US07993427B2
The present invention relates to a filter composed of a multi-ply filter medium, which comprises at least one non-woven stiffening layer, at least one filtration layer, at least one covering layer and where necessary at least one non-woven microfiber layer, the non-woven stiffening layer comprising fibers of synthetic polymers and the fibers being both partially oriented and oriented fibers.
US07993424B2
An air cleaner case of an air cleaner used in an engine provides a lower casing holding a cleaner element thereon, and a cover accommodating the cleaner element therein. The lower casing includes a base on which the cleaner element is mounted, an exhaust duct extending downward from the base so that air purified by the cleaner element is conveyed to the intake side of the engine, an inlet duct extending downward from the base along the exhaust duct, and an inlet cylinder extending upward into the accommodating chamber from the base so as to be continuous with the inlet duct.
US07993421B2
An air cleaner including a front housing, a rear housing, and a filter. The filter includes a plurality of parallel folds and partitions a pre-filtering chamber and a post-filtering chamber. The air cleaner circulates air, which enters the pre-filtering chamber through an inlet port, to the post-filtering chamber to filter the air. The pre-filtering chamber includes a diffusion zone located outward from an end of the filter in a folding direction of the filter. The inlet port extends in a direction orthogonal to the folding direction of the filter along a plane parallel to the filtering surface of the filter and opens in the diffusion zone.
US07993408B2
An orthopedic prosthesis for implantation into a bone of a patient can include a shell, an augment and a securing member. The shell can be adapted to be affixed within the bone and have an outer surface adapted to receive bone ingrowth after implantation. The shell can have an inner surface adapted to engage a liner. An elongated slot can extend between the outer and inner surfaces of the shell. The augment can define a body and have a passage therethrough. The securing member can extend through the passage and the slot. The securing member can be movable between a locked position wherein the augment is precluded from relative movement with the shell and an unlocked position wherein the securing member is adapted to slidably traverse along the slot to locate the augment at a plurality of positions relative to the shell.
US07993405B2
The present invention provides methods and devices for annulus disc repair. The methods and devices are particularly suited to the repair and/or reconstruction of the spinal disc wall (annulus) after surgical invasion or pathologic rupture, with reduced failure rate as compared to conventional surgical procedures.
US07993402B2
The invention relates to dry free-flowing filler (1) for forming a support structure in a bone cavity (4a). The filler comprises a plurality of biocompatible support bodies (2) which are resistant to deformation or fracture under the physiological loads usually occurring in the bone cavity (4a). Said support bodies (2) have a size between 2 mm and 10 mm and an axis (A) and two opposite abutments (2g) spaced apart in the direction of the axis (A).
US07993399B2
A lens system is provided. The lens system includes a lens adapted to be positioned along the main optical axis of the eye and a control unit. The control unit is operable with the lens to alter the focal length of the lens based at least partly upon a condition, such that the lens alters light rays and focuses the rays on the retina of the eye.
US07993390B2
Disclosed are implantable or insertable medical devices that provide resistance to microbial growth on and in the environment of the device and resistance to microbial adhesion and biofilm formation on the device. In particular, the invention discloses implantable or insertable medical devices that comprise at least one biocompatible matrix polymer region, an antimicrobial agent for providing resistance to microbial growth and/or a microbial adhesion/biofilm synthesis inhibitor for inhibiting the attachment of microbes and the synthesis and accumulation of biofilm on the surface of the medical device. Also disclosed are methods of manufacturing such devices under conditions that substantially prevent preferential partitioning of any of said bioactive agents to a surface of the biocompatible matrix polymer and substantially prevent chemical modification of said bioactive agents.
US07993386B2
An implantable prosthesis is provided having a radially-expandable tubular body and at least one skirt extending therefrom. The skirt terminates in a peripheral edge, wherein at least portions of the peripheral edge are free and displaceable to a greater diameter of the tubular body. Thus, with the implantable prosthesis being a stent-graft used to treat an aortic aneurysm (e.g., abdominal aortic aneurysm (“AAA”)), the skirt may be used to inhibit Type I endoleaks upon its selective displacement in response to irregular aortic shaping and/or aneurysm neck expansion. The skirt may actively inhibit Type I endoleaks by forming a physical barrier against flow between the tubular body and the aortic wall. In addition, the skirt may passively inhibit endoleak formation by sufficiently restricting blood flow to allow coagulation and clot formation, which would act as a barrier against endoleakage.
US07993383B2
A stent assembly (42) adapted for endoluminal placement by endovascular deployment for the treatment of a false lumen (10) associated with a vascular dissection. The stent assembly has a number of self expanding stents (35) connected together to define an elongate substantially cylindrical lumen wall engaging surface. The stents are adapted to provided pressure on the wall of the lumen adjacent to and extending away from a rupture. A deployment device (40) for the stent assembly includes a sheath (48) and a retention and release arrangement (50) to retain the proximal end (37) of the stent graft to the deployment device. Release of the stent assembly is by withdrawal of the sheath before release of its proximal end by the use of a trigger wire (54) of the retention and release arrangement.
US07993380B2
An active compression orthopedic plate includes a first and a second end cross member, at least one center cross member, at least one longitudinal member slideably coupling the first and second end cross member and the at least one center cross member, and a compressive member configured to exert a compressive force on the first and second end cross members.
US07993378B2
A method for accessing the spine includes making an incision in the skin of a patient. The skin and tissue can be dilated, and a cannula inserted through the dilated skin and tissue. The cannula includes a distal end positioned adjacent a first working space that includes paraspinous tissue. The cannula can be repositioned through the incision to a second working space adjacent the distal end of the cannula.
US07993375B2
A dynamic stabilization device includes end caps that define a bore for receiving a corresponding bone screw therethrough. A spacer is engaged between each end cap and a cable passes through each of the components and is placed in tension to couple the spacer between the two end caps. The spacer is formed of a material that allows some flexible movement after implantation. An alternative stabilization device includes a spacer over-molded about two bushings defining the bores. According to a method of use, a stabilization device is passed along guide wires through a small incision. Once the device is in contact with the vertebrae, the bone screws are advanced along the guide wires and driven into the bone. One fastener bore may include a camming surface that causes distraction of the vertebrae as the bone screw is threaded into the vertebral bone.
US07993370B2
A flexible connection unit for use in a spinal stabilization device, comprising a longitudinal member having first and second end portions and a flexible portion located between the end portions, wherein the flexible portion comprises at least one spacer and a flexible member located in a longitudinal axial channel of the at least one spacer, wherein the flexible member comprises a biocompatible metal material and the end portions maintain the at least one spacer in a substantially fixed longitudinal axial position with respect to the flexible member.
US07993362B2
An intravascular filter having centering capabilities and a device for manipulation of the filter within a vessel. The manipulation device includes a grasping member disposed at the distal end of an elongate shaft, wherein the grasping member may be used to engage a portion of the filter.
US07993354B1
Devices and methods for minimally invasive suturing are disclosed. One suturing device for minimally invasive suturing includes a proximal section a distal end, and an intermediate region therebetween. The device includes a suture head assembly having a suturing needle with a pointed end and a second end. The suturing needle is capable of rotating about an axis approximately perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the device, wherein the pointed end of the suturing needle is positioned within the suture head assembly prior to deployment of guides that are adapted and configured to guide the needle around a circular path when advanced by a drive mechanism having a needle driver for engaging and rotating the suturing needle.
US07993351B2
An introducer system for implantation of pacemaker leads into the venous system of the human heart through the coronary sinus is comprised of a flexible, elongate, outer elongate element having a first shape or bias along a portion. The first shape on the outer element may be prebiased or may be initially straight and subsequently biased once deployed in the body chamber. A flexible, elongate, telescopic inner elongate element has a second shape or bias on its distal portion and has the first shape or bias on a more proximal portion. The inner elongate element is telescopically disposed in the outer sheath. The outer and inner elongate elements are rotatable with respect to each other, such that when the inner elongate element is distally extended from the outer sheath, there exists an angular orientation between the inner and outer sheaths which is congruent, when there is at least partial alignment between the distal portion of the outer elongate element and the more proximal portion of the inner sheath, both having the first shape or bias. This results in the rotation of the distal second shape or curve of the inner elongate element into a predetermined three dimensional location.
US07993345B2
An extractable device is used to insert a medicinal filling into a spinal disc. The device comprises a filling member and a flowable medicine. The filling member is made of a flexible and permeable wall and is provided with a holding portion and an injection port via which the flowable medicine is injected into the holding portion after the filling member is inserted into the spinal disc. The holding portion is provided with an opening which is releasably lashed by one end of one or more threads so as to make the opening leakproof. Upon completion of solidification of the flowable medicine in the holding portion of the filling member, other end of the thread is pulled to unlash the opening of the holding portion, thereby enabling the filling member to be extracted from the spinal disc so as to leave only the medicine in the spinal disc.
US07993338B2
Embodiments of the invention controlling power distribution in an ablation control apparatus or the like. In one embodiment, a power switching apparatus comprises a first switch assembly having an input end to receive a power input signal, the first switch assembly having a plurality of output channels; a second switch assembly coupled to the output channels of the first switch assembly; a plurality of power receiving members coupled to the second switch assembly; and a controller controlling the first switch assembly to selectively transmit the power input signal to the output channels one at a time in a cyclical manner according to a first switching rate. The controller controls the second switch assembly to transmit the power input signal from the output channels of the first switch assembly to one subset of the power receiving members at a time according to a second switching rate, so as to transmit the power input signal to a subset of power receiving members one power receiving member at a time within the subset of power receiving members according to the first switching rate.
US07993329B2
An ERCP catheter having a removable handle for a lithotriptor compatible basket is disclosed. The removable handle allows the catheter and handle assembly to be removed, leaving the basket in place within the duct and facilitates the use of a lithotriptor for mechanically crushing stone captured in the basket.
US07993321B2
A disposable diaper includes a diaper body and a pair of side flaps each fixed to the diaper body at a fixing part and at least a joint part. The diaper body has transversely opposite side parts, each of which has opposite first and second end parts. The fixing parts and joint parts are located at the first end parts of the disposable diaper. Each fixing part is located inwardly of the respective joint part as seen in the width direction of the diaper body. Each side flap has an inner end part fixed to the diaper body and an outer end part to which a fastener is fixed.
US07993311B2
A urine collection and disposal system and method applies subatmospheric pressure to a receptacle open to atmospheric pressure which has a urine outlet in fluid communication with a source of subatmospheric pressure. The receptacle receives urine in the receptacle from a urine donor and removes the urine from the receptacle, transporting the removed urine to a reservoir under the force of a pressure differential between atmospheric pressure at the receptacle and subatmospheric pressure at the reservoir. The reservoir urine is discharged at atmospheric pressure, for disposal, from the reservoir while maintaining the reservoir at subatmospheric pressure. A plurality of the receptacles allows simultaneously providing urine to the reservoir from more than one of the receptacles. Sanitizing fluid may be supplied intermediate the receptacle and the reservoir for transport to the reservoir under the force of the pressure differential between atmospheric and subatmospheric.
US07993270B2
A digital receive-focusing apparatus for receive-focusing ultrasound channel signals from a plurality of transducers in an ultrasound imaging system is provided. The digital receive-focusing apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises a plurality of channel modules responsive to the ultrasound channel signals for producing a receive-focused beam. Each of the plurality of channel modules comprises an analogue multiplexer for multiplexing at least two ultrasound channel signals and a signal processor for digitally processing and compensating the multiplexed signal.
US07993264B2
An endoscope adapter ring for a needleless fluid delivery system for delivering therapeutic fluids to treatment sites within a patient. The needless fluid delivery system can include an automated injector source and a needleless access device. The access device can include a delivery scope and a treatment specific applicator. The adapter ring is operably attached to the endoscope to keep the injector lumen in a known orientation for the use of a side injector.
US07993263B2
A method of displaying an image in a subject is provided. The method including: capturing an image using a capsule type medical device introduced into the subject; generating a wireless signal of the image; receiving the wireless signal of the image at the outside of the subject with an external device; and displaying the image based on the received signal, on a first display portion contained in the same housing as the external device.
US07993250B2
An exercise ball with handles facilitates an abdominal, chest and arm workout. The exercise ball is a pliable material inflated and having a pair of handles oppositely positioned on a support rod extending through the exercise ball. The exercise ball rotates relative to the handles. An incline or ramp is used with the exercise ball to create added resistance thereby increasing the effectiveness of the muscle workout. Resistance bands attach to the handles of the exercise ball on one end and a user's feet on the other end to provide added resistance.
US07993249B1
A training and swing exercise device with resilient resistance is used as a training apparatus for developing greater power and strength at impact when striking a ball. The device provides impact resistance to a golfer, baseball player's, hockey player's, field hockey player's and tennis player's swing in order to develop greater strength and power at ball impact. The striking unit which pivots provides high impact absorption.
US07993243B2
In a vehicle that includes an engine driveably connected to the vehicle wheels, an accelerator pedal, and an electric motor for transmitting power to at least some of the vehicle wheels, a method for indicating that the vehicle is operating on a grade having positive slope includes determining that displacement of the accelerator pedal is greater than a reference displacement, determining that a rate of change of the accelerator pedal displacement is greater than a reference rate of change of displacement, determining that vehicle deceleration is greater than a reference vehicle deceleration, and producing a signal representing that the vehicle is operating on a grade having positive slope.
