention, a process of sending real-time information from a sender computer (103) to a receiver computer (105) coupled to the sender computer (103) by a packet network (100) wherein packets (111,113) sometimes become lost, includes steps of directing (441) packets (111) containing the real-time information from the sender computer (103) by at least one path (119) in the packet network (100) to the receiver computer (105), and directing packets (113) containing information dependent on the real-time information from the sender computer (103) by at least one path diversity path (117) in the packet network (100) to the same receiver computer (105). Other forms of the invention encompass other processes, improved packets and packet ensembles (111,113), integrated circuits (610), chipsets (DSP 1721, MCU), computer cards (1651), information storage articles (1511,1611), systems, computers (103,105), gateways (191,193), routers (131,133), cellular telephone handsets (181,189), wireless base stations (183,187), appliances (1721,1731,1741), and packet networks (100), and other forms as disclosed and claimed.
US07961753B1
A communication system includes a plurality of devices, such as cable modems, in communication with a station, such as a cable modem termination system, that provides efficient upstream bandwidth sharing.
US07961751B2
A network component comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising promoting the communication of a frame within a synchronization window, wherein the frame comprises a plurality of data types assigned to a plurality of timeslots, and a timeslot map indicating the data type assigned to each timeslot. Also disclosed is a method comprising receiving a data stream comprising a data structure comprising a plurality of timeslots, each timeslot carrying one of a plurality of data types, receiving a timeslot map indicating the data types assigned to each of the timeslots, and processing each timeslot in accordance with the timeslot map.
US07961747B2
Presented herein are system(s), method(s), and apparatus for a monitor with conversion capabilities for transferring data to a portable media player. In one embodiment, there is presented a monitor for displaying video data. The monitor comprises at least one input, a screen, an encoder, a memory, and an interface. The at least one input receives decompressed video data. The screen displays the decompressed video data. The encoder encodes the decompressed video data. The memory stores the encoded decompressed video data. The interface transfers the encoded decompressed video data to another memory removable from the interface.
US07961741B2
Bulk information is transferred to nodes in a communication network having a plurality of widely dispersed nodes. The information can be an image, content, or configuration information. The information is uni-cast to a selection of nodes by a central node or server, to seed the information at certain nodes in the network. The information is then distributed by these seed nodes to every other node in the network. A first algorithm selects which nodes should be seeded with information by the central node. A second algorithm distributes information in the network on a query basis.
US07961738B2
A method for accessing VPN using PW Emulation Edge-to-Edge Virtual Leased Line includes: configuring a first PW ID in a first Provider Edge Device that hosts a VSI, and an IP address of a second Provider Edge Device that hosts an PW Emulation Edge-to-Edge Virtual Leased Line associated with the PW ID; sending a second PW ID of the second Provider Edge Device to the first Provider Edge Device; determining whether the second PW ID of the second Provider Edge Device matches the first PW ID of the first Provider Edge Device, if it matches, setting the state of the PW between the first Provider Edge Device and the second Provider Edge Device; delivering a Forwarding Table by the first Provider Edge Device; establishing a bi-directional connection between the PW Emulation Edge-to-Edge Virtual Leased Line and the VSI. A Virtual Private System, a first Provider Edge Device, and a second Provider Edge Device are also provided.
US07961737B2
A method for creating an Operation Administration and Maintenance frame in an Ethernet/Transport Multi-Protocol Label Switch hybrid network. The method includes mapping values in an Ethernet Operation Administration and Maintenance data field in a protocol data unit (PDU) in a first Ethernet Operation Administration and Maintenance frame (Ethernet OAM frame) into a Transport Multi-Protocol Label Switch Operation Administration and Maintenance data field in PDU in a first Transport Multi-Protocol Label Switch Operation Administration and Maintenance frame (TMPLS OAM frame) and mapping values in first control parameter fields in the first Ethernet OAM frame into second control parameter fields in the first TMPLS OAM frame. The PDU in the first TMPLS OAM frame includes added extra fields as necessary, and the second control parameter fields further comprise preselected default information and routing information mapped from values stored in a memory.
US07961735B2
A communication apparatus functioning as a mobile station may include a message receiver, a communication range determination unit, an existence determination unit, and a management signal output unit. The message receiver receives from a first control station a message that indicates a second control station. The communication range determination unit determines whether the apparatus is in a region within the second control station communication range. If the apparatus is in a region within the second control station communication range, then the existence determination unit determines whether there is another mobile station that belongs to a communication group of the first control station and exists in a region outside the second control station communication range. If the other mobile station is determined to exists, then the management signal output unit outputs a management signal as a third control station for constructing a communication group including the other mobile station.
US07961733B2
A novel network architecture that integrates the functions of an internet protocol (IP) router into a network processing unit (NPU) that resides in a host computer's chipset such that the host computer's resources are perceived as separate network appliances. The NPU appears logically separate from the host computer even though, in one embodiment, it is sharing the same chip.
US07961725B2
An enterprise network is provided which includes a central site, a network and a remote site communicatively coupled to the central site over the network. The central site includes a first termination device in communication with a restricted network segment including at least one server. The remote site includes an infrastructure device, an authorized access wireless local area network (WLAN), and an unauthorized access WLAN. The infrastructure device comprises a second termination device which communicates with the first termination device over the network. The authorized access WLAN allow communications with the central site via the second termination device over a tunnel coupling the first termination device to the second termination device, whereas the unauthorized access WLAN allows communications with the network via the second termination device.
US07961719B2
The invention relates to a system for end-of-line monitoring of HFC networks by using a main tuner dedicated to receiving measurement requests from a network monitoring server via a DOCSIS downstream channel, and an auxiliary tuner used for the purpose of performing measurements of the downstream channel by analogue and digital measurement circuits. A cable modem is used to transmit measurement results to the server over a DOCSIS upstream channel. The addition of the auxiliary tuner, permits faster measurements to be performed by the EOL monitoring system and reported back to the server, thereby affording real-time remote testing and diagnostics.
US07961717B2
A method and system for precise position determination of general Internet Protocol (IP) network-connected devices. A method enables use of remote intelligence located at strategic network points to distribute relevant assistance data to IP devices with embedded receivers. Assistance is tailored to provide physical timing, frequency and real time signal status data using general broad band communication protocols. Relevant assistance data enables several complementary forms of signal processing gain critical to acquire and measure weakened or distorted in-building Global Navigation Satellite Services (GNSS) signals and to ultimately extract corresponding pseudo-range time components. A method to assemble sets of GNSS measurements that are observed over long periods of time while using standard satellite navigation methods, and once compiled, convert using standard methods each pseudo-range into usable path distances used to calculate a precise geographic position to a known degree of accuracy.
US07961716B2
A method for providing self-provisioning of VoIP telephony to a subscriber of a VoIP telephony service is disclosed. An un-provisioned residential gateway that is associated with the subscriber is instructed to collect a subscriber numeric identity that uniquely identifies the subscriber and a Personal Identification Number (PIN) information that are associated with the subscriber. An example of a subscriber numeric identity that uniquely identifies the subscriber is the subscriber's E.164 address. The E.164 address and Personal Identification Number (PIN) information is verified. A source IP address that is associated with one or more Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) messages that are sent by the residential gateway is used as a residential gateway IP address for the residential gateway. The residential gateway IP address is then used to provision the residential gateway that is associated with the subscriber. According to certain embodiments, the above steps are carried out by a call agent from a self-provisioning system of a provider of the VoIP telephony services. One or more VoIP connections are established between the residential gateway and an announcement server. The announcement server sends VoIP messages through the VoIP connections to the subscriber via the residential gateway. A protocol server offers the residential gateway, via a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, a limited access IP address, a location of one or more Domain Name System (DNS) servers, and a Media Gateway Protocol (MGCP) endpoint name of the call agent from the self-provisioning system.
US07961710B2
A method and apparatus is provided for setting multiple paths between wireless nodes of an ad-hoc network including a source node, a relay node and a destination node that receives a message from the source node via the relay node. The multi-path setting method and apparatus includes receiving previous hop address information, and determining whether a wireless node that receives the previous hop address information is included in an insulating region, based on the previous hop address information.
US07961707B2
A method and apparatus for managing neighbor cells of a mobile communication terminal is provided. In the method, when a neighbor cell list is received from a network, neighbor cells are scanned to select a number of neighbor cells having high received signal strength indicator (RSSI) levels. The selected neighbor cells are managed in a BA list. The BA list is divided into a number of groups according to the RSSI levels. Different minimum signal strengths are applied to the respective groups, and it is determined whether there are neighbor cells that do not satisfy the minimum signal strengths. When the neighbor cells that do not satisfy the minimum signal strengths, the corresponding neighbor cells are deleted from the BA list.
US07961704B2
A method of scheduling data for transmission over the air interface of a wideband code division multiple access network, said data being transported over the air interface on a downlink shared channel. The method comprises receiving data in the form of IP packets at a radio network controller, segmenting said IP packets into protocol data units, and forwarding said protocol data units from the radio network controller to a radio base station serving one or more user terminals. The radio network controller identifies to the radio base station the protocol data units belonging to a common IP packet. At the radio base station, each protocol data unit is scheduled for transmission over the air interface in dependence upon the IP packet to which it belongs.
US07961696B2
The present invention provides a preamble that is inserted into an OFDMA frame and has a common sequence for all the base stations participating in a transmission. The subscriber station performs fine synchronization using the common sequence on the common preamble, and the resulting peaks will provide the locations of candidate base stations. The base station specific search is then performed in the vicinities of those peaks by using base station specific pseudo-noise sequences. With this two stage cell search, the searching window is drastically reduced. The preamble is matched to known values by a respective receiver to decode the signals and permit multiple signals to be transferred from the transmitter to the receiver. The preamble may comprise two parts, Preamble-1 and Preamble-2, which may be used in different systems, including multioutput, multi-input (MIMO) systems.
US07961693B2
Collisions between tunneled direct link setup (“TDLS”) requests are resolved by associating each request with a priority value. Upon issuing a TDLS request the encapsulated frame is associated with a priority value. When a station, which is waiting for a response from a recently issued TDLS request, receives a TDLS request from another station, a collision occurs. The collision is resolved by comparing the priority value associated with the TDLS request initiated by the station and the TDLS request received. The TDLS request with the higher priority value is pursued while the TDLS request with the lower priority value is ignored. The priority value can be based on the sending station's MAC address or other value which can differentiate the TDLS requests.
US07961692B2
A communication terminal capable of wireless LAN communication includes: a search unit that searches for a base station that should be an access point; a database that stores an application of the wireless LAN communication and search information utilized for searching associated with the application; a set-up unit that sets up the application; and a determination unit that determines search information in accordance with the application, by retrieving search information corresponding to the application from the storage unit. The search unit searches for a search-targeted base station that should be an access point, by targeting only a base station that corresponds to a base station identifier contained in the search information, for a predetermined period.
US07961690B2
Techniques are provided for configuring wireless switches within a mobility domain. In one implementation, a first designated wireless switch and a first client wireless switch are configured as part of a first mobility area of the mobility domain. An internal peering session is established between the first client wireless switch and the first designated wireless switch in the first mobility area. A second designated wireless switch is configured as part of a second mobility area of the mobility domain, and an external peering session is established between the first designated wireless switch in the first mobility area and the second designated wireless switch in the second mobility area.
US07961687B2
A method of effecting handoff of a mobile station from a first base station in a first cellular communications system controlled by a first mobile switching control station to a second base station in a second, different cellular system controlled by a second mobile switching control station is described. The method comprises measuring at the mobile station a parameter of a signal transmitted by said first base station and a parameter of a signal transmitted by said second base station. When the parameters reach a predetermined condition, a signal quality message is communicated from the mobile station via the first base station to said first mobile switching control station, which responds by generating information for a channel request message for the second mobile switching control station and transmitting the same to the mobile station. The mobile station generates from the information a channel request message for the second mobile switching control station and transmits the same to the second mobile switching control station. The second mobile switching control station generates channel information identifying a channel in the second communications system for the mobile station so that the handoff may be effected.
US07961675B2
There is disclosed a TRAU frame comprising, in sequence, a set of control bits, a set of class A bits, a set of error check bits, and a set of Class B bits, the set of control bits including at least one bit identifying the location of the other sets of bits in the frame.
US07961670B2
Selection of a relay station in a broadband wireless communication system is provided. In the broadband wireless communication system, a Base Station (BS) includes a sorter for generating a first index group in which indices of relay stations are sorted according to channel information between the BS and each relay station; a receiver for receiving a second index group in which the indices of the relay stations are sorted according to channel information between a Mobile Station (MS) and each relay station; and a selector for selecting a relay station to be used to communicate with the MS by using the first index group and the second index group.
US07961669B1
There is provided a processor for a base station control unit, the base station control unit being associated with a plurality of antennas; the processor comprising a plurality of processing streams, each stream being suitable for generating signals for at least one user in a plurality of users; wherein any of the processing streams can be used to generate the signals for any user in the plurality of users and for transmission by any antenna in the plurality of antennas.
US07961667B2
A method for ad-hoc group presence management, the method including configuring a presence server to receive information regarding a group and entities belonging to the group and create a group presentity associated with the group, and providing information regarding a group and its entities to the presence server, thereby causing the presence server to create the group presentity.
US07961664B1
A method for a digraph linked network to provide subnetwork communication is disclosed. The method running a first superframe in a digraph linked network containing at least one digraph link wherein a digraph link is a directional link specifying routing information between a first node and a second node in the digraph linked network. The method further comprises running a second superframe in a digraph linked network containing at least one digraph link.
US07961660B2
A wireless data communication system has a first station or mobile unit is linked to a second station configured as an access unit to support packet communication, voice or data, where the voice packets are transmitted in the Continuously Aware Mode (CAM) mode while other packets are buffered by the access point and held until asked for by the first station when in a Power Saving-Poll (PSP) mode. A monitoring apparatus at the access point monitors all transmitted packets and sorts the packets to the mobile unit according to CAM or PSP mode. Voice packets are sent out immediately to the mobile unit. Other packets are stored at the access point. The packet arrival rate may vary during transmission and due to random packet delays introduced by propagation characteristic and processing apparatus. The packet arrival rate and delays are taken into account by the first station in an algorithm to determine and extend the normal safe period in which the station receiver may be powered off.
US07961659B2
A novel and useful apparatus for and method of improving idle connection state power consumption in wireless local area network (WLAN) system using variable Beacon data advertisements. The invention takes advantage of the fact that Beacon contents to not change significantly between consecutive messages. Access points determine the size of the variable portion of their Beacon messages and include this size information in a special Variable Beacon Data Information Element in the Beacon message itself. The station reads the contents of this information element and uses the size information to determine at what point it is able to abort the reception of the Beacon message and turn off it's receive radio thereby saving power.
US07961654B2
Unitary transceiving units employ a multiple carrier, time-division-multiple-access (TDMA), time-division-duplex (TDD protocol to conduct concurrent wireless voice and data communications wherein a first transceiving base station unit tethered to a network interface wirelessly communicates to a second, mobile transceiving unit. The mobile transceiving unit wirelessly transmits and receives packetized voice and data information that is separated and routed to respective voice or data networks. The unitary mobile transceiving unit thus functions as a concurrent voice phone and data communications terminal/computer.
US07961649B2
A circulating switch comprises switch modules of moderate capacities interconnected by a passive rotator. Data is sent from a one switch module to another switch module either directly, traversing the rotator once, or indirectly through at least one intermediate switch module where the rotator is traversed twice. A higher capacity extended circulating switch is constructed from higher-capacity switch modules, implemented as common memory switches and having multiple ports, interconnected through a multiplicity of rotators preferably arranged in complementary groups of rotators of opposite rotation directions. A polyphase circulating switch having a low switching delay is derived from a multi-rotator circulating switch by providing programmable rotators having adjustable relative rotator-cycle phases. A low delay high-capacity switch may also be constructed from prior-art medium-capacity rotator space switches with mutually phase-shifted rotation cycles.
US07961645B2
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for classifying devices in a wireless network includes discovering, by a managing device, devices in the wireless network in accordance with discovery parameters. The discovery parameters include a parameter indicative of an IP address range. The method also includes retrieving, by the managing device, classification parameters from the devices. The method further includes comparing, by the managing device, the classification parameters with classification rules. The method further includes storing a device profile for each of the devices with classification parameters satisfying the classification rules.
US07961644B2
In a communication system, including a plurality of communication node apparatuses, for establishing a path for communication by exchanging a message among the plurality of communication node apparatuses, before establishing a path, an identifier of a path for which reuse of resources of the path to be established is permitted or inhibited is determined, and the determined identification information is included in a control message so that the path is established. A communication node apparatus in which the path has been established determines availability of reuse of resources the path based on the identification information in the control message. When an event such as failure occurrence, occurrence of resource reuse or dissolution of resource reuse occurs, the communication node apparatus executes path priority change processing, so that priority can be changed such that resource reuse can be performed most efficiently.
US07961643B2
A method for optimizing data rates for video services to a subscriber that includes receiving an indication of whether incoming video signals to a set-top box corresponding to the subscriber are being recorded, receiving an indication of whether video content corresponding to the video signals being recorded is being simultaneously viewed by the subscriber, and reducing a data rate for storing the video content that is not simultaneously being viewed by the subscriber.
US07961637B2
A system for testing a segment of a data-packet-network has a first probe connected substantially at one end of the segment; a second probe connected substantially at the opposite end of the segment from the location of the first probe; and a process application distributed to each probe. The first and second probes collect data from and time stamp data packets as they pass forming first and second records of the individual packets whereupon the second-formed records of each packet are compared with the first records of each packet for record matching, time-stamp comparison and test result processing.
US07961618B1
A system, method and computer-readable medium for sharing bandwidth resources among a plurality of antennas in a network of base transceiver stations are provided. According to the method, a bandwidth allocation of each of a plurality of antennas is determined, and a bandwidth demand on each of the plurality of antennas is monitored. If the bandwidth demand of one or more of the antennas exceeds a first threshold, the bandwidth allocation of those antennas is increased, based upon the bandwidth demand. If the bandwidth demand of another one or more of the antennas drops below a second threshold, the bandwidth allocation of those antennas is decreased. Accordingly, the bandwidth resources available to the network of antennas may be dynamically allocated, based upon the bandwidth demand in the network.
US07961610B1
Methods and systems are provided for overload control in a wireless communication system. An overload control mechanism identifies an instance of use to eliminate from among a plurality of instances of use in a wireless coverage area. In an overload situation, the overload control mechanism may, for each instance of use, determine a respective ratio of the value of instance of use to the quantity of resource consumed by the instance of use. The overload control mechanism may then sort the instances of use in order of determined ratios to produce a sorted order of the instances of use. The overload control mechanism may select as many instances of use as possible, such that the total amount of resources consumed by the selected instances of use is as high as possible without exceeding the threshold load, and then the overload control mechanism may eliminate the remaining instances of use.
US07961599B2
The invention is directed to providing pseudowire tunnel redundancy for VPLS and VLL services in the form of automatic protection switching of the service from a primary pseudowire tunnel to a backup pseudowire tunnel upon detection of a failure affecting the primary pseudowire tunnel. Embodiments of the invention monitor event notifications reported by a network management entity for an indication of a failure affecting the primary pseudowire tunnel; and responsive to detecting the indication, switch a service carried by the primary pseudowire tunnel to the backup pseudowire tunnel. Such event notifications include those corresponding to any of provider edge routers, interface ports, service access points, spokes, and tunnel endpoints that are related to operation of the primary pseudowire tunnel.
US07961595B2
A mobile network control apparatus capable of improving transmission efficiency without giving any processing loads to nodes of a mobile network. In mobile routers to which the present apparatus is applied, a tunnel failure detection unit detects a failure of packet tunneling executed using an interface of the mobile routers. A multi-homing detection unit searches for interfaces having a connection route to a global network out of an interface of the mobile routers according to the detected failure of packet tunneling. A bidirectional tunneling unit executes packet tunneling using the searched interfaces instead of the interface of the mobile routers.
US07961589B2
A system and related methods for introducing intra-channel spatial diversity within a multi-carrier wideband communication channel is presented. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, developed more fully below, a method is presented comprising receiving information for transmission to a receiver, and generating a plurality of sub-carriers to redundantly transmit the information to a user over a multi-carrier wireless communication channel, wherein each of the sub-carriers is dynamically modified by a set of complex weights to ensure that each of the sub-carriers of the wireless communication channel propagates along a different physical path to the receiver.
US07961585B2
By increasing the width of a lead terminal 2 connected to a die pad 1 in the vicinity of the die pad 1 and forming a slit 9 and a projecting plate in the lead terminal in the region where resin 5 is formed, it is possible to ensure the holding strength of the lead terminal by the resin 5, as well as ensuring the strength of the lead terminal during the manufacturing process and achieving a reduction in thickness.
US07961583B2
An optical pickup apparatus for reproducing information from an optical information recording medium or for recording information onto an optical information recording medium, is provided with a first light source for emitting first light flux having a first wavelength; a second light source for emitting second light flux having a second wavelength, the first wavelength being different from the second wavelength; a converging optical system having an optical axis and a diffractive portion, and a photo detector; wherein in case that the first light flux passes through the diffractive portion to generate at least one diffracted ray, an amount of n-th ordered diffracted ray of the first light flux is greater than that of any other ordered diffracted ray of the first light flux, and in case that the second light flux passes through the diffractive portion to generate at least one diffracted ray, an amount of n-th ordered diffracted ray of the second light flux is greater than that of any other ordered diffracted ray of the second light flux, where n stands for an integer other than zero.
US07961578B2
According to one embodiment, a disk drive configured to write data to a disk being rotated by a spindle motor has a synchronous clock generator that generates a synchronous clock to use during the write operation. The synchronous clock generator inputs the rotational acceleration of the spindle motor, as feed-forward control value, to the feedback control system provided in the drive disk, thereby generating a clock that is synchronous with the rotational speed of the disk.
US07961572B2
The present techniques provide methods and systems reading a data bit of interest on an optical data disc with a reduced error rate. The data bit estimation may be improved by reducing deterministic noise resulting from an optical reader system and/or the optical data disc. The reader may adjust the position of a detector to detect light scattered from the disc based on parameters of known noise sources. In one embodiment, the detector may be moved vertically in relation to the data bit of interest on the optical disc. In another embodiment, more than one detector may be used to detect light scattered from a data bit of interest. In embodiments, the positioning of the detector(s) may be based on system or disc parameters, and the detected scatterings may provide a data reading, improved for an optical return from a present micro-hologram.
US07961564B2
An information recording medium 1 at least comprises a substrate 13 having a microscopic pattern 20, which is constituted by a shape of continuous substance of approximately parallel grooves formed with a groove section G and a land section L alternately, a recording layer 12 formed on the microscopic pattern 20 and a light transmission layer 11 formed on the recording layer. The microscopic pattern 20 is formed so as to satisfy a relation of P<λ
US07961558B2
A timepiece having a movement, a substantially cylindrical case that houses the movement, a bezel that holds the outside edge part of a crystal and is fastened to the case, and a back cover that is fastened to the opposite side of the case as the side to which the bezel is disposed. The case has a plurality of movement fastening units for fastening the movement by means of screws, a plurality of bezel fastening units for fastening the bezel by means of screws, and a plurality of back cover fastening units for fastening the back cover by means of screws. The screws disposed to the movement fastening units, the bezel fastening units, and the back cover fastening units are substantially aligned with the axial direction of the case. The movement fastening units, the bezel fastening units, and the back cover fastening units are respectively disposed at different positions in the circumferential direction of the case, and are disposed to a fastener reference position substantially similar in shape to the shape of the outside of the movement facing the case.
US07961549B2
A method and apparatus for acquiring seismic signals from beneath a salt region in the earth. In one embodiment, the method includes tuning an air gun array to a first bubble oscillation; towing the air gun array in the water at a depth of at least 10 meters, in which the air gun array has a total volume in a range of about 6780 cubic inches to about 10,170 cubic inches; directing acoustic signals with the air gun array down through the water into the earth beneath the salt region; towing one or more seismic streamers in the water at one or more depths, in which at least one of the depths is at least 10 meters, in which each streamer comprises a plurality of hydrophones disposed therealong; and recording with the hydrophones seismic signals reflected from strata in the earth beneath the salt region.
US07961547B2
A one read/two write SRAM circuit of which memory cell size is small, and high-speed operation is possible. The SRAM circuit includes first and second flip-flop circuits which are connected in parallel to a common write word line; a first write control circuit which is connected to said first flip-flop circuit, is conducted by a write control signal supplied to said write word line, and supplies a first write signal to said first flip-flop circuit; and a second write control circuit which is connected to said second flip-flop circuit, is conducted by a write control signal supplied to said write word line, and supplies a second write signal to said second flip-flop circuit.
US07961546B2
Memory power management systems and methods are provided. One embodiment of the present invention includes a memory power management system. The system comprises a first low dropout (LDO) regulator that provides an active operating voltage that is derived from a first supply voltage to power a memory array during an active mode. The system further comprises a second LDO regulator that provides a minimum memory retention voltage that is derived from a second supply voltage to power the memory array in a standby mode, wherein the second supply voltage also powers at least one peripheral circuit for reading from and/or writing to the memory array.
US07961537B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a sense amplifier for sensing input data and a sense amplifier controller for blocking a signal path between the sense amplifier and a memory cell when a test mode signal is activated.
US07961530B2
A semiconductor device includes a nonvolatile memory configured to store write data in a write-enabled state, a check circuit configured to enable the write data as data for comparison in response to an enabled-status indicating signal indicative of the write-enabled state and to output a result of comparison obtained by comparing data read from the nonvolatile memory with the enabled data for comparison, and a path configured to output the result of comparison output from the check circuit to outside the semiconductor device, wherein no path to output the data read from the nonvolatile memory to outside the semiconductor device is in existence.
US07961529B1
A non-volatile register includes a memory element. The memory element comprises a first end and a second end. The non-volatile register includes a register logic connected with the first and second ends of the memory element. The register logic is positioned below the memory element. The memory element may be a two-terminal memory element configured to store data as a plurality of conductivity profiles that can be non-destructively determined by applying a read voltage across the two terminals. New data can be written to the two-terminal memory element by applying a write voltage of a predetermined magnitude and/or polarity across the two terminals. The two-terminal memory element retains stored data in the absence of power. A reference element including a structure that is identical or substantially identical to the two-terminal memory element may be used to generate a reference signal for comparisons during read operations.
US07961528B2
A buffer control circuit of a memory device has an auto-refresh buffer controller configured to detect a data training operation in an auto-refresh mode and a controller configured to enable an input buffer in response to an enable signal generated in the data training operation by the auto-refresh buffer controller.
US07961527B2
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to data storage and computer memory, and more particularly, to systems, integrated circuits and methods for accessing memory in multiple layers of memory implementing, for example, third dimension memory technology. In a specific embodiment, an integrated circuit is configured to implement write buffers to access multiple layers of memory. For example, the integrated circuit can include memory cells disposed in multiple layers of memory. In one embodiment, the memory cells can be third dimension memory cells. The integrated circuit can also include read buffers that can be sized differently than the write buffers. In at least one embodiment, write buffers can be sized as a function of a write cycle. Each layer of memory can include a plurality of two-terminal memory elements that retain stored data in the absence of power and store data as a plurality of conductivity profiles.
US07961520B2
Methods of encoding data to and decoding data from flash memory devices are provided. User data having an unknown ratio of 1's to 0's is received. The user data is utilized in generating transformed data that has a predictable ratio of 1's to 0's. The transformed data is stored to flash memory. The transformed data is illustratively generate by either applying an “exclusive or” function to the user data or by converting the user data into a number having a greater number of bits.
US07961515B2
A highly-integrated nonvolatile memory. A memory cell array where plural memory cells are arranged in matrix in row and column directions, plural first and second word lines, and plural bit lines are included. Each of the plural memory cells includes a first memory transistor and a second memory transistor which are connected in series. A gate electrode of the first memory transistor is connected to the first word line, a gate electrode of the second memory transistor is connected to the second word line, one of source and drain regions of the first memory transistor is connected to the first bit line, and one of source and drain regions of the second memory transistor is connected to the second bit line. Each of the first bit line and the second bit line is provided in common for memory cells in columns which are adjacent to each other.
US07961505B2
An electronic device includes: a first conductor; an insulative supporting film formed in a part on one surface of the first conductor; and a second conductor, one surface of which is opposed to the one surface of the first conductor and a part of which is supported by the supporting film. An air gap is formed in a region in which the first conductor and the second conductor are opposed to each other excluding the supporting film. The thickness of the supporting film is larger than a space between the first conductor and the second conductor, at least a part of which forms the air gap.
US07961493B2
A programmable device including a source-drain-gate structure. The device includes two programming electrodes and an antiferromagnetic multiferroic material between the two programming electrodes for switching the spontaneous polarization between a first spontaneous polarization direction and a second spontaneous polarization direction. The programmable device further includes a ferromagnetic material, which is in immediate contact with the multiferroic material. Magnetization of the ferromagnetic material is switchable by a transition between the first switching state and the second switching state of the multiferroic material by an exchange coupling between electronic states of the multiferroic material and the ferromagnetic material. The programmable device also includes means for determining a direction of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic material. A spin valve effect is used for causing an electrical resistance between the source and the drain electrode.
US07961489B2
A search engine includes a storage module to store a plurality of data patterns, a plurality of busses to receive a plurality of representations of a search word, a selector corresponding to at least one of the plurality of data patterns to select one of the plurality of representations of the search word for comparing to the at least one of the plurality of data patterns, and a logic circuit operatively coupled to the storage module, to the plurality of busses, and to the selector to compare the selected one of the plurality of representations of the search word to the at least one of the plurality of data patterns.