US07993236B2
A transmission is provided having an input member, an output member, four planetary gear sets, a plurality of coupling members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes first, second and third members. The torque transmitting devices may include clutches and brakes.
US07993229B2
An object of the invention is to provide a power transmission chain capable of effectively reducing noises and a power transmission assembly using the same. In the power transmission chain including plural links each possessing through-holes and plural pins inserted through the through-holes for interconnecting the plural links, all the plural pins substantially have the same longitudinal length while the plural pins include plural types of pins which have mutually different rigidities against force acting in the pin longitudinal direction. Furthermore, a locus of contact position between the pin and a strip is defined by an involute of a circle. The pins and strips are combined to form two or more types of pairs which provide the involutes of base circles having different radii.
US07993228B2
A power transmission device includes a pulley 1 and a hub 2 having an inner hub 21, a rubber damper 22 and an outer hub 23. A hub side engagement portion 24 formed of an elastic material and arranged either one, or both, of inner peripheral surface and outer peripheral surface of the outer hub engages with a pulley side engagement portion 12, arranged at a position corresponding to the outer hub, of the pulley in concavo-convex fitting to thereby constitute a torque transmission structure between the hub and the pulley. The hub side engagement portion and the pulley side engagement portion have a concavo-convex outer shape and mesh with each other.
US07993213B1
A golf club including a club head having an upright golf ball striking face and an elongated upright cavity formed into an upper surface of the club head and being positioned in close proximity to the striking face. A separate hosel sized for close fitting insertion into the cavity has a height greater than the depth of the cavity so that the hosel extends above the cavity after mechanical securement of the hosel within the cavity for viewing prominence and interchangeability. The hosel also has a diagonally upwardly extending hole for receiving and lockably supporting a distal lower end of the club shaft, the axis of the hole selectively oriented at an acute angle rearwardly with respect to a bottom surface of the club head to establish a lie angle of the golf club.
US07993207B2
A vehicle joint assembly is provided comprising an outer race having an outer surface and an inner surface. A pair of opposed slot tracks are formed in the inner cup surface and each comprise a track top wall and two track sidewalls. A barshaft is in communication with a bipod element comprised of a body portion and two opposed peg portions. Each of the two opposed peg portions comprises two opposed curved engagement surfaces engaging one of the track sidewalls. The bipod element is positioned within the outer race such that each of the opposed peg portions resides in one of the opposed slot tracks. The bipod element is capable of being positioned in a variety of angles within the slot tracks and is capable of plunging within the slot tracks.
US07993205B2
A torque limiting coupling (5) in a drive line for driving agricultural implements has a coupling hub (7) and a coupling sleeve (8) that rotatably arranged around the coupling hub (7). The coupling hub (7) and the coupling sleeve (8) are rotatable around a rotational axis D. Drivers (12) are displaceable in the coupling hub (7), respectively, along a driver axis M that is transverse to the rotational axis D. The drivers 12 move between a torque transmitting position and a switched-off position. Recesses (14) are formed in an inner circumferential face (9) of the coupling sleeve (8). The drivers (12) engage the recesses 14 in their torque transmitting position. A setting mechanism (23) acts upon the drivers (12) with a force to urge the drivers 12 to take up their torque transmitting position. The drivers (12) have, respectively, two ratchet faces (19, 21). The recesses (14) have, respectively, two counter ratchet faces (20, 22). When the coupling (5) is switched-off in each rotational direction of the coupling hub (7) relative to the coupling sleeve (8), with a number of relative revolutions in excess of a re-switching-on number of revolutions, one ratchet face (19, 21) and a counter ratchet face (20, 22) interact such, that a displacement of the drivers (12) into the torque transmitting position is prevented.
US07993204B2
A torsional vibration damper with a primary side and a secondary side, wherein rotation of the primary side relative to the secondary side causes displacement of hydraulic fluid from at least one displacement chamber and compression of pneumatic fluid in at least one compensating chamber. A first displacement chamber assembly includes a pair of axially opposed end walls bounding each displacement chamber in both axial directions and a circumferential wall bounding it in one radial direction, and a second displacement chamber assembly bounds it in the other radial direction. At least one circumferential recess provided in one of the first and second displacement chamber assemblies is engaged by at least one projection provided on the other of the first and second displacement chamber assemblies to limit the relative rotation.
US07993198B2
Disclosed herein are apparatus, systems and methods for a gaming device operable to support a negative credit balance. For example, in some embodiments, a gaming device may be configured to: (i) determine a current credit balance, (ii) determine a wager amount, (iii) determine whether the wager amount would result in a negative balance of credits, (iv) determine if it is permissible to allow a negative balance of credits, and if so (v) adjust a current balance such that is equal to the negative balance, and (vi) display an indication of the negative credit balance.
US07993186B1
At present there's no universally adopted Handheld Portable Oyster Opener available to consumers. The Oyster Opener described herein is simple, quick and ultra-safe to operate. It's lightweight, robust, inexpensive, portable and handheld. It can be leveled in use to prevent unwanted loss of Oyster Liquor. This caulk gun style Oyster Opener can be easily carried and used by anyone regardless of their strength or dexterity. It can be used at home and passed around at outings for the safe, simple opening of oysters, large or small. Its intuitive ergonomic design and the synergistic integration of its lightweight functional elements allow a user to rapidly load, ideally position, firmly secure and effectively leverage an oyster open in a safe, regulated and controllably nuanced manner while keeping the oyster level. It allows the cutting of adductor muscles and removal of the top shell while an oyster is in the device.
US07993185B2
The present invention is a finishing plate and method of fabricating a finishing plate. The finishing plate can be fabricated to various shapes, and can be used with various surfacing machines. In a preferred mode, the present invention is a disc cutting plate which can be used with a random orbital sander, and can be used to replace traditional abrasive sheets such as sandpaper. The present invention can be used in smoothing various materials including wood, painted wood, plastic, and various metals.
US07993176B2
A submersible mooring buoy for a floating vessel comprises a compartmented hull; a plurality of non-buoyant, catenary anchor lines each connected to the hull and a spring buoy such that the hull may be submerged without sinking to the seafloor by flooding selected compartments; and, a plurality of mooring legs anchoring each spring buoy to the seafloor.
US07993170B2
A terminal (20) has a terminal main body (51) with a projection (55) to be engaged with a retainer (40). A wire barrel (21) to be crimped to a core (11) of a wire (10), an insulation barrel (23) to be crimped to an insulating coating (12) and a rubber plug barrel (24) to be crimped to a rubber plug (15) are successively arranged behind the main body (51). Bottom parts of the wire barrel (21) and the insulation barrel (23) are at low positions having substantially the same height. A front end of the wire barrel (23) is crimped flat to suppress bend-up of the core (11). The front end of the crimped wire barrel (21) is insertable to a position facing a projecting end of the retainer (40) when the terminal (20) is inserted to a proper position in a cavity (31) of a housing (30).
US07993169B1
A connector assembly for joining bare or insulated conductors includes a first member and a second member which cooperate to act as clamps. The first member has two beams connected by a body and tabs extending from the center of the body substantially parallel to the two beams. The distal end of the beams each have a receptacle for receiving a conductor. The cross-section of the first member may be Sigma- or E-shaped. The second member has two contact planes, each facing a receptacle, and has a body facing surface that complements the shape of the inner surface of the body that it engages, including a groove for receiving the tabs. The second member is guided by the tabs of the first member when moved by operation of a fastener from an unloaded position, where the second member engages the body, to a loaded position in which the second member is pushed away from the body and holds the conductors securely in place in the receptacles. This connector assembly is adaptable for hot stick applications.
US07993166B1
A modular jack (100) includes a housing (200), a number of RJ contacts (400) received in the housing (200), and a rotatable spacer (600) positioning the RJ contacts (400). The housing (200) defines a first mating cavity (24) for receiving an electrical plug (120) for establishing electrical connection therebetween. The housing (200) has a first side wall (242), a second side wall (246) opposite to the first side wall (242) and an inner wall (248) defining said first mating cavity (24). The RJ contacts (400) are fastened to the second side wall (246). Each of the RJ contacts (400) has a flexible cantilever contacting portion (42) and a free end (44). The rotatable spacer (600) has a pivot (62) fixed to the second side wall (242), and a comb portion (66) rotatable with the pivot (62) and positioning the free ends (44) of the RJ contacts (400).
US07993156B2
A contact insert for a connecting terminal of a multiplicity of mutually isolated connection elements, designed in particular for printed circuit boards, with a spring force element being mounted symmetrically, with the spring force element designed with a simple section geometry and its simple mounting together with the advantageous connection to the contact insert, results in a closed terminal cage which makes it possible to reduce the physical height of the dielectric housing to a major The connecting terminal is used as a linking element in printed circuit board connection technology for providing a reliable supply to industrial electronics and economic individual wiring on printed circuits.
US07993154B2
An electrical terminal includes a body having a first end, a second end, and a channel having an axis. The channel extends at least through the first end toward the second end, the channel configured and disposed to receive an electrical conductor. A contact gripping element intermediate the first and second ends extends into the channel at an angle from the axis. The contact gripping element is associated with the body. The contact gripping element terminates at an end having a reduced thickness. The contact gripping element is configured to exert a contact gripping contact force on the electrical conductor.
US07993138B2
An electronic device for locating the apex of a root canal within a tooth of a dental patient has a display screen on a display component to provide an image indicating when the apex of a root canal has been located. A free end of a first electrical lead is provided for placement within the root canal or in contact with an electrically conductive tool within the root canal. A free end of a second electrical lead is used to establishing a ground on a conductive portion of the dental patient such as a tissue surface within the mouth. The opposite ends of each of the leads is connected to the display component. Removeably attached to the display component is a lead carrier. The detachable lead carrier and the leads mounted thereon can be sterilized as a unit and then attached to the display component, which is bagged in a sterile barrier, for performing the apex locating procedure. The apex locator has one or more mounting structures for placing the display in a location adjacent the patients head, attached to adjacent instrumentation, or attached to the dental practitioner's hand or arm such that the display image is readily visible by the dental practitioner during the apex locating procedure.
US07993128B2
An object is to reduce the axial dimension of an injection apparatus, melt a molding material uniformly, and improve the quality of molded products. A screw (20) comprises a plasticizing portion which comprises a body portion (45a) and a flight (53) projectingly formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body portion (45a). A groove-depth setting region is defined over a predetermined section of the plasticizing portion, and in the groove-depth setting region, the ratio γ1 of a groove depth τ1 to a diameter δ1 of pellets of a molding material falls within the range of 1≦γ1≦1.5 where the groove depth τ1 is a depth of a groove (67) formed along the flight (53). In the groove (67), pellets are arranged laterally and caused to advance while rolling along the groove (67). Since the pellets do not aggregate, no solid bed is formed.
US07993119B2
A vane pump includes a motor, a rotor rotated by the motor, a first casing having a pump chamber accommodating the rotor and a first flat part in a periphery of an opening of the pump chamber, a second casing having a second flat part joined to the first flat part to gas-tightly or liquid-tightly close the opening of the pump chamber, an elastic sheet disposed between the second casing and the motor, and a screw penetrating the first casing, the second casing and the elastic sheet. The screw is configured to fasten and join the first casing, the second casing and the elastic sheet to the motor.
US07993114B2
An electric compressor includes a shaft with a forward leading groove and a reverse leading groove both engraved on its outer wall. When a motor rotates forward, the forward leading groove pumps up lubricant through a centrifugal pump thereby lubricating sliding sections of the compressor. The reverse leading groove has a lead directing opposite to that of the forward leading groove, and when the motor rotates reversely due to some reason, the reverse leading groove pumps up the lubricant through the centrifugal pump thereby lubricating the sliding sections.
US07993110B1
A gas/air compressor system used for compressing a gas/air stream of air, oxygen, oxygen-enriched air and other combustible gases and delivering a moderate-to-high temperature, moderate-to-high pressure fluid to a pipeline connected to one or more injection wells. Fuel with cooling water is injected downhole for combustion in the compressed gas/air stream to be used for in-situ-retorting of oil shale, volatile coal beds, tar sands, heavy oil and other hydrocarbon or carbonaceous deposits. A preferred embodiment of the compressor system includes a compressor housing with a male screw rotor having helical lobes received in helical grooves in a female screw rotor. The housing includes a gas/air inlet for receiving the gas/air stream therein and a series of water/mineral injectors for injecting a water/mineral slurry into the rotating screw rotors. The water/mineral slurry acts as a sealant, a lubricant and also a coolant for male and female screw rotors during the compression cycle. The slurry is non-combustible and non-reactive to combustion-supporting gases. Also, the housing includes a gas/air outlet for discharging the compressed gas/air stream into the pipeline connected to the injection wells used in the in-situ-retorting process.
US07993104B1
A turbine blade assembly with a spar and shell construction. The shell is held in place between a tip edge of the spar and an airfoil shaped groove on the platform surface. A segmented seal assembly is held within the groove between the shell bottom surface. The segmented seal has a top face slanted inward toward the spar to engage with a similar slanted surface formed on the bottom face of the shell. The seal segments fit within the groove to engage both side walls to form a tight seal interface between the shell bottom surface and the outer wall of the groove. The seal segments are forced upward against the slanted underside of the shell due to centrifugal forces from rotation. A cooling air passage to supply pressurized cooling air to the groove and the underside surface of the seal segments also can be used to force the seal segments up against the slanted underside of the shell. Forcing the seal segments up against the slanted shell underside also forces the seal segments outward from the spar to enhance the sealing interface with the wall groove to further enhance the sealing affect.