US07961488B2
Method for modifying data more than once in a multi-level cell memory location within a memory array
A method and apparatus for programming one or more bits in an upper page twice depending on the value in a corresponding bit in a corresponding lower page in a multi-level cell device. The method includes the steps of initializing the bit in the lower page and the bit in the upper page by storing a value of one in each of the bits. One or more bits in the lower page are then programmed such that a one is stored in the one or more bits of the lower page. One or more bits in the upper page are then programmed such that a one is stored in the one or more bits of the upper page. The one or more bits in the upper page are then reprogrammed such that the value in the one or more bits of the upper page transitions from a one to a zero. The transition from a one to a zero in the one or more bits of the upper page is used to mark for performance of a block management function the block.
US07961478B2
In an example embodiment, an integrated circuit comprises an on-chip electronic component. The on-chip electronic component has an active surface in a hermetically sealed cavity and a cover to hermetically seal the cavity. There is an additional electronic component wherein the additional electronic component is fixed on the cover.
US07961474B2
A radiator having a radiator fin sandwiched between and joined to a top plate and a bottom plate is provided on an insulating substrate, which has a semiconductor element arranged on one face side thereof, on the other face side thereof. The radiator fin is a corrugated fin that includes a first region that includes a joint peak portion joined to the bottom plate and has a height in an amplitude direction which is substantially equal to a distance between the top plate and the bottom plate, and a second region that includes a non-joint peak portion separated from the bottom plate by a predetermined gap and has a height in the amplitude direction which is smaller than the distance between the top plate and the bottom plate.
US07961469B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for distributing a thermal interface material. The system includes: an integrated circuit chip; a heat sink; and a compliant thermal interface material (TIM) between the integrated circuit chip and the heat sink. During assembly of the system, a mating surface of the heat sink and a mating surface of the integrated circuit chip are shaped to distribute the TIM in the predetermined pattern as the TIM is pressed between the mating surface of heat sink and a corresponding mating surface of the integrated circuit chip.
US07961458B2
An electronic apparatus includes a base body that is made of a resin and includes two first side surfaces and two second side surfaces, two first exterior members that are each made of metal and respectively cover the two first side surfaces, a second exterior member that is made of metal and adhered to one of the second side surfaces, a plurality of dowel pins provided to the two first exterior members, a plurality of dowel hole portions that are capable of receiving the plurality of dowel pins, respectively, a plurality of held portions provided on a surface of the second exterior member, in correspondence with the plurality of dowel hole portions, and a plurality of elastic holders that are provided on the one of the second side surfaces of the base body and capable of holding and elastically supporting the plurality of held portions, respectively.
US07961457B2
A display housing includes a first housing part including a plurality of first engaging members, a second housing part including a plurality of second engaging members, and a plurality of interlocking members, each of which is snappingly and detachably connected to and interlocks a respective one of the first engaging members and a respective one of the second engaging members. Engagement of each interlocking member with the respective first engaging member prevents relative movement between the first and second housing parts along directions of a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, along directions of a second axis of the Cartesian coordinate system, and along directions of a third axis of the Cartesian coordinate system. The first, second and third axes all being perpendicular to one another.
US07961455B2
A housing for mounting a display device is provided. The display device includes a display screen capable of displaying an executable function and an input selector which corresponds to the displayed function such that upon actuation of the input selector the displayed function is executed. The housing includes a generally planar surface disposed spaced apart from the display screen. An aperture is formed in the generally planar surface so that the display screen is visible through the generally planar surface. A ledge bounding at least a portion of the aperture extends from the generally planar surface to the display screen. A guide formed on the ledge links the input selector to the displayed function. The ledge has a first reflectance and the guide has a second reflectance which is different than the first reflectance so as to provide a contrast between the ledge and the guide due to the different amounts of light emitted from the display screen reflecting off the ledge and the guide.
US07961446B2
A temperature protection circuit comprises means adapted to compare the temperature being monitored with each of threshold temperatures and judging that the temperature being monitored reaches a threshold temperature when the temperature being monitored is maintained at the threshold temperature or more for a predetermined confirmation period, means adapted to set a longer confirmation period as the threshold temperature compared with the temperature being monitored is lower, means adapted to generate one of corresponding temperature protection signals (Sarm, Slmt, Stsd1, Stsd2) according to the judgment of which threshold temperature the temperature being monitored reaches. With this constitution, temperature protection operation can be preformed with high accuracy and high safety without unnecessarily narrowing the range of the operating temperature of an IC to be protected.
US07961439B2
High-frequency oscillation element, magnetic information recording head, and magnetic storage device
A high-frequency oscillation element has a ferromagnetic material which exhibits thermal fluctuation of magnetization and generates spin fluctuations in conduction electrons, a nonmagnetic conductive material which is laminated on the first magnetic material and transfers the conduction electrons, a magnetic material which is laminated on the nonmagnetic conductive material, generates magnetic resonance upon injection of the conduction electrons, and imparts magnetic dipole interaction to magnetization of a neighboring magnetic area by means of magnetic vibration stemming from the magnetic resonance, a first electrode electrically coupled with the first magnetic material, and a second electrode electrically coupled with the second magnetic material.
US07961438B2
The invention provides a magnetoresistive device of the CPP (current perpendicular to plane) structure, comprising a magnetoresistive unit, and a first shield layer and a second shield layer which are located and formed such that the magnetoresistive unit is sandwiched between them with a sense current applied in a stacking direction. The magnetoresistive unit comprises a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, and a first ferromagnetic layer and a second ferromagnetic layer stacked and formed such that the nonmagnetic intermediate layer is sandwiched between them. The first shield layer and the second shield layer are each controlled by magnetization direction control means in terms of magnetization direction to create an antiparallel magnetization state where their magnetizations are in opposite directions. The first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer are exchange coupled to the first shield layer and the second shield layer, respectively, by way of a first exchange coupling function gap layer and a second exchange coupling function gap layer, with an exchange coupled strength of 0.2 to 2.5 erg/cm2.
US07961434B1
A disk drive head suspension having a leaf-type gram load spring. One embodiment of the suspension includes a base plate and a load beam. The load beam is formed from a single piece of stainless steel and includes a mounting region, a beam region, a spring region between the mounting region and beam region, and a leaf spring extending from the beam region. The mounting region of the load beam is attached to the base plate, with a proximal end portion of the leaf spring overlaying the base plate. The leaf spring can have a formed bend in the z-height direction and is forced into a loaded state before the proximal end is welded to the base plate.
US07961432B2
According to an embodiment, a slider of a head is provided with a negative-pressure cavity 54 formed in a disk-facing surface, a leading step portion located on the upstream side of the negative-pressure cavity, a pair of side portions opposed to each other, a head mounting pad provided on the facing surface on an outflow side of the negative-pressure cavity with respect to an airflow and provided with a head portion, a positive-pressure generating pad which is arranged on the facing surface between a leading pad and the head mounting pad and configured to produce a positive pressure, and a pair of center skirts which are disposed on the outflow side of the positive-pressure generating pad and are shallower than the negative-pressure cavity.
US07961419B2
A storage apparatus comprises at least one housing A in which a storage device and a controller are provided, at least one housing B in which a storage device and a peripheral device are provided, and a transmission path for connecting the storage device and the controller of the housing A, and the storage device of the housing B to enable communication therebetween. The storage apparatus is capable of controlling operation of the storage device of the housing B according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing A through communication via the transmission path; and controlling operation of the peripheral device according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing B.
US07961410B2
A collapsible lens barrel having a low-profile size and a camera applied with the collapsible lens barrel. The lens barrel includes a first retractable lens-retaining frame and a second retractable lens-retaining frame for retaining at least one of a plurality of lens groups and being retracted to a position outer than an inner radius of a movable lens cone in the collapsed state, respectively; and a first retractable lens-moving member and a second retractable lens-moving member. At least one of the first and second retractable lens-retaining frames is retained movable relative to the respective retractable lens-moving member along an optical axis direction in the collapsed state.
US07961407B2
Reflectors having concave reflecting surfaces (e.g., parabolic reflectors) and electronically controlled beam steering elements are used for rapid, low-diversion, wide-angle, and precision steering of optical beams, including laser beams.
US07961400B2
A projection image display device is disclosed in which a trapezoidal distortion and/or aberration are restrained when an image is enlarged and projected obliquely onto a screen. An image generator is connected to an optical system base in such a manner that at least an inclination thereof (on an axis parallel to X axis) with respect to a vertical line and a distance thereof in forward and backward direction (Z axis direction) can be adjusted by an adjusting mechanism. Further, a projecting lens 2 as a first optical system and a free-form curved surface mirror as a second optical system are fixed to the optical system base. The free-form curved surface mirror is rotatable (on an rotary axis parallel to X axis) with respect to the vertical line at a substantial center of the free-form curved surface mirror.
US07961397B2
A single-channel optical processing system for an energetic-beam instrument has separate sources for processing radiation and illumination radiation. The processing radiation and the illumination radiation are combined in a single optical path and directed to a sample surface inside the energetic-beam instrument through a self-focusing rod lens. The self-focusing rod lens thus has a working distance from the sample surface that will not interfere with typical arrangements of ion beams and electron beams in such instruments. A combination of polarizers and beam splitters allows separation of the combined incident radiation and the combined radiation reflected from the sample surface and returned through the same optical channel, so that the reflected radiation may be directed to an optical detector, such as a camera or spectrometer. In other embodiments, additional illumination of the sample surface is provided at an angle to the central axis of the self-focusing rod lens.
US07961395B2
Systems and methods are provided for providing wideband diffraction limited performance in an optical receiver. A first lens is constructed from a first material and has a first surface and a second surface. A second lens is constructed from a second material and having a first surface and a second surface. The second lens is positioned such that a first surface of the second lens faces a second surface of the first lens across a gap of air. A diffraction grating is applied to one of the first and second surfaces of the first and second lenses.
US07961389B2
There is provided a screen and a projector using a simple configuration and operation to make speckles less visible. A screen 10 on which light beams are incident includes a lenticular lens 11 as a first layer having viewing angle control means for enlarging the viewing angle and a Fresnel lens 12 as a second layer having angular conversion means for converting the angles of incidence of the incident light beams into the substantially same direction. One of the first and second layers has a diffusion capability that diffuses the incident light beams and has moving means for moving that layer relative to the other. Alternatively, the first and second layers both have the diffusion capability, and at least one of the layers has moving means for moving that layer relative to the other.
US07961387B2
An observation device has an ocular lens and an objective lens and is adapted to observe through the ocular lens an intermediate image of an object formed by the objective lens. The observation device further includes a display section provided either on a light path connecting the ocular lens and the objective lens or on a light path branched off from the light path and displaying an image, and a light path switching section provided on the light path connecting the ocular lens and the objective lens and switching the light to be guided from the ocular lens to the objective lens and the image displayed on the display section to be guided to the ocular lens or the objective lens, thereby providing a small-sized observation device and binoculars having a display function.
US07961380B2
The specification describes an improved approach to suppressing fast transients in optical amplifier systems. The approach relies on operating the amplifier in an automatic power-mode control with an extra loss component. It is applicable to optical amplifiers based on rare earth amplifier media, such as erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs).
US07961364B2
A method of determining a first relative rotation of coded data on a print medium to be printed on by a mobile device that has a printer, a first sensor and processing means. The print medium has a substrate defining first and second opposite faces, the first face bearing coded data. The method involves capturing a first image of the coded data when the print medium is at a first position using the first sensor, determining a first relative rotation of the coded data with respect to the print medium from a known physical orientation of the print medium and the first image, using the processing means, capturing a second image of the coded data when the print medium is at a second position using the first sensor, determining a second relative rotation of the coded data with respect to the print medium from a known physical orientation of the print medium and the second image, using the processing means and calculating a third rotation from the first and second rotations using the processing means. The third rotation is a more precise measure of the first relative rotation than the first relative rotation or the second relative rotation.
US07961361B2
An image reading apparatus in which cross-talk noise occurring between plural reading units is reduced, an image reading method and an image reading program are provided. There are included plural reading units that respectively operates at different timings, a reference data generation unit that acquires first read data as a result of reading of a first read object, acquires an operation state of the plural reading units during the reading of the first reading object, generates reference data based on the first read data, associates the operation state with the reference data obtained in the operation state and stores them, and a correction unit that acquires second read data as a result of reading of a second read object, acquires an operation state of the plural reading units during the reading of the second reading object, acquires the reference data corresponding to the operation state, and corrects the second read data based on the reference data.
US07961359B2
A semiconductor device includes: an LCD controller configured to output a plurality of image signals in parallel; a plurality of signal lines respectively corresponding to the plurality of image signals to be outputted in parallel; a plurality of terminal portions respectively connected to the plurality of signal lines; and delay circuits configured to delay a plurality of image signals, which are divided into a plurality of groups to the extent that the sum of each value of a current flowing through each signal line does not exceed a predetermined current value and outputted from a plurality of terminal portions, by a predetermined delay time from each other among the plurality of groups.
US07961352B2
A printing control device which performs printing control for printing by using color materials of a plurality of types, includes: acquiring unit that acquires a color material set which is a combination of the color materials used for printing; and creation unit that creates a color conversion profile which prescribes conversion rules for converting image data expressed by a first color space into image data expressed by a second color space which differs from the first color space and which is a color space expressed by a color material amount set which is a combination of usage amounts for the respective color materials constituting the color material set.
US07961351B2
A method and system is disclosed for developing a printer model from a reduced set of selected test patches. The model corresponds to a spot color editor controller having a sensitivity matrix model developed from a plurality of the patches to define printer operation. The sensitivity matrix is comprised of coefficients computed from an orthogonal disposition of the experimental patches within a selected sub gamut of the color printer gamut. A plurality of replicas of the experimental patches are run for achieving statistical significance.
US07961347B2
When using image scanners to capture images of originals and using printers to print same, four-sided borderless copying is enabled such that margins do not appear on printouts. An image scanner might capture an image corresponding to scan region 263 which might be somewhat larger than original 262. Image processing circuitry might then enlarge an image corresponding to scan region 266 (arrow 279), converting it into enlarged image 271. Within enlarged image 271, the image of original 262 might have been enlarged so as to become image 273, which might be somewhat larger than printing paper 274. This enlarged original image 273 which would be present within enlarged image 271 might then be printed by a printer.
US07961345B2
A sensed image is saved in a printer in an environment in which a digital camera can directly communicate with a printer, and the sensed image can be directly printed. A printer and a digital camera (DSC) can be directly connected to each other via a USB interface. Upon this direct connection, the digital camera and printer serve as a print system, and the DSC serves as a user interface in that system. When the user inputs a print instruction of a desired image on the DSC, a print process of that image is executed. When the user inputs a save instruction of a given image, that image is saved in a storage device in the printer. Even when the image is erased on the DSC side, original image data can be prevented from being lost.
US07961344B2
An automated rule-based system for facilitating delivery of a fax document from a source to a destination over a network where an initial delivery attempt has been unsuccessful. Actions to be taken are based upon a time-variable set of input conditions which may be determined from one or more of the destination, the source, a database of past delivery attempts, and a human analyst. The actions may include one or more of resubmitting the fax document to the network for a next delivery attempt, cancelling the document, sending a request to the source or destination for additional delivery information, and identifying the destination as a technical problem. The input conditions may include an identification of non-business days and non-business hours.
US07961342B2
An automated print prepress workflow, including a memory; a processor communicating with the memory; and a job ticket stored in the memory, is provided. The job ticket includes a plurality of print job related parameters and a set of print job related information. The workflow further includes a conditional branching arrangement defining a plurality of print job prepress development paths, each one of these plurality of paths including one or more print job prepress development operations. Prepress development of the print job may include automatically branching to one of the plurality of print job prepress development paths responsive to the processor reading one or both of the (1) the one or more of the plurality of print job related parameters and (2) at least part of the print job related information set. One or more of the print job prepress development operations may be automatically adaptively processed.
US07961336B2
Recording of time information and function information of each image forming process for which processing has been completed in a recording portion 64 (S1), judgment (S6) of whether or not a switching time that has been set is 0 for processing in which the elapsed time from completion to the present time is within a predetermined time for processing among the information in the recording portion (64), calculation (S7) of a time (T) in which the switching time is added to the completion time of each image forming process, comparison (S8) of the time (T) and a time information (Tmax), and update (S9) of the time information (Tmax) by the time (T) when the calculated time (T) is later than the time information (Tmax) are repeatedly executed, and the latest time is set to the time information (Tmax). Switching is made to a power-saving mode when a counter (66) has timed the time information (Tmax).
US07961328B2
A system and method for measuring the photometric retroreflectivity of materials. The system comprises a light source and a first optical pathway along which an illumination light beam travels originating from the light source, and ending at a retroreflective surface to be measured. A second optical pathway is provided along which a retroreflected beam travels back from the retroreflective surface to an aperture array that selects multiple annular areas to be further directed to multiple detectors, one detector for each annular area selected by the aperture. Each detector has a filter for the determination of photometric retroreflectivity. The retroreflected light reaching the detectors produces currents proportion to the intensity of the light. A high-gain current-to-voltage amplifier is used to provide voltage signal to an analog-to-digital converter that converts a voltage to a digital number. A processor is electrically coupled to the analog-to-digital converter with an accompanying memory on which is stored operating logic adapted to determine the photometric intensity of a predetermined pattern of the retroreflected beam incident to the array of apertures and detectors which defines the retroreflected light which propagates from the retroreflective surface at a predetermined observation angle.
US07961322B2
Color measurements of color samples are estimated by a system and method wherein an area coverage of a color sample is computed, the color sample is printed, a color of the printed color sample, such as a set of reflectance values, is measured at a first temperature, and a color of the printed color sample is estimated at a second temperature lower than the first temperature, the estimation being based on the area coverage and a thermochromatic model which represents relationships between measured colors of printed color samples at the first and second temperatures.
US07961318B2
A system and method for detection and measurement of circular birefringences in materials that exhibit the Faraday effect. The method and apparatus permit detection of optical activities via the difference in the directions of propagation the left- and the right-circularly polarized light (components). A beam of light is directed at an interface formed by the optically active medium and another medium such that a difference in the angles of refraction and/or reflection and/or diffraction between the left- and the right-circularly polarized components of the light beam can be detected. The difference in the propagation directions between the two circularly polarized light components is measured on a position sensitive detector and/or is detected as an intensity difference.
US07961313B2
A system and method are disclosed for generating a photoacoustic spectrum in an open or closed environment with reduced noise. A source may emit a beam to a target substance coated on a detector that measures acoustic waves generated as a result of a light beam being absorbed by the target substance. By emitting a chopped/pulsed light beam to the target substance on the detector, it may be possible to determine the target's optical absorbance as the wavelength of light is changed. Rejection may decrease the intensity of the acoustic waves on the detector while absorption may increase the intensity. Accordingly, an identifying spectrum of the target may be made with the intensity variation of the detector as a function of illuminating wavelength.
US07961297B2
A method for determining intensity distribution in the focal plane of a projection exposure arrangement, in which a large aperture imaging system is emulated and a light from a sample is represented on a local resolution detector by an emulation imaging system. A device for carrying out the method and emulated devices are also described. The invention makes it possible to improve a reproduction quality since the system apodisation is taken into consideration. The inventive method includes determining the integrated amplitude distribution in an output pupil, combining the integrated amplitude distribution with a predetermined apodization correction and calculating a corrected apodization image according to the modified amplitude distribution.
US07961296B2
A lithographic apparatus includes a phase adjuster to adjust a phase of an optical wave traversing an optical element of the phase adjuster during exposure of a pattern on a substrate. In an embodiment, the optical element is a heat controllable optical element in a projection system of the lithographic apparatus. In use, the pattern is illuminated with an illumination mode including an off-axis radiation beam. This beam is diffracted into zeroth-order and first-order diffracted beams oppositely and asymmetrically inclined with respect to an optical axis. An area is identified where the first-order diffracted beam traverses the optical element. An image characteristic of an image of the pattern is optimized by calculating a desired optical phase of the first-order diffracted beam in relation to the optical phase of the zeroth-order diffracted beam. The phase adjuster is controlled to apply the desired optical phase to the first order diffracted beam.
US07961295B2
The present invention provides an exposure apparatus including a projection optical system configured to project a reticle pattern onto a wafer, a selector configured to select a dummy wafer to be placed near an image plane of the projection optical system, from a plurality of dummy wafers having the same shape as that of the wafer and different reflectance with each other, a transfer unit configured to place the dummy wafer selected by the selector near the image plane of the projection optical system, and a controller configured to perform control such that dummy exposure is performed by irradiating the dummy wafer, which is placed near the image plane of the projection optical system by the transfer unit, with light via the projection optical system.
US07961287B2
An LCD device is disclosed in which column spacers for a cell gap are arranged between gate and common lines to reduce a contact area between the column spacers and an opposing substrate, and a stable cell gap is maintained over the whole panel by reducing variation of a thickness per area of a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate corresponding to the column spacers. The LCD device includes first and second substrates facing each other, gate and data lines formed on the first substrate to cross each other, and pixel regions, a thin film transistor formed in each portion where the gate and data lines cross, common and pixel electrodes alternately formed in the pixel regions, common lines formed adjacent to the gate lines substantially parallel to the gate lines, a first column spacer formed on the second substrate corresponding to a portion between the gate line and the common line, and a liquid crystal layer filled between the first and second substrates.
US07961279B2
A transreflective liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus with a single cell gap is presented, along with a method of driving the apparatus. The apparatus operates with low power consumption because its electro-optical characteristics in a transmissive region and a reflective region are equalized. The transreflective LCD apparatus includes first and second liquid crystal cells formed respectively in transmissive and reflective regions of a first subpixel, first and second thin film transistors connected respectively to the first and second liquid crystal cells, and first and second storage capacitors connected respectively to the first and second liquid crystal cells.
US07961258B2
The present invention relates in general to an video display apparatus, more particularly, to an video display apparatus having an sound level control function according to program genre or speaker of a received broadcast program.
US07961244B2
Light emitted from a taking lens 20 enters a first birefringent plate 1a to be spatially divided along a first direction extending perpendicular to the direction in which the light advances to achieve two separate rays L10 and L20. The vibrational planes of the two light fluxes L10 and L20 emitted from the first birefringent plate 1a are converted to a circularly polarized light by a phase plate 1c. The two light fluxes L10′ and L20′ emitted from the phase plate 1c are each spatially divided into two by a second birefringent plate 1d along a second direction extending perpendicular to the first direction to achieve four separate rays L11, L12, L21 and L22, to be guided to an imaging plane 15a of an imaging device 15. At least either the first birefringent plate or the second birefringent plate is constituted of lithium niobate, rutile, Chilean nitrate, or the like.
US07961242B2
An imaging device includes a display unit for displaying an image, an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, a posture detector for detecting a posture of the imaging device in shooting, a recording unit for recording a reduced image of a shot image, and posture information on a posture of the imaging device corresponding to the reduced image, an image extracting unit for extracting reduced images including the same posture information among said reduced images recorded on the recording unit, and an image display controller for displaying the reduced images extracted by the image extracting unit on the display unit, wherein the image display controller reconstructs, on the basis of the posture information, a horizontal and vertical direction of the reduced images extracted by the image extracting unit to the posture of the imaging device in shooting, and displays the reduced image being reconstructed on the display unit. Thereby, that makes it possible to display a comfortable reduced image.
US07961241B2
When picking up an image including an object, an imaging apparatus displays the picked-up image on a display unit, and stores the image in a first storage unit. Then, the imaging apparatus performs such control as to extract the contour of an object image in the image stored in the first storage unit, and to display the contour together with the object image on the display unit. A first correction unit then corrects the object image, from which the contour is extracted, into a circular shape, and the corrected object image is stored in a second storage unit.
US07961237B2
This invention discloses a photoelectric conversion device. The photoelectric conversion device includes a pixel array in which a plurality of pixels are arrayed in a row direction and a column direction, a plurality of readout circuits which read out signals from pixels for respective columns in the pixel array, and a control unit which controls the plurality of readout circuits, wherein each of the plurality of readout circuits includes a holding unit which holds a reference voltage supplied from an external power source, an operational amplification unit which amplifies the signals from the pixels for each column based on the reference voltage held in the holding unit, and a disconnection unit which electrically disconnects the external power source and the holding unit, and the control unit controls the disconnection unit to electrically disconnect the external power source and the holding unit when the operational amplification unit amplifies the signals from the pixels for each column.
US07961229B2
A digital still camera includes a lens system. A cold mirror separates object light incident on the lens system into a visible light component and an infrared component. A visible light image sensor outputs a first image signal of a visible light image by receiving the visible light component. An infrared light image sensor outputs a second image signal of an infrared image by receiving the infrared component. A contour signal generator extracts a high frequency component from a luminance signal determined according to the second image signal, to produce an edge enhancement signal. An adder adds the edge enhancement signal to a luminance signal determined according to the first image signal. Addition of the edge enhancement signal is adapted to the object light from an object at a far distance. Specifically, the cold mirror reflects the visible light component and transmits the infrared component.
US07961228B2
An imaging apparatus having an automatic exposure function includes: an imaging section which images a photographic subject, and which obtains image data according to the photographic subject; and a controller configured to: judge whether or not imaging conditions at the time of imaging by the imaging section are backlight conditions; perform a first exposure control in which a compensation for the backlight conditions is performed, when the imaging conditions are judged to be the backlight conditions; detect a face of a person from image data generated based on the image data obtained by the imaging section and on a result of the first exposure control; perform a light meter test on a face area of the detected face of the person as a light metering area; and perform a second exposure control in which an exposure-amount based on a result of the light meter test of the face of the person is calculated, and in which an exposure control for recording is performed based on the calculated exposure-amount.
US07961221B2
An image pickup position information acquisition unit acquires, from a position fixing unit, position information of an image pickup location of a moving image being picked up. A preceding image pickup position information storage unit stores position information of a preceding image pickup location as preceding image pickup position information. A change point detector compares the image pickup position information and the preceding image pickup position information. If the position indicated by the image pickup position information is spaced apart from the position indicated by the preceding image pickup position information by a predetermined distance, the change point detector detects the current position as a change point. The change point is recorded onto a change point position information. Thumbnail data generated by a thumbnail generator is recorded as a change point thumbnail.
US07961220B2
There is provided a camera-shake correction mechanism by which camera shaking is corrected for by moving an imaging device on a plane that is orthogonal to an optical axis and in directions that are mutually orthogonal. The mechanism includes a heat dissipating mechanism that diffuses heat from the imaging device into atmosphere from a rear surface of the imaging device.
US07961219B2
A system and method for effectively implementing an electronic image hub device includes a peripheral device, such as a digital camera, that may be periodically connected to the image hub device by a system user. The system user may then utilize the image hub device to transfer captured data from the peripheral device to a specific data destination, such as a user service on a distributed computer network. The peripheral device also may utilize the image hub device to recharge batteries that become depleted through operation of the peripheral device. The system user may then subsequently access and utilize the captured data from the data destination in accordance with the present invention.
US07961215B2
A multi-camera system that collects images and videos of moving objects in dynamic and crowded scenes, subject to task constraints is disclosed. The system constructs “task visibility intervals” comprising information about what can be sensed in future time intervals. Methods for constructing these intervals applying prediction of future object motion and including consideration of factors such as object occlusion and camera control parameters are also disclosed. Using a plane-sweep algorithm, these atomic intervals can be combined in a method to form multi-task intervals, during which a single camera can collect videos suitable for multiple tasks simultaneously. Methods for fast camera scheduling that yield solutions within a small constant factor of an optimal solution are also disclosed.
US07961213B2
An image pickup apparatus includes an objective optical system, an image pickup element having a surface at an image formed by the objective optical system, and an etalon positioned between the objective optical system and the surface of the image pickup element. The etalon includes a gap, an optical path length of which is controllable for scanning the wavelengths transmitted by the etalon to thereby select the wavelengths that reach the surface. An optical filter is positioned between the objective optical system and the surface and has a first wavelength range over which incident light is reflected, a second wavelength range over which incident light is transmitted, and a boundary wavelength range that is bounded by the first and second wavelength ranges. The boundary wavelength range lies entirely within the wavelength range the peak transmission of the etalon can be scanned. A method of calibrating the etalon is also disclosed.
US07961207B2
This image generating apparatus comprises an ink sheet cartridge storing an ink sheet. When sensing arrival of the rear end of the ink sheet, the image generating apparatus cleans the print head by rotating the print head between a printing position and a nonprinting position (separate position) thereby dropping foreign matter adhering to the print head onto the ink sheet.
US07961200B2
Electronic document design systems and methods allowing a user engaged in customizing an electronic product to re-crop product images in a manner that is compatible with the product layout. Upon selection of an image area in the product design, the user can choose to re-crop the image currently displayed in the image area or to select and crop a different image to be used in the selected image area. A cropping indicator that can be resized and repositioned is provided to the user. The cropping indicator is automatically sized to have and retain the same height to width ratio as the selected image area. Upon completion of any resizing or repositioning operation, the selected image area of the electronic product is updated to reflect the cropping changes made by the user.
US07961195B1
Methods and systems for compressing and decompressing data are described. A first value of N+1 bits and a second value of N+1 bits are reduced to strings of N bits each. The first and second strings of N bits are stored in a particular order relative to one another in a compression block. The particular order in which the first and second strings of N bits are stored in the compression block is used to derive a bit value that is then used in combination with one of the strings of N bits to reconstruct that string as N+1 bits.
US07961191B2
Having an outline font data readout unit read a correction subject pixel and surrounding pixels thereof, referring to the already stored pre-correction and post-correction brightness value pattern data that are related to the read correction subject pixel and surrounding pixels, deriving a post-correction brightness value pattern uniquely from among candidates for a post-correction brightness value pattern of an appropriate value as post-correction brightness value, determining the optimal post-correction brightness value from the uniquely derived post-correction brightness value pattern and outputting correction data based on the determined optimal post-correction brightness value, thereby changing a brightness value of a pixel within a character image giving a look of unnaturalness automatically to a brightness value not giving a look thereof.