US07993103B2
A wind turbine blade assembly is provided. The assembly includes at least one wind turbine blade. The blade includes a blade root portion. The assembly also includes at least one blade root hub fitting coupled to the blade root portion. The blade root hub fitting is configured to couple to a rotatable hub.
US07993095B2
A modular split palletizer for loading layers of articles on stackable pallets. The palletizer has a frame supporting first, second, and third sections. The first section includes a layer build area and a first portion of a stacker transfer track. The second section includes a tier sheet bin, a top frame bin, and a second portion of the track. The third section includes a pallet build area and a third portion of the track. Each of the first, second, and third sections can be disassembled, moved individually and independently, and re-assembled at a new location to form the complete palletizer. Also disclosed is a method of relocating the modular split palletizer. With the palletizer at one location, the utilities connected to the palletizer are disconnected, the fasteners holding the sections together are released, and the sections are separated. The disassembled sections are moved to the new location and reassembled.
US07993090B2
Bosses extending in the boom width direction are provided in a front end part of a main boom body rotated upward, and hooks opening downward are provided in a base end part of a front boom body rotated downward. In a state that the bosses and the hooks are engaged with each other, a scooping action is performed so as to match pin holes thereof. The above hooks and the bosses are arranged so as to satisfy a condition that in a state that an angle between both boom bodies is a maximum angle at the time of work, the hooks and the bosses are moved away from each other and a distance between the hooks and the bosses is increased as the angle is reduced from the maximum angle.
US07993081B2
A device capable of causing a substrate to float by a gas can suppress the consumption of a gas. The device includes a carrying passage along which a substrate is carried. The gas spouted through the gas spouting pores causes the substrate to float and creates gas flows in the carrying gas flow grooves to propel the substrate in a carrying direction. The carrying passage is divided with respect to the carrying direction into passage sections, and the spouting of the gas through groups of the gas spouting pores assigned respectively to the passage sections is controlled to suporess the consumption of the gas.
US07993079B2
A device for reinforcing a pylon foundation against being pulled out, said foundation comprising at least one block (10) which is buried in the ground of the site of the foundation and that presents a portion (12) of greatest section in a horizontal plane, the device comprising a slab (20) buried in the ground and disposed around said block (10) between said portion (12) and the surface (T) of the ground, said slab extending beyond the vertical projection of the periphery of said portion (12). The slab (20) may be made from a mixture comprising materials extracted from the site or materials brought in from elsewhere (such as a treated gravel mix) or a mixture of both, together with at least one binder. Advantageously, the total proportion of binder in said mixture lies in the range 3% to 15% by weight. The device is used to compensate for a deficit in resistance to being pulled out presented by an existing shallow foundation for a pylon.
US07993077B2
An elongate article (100) such as a prefabricated pipeline of several kilometers length is towed through water. The article is provided along its length with buoyancy adjusting material (102) fitted closely to the article. The buoyancy adjusting material is sufficient to give the article overall a positive buoyancy so that it will not sink to the seabed, and is distributed unevenly along the length of the article so as to create regions of negative buoyancy. This causes the article to adopt a wave profile with peaks (+) and troughs (−) along its length. The article is connected at its extremities to lead and trail tugs (104, 106) for controlling movement of the article through the water. Intermediate peaks are optionally coupled to intermediate tugs (108) or buoys (702) via self-adjusting ballast chains (110). The wave profile allows the towed structure to extend without undue tension on the article itself. The article can be laid to the seabed progressively removing buoyancy elements (102) using an ROV (302).
US07993069B2
A double ball joint device comprises a housing, a first joint element having a first ball mounted in the housing, and a first shaft attached to a portion of the first ball protruding through an opening in the housing, and a second joint element having a second ball, which is mounted similar to the first ball and is provided with a corresponding second shaft. A locking washer is arranged between the first and second balls and has a first seat for receiving the first ball, and an opposite second seat for receiving the second ball. An operation member is operable between a released state, where the joint elements are pivotable, and a locked state, where it urges the locking washer to clamp lock the joint elements in a current position. When moving the operation member to the locked state it urges the washer to an off-centre position.
US07993067B2
The fluid-dispensing power toothbrush includes a selected toothbrush architecture, generally, a handle portion, a head portion which is removable from the handle portion and a fluid-dispensing system which is removable with the head portion. The fluid-dispensing portion includes a pump and a fluid reservoir, with the reservoir being removable from the pump. The entire reservoir extends down along an exterior surface of the handle, below the lower edge of the head portion. A cover member overlies and mates with the handle, covering the reservoir when the cover member is in a closed position.
US07993065B2
A printer is disclosed having a media unit which can move relative to a printing unit. Until now, difficulties in aligning the media unit in the printer always resulted in a poor printing quality. To rectify this, the disclosed printer provides that the printing unit is designed so that it can move inside the housing, and elements are provided for aligning the printing unit with the media unit so that the printing unit and the media unit can be aligned with one another when the media unit is pushed in the direction of insertion. A resilient element enables the printing unit to be advantageously tensioned, in a manner that equalizes tolerances, against the support of the media unit in an operating position. This enables an advantageous equalization of work tolerances and positional tolerances, and the position of the print head relative to the medium to be printed.
US07993056B2
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes: an ultrasonic probe in which a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor are located posterior to an oscillator; and a surface temperature calculation device for calculating a surface temperature of the ultrasonic probe on the basis of a first detection temperature Ta detected by the first temperature sensor and a second detection temperature Tb detected by the second temperature sensor. Also, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes: an ultrasonic probe in which a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor are embedded in a backing material; and a surface temperature calculation device for calculating a surface temperature Ts of the ultrasonic probe on the basis of a first detection temperature Ta detected by the first temperature sensor and a second detection temperature Tb detected by the second temperature sensor.
US07993052B2
An agitation method for mixing a solution and a solvent to precipitate a solid substance from the solution. The method includes preparing an agitation mixer including an agitation vessel, an impeller rotated in the agitation vessel, and a feed pipe connected to the agitation vessel and having a multiple pipe structure including an outer pipe and an inner pipe arranged in the outer pipe. A shearing clearance is formed in the agitation vessel between the impeller and the feed pipe. The method further includes shearing the solution and the solvent by rotating the impeller to precipitate the solid substance while feeding the solution and the solvent into the shearing clearance from the outer pipe and the inner pipe.
US07993051B2
An apparatus is provided for suction of a secondary fluid into a primary fluid through one or multiple gaps in contact with a venturi. The venturi imparts a high velocity on the primary fluid to flow across a gap in contact with the venturi and draw in the secondary fluid. The apparatus employs a linear venturi with the flow area, or opening, in the form of a narrow ring or narrow rectangle to increase the length of the gap in contact with the venturi. One gap is provided and positioned in contact with one side of the narrow venturi opening, or two gaps are provided having one positioned in contact each side of the narrow venturi opening. The linear venturi is housed in assemblies referred to as “eductors.” Various eductor embodiments are provided including: 1), cylindrical housings with one or multiple concentric linear venturi with openings in the form of narrow rings; 2), rectangular housings with a single rectangular linear venturi with an opening in the form of a narrow rectangle, with multiple rectangular linear venturi with inlets positioned around a primary fluid inlet to flow radially outward through the multiple venturi, with multiple rectangular linear venturi with outlets positioned around a mixing chamber to cause circulation of the flow of fluids; 3), a cylindrical housing with linear venturi with an opening in the form of a narrow ring adapted for inserting into piping; and 4), cylindrical housings with linear venturi with an opening in the form of a wide ring adapted for installation in piping.
US07993050B2
A two-stage mixing system, apparatus, and method produces a solution including a first substance and a second substance in a predetermined ratio by first mixing the first substance with a first liquid to produce a first solution and then mixing the first solution with the second substance to produce a second solution. Multiple batches of second solution may be produced from a single batch of first solution. Multiple batches of second solution may be produced in parallel.
US07993045B2
A vehicular headlamp is provided. The vehicular headlamp includes a headlamp which emits light; an indication lamp comprising semiconductor light-emitting elements as light sources; and an electric circuit which supplies a current to the indication lamp. The indication lamp is divided into at least two light source sections comprising respective sets of light sources, and at least one of the light source sections is disposed in a high-temperature region whose temperature is made higher than in a remainder of the light source sections while the headlamp unit is lit. The electric circuit controls the light source sections individually so that a current supplied to the light source section disposed in the high-temperature region is made smaller than a current supplied to the remainder of the light source sections.
US07993044B2
A vehicle lighting apparatus includes a discharge bulb fixed to a reflector and a connector coupled to the plug of the discharge bulb and designed to feed power to the discharge bulb. The reflector includes a conductive film on the periphery of a bulb fitting opening for fitting the plug of the discharge bulb. The connector includes a metallic cover covering its periphery. On the conductive film of the reflector is arranged an elastic contact member composed of a conductive material for electrically connecting to the metallic cover of the connector. The elastic contact member includes a bulb pressing piece for pressing and biasing the plug of the discharge bulb toward the opposing inner peripheral wall of the bulb fitting opening.
US07993041B2
A track and roller system for guiding and supporting a sliding tarpaulin for covering a flat-bed trailer and for supporting at least one light means. The track and roller system comprises a track for supporting for a plurality of rollers and a mounting bar. The rollers are connected to base portions of sliding supports for the tarpaulin. The track has at least one interlocking element. The mounting bar supports the at least one light means below the track. The mounting bar has an outwardly facing supporting portion for supporting the at least one light means and an interlocking portion connected to the supporting portion. The interlocking portion has at least one interlocking element for interlocking with the at least one interlocking element of the track.
US07993034B2
A recessed light fixture includes an LED light source and a reflector extending 360 degrees around a center line of light output from the light source. A cross-sectional geometry of the reflector includes a bell-shaped curve with two radii of curvature that join together at an inflection point. One of the radii defines a top portion of the curve, which is disposed above the inflection point and reflects light in a concentrated manner to achieve desired light at higher angles. The other radii defines a bottom portion of the curve, which is disposed below the inflection point and is more diverging than the top portion.
US07993030B2
A lighting system comprises a housing suitable for mounting to a structural unit. The housing includes a plurality of enclosure panels. At least two light-bearing members are moveable relative to the housing and are pivotally coupled one to another. A pair of actuators are moveable in opposing directions, one of the light-bearing members being coupled to one of the actuators and an other of the light-bearing members being coupled to an other of the actuators. Movement of the actuators relative to one another results in pivotal movement of the light-bearing members relative to one another, causing an end of each light-bearing member to move further from or closer to the housing.
US07993029B2
A backlight module includes a light guide plate and a flexible, looped strip. The light guide plate includes a light emitting surface for emitting light outwardly therefrom. The strip loop includes a brightness enhancement portion and a light-pervious base portion connected end to end. The strip loop is rotatable relative to the light guide plate such that the brightness enhancement portion and the light-pervious base portion can be selectively aligned with and face towards the light emitting surface. The light guide plate is positioned between the brightness enhancement portion and the light-pervious base portion.
US07993027B2
A theatre lighting apparatus comprising a base, a communications port, a processor, a memory, and a lamp housing is disclosed. The lamp housing may include a lamp, a reflector, an output lens, a motor, and a homogenizing lens. The homogenizing lens may be comprised of a plurality of radially arranged lenticular lenses. The processor may be programmed to enable a motor to vary a position of the homogenizing lens in relation to a position of the output lens. The homogenizing lens may be comprised of a first half and a second half, each of which may have a plurality of radially arranged lenticular lenses.
US07993010B2
A protector is provided which can prevent the leakage of light from a light source lamp to the outside of the projector and which can discharge air that has cooled a light source unit to the outside of the projector with a small ventilation resistance. A light source compartment storing a light source unit according to the invention includes a light source storing section which is defined by partitioning walls which surround the light source unit, an air inlet port which is provided in part of the partitioning walls to let in air discharged from a cooling fan and a rotatable light shielding member having a plurality of vane portions on a rotational shaft thereof which is provided in an air outlet port formed in part of the partitioning walls to let out air.
US07993008B2
An optical element is used for an exposure apparatus which is configured to illuminate a mask with an exposure light beam for transferring a pattern on the mask onto a substrate through a projection optical system and to interpose a given liquid in a space between a surface of the substrate and the projection optical system. The optical element includes a first anti-dissolution member provided on a surface of a transmissive optical element on the substrate's side of the projection optical system.
US07993005B2
An image display device including a plurality of laser light sources arranged to produce angularly offset beams of light, and scanning optics configured to raster scan the angularly offset beams of light simultaneously across separate parallel lines of pixels of a display surface to form an image, wherein each beam of light scans substantially the entire display surface.
US07993000B2
Imaging an eye of an animal can include injecting a ring of light through an outer portion of an entrance pupil of the eye of the animal onto a back interior portion of the eye. Light reflected off of the back interior portion of the eye and through an exit pupil effectively located at the entrance pupil within the ring of light can be collected. A diameter of the exit pupil at the entrance pupil can be less than an inner diameter of the ring of light, and a difference between an outer diameter of the ring and the inner diameter of the ring can be at least twenty percent of a diameter of the eye. The collected light reflected off of the back interior portion of the eye can be focused to thereby form an image of the back interior portion of the eye.