US07961187B2
The invention relates to flexible occlusion rendering, including receiving a first set of three dimensional image data including image data for a surface of interest and image data for a region occluding the surface of interest from a desired viewpoint. The purpose of this invention is to improve occlusion rendering via imaging by locating the occluding surface of the incoming three-dimensional data and, and modifying the characteristics of this data, to show the surface that is being occluded so that the image includes viewing through the occlusion to the surface of interest.
US07961182B2
A stereoscopic image display method capable of stereoscopic display of a photographed image. One two-dimensional image is selected, and one pixel capable of being viewed from a corresponding viewpoint position is selected from a plurality of pixels. A virtual surface with the selected two-dimensional image pasted thereon is assumed, and the virtual surface is arranged so that an image center point of the two-dimensional image corresponding to a center of an object coincides with a center of a display surface. Next, a virtual extension that extends from the viewpoint position to the virtual surface through the selected pixel is assumed. A color on the two-dimensional image assumed to have been pasted on the virtual surface, corresponding to a point of intersection between the virtual extension and the virtual surface is determined as a display color of the pixel positioned in a direction extending from the pixel to the viewpoint position.
US07961174B1
In a motion capture system, a unitary input is provided to an application based on detected movement and/or location of a group of people. Audio information from the group can also be used as an input. The application can provide real-time feedback to the person or group via a display and audio output. The group can control the movement of an avatar in a virtual space based on the movement of each person in the group, such as in a steering or balancing game. To avoid a discontinuous or confusing output by the application, missing data can be generated for a person who is occluded or partially out of the field of view. A wait time can be set for activating a new person and deactivating a currently-active person. The wait time can be adaptive based on a first detected position or a last detected position of the person.
US07961173B2
A touchless sensing unit (110) and method (210) for calibrating a mobile device for touchless sensing is provided. The method can include evaluating (214) a finger movement within a touchless sensory space (101), estimating (216) a virtual coordinate system (320) from a range of finger movement, and mapping (218) the virtual coordinate system to a device coordinate system (330).
US07961167B2
A display device and mobile terminal are provided. The display device can narrow the pitch, narrow the frame, and further reduce power consumption. The display device includes a display area; a vertical drive circuit; a first horizontal drive circuit converting input first and second digital image data to analog image signals, and supplying the same to a data line selected by the vertical drive circuit; and a second horizontal drive circuit converting input third digital image data to an analog image signal, and supplying the same to a data line selected by the vertical drive circuit. The first horizontal drive circuit includes a sampling latch circuit, a second latch circuit, a digital/analog conversion circuit, and a line selector for selecting the first and second digital image data in a time division manner in a predetermined period and outputting the same to the data line.
US07961159B2
Variation occurs in transistor characteristics. The present invention relates to a signal line driver circuit comprising a plurality of current source circuits respectively corresponding to a plurality of wirings, characterized in that: the plurality of current source circuits each comprise capacitor means and supply means; and the plurality of current source circuits each convert a supplied current into a voltage in accordance with a video signal, and supply a current corresponding to the converted voltage.
US07961153B2
An antenna is provided. The antenna may include at least one open-ended structure extending from a surface of a waveguide. The open-ended structure may have a cross section of many different shapes. The walls of the structure may be movable. The antenna structure may be rotated. The antenna may incorporate a number of different wave feeds. The antenna may provide two-dimensional beam steering.
US07961151B2
Compact portable wireless devices and antennas for compact portable wireless devices are provided. The compact portable wireless device may be part of a piece of sports equipment. A compact portable wireless device may include a transceiver module that is used in communicating with equipment such as a handheld electronic device. An antenna for a compact portable wireless device can have a relatively small size while exhibiting high efficiency. A planar ground structure for the antenna may be formed from a circuit board on which integrated circuits have been mounted. A curved inverted-F resonating element may be attached to the ground structure. A battery may be provided to power the compact portable wireless device. The battery may be used as a parasitic antenna element.
US07961139B2
The present invention relates to a method for angular determination and/or for increasing the angular resolution or a detectable angular range when operating antenna groups using the technique of digital beam forming (DBF), as well as a device for carrying out the method. In the method, a measurement signal with a carrier signal and a frequency-modulated signal component are received via at least one antenna group directly or after reflection on one or several objects. The angle, at which the measurement signal is received, is determined by evaluating a phase difference in the received measurement signal which occurs between adjacent antenna elements of the antenna group. The method is characterized in that for determining the phase difference the frequency-modulated signal component is also evaluated, exclusively or additionally to an evaluation of the carrier signal. As a result of the method and the device, the angular resolution and/or the angular range which is detected in an unambiguous manner may be increased in a cost-effective manner with digital beam forming.
US07961134B2
Self-calibrating an automatic, surveillance-based change detection system operating on noisy imagery comprises detecting a first image co-registered with a second image, wherein the first image and the second image each comprise pixels of a noisy image of a scene; detecting the second image co-registered with the first image, wherein co-registration of the first image with the second image comprises pixels from different images corresponding to a same location within the scene; producing a calibration factor based on the co-registered images; producing a modified ratio of pixel values corresponding to the first image and the second image from the same location within the scene; and comparing the modified ratio to a pre-determined threshold ratio value.
US07961132B1
In one embodiment, an A/D converter samples an analog input signal voltage by applying the input signal to a first capacitor terminal, while a second capacitor terminal is connected to ground via an NMOS sampling switch, to charge the capacitor to the input signal voltage. During an analog-to-digital conversion process, the second capacitor terminal may swing in a voltage range that extends below ground. A controller circuit provides bias voltage signals to a gate terminal and to a p-well of the NMOS sampling switch, to selectively turn the sampling switch on and off. In a first step of a multi-step sampling process, the controller very quickly discharges the gate terminal to ground to isolate a quantity of charge on the second capacitor plate. In a subsequent step of the sampling process, the controller circuit applies a negative voltage to the gate terminal and p-well to ensure that the quantity of change is substantially preserved during the ensuing analog-to-digital conversion process.
US07961131B2
An analog to digital conversion circuit and method is presented. The analog to digital circuit (100) comprises a first capacitor (103), arranged for being switchably (102) connected on one side to an input voltage (101), at least one successive approximation circuit (104), a comparator (108) arranged for outputting a sign indicative of the difference between the voltage on the first capacitor (103) and a comparison voltage (109), and a control block (110), arranged for converting said comparator's output into steering signals and in a digital output signal. The successive approximation circuit comprises a second capacitive structure (106), switchably connected to a pre-charge circuit (107) arranged for pre-charging the second capacitive structure (106), whereby the second capacitive structure (106) is connected in parallel with the first capacitor (103) via a charge copying circuit (105). The steering signals comprise of a signal for steering (112) said charge copying circuit (105) and for steering (113) the pre-charge circuit (107).
US07961128B2
Provided is a clock generator employed in a continuous-time sigma-delta modulator. The clock generator includes an oscillator configured to generate pulses in response to an enable signal, a counter configured to count the number of pulses generated by the oscillator and output the total pulse count, and an output circuit configured to output an inactivated output signal if the pulse count of the counter is equal to a pulse-width control bit. The oscillator includes an astable multi-vibrator. Since the astable multi-vibrator capable of generating a low-jitter pulse from a jittered clock is used as the oscillator, a signal-to-noise ratio is improved. A simple configuration using only digital circuits makes it easier to design a circuit and adjust pulse width. Moreover, according to the structure of the astable multi-vibrator, it is possible to design a circuit to optimally modulate pulse width in connection with process variations of resistors and capacitors used in the continuous-time sigma-delta modulator.
US07961118B2
A method for differentiating hotkeys includes setting a plurality of hotkeys to correspond to a designated scan code and to correspond to a plurality of different identification codes, respectively, wherein the designated scan code and one identification code corresponding to each hotkey are outputted and the identification code is stored when each of the plurality of hotkeys is pressed; and determining whether a pressed key is one of the plurality of hotkeys according to whether any one of the plurality of identification codes is stored.
US07961115B2
A display system is provided that renders a horizontal situation indicator that includes required navigation performance (RNP) and estimated position uncertainty (EPU) values rendered non-numerically and in a fairly intuitive manner. A processor receives at least data representative of a desired course of the aircraft, data representative of the RNP for the aircraft, and data representative of the EPU for the aircraft. The processor renders, on a display device, a horizontal situation indicator that includes an aircraft symbol representative of a top-down view of the aircraft, an RNP boundary graphic representative of at least one RNP boundary for the aircraft, and an EPU graphic representative of the EPU for the aircraft. The aircraft symbol is rendered at a position that is representative of actual aircraft position relative to the desired course, and the RNP boundary graphic is rendered at a position relative to the rendered aircraft symbol.
US07961114B2
In a vehicular navigation system, a control circuit acquires weather information and displays (i) a map containing a present position and (ii) weather information relative to a position outside a display range of the map, among the acquired weather information.
US07961111B2
A home control protection system includes at least one surge protection strip having a plurality of power outlet receptacles, and a wall mountable central control unit that is in electrical communication with the at least one surge protection strip. The surge protection strip includes a replaceable surge protector module. The surge protection strip includes a circuit for detecting and counting the number of power surges which are shunted by the surge protector module, and compares the number of power surges with a predetermined threshold power surge number that corresponds to a predicted maximum number of power surges before failure of the surge protector module will occur.
US07961105B2
Weighted surface acoustic wave reflector gratings for coding identification tags and sensors to enable unique sensor operation and identification for a multi-sensor environment. In an embodiment, the weighted reflectors are variable while in another embodiment the reflector gratings are apodized. The weighting technique allows the designer to decrease reflectively and allows for more chips to be implemented in a device and, consequently, more coding diversity. As a result, more tags and sensors can be implemented using a given bandwidth when compared with uniform reflectors. Use of weighted reflector gratings with OFC makes various phase shifting schemes possible, such as in-phase and quadrature implementations of coded waveforms resulting in reduced device size and increased coding.
US07961100B2
A theft deterrent device includes a carrier having a pivotally mounted pin and an alarm tag for receiving the pin to secure the carrier and alarm tag together when secured on an item of merchandise by an adhesive pad on the carrier. Spaced electrical contacts within the alarm tag receive the pin therebetween to provide an electrical path between the contacts to close a first electrical circuit which turns the device on. A flexibly mounted projection on the carrier depresses a plunger switch to arm the device. The security device is configured to sound an onboard alarm in response to prying of the carrier from the alarm tag or cutting of the pin of the carrier, or if an EAS tag receives a wireless signal from a security gate. The carrier can remain on the purchased merchandise for subsequent disposal.
US07961096B2
A system for detecting electronic article surveillance marker shielding includes electronic article surveillance (“EAS”), metal detection and video analysis subsystems communicatively coupled to a system controller. The EAS subsystem detects EAS markers within a detection zone. The metal detection subsystem detects metallic objects within the detection zone. The video analysis subsystem captures a video image of the metallic object. The system controller determines a probable classification for the metallic object and calculates a confidence weight for the probable classification. If the metallic object is identified as EAS marker shielding according to the probable classification and the corresponding confidence weight, an alert is generated.
US07961090B2
A method and a system for controlling LED with power line carrier are disclosed. The system contains a host controller, an electric power conductor, and at least a luminous device, and the luminous device further containing an environmental data collection module. The method comprises the steps of providing a power line carrier module to both the host controller and the luminous devices; the luminous devices detecting a set of environmental data by the environmental data collection module; the luminous devices transmitting the set of environmental data to the host controller; the host controller recording and analyzing the set of environmental data; and the host controller sending a control signal to the luminous devices according to the analysis. Therein the control signal and the set of environmental data are transmitted by the power line carrier module through the electric power conductor.
US07961089B2
Emergency equipment stations (e.g., fire extinguisher stations, fire alarm pull stations, defibrillator stations, etc.) distributed throughout a facility monitor one or more internal or external conditions (e.g., ambient air temperature near the station, presence of an obstruction restricting access to the station, etc.) and relay information about the monitored conditions to a central station. The central station transmits information about the monitored conditions to emergency response personnel (e.g., the fire department) in the event of an actual or apparent emergency.
US07961083B2
This disclosure relates to a satellite receiver controller having a digital to analog circuit with an output having a dynamic range offset voltage, which is adjusted in synchronization with a signal pulse.
US07961080B2
A system and method for implementing automotive image capture and retrieval. An image manager receives an image from a vehicle-mounted camera. The image manager determines, based on a set of preferences, whether to store the image. In response to storing the image, the image manager associates at least one form of metadata with the image, wherein the at least one form of metadata includes global positioning system (GPS) coordinates at the time of image capture, speed of a vehicle at the time of image capture, direction of travel at the time of image capture, and user annotations. In response to receiving a query for the image, image manager presents the image to a user.
US07961076B2
Methods, systems, and media for remote control of a vehicle device and vehicle lockout notification are disclosed. Embodiments comprise a method of creating a secure bidirectional communication link between a remote access device and a central locking unit (CLU) of a vehicle, enabling the central locking unit to authenticate a user of the remote access device to manipulate a device of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the CLU may wait for an access attempt from a mobile device. In other embodiments, the CLU monitor vehicle conditions, detect a lockout condition, and alert the user before authenticating and granting vehicle access. Embodiments utilize private and shared key encryption methods to facilitate securely passing an access code between the CLU and the remote access device. Some embodiments authenticate the user by voice verification, while other embodiments may use personal identification numbers.
US07961075B2
A programmable lighting unit includes a radio interface to be remote controlled by a radio remote control. In particular, the remote control sends parameter data which is supplied to a parameter adjuster in the programmable lighting unit which programs the parameter data such that a controller of the programmable lighting unit controls a controllable lamp dependent on the parameter data. In particular, the controller is adapted to be programmed using the one or the multiple parameters such that a reaction by the controller to the control data depends on the one or the multiple parameters.
US07961068B2
A breakaway device for locking connected objects in relation to one another comprises a first magnetic field structure attached to a first object and a second magnetic field structure attached to a second object. The first magnetic field structure becoming attached to the second magnetic field structure when substantially aligned. The first structure and the second structure becoming detached when subjected to a force that overcomes a spatial force between the first magnetic field structure and the second magnetic field structure. The first magnetic field structure and the second magnetic field structure having magnetic field sources with polarities and positions in accordance with a code corresponding to a desired spatial force function.
US07961046B2
A distortion compensating amplifier including a forward circuit and a feedback circuit and performing distortion compensation of a signal in the forward circuit by use of a gain of the feedback circuit, includes a detecting unit which detects that the gain of the forward circuit is changed, a calculating unit which calculates, when the detecting unit detects that the gain of the forward circuit is changed, the gain of the feedback circuit on the basis of an input signal to the forward circuit and an output signal from the forward circuit, and a feedback gain updating unit which updates the present gain of the feedback circuit with the gain calculated by the calculating unit.