US07992994B2
A hot melt adhesive is applied to a side of a fibrous sheet 1 (e.g., nonwoven fabric) with an applicator 2 to form an adhesive layer 3. Ink drops are ejected from an inkjet head 5 onto either (1) the adhesive layer 3 on that side of the fibrous sheet or (2) the opposite side of the fibrous sheet within the area corresponding to the adhesive layer 3.
US07992992B2
A transport amount correcting method, including; (A) storing in a memory, in regard to a medium of a predetermined size, correction values associated with relative positions of the medium and a head; and (B) when carrying out recording on the medium of the predetermined size, transporting the medium while correcting a target transport amount using a correction value associated with a relative position of the medium and the head, and when carrying out recording on a medium larger than the predetermined size, transporting the medium while correcting the target transport amount by using a portion of the correction values a plurality of times, the portion of the correction values being a portion of the correction values among the correction values used when the medium of the predetermined size is being transported by both an upstream side roller and a downstream side roller.
US07992990B2
The invention provides a recording apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer body; a supplying unit supplying a curable solution containing a resin that is curable by external stimulation on the intermediate transfer body; an ejecting unit containing a recording material onto a layer to be cured formed by the curable solution supplied on the intermediate transfer body; a transferring unit transferring the layer to be cured on which the ink has been ejected to a recording medium from the intermediate transfer body; and a stimulation supplying unit supplying stimulation that cures the layer to be cured that has been transferred onto the recording medium.
US07992989B2
An ink jet recording method comprising: applying an undercoating liquid containing an oligomer onto a recording medium; partially curing the undercoating liquid that has been applied onto the recording medium; and recording an image by ejecting an ink that is curable by irradiation of actinic energy onto the partially cured undercoating liquid. According to the invention, an image having excellent uniformity can be recorded on various types of recording media, irrespective of the type thereof, ink bleeding and unevenness in line width or color due to coalescence of ink droplets can be effectively suppressed, and an image with high density and a uniform dot diameter can be recorded when the image has low dot density such as low image resolution or image density.
US07992983B2
A liquid container is provided with an atmospheric air communicating port communicated with atmospheric air in an upper portion thereof, and a liquid supply port for supplying ink contained in the liquid container to a recording head in a lower portion thereof. A negative pressure producing member for retaining ink and imparting a negative pressure to the recording head is contained in the liquid container. On an upper wall in the liquid container on which the atmospheric air communicating port is provided, a plurality of ribs are integrally formed to protrude to the inside of the liquid container. A space portion is formed between the upper wall of the liquid container on which the ribs are disposed and an upper surface of the negative pressure producing member. A capillary channel for generating a capillary force is provided on the upper wall and side walls of the liquid container which form the space portion.
US07992965B2
An ink jet printhead for use in ink jet printing includes a substrate and a nozzle plate. The substrate has an oblong recessed region forming a ceiling and interior side walls of a bubble chamber. The oblong recessed region has a length dimension that is greater than its width dimension. The oblong recessed region has a first end spaced apart from a second end in the length dimension. The substrate has an ink inlet channel passing through the ceiling to form an ink inlet port near the first end of the oblong recessed region. The nozzle plate is attached to the substrate to form a floor of the bubble chamber. The nozzle plate has an ink jet nozzle passing through the nozzle plate. The ink jet nozzle is positioned in fluid communication with the bubble chamber at a location near the second end of the recessed region.
US07992963B2
A modular printhead includes an elongate extrusion defining internal passages for carrying air, ink and fixative. The extrusion further defines repeated patterns of holes along its length with each pattern having holes in fluid communication with respective passages. A plurality of printhead modules is serially engaged along the extrusion with respective patterns of holes. Each printhead module defines inlets aligned in fluid communication with respective holes and internal chambers in fluid communication with respective inlets. Each printhead module includes an ink ejection integrated circuit (IC) which is fed the air, ink and fixative from the internal chambers.
US07992960B2
One or more preventative maintenance mode parameters for an inkjet-printing device having an inkjet-printing mechanism are determined based on a water loss rate of water from ink within the device and/or on an air gain rate of air into the ink within the device. As such, periodic performance of a non-user-initiated preventative maintenance mode based on the preventative maintenance mode parameters results in the ink within the inkjet-printing mechanism being sufficiently fresh so as not to affect quality of image formation by the inkjet-printing device. Therefore, the non-user-initiated preventative maintenance mode for the inkjet-printing device is periodically performed based on the preventative maintenance mode parameters to eject at least some of the ink from, and to refill fresh ink into, the inkjet-printing mechanism.
US07992955B2
A liquid discharging device is provided. The liquid discharging device includes a sub coolant tank that is held by a carriage and stores a coolant for cooling a discharge head; and a coolant replacement portion that includes a main coolant tank which can communicate with the sub coolant tank, and replaces the coolant in the sub coolant tank with a coolant in the main coolant tank when the main coolant tank communicates with the sub coolant tank. The sub coolant tank does not communicate with the main coolant tank when the carriage is disposed at a liquid discharge position, and the sub coolant tank communicates with the main coolant tank when the carriage is disposed at a liquid refill position.
US07992952B2
Methods and apparatus for improving modularity in a micro-fluid ejection device and for providing instruction data to a plurality of data handling devices within a micro-fluid ejection device. The method includes generating device data and appending an address to the device data to generate instruction data. The address typically indicates at least one data handling device within the micro-fluid ejection device for which the device data is intended. The instruction data is provided to a plurality of data handling devices including at least one data controller. The data controller is operated to decode the address from the instruction data and select at least one data handling device to receive the device data based upon the decoded address. The device data is thereby input into each selected data handling device and subsequently used to operate the micro-fluid ejection device.
US07992940B2
An actuating device for a fixing rod (7) that is to be displaced in a longitudinal direction and can be rotated to release a latching connection (9, 10) comprises a coupling slide (4) which can be displaced in a bearing sleeve (2) and which, via a coupling arm (5) fitted pivotably to the bearing sleeve (2), drives a coupling head (6) that is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the fixing rod (7). The fixing rod (7) can thus be rotated by actuating the coupling slide (4).
US07992933B2
A seat back for a vehicle seat is provided. The seat back has a frame, a head restraint, and an active head restraint system. The frame provides structure for the seat back and is adapted to be mounted within a vehicle. The frame has a back support portion to support a back of an occupant, and a head restraint portion to support a head of an occupant. In one embodiment, the head restraint is supported by the head restraint portion of the frame and is moveable relative to the frame to an extended position to provide support to the head of the occupant during an impact condition. The active head restraint system is operatively connected to the head restraint for moving the head restraint to the extended position when the active head restraint system is activated.
US07992920B2
An energy absorbing vehicle door having a door block strategically located within the door is disclosed. The door block has an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion is wider than the lower portion and is attached to the inner panel of the door. A door beam is provided between the inner panel of the door and the outer panel. A portion of the door beam is positioned between the inner panel and the lower portion of the door block. The door beam may be attached to the lower portion of the door block. The attachment surface of the lower portion of the door block may have a geometry that is the same as or is substantially the same as the geometry of the door beam.
US07992915B2
A vehicle interior assembly that includes a first component and a second component fixedly installed within the vehicle interior assembly at spaced apart locations. A trim panel is fixedly attached to the first component in a fixed positional orientation relative to the first component and is attached to the second component in a predetermined range of orientations in order to compensate for minor alignment variations resulting from the manufacturing and assembly tolerances of the first and second components.
US07992912B2
A loading base for load spaces in motor vehicles includes two loading base segments arranged one behind the other in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis. A first loading base segment adjacent to the back seats is connected to a rail system, which may be pivoted about a pivot axis aligned in the direction of the transverse axis of the motor vehicle with a lifting device arranged in the region of a rear loading edge, and adjusts the first loading base segment in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis in a translatory manner, so that irrespective of the height of the loading edge easy loading and unloading of loads is possible. The rail system and the lifting device are configured in the manner of a longitudinal seat adjustment device and seat height adjustment device of a motor vehicle seat.
US07992909B2
A single joint elevator for releasably securing a tubular segment for hoisting the tubular segment into position to be threadably coupled to a pipe string suspended in a borehole. The elevator comprises two pivotally coupled jaw retainers securing jaws for engaging and gripping the tubular segment. A powered door is pivotally coupled to a first jaw retainer for selectively securing the second jaw retainer. The powered door includes a pivotable collar, a linear actuator assembly, and a linkage mechanism for selectively closing the door and clamping the distal end of the second jaw retainer to the distal end of the first jaw retainer. The actuator assembly clamps the jaw retainers with sufficient force for the jaws to grip and support the tubular segment for lifting.
US07992904B2
HVAC ductwork should be sealed along its joints in order to reduce air leakage. The ductwork can be sealed by the combination of a gasket and mechanical locking mechanism.
US07992898B2
An airbag device comprising an airbag made of a woven fabric which is fastened to a vehicle structure, in particular above a vehicle occupant, and which can be filled with gas by means of a gas generator and in the filled state extends in front of the vehicle occupant is characterized in that a cutout is provided in the head impact region of the airbag fabric which the head of the vehicle occupant can penetrate, and this cutout is closed by a cover that is decoupled from tensile stress in the airbag fabric.
US07992888B2
A binding comprising a baseplate that is adapted to attach to a gliding board such as a snowboard, the gliding board having lateral and medial sidewalls and a heel loop, and a pivotably highback pivotably mounted to the baseplate. The heel loop includes at least one forwardly disposed tooth, and the highback includes a plurality of rearwardly disposed teeth. The maximum forward lean angle is established by the engagement of the heel loop and highback teeth. In one embodiment the highback adjustably attaches to the baseplate with hardware extending through arcuate slots, such that the maximum forward lean angle is determined by the position of the hardware in the slots.
US07992882B2
An apparatus for releasably mounting an infant carrier to a wagon includes a first member having a lower portion with a substantially U-shaped cross-section and configured to detachably engage a top portion of an end wall of said wagon, and at least one crossbar fixedly attached to an upper portion of the first member. A second member is detachably affixed in a transverse fashion between two side walls of said wagon. A distance between the first member and the second member is adjustable to suit the locking assembly arranged on the infant carrier and/or on the first and second members in order to releasably mount the infant carrier on the wagon.
US07992879B2
A reusable packaging system includes a series of four bags, each designed to be reusable and capable of standing upright when in an open state. The bags are constructed so that they will fit in an open state within a shopping cart, and differ progressively in size so that they can be nested inside of each other for storage. The nested bags are then folded to form a compact, single package which can be easily transported by a user to a store for shopping.
US07992870B2
A sheet conveying apparatus comprising a pair of rollers configured to pinch a sheet to be conveyed, a driving source, a roller mechanism configured to change a clearance between the pair of rollers with a force generated by the driving source, and a manual mechanism including an operation member which a user manually moves and a transmission mechanism configured to transmit a manual force from the operation member to the roller mechanism to change the clearance between the pair of rollers, wherein the transmission mechanism is configured to cut off transmission of the force generated by the driving source to the operation member when the manual mechanism is in a default state.
US07992863B2
A media sheet deformer provides an adjustable amount of media sheet deformation. The media sheet deformer nonpermanently deforms a media sheet in a printer to increase the beam strength of the media sheet temporarily. The device includes a deformer, a support member, and a positioning member. The deformer is positioned in a media path within a printer. The deformer is configured to deform a media sheet temporarily with an amount of media sheet deformation. The amount of media sheet deformation causes the media sheet to exhibit an arched profile that increases the beam strength of the media sheet. The support member is coupled to the deformer. The support member is movably coupled to a printer frame. The positioning member is coupled to the support member. The positioning member is configured to assert a force on the support member and alter the amount of media sheet deformation.
US07992860B2
A sheet feeding device includes a first roller that draws a recording medium at a first position and feeds the recording medium; a friction pad that comes into contact with the first roller with a predetermined contact pressure at a second position that is close to and downstream of the first position in a conveying direction of the recording medium and nips the recording medium with the first roller to convey the recording medium in the conveying direction; and a second roller that comes into contact with the first roller at a third position that is close to and downstream of the second position in the conveying direction and nips the recording medium with the first roller.
US07992855B2
The recording medium post-processing apparatus is provided with: a recording-medium collecting member that collects plural recording mediums transported from outside as a recording-medium bundle; a stitching unit that stitches the recording mediums having: a supporting portion which supports the recording-medium bundle transported from the recording-medium collecting member; and a stapler portion which pushes a stitching needle into the supported recording-medium bundle; and a recording-medium bundle stacking member that is arranged below the stitching unit and stacks the recording-medium bundle stitched by the stitching unit in a vertical direction. The supporting portion and the stapler portion of the stitching unit are moved outside a position at one edge portion of the recording-medium bundle when the recording-medium bundle is not stitched.
US07992845B1
A counter current supersaturation oxygenation system preferably includes a down flow tube, an upflow tube and a gas diffuser. The gas diffuser preferably includes a porous tube and a support frame. The porous tube is preferably wrapped in a spiral from a bottom of the support frame to a top of the support frame. A non-porous gas supply hose is connected to the porous tube. The gas diffuser is suspended inside the down flow tube at substantially a bottom thereof. One end of the upflow tube is connected to substantially a bottom of the down flow tube. A second embodiment of the counter current supersaturation oxygenation system preferably includes a down flow tube, the gas diffuser and a buoyant platform. A stream of liquid becomes oxygenated by passing down the down flow tube. The oxygenated liquid may flow up the upflow tube or down to any appropriate destination.