US07961044B2
An amplifier includes: a variable gain unit that adjusts an amplitude of an input signal and outputs a first signal; an amplitude limiting unit that limits an amplitude of the first signal and outputs a second signal set to have an amplitude of a first amplitude value or less; an amplifying unit that amplifies the second signal to output the amplified second signal as an output signal; and a control unit that detects when the first signal has an amplitude of a second amplitude value or more to control a gain of the variable gain unit so that the amplitude of the first signal becomes less than the second amplitude value, the second amplitude value being larger than the first amplitude value.
US07961042B2
An amplifier circuit, includes: a first amplifier; a second amplifier; a first capacitor connected to the first amplifier; a second capacitor having one terminal connected to the first amplifier, another terminal connected to the second input terminal; and a first switch circuit switching a connection of the output terminal, the another terminal of the first capacitor, the first input terminal and the second input terminal, and switching supplying a reference potential supply, the first switch circuit including: a first state connecting the first input terminal to the second input terminal, connecting the output terminal to the another terminal of the first capacitor, and supplying the second input terminal with the reference potential, a second state connecting the first input terminal to the another terminal of the first capacitor and providing the output terminal and the second input terminal in an open state.
US07961032B1
A method of recovering gain in a bipolar transistor includes: providing a bipolar transistor including an emitter, a collector, and a base disposed between junctions at the emitter and the collector; reverse biasing the junction disposed between the emitter and the base with an operational voltage and for an operational time period, so that a current gain β of the transistor is degraded; idling the transistor, and generating a repair current Ibr into the base, while forward biasing the junction disposed between the emitter and the base with a first repair voltage (VEBR), and while at least partly simultaneously reverse biasing the junction disposed between the collector and the base with a second repair voltage (VCBR), for a repair time period (TR), so that the gain is at least party recovered; wherein VEBR, VCBR and TR have the proportional relationship: TR ∝ (Δβ)2×exp [1/(Tam+Rth×le×VCER)], VCER=VBER+VCBR, and le=β×Ibr, β is the normal current gain of the transistor, Δβ is the target recovery gain of the transistor in percentage, Tam is the ambient temperature in degrees K, Ibr is the repair current to the base in μamps, Rth is the self-heating thermal resistance of the transistor in K/W, TR is in seconds. The invention further includes structures for implementing the method.
US07961030B2
The present invention discloses a timing control apparatus to control the on/off timing of the voltage sources. The timing control apparatus includes a plurality of delay circuits coupling with the voltage sources, a plurality of discharging circuits coupling with the delay circuits and a plurality of switches coupling with the discharging circuits.
US07961028B2
The present invention relates to a level converter used in a multiple supply voltage system that is required to design a low-power and high-performance semiconductor, and more particularly, to a single supply pass gate level converter (SPLC) for a multiple supply voltage system, which has low power consumption, operates at high speed, and uses only a single supply voltage. The SPLC includes an input data providing circuit unit which receives an input signal of a low supply voltage; a data inversion circuit unit which receives input data from the input data providing circuit unit and outputs inversed input data; a feedback circuit unit which is fed back by an output of the data inversion circuit unit; and a data output buffer which inverses an output of the data inversion circuit unit and outputs an inversed signal. The input data providing circuit unit, the data inversion circuit unit, the feedback circuit unit, and the data output buffer are all driven by a high supply voltage such that only a single supply voltage which is the high supply voltage is required.
US07961018B2
A delay locked loop adapted to delay an external clock signal and to output an internal clock signal, the delay locked loop including a renewal signal generator that outputs a renewal signal that is selectively activated and inactivated, a replica path that is active when the renewal signal is activated and is inactive when the renewal signal is inactivated, the replica path delaying the internal clock signal by a delay time of a normal path of a semiconductor device to output a replica internal clock signal when the renewal signal is activated, a control signal generator adapted to vary and to output a delay control signal according to a phase difference between the external and the replica internal clock signals, and a variable delay circuit adapted to delay the external clock signal by a time corresponding to the delay control signal and to output the internal clock signal.
US07961012B2
An apparatus and for preventing a glitch in a clock switching circuit includes a select signal manager and a clock gate unit. The select signal manager generates a detect change signal, provides the detect change signal as an input signal for generating a clock gate signal to the clock gate unit, and changes a muxsel signal into a select signal using the clock gate signal to select a clock intending for switching. Upon receiving the detect change signal, the clock gate unit gates a received clock, generates the clock gate signal using a level of the detect change signal as an input signal, and provides the generated clock gate signal to the select signal manager.
US07961003B2
A multi-drop bus system and a method for operating such a system. The system includes a multi-drop bus having at least one bus line, each bus line being made up of a multiple of line segments. Each of the line segments terminates at a drop point and each drop point is coupled to a load impedance. The characteristic impedance of a line segment is matched to the equivalent impedance presented by the load impedance in combination with the characteristic impedance of a following segment, or is matched to the load impedance if there is no following segment.
US07960996B2
A variable delay circuit is designed to provided a wider range of delay time to a timing signal. The variable delay circuit includes a variable delay 50 which comprises a DA converter 51 which supplies current 51 based on delay setting data; a delay element 53 which imparts a delay amount Tpd to a prescribed signal and outputs the signal; and a bias circuit 52 which is connected such that the amount of current flown in the DA converter 51 and the amount of current flown in the delay element 53 become equal. The DA converter 51 allows the relationship between the delay setting data DATA and the current Id to be hyperbolic (inversely proportional). As a result, the relationship between the delay setting data DATA and the delay amount Tpd can be linearized, whereby the delay amount obtained by a single stage of the delay element can be increased.
US07960988B2
An electrical test contactor comprises a contactor main body including a plate-shaped attachment portion extending in the up-down direction, a plate-shaped arm portion extending from the lower end portion of the attachment portion at least to one side in the right-left direction, and a plate-shaped pedestal portion projecting downward from the tip end portion of the arm portion, a contact portion projecting downward from the lower end of the pedestal portion and having the lower end of the contact portion acting as a probe tip, and a resistor having a higher resistance value than the contactor main body and the contact portion and arranged at the contactor main body so as to heighten the resistance value of the contactor.
US07960984B2
A semiconductor device having an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit and a method of testing the same may provided. The semiconductor device may include one or more stacked chips, each stacked chip may include a test circuit configured to output a test control signal and a selection control signal in response to a test enable signal, an internal circuit configured to perform an operation and output a plurality of test signals in response to the test control signal, at least one multiplexer (MUX) configured to select and output one of the plurality of test signals based on the selection control signal, at least one test pad configured to receive the selected test signal, and at least one electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit configured to discharge static electricity applied through the test pad externally.
US07960977B2
A method, device and computer program product for determining the change in insulating ability of the insulation provided between two objects of an inductively operating element, where at least one of the objects is a winding. The device includes an analyzing unit, which obtains a first frequency spectrum associated with a frequency response to a signal of varying frequency, where the signal of varying frequency can be applied to a first object of the inductively operating element and the frequency response is obtainable from a second object of the inductively operating element, compares the obtained first frequency spectrum with a second reference frequency spectrum, detects a peak in the obtained first frequency spectrum that does not appear in the second reference frequency spectrum, analyzes the shape of the detected peak, and determines the change in insulating ability based on the analyzed shape.
US07960974B1
An apparatus to aid in the testing of engine ignition systems is herein disclosed. The apparatus is connected in a series wiring path between a spark plug wire and a spark plug of an internal combustion-type engine. The apparatus comprises a housing containing a resistor and a lamp which provide illuminated indication of a current flowing through the apparatus. The apparatus allows a user to quickly determine if an ignition circuit of an engine is operating properly.
US07960959B2
An arrangement having a first converting element configured to convert an input current linearly into an auxiliary current, a second converting element configured to convert the auxiliary current into an output voltage, and a separating element configured to separate slow changes of the auxiliary current from fast changes of the auxiliary current, wherein the first, second, and separating elements are arranged as a dynamic control loop regulating the input current with the slow changes.
US07960952B2
A switching mode power supply and a switch thereof are provided. The switch includes a plurality of first transistors, and a second transistor that is turned on/off by a control signal that is equal to that of the plurality of first transistors and in which a second current corresponding to a first current flowing to the plurality of first transistors flows, wherein a ratio of the first current to the second current sequentially changes from a time point at which the second transistor is turned on. Therefore, a switching mode power supply and a switch thereof that can always uniformly sustain a maximum limit current flowing to the switch regardless of a level of an input voltage without including a special additional circuit can be provided.
US07960950B2
A method for providing non-resonant zero-current switching in a switching power converter operating in a continuous current mode. The switching power converter converts power from input power to output power. The switching power converter includes a main switch connected to a main inductor, wherein an auxiliary inductor is connectible with the main inductor. The main current flows from an input to an output. The auxiliary inductor is connected with the main inductor thereby charging the auxiliary inductor so that an auxiliary current flows from the output to the input opposing the main current. Upon a total current including a sum of the main current and the auxiliary current. substantially equals or approaches zero, the switch is turned on.
US07960948B2
An exemplary power system may include an electric machine with multiple sets of stator windings, each set of windings being coupled through a separate switch matrix to a common voltage bus, and each of which may be spatially arranged in full pitch around the stator such that stator flux harmonics are substantially reduced. The reduced stator flux harmonics may be associated with phase current harmonic content. In an example application, such power systems may operate in a generating mode to transfer mechanical energy to electrical energy on a DC voltage bus. In some illustrative embodiments, the power system may provide both high-power and high-speed (e.g., 1 MW at 8000 rpm or above) motoring and/or generating capability suitable, for example, for on-board (e.g., marine, aviation, traction) power systems.
US07960931B2
A digital controller for controlling variable speed and dynamic torque applications of an electric motor. The controller includes a state observer monitoring a torque load requirement and sending a signal based on the torque load requirement, and a digital control unit for receiving the signal from the state observer and sending an output to the electric motor. The output is a value that corresponds to a first motor operating state or a second motor operating state.
US07960926B2
A controller for an AC rotary machine, by which a stable rotation angular-frequency estimate (AFE) value can be obtained even in an extremely low speed region of the AC rotary machine is disclosed, and consequently stable control can be performed. The controller includes an AFE outputter that outputs an AFE value based on an angular-frequency calculated value including a rotation AFE value. The AFE outputter includes a lower-limit constant-value (LLCV) outputter that outputs a LLCV, a comparator that compares the angular-frequency calculated value to the LLCV, and a switcher that performs a switching operation according to the comparator. The switcher outputs the angular-frequency calculation value as the AFE value when the angular-frequency calculation value is larger than the LLCV, and outputs the LLCV as the AFE value when the angular-frequency calculation value is equal to or less than the LLCV.
US07960925B2
There is provided a method of driving an ultrasonic motor configured so that two alternating voltages having a predetermined difference between respective phases and having predetermined drive frequencies are applied to a laminated piezoelectric body that has driving parts abutting a member to be driven, whereby simultaneous excitation of vertical and bending vibrations and hence excitation of an elliptical vibration occur in the piezoelectric body, and the driving parts receiving drive force from the elliptical vibration drive the driven member. The method includes performing wear particle removal drive at a fixed frequency during regular reciprocal drive so as to intermittently interrupt the regular drive, the regular drive being such that the driving parts repeatedly reciprocally drive the driven member within a predetermined range, and the wear particle removal drive being such that the driving parts reciprocally drive the driven member within a removal drive range wider than the predetermined range.
US07960924B2
A drive mechanism for a furniture portion, in particular a drawer or a door which is mounted movably in or to a furniture item, includes a drive device which is guided movably with respect to a base and which is acted upon by a force storage means, a damping device, and a retraction device. The drive device has an ejection element for moving the furniture portion from a closed end position into an open position, and a locking element which is guided by a preferably heart-shaped guide track which is formed on the base. The damping device, the force storage means which acts on the drive device, and the refraction device are connected in series.
US07960915B2
A cement for bonding an arc tube body made of an aluminum nitride sintered body and an electrode support made of molybdenum achieves high gas tightness in the obtainable arc tube without impairing the excellent translucency of the aluminum nitride sintered body. The cement contains a molybdenum powder and an aluminum nitride powder, and the total amount of metalloid elements, rare-earth elements and metal elements (except the rare-earth elements and aluminum element) corresponding to the following conditions (1) and (2) is 300 ppm or less: (1) metal elements having a melting point of 2000° C. or lower, and (2) metal elements having an ion radius smaller than that of aluminum.
US07960897B2
An ultrasonic motor produces elliptical vibration by inducing longitudinal vibration and flexural vibration at the same time and drives a driven body by obtaining a drive power from the elliptical vibration. The ultrasonic motor includes a piezoelectric device, reinforcing members which are provided at the antinodes of the flexural vibration on the top side of the piezoelectric device, friction contact members which are provided at the antinodes of the flexural vibration on the bottom side of the piezoelectric device so as to transmit the driving force to the driven body, a holding member which is provided on the piezoelectric device and positioned and held by a case, and a pressure member which presses the holding member so that the friction contact members are brought into a pressure contact with the driven body such that the driven body can be driven by friction.
US07960895B2
A vibratory actuator includes a piezoelectric element, a driver element provided on the piezoelectric element and a movable body supported by the driver element. A control unit supplies a first voltage and a second voltage at the same frequency to the piezoelectric element. By supplying the first voltage and the second voltage having a difference phase from a phase of the first voltage by 90°, the piezoelectric element is lead to composite vibration of stretching and bending, thereby causing the driver to make an elliptical motion by the vibration and move the movable body. The control unit switches, during a fine mode, a phase difference between the first voltage and the second voltage between 90° and 0°.
US07960889B2
A first laminated body includes first and second laminated groups including respective convex parts alternately disposed. A second laminated body includes third and fourth laminated groups including respective concave parts alternately disposed. The convex part of the first laminated group is shaped to not be inserted into the concave part of the third laminated group and to be inserted into the concave part of the fourth laminated group, from a lamination horizontal direction. The convex part of the second laminated group is shaped to be inserted into the concave part of the third laminated group and the concave part of the fourth laminated group, from the lamination horizontal direction. The convex part of the first laminated group is press-inserted in the concave part of the third laminated group, and the convex part of the second laminated group is inserted in the concave part of the fourth laminated group.
US07960888B2
An electric motor comprising a rotor, a stator and a field weakening device. The rotor has a plurality of magnets mounted thereto, and the stator is located adjacent to the rotor and has a plurality of slots defined therein. The slots define raised teeth and are wound with electrical wiring to generate a magnetic field when the wiring is energized with current. The field weakening device is made from a highly magnetically permeable material and a comparatively lower magnetically permeable material. The field weakening device is disposed between the rotor and the stator and is selectively movable between a first position to align the highly magnetically permeable material between the teeth of the stator and the magnets of the rotor and a second position to align the comparatively lower magnetically permeable material between the teeth of the stator and the magnets of the rotor.