US07992844B2
An improved venturi apparatus for the incorporation of air into a liquid. The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a funnel section, a cylindrical section, and a frusto-conical section. Lateral tubes extend from the cylindrical section so as to form an acute angle relative to the central axis of the cylindrical section, thereby preventing leakage of liquid out through the lateral tubes during use and subsequent handling.
US07992839B2
A solenoid operated valve has a valve body with a plurality of ports and a spool slideable within the valve body to interconnect the ports in different combinations. An actuator includes a solenoid coil assembly and an armature slideably received in the solenoid coil assembly. A bushing has a cylindrical body from which a push member projects into engagement with the spool and from which a coupling shaft extends into an aperture in the armature. A passage is provided in the bushing to allow fluid to flow between opposites sides as the bushing slides in the solenoid coil assembly. The cylindrical body rides in the solenoid coil assembly and has a plurality of external grooves that enable fluid to pass around the body.
US07992838B2
The invention relates to a ball poppet valve, in particular an electromagnetically actuated ball poppet valve, having a valve body, an accommodating aperture disposed in the valve body for a ball poppet, and a valve bore also disposed in the valve body, a ball poppet for closing the valve bore and a control stem acting on the ball poppet. The accommodating aperture of the valve body, starting from a cylindrical wall part of constant diameter in which the ball poppet sits, widens at an end opposite the control stem in at least approximately a funnel shape.
US07992834B2
In a vehicle seat sliding apparatus including first and second rails, one of which is movable relative to the other within a range restricted by engagement between raised tabs of the first and second rails, a cover member is provided at an end of the upper rail. The cover extends into the upper rail along its lengthwise direction to reach a portion at which the raised tab of the upper rail. The cover is provided with an extension extending to the raised tab of the upper rail.
US07992833B1
An adjustable hanger device includes an adjustable mounting bracket that may be sized for mounting the hanger to support members of various dimensions. The hanger device has a composite structure including both metallic and polymeric components. The mounting bracket is formed of primarily metallic components to provide adequate hang strength, and a thin profile for use in so-called over-the-door hanger devices supported on the top edge of a door below the lintel or frame member when the door is in the closed position.
US07992828B2
A rail switch for a conveyor assembly is provided. The rail switch includes a switch mounting for mounting rail sections. The rail switch includes a first rail section having a first end, a second end, a first face and a second face, as well as a receptor portion for receiving a first gate, an aperture located between the first end and second end through which a first connecting portion of the switch mounting is inserted, and a first weld mounting on the first face and a second weld mounting on the second face of the first rail section securing the first rail section and switch mounting together. The rail switch also includes a second rail section having a first end, a second end, a first face and a second face, as well as a receptor portion for receiving a second gate, an aperture located between the first end and second end through which a second connecting portion of the switch mounting is inserted, and a first weld mounting on the first face and a second weld mounting on the second face of the second rail section securing the second rail section and switch mounting together. A gate operating mechanism operatively connects the first gate and second gate to selectively open and close the first gate and second gate. Rail sections for use in a rail switching system and a method of assembling a rail switch are also provided.
US07992826B2
A method of reducing drag of a leading edge device having first and second flow surfaces includes coupling the first flow surface to an airfoil and coupling the second flow surface to the first flow surface. The leading edge device may be moved between a retracted position and an extended position. The second flow surface may be positioned generally behind the first flow surface during at least a portion of the movement of the leading edge device between the retracted and extended positions.
US07992823B2
A leading edge structure for use in an aerospace vehicle includes a body having a flowpath surface which defines a leading edge adapted to face an air flow during operation; and a metallic icephobic plating comprising nickel applied to at least a portion of the flowpath surface.
US07992818B2
A method is described for obtaining a coreless roll (R) of web material with a first portion of web material forming an inner nucleus (R1) of said roll and a second portion of web material (R2) wound around the outside of said nucleus. The two portions (R1, R2) can be separated from one another and, for said purpose, an interface or discontinuity is created in at least one turn of the web material forming the roll, between said inner nucleus and said second portion of web material, so as to facilitate the extraction of the inner nucleus from the outer portion of the roll.
US07992811B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a process for manufacturing at least one particulate material is disclosed, the process including the following consecutive steps of: a) introducing into a vibrating grinder at least two powders each comprising UO2, provided by two different synthesis routes and of close specific surface area; b) shaking the powders into the grinder so as to form a particulate material, the grinding intensity being sufficient to break up the agglomerates and the aggregates in the powders without at the same time breaking up the crystallites in the powders, and the grinding energy being such that all of the agglomerates and aggregates are destroyed. One embodiment of the present invention also concerns a particulate material obtained by this process.
US07992810B2
The invention relates to a fuel injector having a coupler. The reciprocating movement of an actuator is transmitted by the coupler to a pin-shaped injection valve member which is guided into the nozzle body. The coupler has a valve piston and a coupler sleeve, and the valve piston is displaced in the inner diameter area of the coupler sleeve. The inner diameter of the coupler sleeve is greater than the outer diameter of the injection valve member. The difference between the inner diameter of the coupler housing and the outer diameter of the injection valve member is 0.2 mm or less.
US07992809B1
Provided is a manual air-actuated spray paint apparatus and associated method for evenly disbursing paint in a controlled manner. Such an apparatus preferably includes a portable reservoir for holding the paint therein and a hand-actuated paint applicator removably coupled thereto. A mechanism for simultaneously discharging a single stream of paint and a volume of air may also be included. A discharge spout is removably mated to and in fluid communication with the paint applicator for mixing the single paint stream and the volume of air as they pass through the spout. A trigger is pivotally mated to the housing and is articulated between tensioned and released positions to activate the paint discharging mechanism. When the trigger is engaged, the paint is directed upwardly out of the reservoir and travels out the discharge spout to be applied to the surface intended to receive the paint.
US07992808B2
In accordance with certain embodiments, a system includes a spray device having a liquid pathway leading to a liquid exit, an air pathway leading to an air exit directed toward a spray region downstream of the liquid exit, and an assembly disposed in the liquid pathway adjacent the liquid exit. The assembly includes a threadless pintle generally fit into a sleeve in a concentric manner without threads. The assembly also includes a generally annular passage between the threadless pintle and the sleeve and a passage coupled with the generally annular passage. The generally annular passage also has a cross-sectional area that alternatingly increases and decreases in a lengthwise direction along the liquid pathway.
US07992803B2
The present invention relates generally to a nebulizer, and more particularly but not exclusively to a compact nebulizer that may include an angled impactor and/or siphon tube integrated into the impactor to increase the nebulizer efficiency.
US07992799B2
A system for the data management of a thermal spraying apparatus with a spray gun (2) is made available, wherein the system includes a decentrally arranged device (1) with a memory (4), in order to detect process parameters and to store data of the thermal spraying apparatus and wherein the data contain identification and operating data of the thermal spraying apparatus and the device (1) additionally includes a bus interface (6) for the transmitting of the data.
US07992798B2
A system for fastening a rail on a substrate includes a base plate, molded into which is a central portion, the width of which is adapted to the width of the rail foot of the rail to be fastened, with at least one fastening element for connecting the base plate to the substrate. The at least one tensioning element is provided for holding down the rail on the base plate. The system provides a fastening system allowing fastening of rails that satisfies modern requirements with the additional benefit of low production costs and simple assembly, while maintaining the basic configuration of the base plate provided and using simple means.
US07992795B2
A shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator for engaging and actuating a device. The actuator includes an engagement mechanism, a bias element, and a SMA object(s). The SMA actuator may automatically and passively transfer to a backup or redundant feature that resets or extends the actuator's operational life. In one embodiment, the SMA actuator includes an additional SMA object(s) that replaces the primary SMA object(s) in the event the primary SMA object(s) breaks. The SMA actuator may also be configured to apply a dynamic stress to the SMA object during transition of the object to modify the transition temperatures of the object. The SMA actuator may be part of a fluid distribution system, such as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and used to control the flow of fluid, such as air, from the distribution system.
US07992792B2
A payment method and system are provided for electronic data that is purchased by a recipient from a supplier thereof for transmission to the recipient with payment being made in advance of downloading of the electronic data. The pre-payment entitles the recipient to a predetermined period of time online, or a predetermined quantity of downloaded electronic data. Payment control means associated with communication means communicates with a source of funding associated with the particular recipient and an allocated funds register is associated with the source of funding such that an initial quantum of value contained in the source of funding is credited to the allocated funds register. The payment control means monitors the balance remaining in the allocated funds register and when a predetermined low value is reached a further predetermined quantum of value contained in the source of funding is credited to the allocated funds register to increase the balance therein and enable continued connectivity.
US07992786B2
There is provided a bar code reader arranging a diaphragm member in which a through hole for an emission diaphragm and a through hole for a field diaphragm are formed as one body on an optical path between a laser light source and a scanning unit, in such a way that the both holes extend over an emission optical path along which emitted laser light is emitted, and a return optical path along which return light reflected from a bar code returns.
US07992781B2
One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method comprising receiving an authorization request message for a transaction conducted by a consumer with a merchant, sending the authorization request message to an issuer, receiving an authorization response message, modifying the authorization response message using a server computer to include receipt preference data, wherein the receipt preference data is derived from receipt preferences of the consumer or the merchant, and sending the authorization response message comprising the receipt preference data to the merchant, wherein the merchant generates a receipt for the consumer according to the receipt preference data.
US07992780B2
The present invention provides a method for identifying patients using common forms of identification, and specifically readable personal identifiers such as credit cards, and for identifying dependents through a guardian's personal identification. The guardian registers the account with a health care database, and associates the dependent patients with the account. Thereafter, the guardian can process healthcare services for the guardian by providing a readable identifier identifying the account. As a result, the guardian can register the dependent patient for an appointment through a kiosk or other publicly accessible terminal, and can also access scheduling or other services.
US07992778B1
An automated banking machine operates responsive to data read from data bearing records. The data corresponds to card data which corresponds to at least one financial account. The record data is read by a reader and compared to stored data to authorize use of the machine. A financial transfer corresponding to the account may be carried out once use is authorized based on correspondence of the record data. A printed record of transactions is printed by the machine. Record data may alternatively be received by a reading device of the machine from a mobile device of a user, such as a cell phone.
US07992771B2
In a document-management device which supports a task of electronizing paper documents and registering electronic data of the documents to an existing system having a user interface provided to register electronic data, a request receiving unit receives a code assignment request from a user when a user interface screen corresponding to an electronic-data registration site of the existing system is displayed on a client. A code generating unit generates a site identifying code identifying the registration site of the existing system after the code assignment request is received. A screen generating unit generates a screen containing an image of the site identifying code, the screen provided for the user to print an automatic registration request page which is scanned simultaneously with scanning of the paper documents.
US07992770B2
Spec-Trac is a computerized specimen rack storage system. The main focal point of the invention is the computerized storage racks that allow the user to scan barcode \ labeled specimens and place them in the rack as directed by the computer, using LED's, proximity switches, and computer technology In addition, the rack's are stored in refrigeration/freezer units that connect the racks to a network, and allow the racks to synchronize its database with the main storage server, using standard network wired or wireless technology. Specimen retrieval can occur at the computerized rack, individual storage units, or the main database server.
US07992761B2
A process control system for a friction stir welding machine employs a master set of parameters and subroutines to control multiple machine processes, including welding, drilling, milling and probing. Sub-sets of the master set comprising command parameters, limits parameters and measurement parameters are used to control the operation of a weld tip, a clamping system and a motion head that cooperate under computer control to carry out the multiple processes.
US07992760B2
A device for purging gas comprises a conduit assembly defining an interior volume. The conduit assembly comprises a first conduit portion having an open first end and an open second end and a second conduit portion having an open first end and a closed second end. The open second end of the first conduit portion is disposed proximate to the open first end of the second conduit portion to define a weld region. The device further comprises a supply element supplying a gas to the interior volume at a substantially constant rate and a vent element venting the gas from the interior volume at a rate that maintains the gas in the interior volume within a pressure range suitable to hold a weld bead in the weld region in equilibrium during formation of a weld to join the first conduit portion and the second conduit portion.
US07992759B2
A method of selecting a geometry for a friction stirring tool, said tool having a melting point that is higher than the workpiece material, wherein the tool is placed in motion against the workpiece to generate heat in the workpiece such that workpiece material is transported in surface features of the tool, and wherein surface features manage workpiece material flow around the tool, and wherein the tool can be used in friction stir processing, friction stir mixing, friction stir welding, and friction stir spot welding of high melting temperature materials or high softening temperature materials.
US07992756B2
A hand-held fastener driver for fastening elements, having a driving tappet that is movably mounted in a tappet guide and that can be driven using at least one drive spring element is disclosed, having a tensioner for the drive spring element, and having a locking mechanism. In a locked position of the locking mechanism, the drive spring element can be locked in its tensioned position, whereby the tensioner has a tensioning element that is provided with a profile, and said tensioning element can be axially moved along a longitudinal axis of motion using a rotatable counter-element that is engaged with the profile and that can be driven by a motor.
US07992750B2
A wheel mount for storing and transporting a wheel, such as a spare bicycle wheel, is disclosed. The wheel mount is preferably substantially smaller that the wheel and attaches to an automobile or an automobile-mounted transportation rack. In one embodiment, the wheel mount attaches to a truck bed railing and has a slot for accepting a portion of an axle of a bicycle wheel, the slot restricting at least some movement of the bicycle wheel. In some embodiments, a cam mechanism common to many bicycle wheel axles can be engaged to further restrict movement of the bicycle wheel while it is in the wheel mount.
US07992749B2
A strap has an extension element and a support element. The extension element joins with an article, such as a bag, backpack, or purse. The support element is secured to the extension element and has a plurality of sipes that enhance the flexibility of the strap. In another configuration, the support element has a central area formed from a foam that is more compressible than a foam forming end areas. In yet another configuration, the support element has a wedge-shaped cross-section.
US07992734B2
A system for reading substrate carriers that includes at least one overhead transport vehicle (OHT) utilizing at least one device for at least one of sensing and/or reading a substrate carrier, and/or wafers arranged therein, when the substrate carrier is proximate the at least one overhead transport vehicle. A method of sensing or reading a substrate carrier includes sensing and/or reading a substrate carrier and/or wafers arranged therein with the overhead transport vehicle.
US07992731B2
A shelving unit comprises a plurality of upright support posts and shelves having multiple corners with multi-component corner structure at each corner of the shelf for releasably connecting the shelf to the posts. Each corner structure comprises a two piece base segment and a substantially frictionless outside interlocking segment. The two piece base segment includes a housing fixedly connected to a shelf corner and a substantially frictionless inner liner within the housing. The outside interconnecting segment includes outwardly extending flanges that engage vertically oriented opposed undercut slots on the inner liner to facilitate interconnection of the base and interlocking segments. Both segments include partial frusto conical surface portions that engage a frusto conical clamping sleeve on the support posts to facilitate releasable connection of the shelf to the posts. The substantially frictionless material of the inner liner and outside interlocking segment enables ease of assembly and disassembly as well as a tight wedging fit of the components.
US07992730B2
An improved construction pillar insertion combination rack made of metal wire material in a rectangular or polygonal form and in a single layer or multiple layers includes multiple side frames, multiple pillars, multiple clamping members, and a top; each limitation corner of the rack comprised of two rings concentrically arranged with the diameter of the upper ring smaller than that of the lower ring; each side frame including an upper and a lower support rods; a connection rod usually made in a waveform being disposed at where between and soldered to both of the upper and the lower support rods; each pillar containing multiple sections with a circumferential slot being defined by any two abutted sections; the pillar being secured with the clamping member at where it to be inserted into the limitation corner; and the top usually related to a mesh being placed on the frame of the rack; alternatively, an upper frame with multiple upper rings of the limitation corner and a lower frame with multiple lower rings of the limitation corner may be separately made in continuous form to be spot soldered at where both ends meet.
US07992726B2
A manual open bottom shelf allocation and management system for allocating shelf space among rows of products and for moving the rows of products toward the front of the shelf includes a plurality of adjacent shelf allocating and managing units. Each unit includes a pair of side dividers extending away from a front to a backstop defining an open bottom, wherein at least one row of products may be positioned on the shelf between the side dividers and wherein the side dividers provide for substantive lateral support for the product. Each unit is manually movable between the front and the back of the shelf and is adapted to advance at least one row of products toward the front of the shelf. The side dividers of two adjacent units may be in vertical alignment with one another.
US07992722B2
A fluid filter housing for receipt of a fluid filter element and for threaded attachment to a mounting base includes a unitary, molded plastic shell, an annular, threaded nutplate, and a plastic weld ring. The plastic shell defines a hollow interior for receipt of the fluid filter element. The plastic shell also defines one side of an O-ring groove. The threaded nutplate includes a groove-side surface that defines a second side of the O-ring groove. The weld ring is securely joined to the threaded nutplate by co-molding and is securely joined to the shell by a spin weld process. The weld ring provides a third surface for the O-ring groove. As such, three separate components are used to create an inwardly opening three-sided annular groove for receipt of an annular seal for sealing an interface between the fluid filter housing and the mounting base.
US07992721B2
A filter in some embodiments of the invention includes: a housing defining an interior chamber substantially sealed from outside of the housing; a valve located in the chamber biased to a first position where the valve maintains a seal between the interior chamber and outside of the housing; and an anchor fixed to the housing defining a surface for a spring to urge against and bias the valve to the first position and be compressed against when a receiver enters into the housing a moves the valve to a second position, the anchor defining, at least in part, flow paths wherein a pressurized fluid within the housing can communicate with an interior of the receiver to equalize a pressure within the chamber and the interior of the receiver; and a nipple attached to the housing having an interior passageway configured to permit the receiver to pass through in a substantially sealed manner. A method of attaching a filter to a filter receiver is also provided.
US07992718B1
The method relates to particle separation from a feed stream. The feed stream is injected directly into the froth zone of a vertical flotation column in the presence of a counter-current reflux stream. A froth breaker generates a reflux stream and a concentrate stream, and the reflux stream is injected into the froth zone to mix with the interstitial liquid between bubbles in the froth zone. Counter-current flow between the plurality of bubbles and the interstitial liquid facilitates the attachment of higher hydrophobicity particles to bubble surfaces as lower hydrophobicity particles detach. The height of the feed stream injection and the reflux ratio may be varied in order to optimize the concentrate or tailing stream recoveries desired based on existing operating conditions.
US07992712B2
A bed sheet storage device for compactly folding and storing a bed sheet set between uses. The storage device includes a foldable rectangular panel assembly with a center panel disposed between a pair of side panels hingedly connected together edgewise using living hinges, separate hinges, elastic strips, or intermediate panels hingedly connected edgewise thereto. A pair of semi-circular corner retaining panels may be hingedly connected edgewise to the side panels to retain two corners of the fitted sheet. The panel assembly has a flat opened position and a closed position which defines an enclosed channel therethrough to contain excess sheet material of a fitted sheet, a folded flat sheet, and two folded pillow covers of the bed sheet set. Sheet retaining devices include a non-skid pad, spring clips, spring boxes, and elastic retaining strips to retain the fitted sheet tautly folded around the panel assembly. Panel retaining devices include pairs of mutually-attracting magnets, locking hinges, spring clips, and elastic retaining bands to retain the panel assembly in the folded position.
US07992709B2
A biodegradable tube comprises a mom-rigid paper tubular body defining a lumen for containing a semi-solid composition; a paper tubular cap that slidably mates with the body; and wherein interior surfaces of the each of the body and the cap have a coating that is substantially impermeable to the semi-solid composition. In preferred embodiments the tube body and cap have tapered sealed ends, the coating comprises an adhesive, and the walls of the tube/cap comprise a rolled paper material upon which the coating has been applied. Contemplated semi-solid product materials include for example lip balm, facial cream, lotion, deodorant, sunscreen, caulk, grease sticks, mosquito repellant, and shoe polish.
US07992707B2
A storage unit is disclosed comprising a container disposed within a housing, the container having a cavity with an opening at the upper end for receiving an item. A cover comprises two or more rounded cover sections pivotally mounted between the container and the housing for movement between an open position and a closed position, the cover sections being biased toward the open position. Vertical downward movement of the container toward the bottom wall of the housing causes the cover sections to overcome the bias and rotate to the closed position. When rotating to the open position, the cover sections recede into a receiving space between the housing and container, thereby exposing the cavity, such that the outer form factor of the storage unit is no larger in the open position than in the closed position.
US07992702B2
An apparatus for transporting a container between stations, for example, from a rotary machine to a conveyor is provided having a rotary apparatus having a plurality of grippers constructed and arranged to receive and retain containers, a mechanism for rotating the grippers by about 90°. For example, the containers can be in a vertical position when received by the grippers and in a horizontal position when released by the grippers. A method for transporting a container between stations is provided. For example, the method can include receiving and retaining containers proximate a rotary machine and rotating the container to by about 90° proximate a conveyor and releasing the container to fall by gravity onto the conveyor.
US07992696B2
Construction machine, with working drum mounted at a machine frame, combustion engine for driving the working drum, drive train between the combustion engine and the working drum, and clutch in the drive train, where the clutch is arranged between a drive shaft and output shaft of the drive train, clutch elements on drive side capable of being engaged with clutch elements on output side, where clutch elements on the drive side or on output side are provided with several clutch part elements that are permanently engaged with one another via at least one mechanical coupling, it is provided that a braking device acting between the drive shaft and the output shaft is arranged at the clutch, said braking device being additionally engaged during engagement of the clutch in order to eliminate or reduce any rotary vibrations caused by play of mechanical coupling between clutch part elements.
US07992694B2
A method and a sealing system for sealing the space between a piston and the hub of a torque converter lockup clutch is provided. According to the method and the sealing system, the seal is pretensioned with its cylindrical surface facing the piston bore. In an embodiment of the invention, the first seal is fastened by a second seal. The invention allows minimization of oil leakage flow and at the same time to linearize its dependency on the differential pressure. Spontaneous sealing may be reduced, thereby directly correlating the contact pressure of the piston—and thus the torque of the torque converter lockup clutch—with differential pressure and eventually allowing for smoother travel.
US07992691B2
A parking brake having an actuator, wherein the actuator is driven with a direct current motor which can be operated in two directions and which moves a piston of the actuator and, via a self-locking gear mechanism of the actuator, at least one brake shoe for applying or releasing the parking brake. A control unit for performing open-loop or closed-loop control of the movement of the direct current motor is also provided. During open-loop or closed-loop control of the movement of the direct current motor for applying and/or releasing the parking brake, the control unit takes into account a hydraulic admission pressure which is currently present at the piston if the brake is applied or was present at the piston if the brake has been released when it had previously been applied. A corresponding method for operating such a parking brake is also disclosed.
US07992689B2
A determination of the loading state of an elevator system and also a method for determining the loading state of an elevator system is described. The elevator system includes an elevator car and also a motor drive for moving the elevator car. The loading state of the elevator system is determined on the basis of the position deviation of the elevator motor that occurs during the determination of the loading state.
US07992673B2
An on-wall loudspeaker and mounting apparatus includes an enclosure, a loudspeaker driver mounted in the enclosure, brackets of equal length and attachable to a wall, arms of equal length pivotably attached to the brackets and pivotably attached to the enclosure, each arm pivotable perpendicular to the wall. A movement of a cone in the driver is parallel to the pivoting of the arms when an alternating current signal is applied to the driver. The present invention mitigates vibrations transmitted to walls and other building structures, and provides improved means for reproducing low frequencies below a range of conventional loudspeakers.
US07992663B2
An electric drive machine includes an internal combustion engine remotely coupled to an electrical power generator, which is electrically connected to an electrical components system. The electrical components system is electrically connected to a pair of electric drive motors that are configured to drive wheels of the electric drive machine. A cooling system includes a blower fluidly connected to, and positioned downstream of, the electrical components system. The blower is fluidly connected to, and positioned upstream of, the electrical power generator and the pair of electric drive motors.
US07992656B2
A method of treating a subterranean formation including providing a well bore that includes a filter cake on at least a portion of the well bore and contacting at least a portion of the filter cake with a filter cake degradation fluid comprising a relative permeability modifier. The method also includes allowing the relative permeability modifier to retain at least a portion of the filter cake degradation fluid in the well bore for a time sufficient to contact the filtercake and allowing the filter cake to degrade.
US07992652B2
A fluid distributor cylinder is for a percussive drill assembly that includes a casing having an inner circumferential surface defining a central bore, a central axis extending through the bore, a bit movably coupled with the casing and a piston movably disposed within the casing bore. The distributor cylinder includes a generally tubular body disposeable within the casing bore and having first and second ends, a central axis extending generally between the first and second ends, an outer circumferential surface. At least a section of the outer surface is configured to engage with the inner surface of the casing so to form an interference fit between the body and the casing. The cylinder includes an exterior thread and/or a radially-extending shoulder configured to releasably engage with the casing inner surface so as to substantially prevent axial displacement of the distributor body with respect to the casing.
US07992650B2
An implement with a ground working tool mounted on an arm pivotably movable between raised and lowered positions includes a pneumatic down pressure control system. The down pressure control system includes upper and lower mounts with an air spring located between them and having compressed and extended configurations with said arm raised and lowered respectively. A parallel plate mechanism maintains the upper and lower mounts in parallel relation and maintains a relatively consistent down pressure of the air spring. Multiple air springs can be provided on an implement and pneumatically interconnected by an air line for simultaneously charging to a constant air pressure.
US07992641B2
An electric plasma arc apparatus and method produces nitrogen compounds, solely using ambient air extracted in proximity to the apparatus. The nitrogen compounds are brought into contact with a water processing system, forming nitrate on-site. Hydrogen sulfide present in the water processing system is removed, and the production of hydrogen sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is eliminated by introducing nitrate into the system, whereby denitrifying microorganisms, using the nitrate, outcompete the sulfate-reducing bacteria for the available carbon nutrients, thus preventing the SRB from producing hydrogen sulfide. Nitrate ions generated in the water processing system which contains the denitrifying microorganisms can enhance oil recovery by means of microbial enhanced oil recovery mechanisms. Further, the electric plasma arc apparatus and methodology eliminate major costs of conventional treatment techniques, including the transportation and storage of nitrate and the need for a continuous supply of natural gas and water.