US07960885B2
A rotor includes: a rotor core formed by stacking a first sheet member and a second sheet member and having a first magnet-inserted hole and a second magnet-inserted hole located radially outward relative to the first magnet-inserted hole; magnets inserted respectively into the first and second magnet-inserted holes; and a resin portion injected into the first and second magnet-inserted holes. The first sheet member has a first hole and a second hole constituting the first and second magnet-inserted holes respectively. The second sheet member is located at at least one axial end of the rotor core and has a portion covering a part of the first hole.
US07960883B2
A motor assembly with coaxial shafts is provided which can be produced at low costs and in which a plurality of motors can be disposed with their respective rotary shafts arranged coaxially to one another with high coupling and assembling accuracy in a simple structure. Each motor includes a housing member and ball bearings to rotatably support the rotary shaft and two adjacent motors are fixedly coupled together such that the respective housing members of the adjacent motors are fitted with each other.
US07960878B2
The electric rotating machine includes a rotor, a stator having a stator core and a stator winding wound on the stator core, and a cooling liquid feeding function of applying cooling liquid to the coil end of the stator winding. The stator winding constituted by coils wound along the circumferential direction includes crossover portions each of which electrically connects the ends of two of the coils through which currents in the same phase flow, respectively. The crossover portions are arranged so as to overlap one another only partially in the circumferential direction. The cooling liquid feeding function applies the cooling liquid to at least one of the crossover portions.
US07960874B2
A cooling device of a linear motor to cool a primary side of the linear motor including an iron core and a coil accommodated in slots of the iron core, including an elongate cover covering coil end portions exposed from both side faces of the iron core in a longitudinal direction, an air channel serving as blower for forcing a current of cooling air inside the cover, and a partition plate dividing the inside of the cover into upper and lower spaces. It is configured in such a manner that the upper space divided by the partition plate is used as a ventilation portion through which a current of cooling air is forced and the lower space is used as a cooling portion in which the coil end portions are accommodated and cooled. A slit is formed almost along a full length of the partition plate on a side closer to the iron core for bringing the ventilation portion and the cooling portion into communication with each other, and a vent is provided in a lower portion of the cooling portion.
US07960871B2
A device for converting an electrical current includes at least one phase module with an AC connection and at least one DC connection. A phase module branch is provided between each DC connection and each AC connection. Each phase module branch has a series connection made of sub-modules, which in turn include an energy accumulator each and at least one power semiconductor. Measuring sensors provide actual values and there are provided control means connected to the measuring sensors. The control can be easily adapted to any arbitrary number of sub-modules in each phase module branch. The control means include a current regulating unit and control units associated with a phase module branch each, wherein the current regulating unit is configured to provide branch target values for the control units. The control units are designed to produce control signals for the sub-modules.
US07960868B1
A method of generating an electrical pulse to an output load is disclosed. The method includes the steps of establishing a first voltage on a first electrical conductor throughout an electrical length of the first electrical conductor, initiating the propagation of a voltage step at a first end of a second conductor having an electrical length that is substantially the same as the electrical length of the first electrical conductor, reversing a polarity of the voltage step and shifting the first voltage on the first electrical conductor when the voltage step reaches the second end of the second electrical conductor, and maintaining a shifted first voltage on the first electrical conductor when the voltage step on the second conductor returns to the first end of the second conductor.
US07960859B2
An automatic sensing power system automatically determines a power requirement for an electrical device, converts power to the required level, and outputs the power to the electrical device when the electrical device is connected to the automatic sensing power system.
US07960855B2
A control circuit comprises a circuit adapted to determine a state of charge of a high side power source using a sensed output current to provide a variable gain signal based on the state of charge. The control circuit may also contain a circuit configured to provide a fixed gain signal based on the current of the high side power source and a circuit configured to combine the variable gain signal and the fixed gain signal to create a power command.
US07960852B2
Fluid turbine devices and methods related to fluid turbine devices are disclosed herein. One example method includes deflecting a first portion of a fluid flow from a return path of a vertical blade assembly, while permitting a second portion of the fluid flow to enter a drive path of the vertical blade assembly. Another example method related to a fluid flow device includes orienting a shroud relative to a fluid flow to deflect a first portion of a fluid flow from a return path of a vertical blade assembly and to permit a second portion of the fluid flow to enter a drive path of the vertical blade assembly and activating a generator, based on an operating characteristic of the fluid turbine device, to regulate a rotational speed of the vertical blade assembly.
US07960848B2
The present invention provides an electric bike with capability of self-charging. The electric bike is fixedly supported by supporting legs so as to be operated in a stationary point. A user steps on a petal assembly of the electric bike to drive a wheel to rotate. The electric bike further includes a power-generating device, a controller, a battery and a damper. The controller is used to receive a power source outputted by the power-generating device and convert the power source into a plurality of DC power sources to charge the battery. The damper consumes a portion of electricity generated by the power-generating device. With the above arrangement, the electric bike can be charged by itself while the user is exercising.
US07960839B2
An interconnection line of a semiconductor device and a method of forming the same using a dual damascene process are disclosed. An example interconnection line of a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a first interconnection line formed on the substrate, an insulating layer pattern formed on the substrate to expose a portion of the first interconnection line, and a metal pad layer formed on the exposed portion of the first interconnection line. The example interconnection line also includes an intermediate insulating layer formed on the entire surface of the substrate and having a via hole and a trench exposing the metal pad layer, and a second interconnection formed in the via hole and the trench and electrically connected to the first interconnection line through the metal pad layer.
US07960838B2
An interconnect structure is described, disposed on a substrate with a conductive part thereon and including a dielectric layer, a composite plug and a conductive line. The dielectric layer is disposed on the substrate covering the conductive part. The composite plug is disposed in the dielectric layer electrically connecting with the conductive part, and includes a first plug and a second plug on the first plug, wherein the material or the critical dimension of the second plug is different from that of the first plug. The conductive line is disposed on the dielectric layer electrically connecting with the composite plug.
US07960834B2
An electronic element including an electronic element base and electrodes each of which has a first electrode having a surface composed of at least Al or an Al alloy and a second electrode composed of a metal nanoparticle sintered body and bonded to the first electrode. A bonding interface between the first electrode and the second electrode has a multilayer structure including, from the side of the first electrode to the side of the second electrode, (a) a first layer primarily composed of Al, (b) a second layer primarily composed of an Al oxide, (c) a third layer primarily composed of an alloy of Al and a constituent element of metal nanoparticles, and (d) a fourth layer primarily composed of the constituent element of the metal nanoparticles.
US07960832B2
An integrated circuit arrangement includes an electrically conductive conduction structure made from copper or a copper alloy. At a side wall of the conduction structure, there is a layer stack which includes at least three layers. Despite very thin layers in the layer stack, it is possible to achieve a high barrier action against copper diffusion combined with a high electrical conductivity, as is required for electrolytic deposition of copper using external current.
US07960824B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate which includes a functional circuit, a trunk wiring which passes through a portion near a position immediately above a center portion of the functional circuit, a power supply pad which is connected to an end of the trunk wiring and placed at a layer level which is same as a layer level where the trunk wiring is placed, and a connection wiring which connects a substantially center portion of the functional circuit and the trunk wiring.
US07960816B2
A system is provided for an integrated circuit package including a leadframe with a lead finger. A groove is in a lead finger for a conductive bonding agent and a passive device is in the groove to be held by the conductive bonding agent.
US07960812B2
Electrical devices having tunable capacitance are provided. The tunable capacitance is achieved by placing an appropriate material between substrate layers and by controllably applying a pressure to the material to compress the material or alter the shape of a well in which the material is contained, and thereby alter the capacitance of the electrical device. The composition, shape and dimension of the embedded materials determine how the capacitance of the electrical device is altered upon compression of the embedded material in response to an applied control signal. Generally, as the embedded material is compressed, the material will become more dense and the capacitance of the integrated electrical device is altered.
US07960811B2
Capacitor plates, capacitors, semiconductor devices, and methods of manufacture thereof are disclosed. In one embodiment, a capacitor plate includes at least one via and at least one conductive member coupled to the at least one via. The at least one conductive member comprises an enlarged region proximate the at least one via.
US07960808B2
A reversible fuse structure in an integrated circuit is obtained through the implementation of a fuse cell having a short thin line of phase change materials in contact with via and line structures capable of passing current through the line of phase change material (fuse cell). The current is passed through the fuse cell in order to change the material from a less resistive material to a more resistive material through heating the phase change material in the crystalline state to the melting point then quickly quenching the material into the amorphous state. The reversible programming is achieved by passing a lower current through the fuse cell to convert the high resistivity amorphous material to a lower resistivity crystalline material. Appropriate sense-circuitry is integrated to read the information stored in the fuses, wherein said sense circuitry is used to enable or disable circuitry.
US07960804B1
A latching zip-mode actuated mono wafer MEMS switch especially suited to capacitance coupled signal switching of microwave radio frequency signals is disclosed. The single wafer fabrication process used for the switch employs sacrificial layers and liquid removal of these layers in order to also provide needed permanent physical protection for an ultra fragile switch moving arm member. Latched operation of the achieved MEMS switch without use of conventional holding electrodes or magnetic fields is also achieved. Fabrication of a single MEMS switch is disclosed however large or small arrays may be achieved.
US07960802B2
A process is disclosed of forming metal replacement gates for PMOS transistors with oxygen in the metal gates such that the PMOS gates have effective work functions above 4.85. Metal work function layers in the PMOS gates are oxidized at low temperature to increase their effective work functions to the desired PMOS range. Hydrogen may also be incorporated at an interface between the metal gates and underlying gate dielectrics. Materials for the metal work function layers and processes for the low temperature oxidation are disclosed.
US07960801B2
A finFET and its method for fabrication include a gate electrode formed over a channel region of a semiconductor fin. The semiconductor fin has a crystallographic orientation and an axially specific piezoresistance coefficient. The gate electrode is formed with an intrinsic stress determined to influence, and preferably optimize, charge carrier mobility within the channel region. To that end, the intrinsic stress preferably provides induced axial stresses within the gate electrode and semiconductor fin channel region that complement the axially specific piezoresistance coefficient.
US07960795B2
Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices and techniques for the fabrication thereof are provided. In one aspect, a metal-oxide semiconductor device is provided comprising a substrate; and at least one n-channel field effect transistor (NFET) having a gate stack over the substrate. The NFET gate stack comprises an NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a first NFET gate stack silicon layer over the NFET gate stack metal gate layer; a second NFET gate stack silicon layer over a side of the first NFET gate stack silicon layer opposite the NFET gate stack metal gate layer, wherein an interface is defined between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer; and an NFET gate stack silicide region that extends through the interface between the first NFET gate stack silicon layer and the second NFET gate stack silicon layer.
US07960791B2
Disclosed is a method of forming a pair of transistors by epitaxially growing a pair of silicon fins on a silicon germanium fin on a bulk wafer. In one embodiment a gate conductor between the fins is isolated from a conductor layer on the bulk wafer so a front gate may be formed. In another embodiment a gate conductor between the fins contacts a conductor layer on the bulk wafer so a back gate may be formed. In yet another embodiment both of the previous structures are simultaneously formed on the same bulk wafer. The method allow the pairs of transistors to be formed with a variety of features (e.g., strained fins, a space between two fins that is approximately 0.5 to 3 times greater than a width of a single fin, a first dielectric layer on the inner sidewalls of each pair of fins with a different thickness and/or a different dielectric material than a second dielectric layer on the outer sidewalls of each pair of fins, etc.).
US07960788B2
A semiconductor structure includes a symmetric metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor comprising a first and a second asymmetric MOS transistor. The first asymmetric MOS transistor includes a first gate electrode, and a first source and a first drain adjacent the first gate electrode. The second asymmetric MOS transistor includes a second gate electrode, and a second source and a second drain adjacent the second gate electrode. The first gate electrode is connected to the second gate electrode, wherein only one of the first source and the first drain is connected to only one of the respective second source and the second drain.
US07960785B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device may include: a substrate that includes a high-voltage device region and a low-voltage device region defined on the substrate; a first buried impurity layer formed in at least a portion of the high-voltage device region and coupled to a first voltage; a second buried impurity layer formed in at least a portion of the low-voltage device region and coupled to a second voltage less than the first voltage; and a well formed on the second buried impurity layer in the low-voltage device region and coupled to a third voltage less than the second voltage.
US07960783B2
An edge termination structure includes a final dielectric trench containing permanent charge. The final dielectric trench is surrounded by first conductivity type semiconductor material (doped by lateral outdiffusion from the trenches), which in turn is laterally surrounded by second conductivity type semiconductor material.
US07960766B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to light sensors, that primarily respond to visible light while suppressing infrared light. Such sensors are especially useful as ambient light sensors because such sensors can be used to provide a spectral response similar to that of a human eye. Embodiments of the present invention are also directed to methods of providing such light sensors, and methods for using such light sensors.
US07960761B2
The semiconductor device having a recess channel transistor includes a device isolation structure formed in a semiconductor substrate to define an active region having a recess region at a lower part of sidewalls thereof and a recess channel region formed in the semiconductor substrate under the active region. A method for fabricating the semiconductor device includes forming a device isolation structure in a semiconductor substrate to form an active region having a recess region at a lower part of sidewalls thereof, a gate insulating film formed over the semiconductor substrate including the recess channel region, and a gate electrode formed over the gate insulating film to fill up the recess channel region.
US07960752B2
An RFID tag including a base including a resin material, an antenna pattern disposed on a surface of the base, and a reinforcement pad disposed on the surface of the base. A thermosetting adhesive is applied onto the antenna pattern and the reinforcement pad, and a circuit chip is electrically coupled to the antenna pattern via the thermosetting adhesive. The reinforcement pad is formed within a region where the circuit chip is mounted, and the circuit chip includes a first protrusion contacting the antenna pattern and a second protrusion contacting the reinforcement pad.
US07960747B2
A light emitting device is configured to prevent leakage of light but can be reduced in thickness as compared with conventional devices, and can effectively prevent degradation in luminous flux (luminous flux drop). The light emitting device can include a light emitting element, an optically transparent sealing resin having a pair of faces opposed to each other with an axis of light emitting direction of the light emitting device interposed therebetween. The sealing resin can cover the light emitting element and be mixed with a wavelength converting material. A reflective film can be provided on at least one of the pair of opposed faces of the sealing resin. The reflective film can be a white coating containing a white pigment in a concentration of 23 wt % to 54 wt % and formed to be 14 μm to 50 μm in thickness.
US07960746B2
A low resistance electrode and a compound semiconductor light emitting device including the same are provided. The low resistance electrode deposited on a p-type semiconductor layer of a compound semiconductor light emitting device including an n-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and the p-type semiconductor layer, including: a reflective electrode which is disposed on the p-type semiconductor layer and reflects light being emitted from the active layer; and an agglomeration preventing electrode which is disposed on the reflective electrode layer in order to prevent an agglomeration of the reflective electrode layer during an annealing process.
US07960739B2
An optical transmitter includes a package including a cavity formed at an upper part thereof, a light transparent member disposed on the package, and a flexible substrate including a circuit pattern formed on at least one side thereof and being placed on a back surface of the light transparent member.