US07992631B2
A temperature control system for a building comprises a thermal collection system, a plurality of underground heat sinks, and a heat exchanger. The thermal collection system includes at least one fluid channel. The thermal collection system is configured to heat or cool fluid within the at least one fluid channel. A first and a second underground heat sink are configured to receive the fluid from the thermal collection system. The first underground heat sink absorbs heat from the fluid in order to heat the first underground heat sink. The second underground heat sink transfers heat to the fluid in order to cool the second underground heat sink. The heat exchanger is configured to receive fluid from the first or second underground heat sink in order to heat or cool the building.
US07992629B2
In an air amount control for controlling an air amount to be blown into a vehicle compartment, a water temperature control map in which the air amount is set based on a water temperature of cooling water for the vehicle is stored, and the air amount is determined based on control characteristics of the water temperature control map. The water temperature control map is learned and changed based on a set air amount, and the air amount to be blown into the vehicle compartment is determined based on the learned water temperature control map in a case where the set air amount is changed by a passenger and the water temperature is in a predetermined range.
US07992626B1
A combination spray and cold plate thermal management system for effectively thermally managing a heat producing device during startup. The combination spray and cold plate thermal management system includes a spray unit thermally managing a heat producing device and a coolant reservoir thermally connected to the heat producing device. The coolant reservoir includes a porous media with coolant channels for storing a volume of the waste coolant after spraying of coolant has terminated. The coolant reservoir is fluidly connected to the spray chamber within the spray unit to receive the waste coolant.
US07992604B1
One aspect of the present invention includes a ripsaw stabilizing device that has a moveable carrier arm subassembly, a hold-down subassembly, a hold-down support engaged to the moveable carrier arm subassembly and a force applying subassembly engaged to the hold-down subassembly and the hold-down support that applies downward force such that downward force is applied to a piece of material being cut on both sides of the blade. Another aspect of the present invention includes a method for making a glue-line quality cut without further processing of the material being cut and without the use of a sacrificial material. Yet another aspect of the present invention includes a ripsaw including one or more ripsaw stabilizing devices of the present invention.
US07992602B1
The present invention relates to devices, kits and methods to aid the home owner in the transport of salt to their cellar-based water softening system. The device of the present invention uses rectangular piping because of the greater ease of supporting the piping and greater stability during use.
US07992597B2
Disclosed is a container and method for filling same. The container includes a thermally resealable portion that is fusible in response to thermal energy, and a container body having a sealed empty chamber in fluid communication with the resealable portion for receiving therein a substance. The container also includes a base, a mid-portion, and an upper portion axially spaced from the base on an opposite side of the mid-portion relative to the base. Each of the base and upper portion define a laterally-extending dimension greater than a maximum laterally-extending dimension of the mid-portion. The method of filling the container includes penetrating the resealable portion with an injection member and introducing a substance into the chamber, withdrawing the injection member while engaging the base of the body to substantially prevent axial movement of the body, and applying thermal energy to the resealable portion to thermally fuse the penetrated region thereof.
US07992590B2
A faucet including a spout body formed of metal and having an inlet end, an outlet end and a chamber extending between inlet and outlet ends. A tube formed of a non-metallic material is enclosed within the chamber and has receiving and dispensing ends. Tube defines a passage extending between receiving and dispensing ends. Receiving end is in fluid communication with water source to communicate water through passage. An inlet coupling formed of a non-metallic material and having an inlet opening extending therethrough is molded about receiving end such that receiving end is sealingly received within inlet opening. An outlet coupling formed of a non-metallic material and having an outlet opening extending therethrough is molded about dispensing end such that dispensing end is sealingly received within outlet opening. Inlet and outlet couplings are sealingly coupled to inlet and outlet ends of spout body, respectively.
US07992584B1
A walker with wheels that are retracted upon the application of a force of predetermined magnitude to permit a user to move the walker when he or she partially leans on the walker while providing a solid anchored support if he or she leans with more weight exceeding a predetermined magnitude. The walker includes a structural elongated assembly with a handle and forearm cuff at one end. The other end is rigidly mounted to two base assemblies that are kept at a parallel and spaced apart relationship with respect to each other. The base assemblies have a bottom surface. Retractable wheels are mounted to the base assemblies. The wheels are spring biased to protrude beyond the bottom surface so that they support the walker when at rest and as long as the user does not apply a force that exceeds a predetermined magnitude.
US07992582B2
An umbrella having a central shaft, a spindle slidably disposed on the shaft, a first plurality of radially extending ribs hingedly attached to the shaft, a second plurality of radially extending ribs secured at first ends thereof to the spindle and secured at second ends thereof to respective ones of the first plurality of ribs and an umbrella canopy supported by the first plurality of ribs, the canopy secured to the first ends of the first plurality of ribs adjacent to the second end of the central shaft and secured to the second ends of the second plurality of ribs at an outer perimeter of the canopy, wherein the canopy includes one or more single-canopy umbrella panels, and one or more double-canopy umbrella panels and wherein the double-canopy umbrella panels includes an upper canopy and a lower canopy, and wherein only the lower canopy is secured directly to the ribs.
US07992579B2
A hair retaining clip including a first clip member, a second clip member, a hinge, and a latch mechanism is disclosed. The first and second clip members may each include a handle portion and a claw portion. The hinge is disposed between and pivotally connects the first and second clip members. The latch mechanism selectively retains the first and second clip members in a generally open configuration.
US07992577B2
An instrument for applying a liquid or semi-liquid composition on the eyelashes or the eyebrows, comprising a core extending in an axial direction, and at least first, second, third, and fourth projections projecting from the core, wherein the first and second projections that form a first group of projections are mutually spaced apart by a first spacing to define a first interstitial gap in the form of a sheet extending at least locally in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction, the first interstitial gap being shaped and dimensioned to retain the composition therein for the purpose of being applied to the eyelashes or the eyebrows, the third and fourth projections that form a second group of projections, being mutually spaced apart by a second spacing to define a second interstitial gap in the form of a sheet that extends at least locally in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction, the interstitial gap being shaped and dimensioned to retain the composition therein for application on the eyelashes or eyebrows, the first and second groups being mutually spaced apart by a third spacing substantially greater than both the first and the second spacings.
US07992575B2
A method is provided for reducing levels of tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA) in tobacco during barn curing. The method includes contacting tobacco with chlorate, sulfur, ozone or combinations thereof in amounts effective for controlling or reducing bacterial an/or fungal populations on or in tobacco.
US07992552B2
A cooking device body having a heating chamber for heating an object; a fan for discharging air in the heating chamber; and an exhaust duct for guiding air blown off from said fan to the outside of the cooking device body are provided, an opening is provided at a wall of said exhaust duct, and the fan is constructed to have a motor disposed outside the exhaust duct, a first plate which has a central side attached to the motor and an outer edge side attached to the periphery of the opening, a bladed wheel which is attached to the output shaft of the motor and disposed in the exhaust duct, and a second plate which defines a cavity between said bladed wheel and the first plate.
US07992543B2
An ignition system of an engine may include an ignition device that uses the current that is supplied to an ignition coil to generate spark in the combustion chamber, a starting detecting portion that detects the starting signal for starting a stopped engine, a coolant temperature detecting portion that detects the coolant temperature of the engine, and a power control portion that increases the dwell time of the current that is supplied to the ignition coil for a predetermined time after starting the engine, in a case that the starting signal is detected and the coolant temperature is lower than a predetermined level. Accordingly, if the temperature of the engine is low, the dwell time is increased for a predetermined time such that the spark is effectively formed in the cylinder to sable the starting of the engine in the ignition system of an engine according to the present invention.
US07992541B2
A method controlling combustion modes of an engine with at least a first and second cylinder, the engine having a first actuator configured to control at least intake valves of the first and second cylinder and a second actuator configured to control at least exhaust valves of the first and second cylinders, the method comprising of sending a first signal to the first actuator which adjusts operation of at least intake valves of the first and second cylinder and a second signal to the second actuator which adjusts operation of at least exhaust valves of the first and second cylinder, said first and second signals sent at different crank angles, and transitioning combustion modes of said first and second cylinders, said combustion modes including spark ignition and homogeneous compression ignition.
US07992537B2
A system and a method of facilitating fuel vaporization in a directly injected internal combustion engine are provided. As one example, vaporization may be improved by coordinating the timing of the directly injected fuel with intake valve opening while also utilizing negative valve overlap between the intake and exhaust valves to generate reduced pressures within the cylinder.
US07992534B2
An engine balancer system is provided in which a balancer housing (17) disposed so as to face an oil pan beneath a crankshaft is formed by joining an upper housing (29) and a lower housing (30) via mating faces (P), and the height of the mating faces (P) is lower on a vehicle front side than on a vehicle rear side. Oil discharge holes (45a, 46) for discharging oil that is within the balancer housing (17) are formed in the mating faces (P) on the higher side of the balancer housing (17) and in the upper housing (29) above the mating faces (P) on the lower side of the balancer housing (17). This enables the position of the oil discharge hole (45a) on the lower side to be as high as possible, thereby suppressing penetration of oil into the interior of the balancer housing (17) through the oil discharge hole (45a).
US07992533B2
A shaft comprising functional elements, such as an assembled camshaft for an internal combustion engine, a method for producing such shafts, and internal combustion engines equipped with such shafts. The functional elements each have a bore and are produced separately from the shaft main body, and the bore is subsequently press fit onto the shaft body to attach the functional element in an axially and rotationally fixed manner. The shaft is also provided with at least one roller bearing that includes at least one undivided roller bearing element which is mounted on the shaft body between two functional elements, for example, by press fitting.
US07992526B2
A flue system is provided for a water heater having improved heat exchange efficiency. The flue system includes an upstream heat exchange portion providing a first pass for heat exchange with water in the water heater. The flue system further includes a downstream heat exchange portion providing a second pass for heat exchange with water in the water heater and a blower positioned between the upstream heat exchange portion and the downstream heat exchange portion. The blower is configured to urge combustion products from the upstream heat exchange portion to the downstream heat exchange portion.
US07992521B2
The inventive device for automatically detecting the mating of animals is wearable by an animal. The device includes a fixing to an animal mechanism, a detector for an attempt of mating a female animal by the animal with the fixing mechanism, and an identifier for an electronic label which is introduced in the body of the female animal and actuated by the detector and/or by the female animal identification device by processing the image of at least one part of the female animal triggered by the detector. The identifier includes a communicator with an electronic label carried by a female animal. The communicator can read the electronic label identifier of each female animal which the animal attempts to mate. The communication can also be provided with a device for storing representative information on the attempted mating in the random access memory of the electronic label.
US07992518B2
A showerhead for use in a capacitively-coupled plasma chamber and made of low resistivity bulk layer coated with CVD SiC. The bulk low resitivity material may be, for example, graphite, Silicon Carbide (SiC), converted graphite, SiC+C, etc. Sintered SiC may be used as the bulk material coated with CVD SiC to provide a showerhead that is suitable for use in a capacitively-coupled plasma chamber.
US07992513B2
A whistle is provided with an interior that can be cleaned. The whistle has a body with a resonance chamber wall. One face of a resonance chamber formed by the resonance chamber wall is open. A side plate is formed separately from the body, and can be attached to and removed from the body. The side plate has a first portion that blocks the one face of the resonance chamber when attached to the body. A first flange is provided on the first portion and is engageable with the resonance chamber wall. At least one of the resonance chamber wall and the first flange is elastically deformable. An air passageway, the resonance chamber, an air opening that is opened in the air passageway, and a sound-emitting opening that is opened in the resonance chamber are formed by the body and the side plate.
US07992509B1
Methods of producing precast concrete structures, installing them to form larger structures along shorelines or underwater and the structures produced thereby are disclosed. Certain preferred embodiments can be employed as underwater shellfish habitats for raising oysters, mussels and the like.
US07992507B2
The forced air cavity and control system for watercraft provides a source of compressed air against the hull, the compressed air being distributed via a pivotally adjustable air scoop mounted proximate the front of the boat, to which is connected a series of conduits (air passageways) leading downwardly from the housing. The conduits exit at openings in a V-shaped step in the hull of the watercraft to emit high pressure air against the hull to thereby reduce friction caused by hull contact with the water. A hydraulic ram operably connected to the air scoop provides a means of pivotal adjustment. A plurality of ice runners is provided on the bottom of the watercraft to increase stability of control under reduced water friction conditions.
US07992504B2
A farm implement includes a chassis, a wheeled section, a tool section, and a fifth wheel coupling device for receiving and coupling with a complimentary coupling pin on a semi-trailer. A fifth wheel coupling system includes a fifth wheel coupling plate having a slot designed to receive a coupling pin of a semi-trailer, a latching mechanism designed to latch onto the coupling pin of the semi-trailer, and a coupling device interface designed to connect the fifth wheel coupling plate and latching device to a farm implement. A method of connecting a semi-trailer to a farm implement having a fifth wheel coupling device includes aligning and connecting a coupling pin of the semi-trailer with a coupling device of a farm implement. A farm implement includes a coupling device designed to connect with a complimentary coupling device of a trailer having a storage tank with a capacity greater than 1,000 gallons.
US07992498B2
A reduced collateral damage bomb (RCDB) bomb casing is described and disclosed along with the system and method for making it. The RCDB bomb casing may be formed from conventional or penetrating warhead bomb casings. The RCDB bomb casing has a filler material/materials disposed on the interior walls that will assist in controlling the collateral damage caused by the finished bomb but not prevent the appropriate destructive power being delivered to a selected target.