US07960737B2
With a view to preventing increases in forward voltage due to a change with the lapse of time of a bipolar semiconductor device using a silicon carbide semiconductor, a buffer layer, a drift layer and other p-type and n-type semiconductor layers are formed on a growth surface, which is given by a surface of a crystal of a silicon carbide semiconductor having an off-angle θ of 8 degrees from a (000-1) carbon surface of the crystal, at a film growth rate having a film-thickness increasing rate per hour h of 10 μm/h, which is three times or more higher than conventional counterparts. The flow rate of silane and propane material gases and dopant gases is largely increased to enhance the film growth rate.
US07960719B2
The invention provides a semiconductor device where data can be written after the production and forgery caused by rewriting of data can be prevented, and which can be manufactured at a low cost using a simple structure and an inexpensive material. Further, the invention provides a semiconductor device having the aforementioned functions, where wireless communication is not blocked by the internal structure. The semiconductor device of the invention has an organic memory provided with a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells, a control circuit for controlling the organic memory, and a wire for connecting an antenna. Each of the plurality of memory cells has a transistor and a memory element. The memory element has a structure where an organic compound layer is provided between a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer. The second conductive layer is formed in a linear shape.
US07960714B2
An apparatus includes a substrate with a planar surface, a multilayer of semiconductor layers located on the planar surface, a plurality of electrodes located over the multilayer, and a dielectric layer located between the electrodes and the multilayer. The multilayer includes a 2D quantum well. A first set of the electrodes is located to substantially surround a lateral area of the 2D quantum well. A second set of the electrodes is controllable to vary a lateral width of a non-depleted channel between the substantially surrounded lateral area of the 2D quantum well and another area of the 2D quantum well. A third set of the electrodes is controllable to vary an area of a non-depleted portion of the lateral area.
US07960700B2
A network of radiation detection instruments, each having a small solid state radiation sensor module integrated into a cellular phone for providing radiation detection data and analysis directly to a user. The sensor module includes a solid-state crystal bonded to an ASIC readout providing a low cost, low power, light weight compact instrument to detect and measure radiation energies in the local ambient radiation field. In particular, the photon energy, time of event, and location of the detection instrument at the time of detection is recorded for real time transmission to a central data collection/analysis system. The collected data from the entire network of radiation detection instruments are combined by intelligent correlation/analysis algorithms which map the background radiation and detect, identify and track radiation anomalies in the region.
US07960698B2
The reflective collection-type light receiving unit of the present invention is a reflective collection-type light receiving unit having a light receiving element which receives spatial light on which an information signal is superimposed after being reflected and collected via a concave mirror. The light receiving element is arranged approximately at the center inside the concave mirror, with the light receiving plane thereof facing to the reflection plane of the concave mirror. A pair of electrode leads connected to both electrodes of the light receiving element are extended so as to be opened from the center on the front plane of the concave mirror to both sides and connected to a light receiving circuit by way of the lateral plane of the concave mirror.
US07960695B1
An e-beam or ion beam imaging and exposure system is built into the end of an AFM cantilever which images using the scanning capabilities built into the AFM. In one embodiment, a boron doped diamond cold cathode is formed into the cantilever with an associated accelerating electrode and secondary electron collection electrode. The assembly is brought within a few nanometers of the object to be imaged or exposed using the AFM. One or more gas channels built into the cantilever assembly provide a positive pressure of inert gas to prevent oxidative erosion of the cold cathode and can bleed any surface charge build up on the sample surface. After secondaries are collected the cantilever is moved to the next area to be exposed.
US07960694B2
A mass analyser (2) is provided comprising a plurality of electrodes having apertures through which ions are transmitted in use. A plurality of pseudo-potential corrugations are created along the axis of the mass ((analyser 2). The amplitude or depth of the pseudo-potential corrugations is inversely proportional to the mass to charge ratio of an ion. One or more transient DC voltages are applied to the electrodes of the mass analyser (2) in order to urge ions along the length of the mass analyser (2). The amplitude of the transient DC voltages applied to the electrodes is increased with time and ions are caused to be emitted from the mass analyser (2) in reverse order of their mass to charge ratio. Two AC or RF voltages are applied to the electrodes. The first AC or RF voltage is arranged to provide optimal pseudo-potential corrugations whilst the second AC′ or RF voltage is arranged to provide optimal radial confinement of ions within the mass analyser (2).
US07960691B2
The provision of a new method for analyzing organic molecules such as protein and endocrine disrupting chemicals with excellent sensitivity. A secondary ion mass spectrometry method using a heavy ion beam as a primary ion beam enables the detection of, for example, an organism-related material at the sub-amol level with high sensitivity. As a result, favorable imaging of an organism-related sample can be performed.
US07960687B1
Systems, methods, and devices relating to a sourceless X-ray downhole tool are provided. By way of example, such a downhole tool may include an X-ray generator, an X-ray detector, and data processing circuitry. The X-ray generator may emit some X-rays out of the downhole tool and some X-rays internally through the downhole tool. The X-ray detector may detect some of the X-rays that return to the downhole tool, as well as some of the X-rays that pass internally through the downhole tool. The data processing circuitry may gain-stabilize the X-ray detector based at least in part on the X-rays that passed internally through the downhole tool and were detected by the X-ray detector.
US07960679B2
A photo detector device configured for use with a display device, the photo detector device comprising a photosensitive transistor formed on a substrate of the display device, the photosensitive transistor being capable of detecting an optical signal and converting the optical signal into a current signal, and a converter formed on the substrate of the display device, the converter being capable of receiving the current signal on a first conductive line and converting the current signal into a voltage signal, the converter comprising a first resistive device coupled between the first conductive line and a reference voltage line, and a first capacitive device coupled in parallel with the first resistive device between the first conductive line and the reference voltage line.
US07960676B2
A digital camera includes: an image capture data creation unit; a CPU for directing the image capture data creation unit to perform image captures several times and acquire a plurality of image capture data; and an image processing device that determines whether or not a common specific image region exists in a plurality of image capture data acquired by the CPU and, in the case where it is determined that a specific image region exists, performs a pixel additive synthesis for image data of the specific image region and creates image data.
US07960673B2
A portable electric grill including an exhaust fan for indoor grilling is disclosed. The present grill is constructed to permit its supporting frame to be folded from an open position wherein the horizontally disposed grilling plates are supported by folding leg members to a closed position wherein the grilling plates are folded vertically along with the leg members for convenient portability and storage. The present grill provides heating elements associated with each grilling plate, which permits the grilling plates to be selectively energized. An air filter is disposed within the air intake of the exhaust fan utilizing filter media capable of capturing particulate matter of a size range found in cooking fumes generated by the grill. In an alternative embodiment the present grill is designed to permit operation in an either an unfolded or a folded position and also includes a detachable exhaust fan module for the user's convenience.
US07960661B2
A multifunctional rotary switch for operating an electronic device is providing having a roller with an axis of rotation. The roller has a bidirectional rotational mode of operation where the roller rotates in both a clockwise and counter clockwise direction around the axis, a translational mode of operation where the roller is moved in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation and a pushing mode of operation where the roller is moved in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
US07960651B2
The present invention relates to an installation of a wiring device configured to receive a cover plate which snaps on to a wiring device such as a switch or receptacle. With this invention, openings for threaded fasteners in the face of the cover plate are eliminated. In an embodiment, the cover plate has an opening sized to accommodate a wiring device and supports, on opposing side walls of the opening, at least one protrusion. The protrusions on the cover plate are located to detachably engage corresponding protrusions on the wiring device as the cover plate is pressed onto the wiring device.
US07960650B2
A box for connecting an output conductor from a solar panel with a feed cable has a base mountable on the solar panel and formed with a first hole for the panel-output conductor and a second hole for the feed cable, a removable cover fittable with the base in a closed position and forming in the closed position with the base a substantially closed compartment, and at least one component mounted on the cover in the compartment. The component is something that affects transmission of electricity from the solar panel into an electrical network connected to the feed cable or that affects the microclimate inside the connection box.
US07960649B2
An attachment device for electrical connection terminals to pass through a housing wall includes a terminal housing including an insulating material. The terminal housing is attachable in an opening in the housing wall. The attachment device includes an attachment insert detachably affixable in the terminal housing. The attachment insert is configured to attach the terminal housing in the opening of the housing wall.
US07960647B2
A lightning protection device having a grounded Franklin rod and a conductive device attached to the rod and defining a predetermined overall shape of a predetermined size therearound. The lightning protection device is particularly devised to limit the amount of corona discharges under the ambient ground fields associated with lightning storms while the upward leader inception requirements remain unchanged during the descent of a lightning leader. The lightning protection device has a corona inception voltage that is substantially insensitive to contamination from pollution, insects, vermin or water droplets.
US07960627B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH986372. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH986372, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH986372 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH986372.
US07960607B2
The present invention concerns a method for modifying the growth characteristics of plants by modifying expression in a plant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2×C2H2 zinc finger protein and/or modifying level and/or activity in a plant of a 2×C2H2 zinc finger protein. The invention also relates to transgenic plants having modified growth characteristics, which plants have modified expression of a nucleic acid encoding a 2×C2H2 zinc finger protein. For example yield of crop plants are improved by the methods of the present invention.
US07960601B2
A process is presented for the selective separation and recovery of large normal paraffins from a heavy kerosene boiling point fraction. The process includes passing the heavy kerosene fraction through an adsorption separation system for separating the normal paraffins from the paraffin mixture. The recovered extract and raffinate streams are mixed with a diluent made up of a lighter hydrocarbon. The subsequent diluted extract and raffinate streams are passed through first fractionation columns to separate the desorbent from the diluent and the heavier paraffins. The mixture of the diluent and heavier paraffins is passed through a second set of fractionation columns to separate the diluent and the heavier paraffins.
US07960599B2
A process for producing industrially important chemicals from renewable resources is disclosed. This “biobased” process employs readily available, renewable resources comprising fatty acids rather than exploiting fossil sources, such as coal and petroleum. In one embodiment of the process 1-octene, along with methyl-9-decenoate and butadiene, is produced from linoleic acid via an enzymemediated isomerization reaction, followed by a metathesis reaction with ethylene. Linoleic acid can be isolated from vegetable oils, such as soybean oil.
US07960595B2
Process for the manufacture of 1,2-dichloroethane starting with a hydrocarbon source according to which: a) the hydrocarbon source is subjected to cracking which produces a mixture of products containing ethylene and other constituents; b) the said mixture of products is separated into at least one fraction containing ethylene and into a heavy fraction (fraction C); c) the fraction or fractions containing ethylene are conveyed to a chlorination reactor and/or to an oxychlorination reactor, in which reactors most of the ethylene present is converted to 1,2-dichloroethane; d) the 1,2-dichloroethane obtained is separated from the streams of products derived from the chlorination and oxychlorination reactors and it is conveyed to the pyrolysis oven; and e) the fraction C is conveyed to cracking or to the oven for pyrolysis of 1,2-dichloroethane as fuel.
US07960591B2
The invention relates to a process for preparing triethylenetetramine (TETA), which comprises hydrogenating ethylenediaminediacetonitrile (EDDN) in the presence of a catalyst and a solvent.
US07960590B2
The invention relates to a process for preparing an ethylene amine mixture, which comprises the following steps: a) crude AAN which is largely free of formaldehyde cyanohydrin (largely FACH-free) is heated at a temperature of from 50 to 150° C. to give an amino nitrile mixture comprising aminoacetonitrile (AAN) and from 5 to 70% by weight of iminodiacetonitrile (DAN), b) hydrogenation of the amino nitrile mixture obtained in step a) in the presence of a catalyst. Ethylenediamine (EDA) and/or diethylenetriamine (DETA) and also, if appropriate, further ethylene amines can be isolated from the ethylene amine mixtures obtained.
US07960588B2
Sphingosine-1-phosphate analogs that are potent, and selective agonists at one or more S1P receptors, specifically the S1P1 receptor type are provided. The disclosed compounds include an optional phosphate moiety as well as compounds with hydrolysis-resistant phosphate surrogates such as phosphonates, alpha-substituted phosphonates, and phosphothionates.
US07960587B2
The present invention relates to novel compounds and compositions comprising novel oligomers and polymers, and electronic device comprising at least one layer containing the compositions. The novel oligomers and polymers can be solubilized, and can be used in solution to form electronic devices.The compounds can function as monomers, and copolymers can be formed from such monomers, such copolymers comprising, as polymerized units, a plurality of units of the compounds.
US07960581B2
Disclosed is an optimized process and apparatus for more efficiently and economically carrying out the liquid-phase oxidation of an oxidizable compound. Such liquid-phase oxidation is carried out in a bubble column reactor that provides for a highly efficient reaction at relatively low temperatures. When the oxidized compound is para-xylene and the product from the oxidation reaction is crude terephthalic acid (CTA), such CTA product can be purified and separated by more economical techniques than could be employed if the CTA were formed by a conventional high-temperature oxidation process.
US07960575B2
A process for forming an ester from 1,3-propanediol comprising providing 1,3-propanediol with at least 90% biobased carbon, contacting the 1,3-propanediol with an acid, thereby forming the ester, and recovering the ester is provided. The acid can be an organic acid. Additionally, a process for producing an ester, either or both a monoester and a diester, from biologically-produced 1,3-propanediol is provided. This process includes providing 1,3-propanediol produced biologically through fermentation and catalytic conversion of atmospheric carbon, contacting the 1,3-propanediol with an organic acid, wherein said ester is produced; and recovering the ester. In this process the 1,3-propanediol can have has at least 95% biobased carbon, or can have 100% biobased carbon.
US07960574B1
Methods of separating oil from oil-containing seeds, involving aerating an aqueous dispersion of germ particles of oil-containing seeds (e.g., corn) to produce bubbles therein, whereby the oil in the aqueous dispersion adheres preferentially to the surfaces of the bubbles and are carried by the bubbles to the upper surface of the aqueous dispersion where a foam of the bubbles is formed; separating the foam from the aqueous dispersion; and recovering the oil from the foam. The aqueous dispersion of germ particles of oil-containing seeds may be produced by mixing corn germ separated from corn kernels with an aqueous acetate buffer followed by heating, grinding, cooling, and optionally agitation; generally cellulase is added after the grinding.
US07960561B2
This invention relates to novel 2-(phenylamino)benzimidazole derivatives useful as modulators of small-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (SK channels).In other aspects the invention relates to the use of these compounds in a method for therapy and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds of the invention.
US07960559B2
The tetracycline class of antibiotics has played a major role in the treatment of infectious diseases for the past 50 years. However, the increased use of the tetracyclines in human and veterinary medicine has led to resistance among many organisms previously susceptible to tetracycline antibiotics. The recent development of a modular synthesis of tetracycline analogs through a chiral enone intermediate has allowed for the efficient synthesis of novel tetracycline analogs never prepared before. The present invention provides a more efficient route for preparing the enone intermediate.