US07992493B2
Line patches m and solid patches s are printed with a subject image, each line patches having at least 200 lines per inch and a duty ratio of at least 60%, to detect densities Dm and Ds. A water coefficient W (=Dm/Ds) is calculated from the detected densities Dm and Ds. Whether dampening water is fed at a proper rate or not is determined based on correlation data stored beforehand and showing a relationship between the feed rate of dampening water and the water coefficient W. The feed rate of dampening water is controlled to be a proper rate.
US07992492B2
A web offset printing press that prints and processes at least one material web and has printing units and/or printing unit assemblies, at least one folder, and transport elements operates by transporting the at least one material web by the transport elements through a web of the printing press into the at least one folder, electrically driving the at least one folder, the printing units and/or printing unit assemblies and the transport elements at least partially mechanically independently of each other, and synchronizing during printing operation via specified setpoints values of at least one master axis with an electronically generated synchronization clock, and starting from a initial state of the at least one folder in which the master axis and/or condition of motion of the folder are independent of each other, adapting by the at least one folder its initial state to or synchronizing by the at least one folder its initial state with setpoint value assignments of the master axis, by performing compensating motions.
US07992482B2
An apparatus for cutting a substrate includes first and second belt conveyers for conveying the substrate thereon, a scriber for scribing the substrate along a cutting-reserved line, the scriber provided between the first and second belt conveyers and being spaced apart from the first and second belt conveyers, and a substrate support for securing the substrate, the substrate support provided between the first and second belt conveyers along a scribing direction of the substrate.
US07992479B2
A table saw includes a base assembly, a table assembly supported by the base assembly, a saw assembly connected to at least one of the base assembly and the table assembly, the saw assembly having a blade extending through the table assembly, a height adjustment assembly for adjusting the height of the blade, the height adjustment assembly comprising a height adjustment wheel, and bevel adjustment assembly for adjusting the bevel angle of the blade, the bevel adjustment assembly comprising a bevel adjustment wheel. The height and bevel adjustment wheels are disposed at the front of the base assembly. The position of the height and bevel adjustment wheels relative to the front of the base assembly does not change regardless of the blade height and bevel angle.
US07992478B2
A miter saw having a base assembly, a rotatable table rotatably disposed on the base assembly, and a saw assembly rotatably supported by the table. The miter saw also has a miter lock assembly for locking the rotational position of the saw of the table relative to the base assembly.
US07992476B2
A food chopping or slicing device preferably includes three primary components, including a lid, a blade tray, and a food reservoir. A trimming blade secures to an edge of the device to cut overlength food items. In some embodiments, a reservoir bottom is removable and the device includes orthogonal volumetric markings.
US07992467B2
The present invention discloses a shingle removing apparatus which includes a handle, a stripper member, a drive assembly and a drive linkage assembly with lost motion mechanism. The stripper member is adapted for inserting under a shingle has a first end portion and a second end portion. The drive assembly drives at least a portion of the stripper member and the drive linkage assembly causes at least portion of the stripper member to reciprocally move up and down to thereby remove the shingle. The drive linkage assembly provides a lost motion mechanism which allows the stripper member to intermittently not be driven.
US07992464B2
A steering column arrangement having a steering spindle (2) which is mounted in a casing tube (3, 5) so as to be rotationally movable, and having a switch module (7) which is held immovably with respect to the steering spindle (2). The switch module (7) is fixed radially and axially on the casing tube (3), the switch module (7) being supported on a bearing (12) which is arranged on the steering spindle. The Switch module comprises a centering device (8) which, under action of a force (F) which is oriented coaxially with respect to the longitudinal axis (L) of the steering spindle (2), fixes the switch module (7) on the casing tube (3).
US07992460B2
A drive device for a hatch of a motor vehicle, wherein a spindle drive is provided with a threaded spindle and a spindle nut mounted on the threaded spindle, by which drive the first fastening element and the housing tube can be driven axially relative to each other. The spindle drive can be rotatably driven by an electric motor. The threaded spindle has a thread with a lead that changes over the length of the threaded spindle.
US07992451B2
A magnetoinductive flow meter has an electromagnet unit which is mounted on an outside periphery of a measuring tube. The electromagnet unit can include magnetic flux-concentrating device and electric coils for generating a magnetic field which is oriented substantially perpendicular to the direction of flow of a measuring medium which flows through the measuring tube. The magnetic flux-concentrating device of the electromagnet unit can include ferrite pole cores each respectively associated with each one of the electric coils. A single magnet yoke composed of an electric sheet material can be connected to each ferrite pole core. The magnet yoke can surround the electric coils jointly in a clip-like manner.
US07992447B2
A strain sensing apparatus including a deformable substrate is presented. The deformable substrate is configured to detect a strain of the body that can be coupled to the deformable substrate. Sometimes, the deformable substrate is a flexible substrate having an upper surface and an opposite lower surface. The lower can be coupled to the body. There are sensing elements fabricated within the flexible substrate and proximate to the upper surface to detect properties of the body. The strain sensing apparatus is able to detect different strain modes, such as whether the strain is the result of bending of a body or a uniaxial elongation. Furthermore, the apparatus is small and less fragile than most conventional sensors, making it easy to use.
US07992446B2
Disclosed is a method for measuring pressure in a container (1) filled or capable of being filled, using a pressure sensor (6) and a control unit (5). The filling or emptying is carried out under the control of the control unit (5) which receives as input signal, in addition to the pressure value (Ps) measured by the pressure sensor (6), a switching state (8) of a valve (4) controlled to fill or empty the container (1).
US07992443B2
A sensor design, respectively a micromechanical sensor structure for capacitive relative-pressure measurement, that will allow very small pressure differentials to be reliably recorded at high absolute pressures even in harsh, particle-laden measuring environments. For that purpose, the micromechanical sensor element includes a deflectable diaphragm structure which is provided with at least one deflectable electrode, and a fixed support structure for at least one fixed counter-electrode which is located opposite the deflectable electrode. The diaphragm structure includes two mutually parallel configured diaphragms that are joined rigidly to one another via at least one connecting crosspiece, so that each application of force to one of the two diaphragms is directly transmitted to the respective other diaphragm. The first diaphragm is able to be pressurized by a first measuring pressure emanating from the front side of the sensor element, and the second diaphragm is able to be pressurized by a second measuring pressure emanating from the rear side of the sensor element. The fixed counter-electrode is located in the sealed volume between the two diaphragms of the diaphragm structure.
US07992437B2
A liquid level detector for conductive liquids for vertical installation in a tank, the detector having a probe positioned within a sheath and insulated therefrom by a seal so that the tip of the probe extends proximate to but not below the lower end of the sheath, the lower end terminating in a rim that is provided with notches, said lower end being tapered, the taper and notches preventing debris collection and bubble formation, said lower end when contacting liquid as it rises will form an airtight cavity defined by the liquid, the interior sheath wall, and the seal, the compression of air in the cavity preventing liquid from further entry into the sheath and contact with the seal. As a result, the liquid cannot deposit a film to form an electrical bridge across the seal.
US07992429B2
A liquid chromatograph includes a mobile phase supplying apparatus including liquid-feeding pumps to feed mobile phases, liquid-feeding flow paths, a mixer to mix the mobile phases, at least one control device to control each liquid-feeding pump, flow rate measuring sections provided downstream in each liquid-feeding flow path configured to measure an actual flow rate and to detect a back-flow, and actual flow rate computing sections configured to compute an actual flow rate in the corresponding liquid feeding flow path. Also included are a sample injecting section downstream of the mobile phase supplying apparatus, a separating column for separating an injected sample into its constituents, and a detector for detecting each of the separated constituents. When one of the actual flow rate measuring sections detects a back-flow, the corresponding actual flow-rate computing section computes an actual back-flow rate and outputs a signal to the corresponding control device to cancel the back-flow.
US07992419B2
An apparatus for extrusion, in particular for extrusion of metal, comprising an extrusion body defining a passage for material to be extruded, including a die having a bearing opening extending between a bearing opening entry surface and a bearing opening exit surface, and wherein cooling means are arranged in the body defining the extrusion passage upstream of the bearing opening exit surface, the cooling means comprising the material of the body being differentiated in thermal conductivity so as to define cooling pathways.
US07992418B1
A sheet of cold rolled material having on both of its surfaces rows of projections and rows of depressions, the projections on one surface corresponding with the depressions on the other surface, the relative positions of the projections and depressions being such that lines drawn on a surface of the sheet between adjacent rows of projections are non-rectilinear, the sheet having a base gauge G, wherein each projection has a substantially continuous region of peak plastic strain at, toward or about its apex and/or is thinned by no more than 25% of its base gauge G. Methods of forming the sheet material and tools for forming the sheet material are disclosed.
US07992412B2
Disclosed are a process for producing a glass shaped material having high quality and high mass accuracy and a process for producing an optical element, which includes the preparation of a glass shaped material having high quality and high mass accuracy, the heating of said glass shaped material and the precision-press-molding thereof.The present invention provides a process for producing a glass shaped material including the separation of a predetermined amount of a molten glass gob from the forward end of a molten glass flow flowing down from a flow pipe, by a specific means and the shaping thereof into the glass shaped material, a process for producing a glass shaped material including the dropping of a molten glass drop from a flow pipe, the receipt thereof with a shaping mold that ejects a gas, by a specific means, and the shaping thereof into the glass shaped material while it is caused to float, and a process for producing an optical element including the precision press-molding of a preform obtained by one of these processes.
US07992403B2
Provided is an air conditioning system using ground heat. The system includes one or more indoor units, at least one outdoor unit, a ground heat exchanger, and a plurality of auxiliary heat sources. The one or more indoor units condition indoor air. The at least one outdoor unit communicates with the indoor units via a plurality of pipes, and includes an outdoor heat exchanger where heat exchange occurs. The ground heat exchanger is connected with the outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor unit, and laid under the ground to allow heat to be exchanged between ground heat and a circulating medium circulating through the ground heat exchanger. The plurality of auxiliary heat sources are installed on one side of the outdoor unit to assist heat exchange of the outdoor heat exchanger. Two or more auxiliary heat sources are simultaneously used, or one of them is selectively used.
US07992394B2
A cold trap is provided with a cold panel provided in a pumping path such that the panel is exposed, a refrigerator thermally coupled to the cold panel and operative to cool the cold panel; and a controller configured, in a regeneration process for evaporating a gas frozen on the surface of the cold panel and discharging the gas outside using the vacuum pump, to control the refrigerator so as to raise the temperature of the cold panel to a temperature exceeding a non-liquefaction temperature range and to adjust a pressure in the pumping path at the temperature so that the gas frozen on the surface of the cold panel is evaporated without being melted, the non-liquefaction temperature range being a range in which it is guaranteed that a gas frozen on the surface of the cold trap is evaporated without being melted.
US07992388B2
A method for estimating the output temperature of the output compressor of a two-stage turbocharger. The method includes: storing a composite relationship relating temperature ratio across a pair of compressors of the two-stage turbocharger as a function of mass flow through such pair of compressors and pressure drop across the pair of the compressors; calculating the pressure ratio equal to the pressure at an input to the first one of the pair of compressors to the pressure at the output of the second one of the pair compressor; using the composite relationship and an output of a mass flow at the input to the first one of the pair of compressors and the calculated pressure ratio to determine the temperature ratio across the pair of compressors; and calculating the estimated output temperature of the second one of the pair of compressors by multiplying the determined temperature ratio across the pair of compressors by a temperature at the input of the first one of the pair of compressors.
US07992380B2
An emissions control system is disclosed. The emissions control system may have a power source that creates a flow of exhaust, an SCR catalyst situated to receive the flow of exhaust, and an injector configured to inject a reduction agent into the flow of exhaust in the presence of the SCR catalyst. The emissions control system may further have a controller configured to calculate a spatially dependent surface coverage of the reduction agent on the SCR catalyst and substantially stop injection of the reduction agent when the spatially dependent surface coverage of the reduction agent exceeds a maximum surface coverage of the reduction agent at one or more spatial locations.
US07992372B1
A draper platform (100) for mounting on the feederhouse of an agricultural combine, comprises a center frame section (104) configured to be supported on the feederhouse and supporting a first endless conveyor belt (132, 126); a wing frame section (102, 106) configured to be supported on a first side of the center frame section (104) and having a second endless conveyor belt (124, 130); and a first pivot joint (110, 114) coupling the center frame section (104) to the wing frame section (102, 106), the first pivot joint (110, 114) constraining the wing frame section (102, 106) to pivot with respect to the center frame section (104) about a generally horizontal and forwardly extending axis (108, 112), the first pivot joint comprising first, second, and third pivot couplings (308, 310, 334), wherein the first pivot coupling is a break-away coupling and is disposed forward of the second pivot coupling (310) and the third pivot coupling (334).
US07992366B2
The present invention is a wrap designed to protect the saddle horn when a lariat rope is dallied around it and pressure applied, as when roping cattle in the sports of team and calf roping. The horn wrap consists of a strap having desired elasticity and durability, as well as a sufficient coefficient of friction. The horn wrap can have one or two apertures at the tips which can be pulled over the saddle horn and act to attach the horn wrap to the saddle horn. Generally anticipated to be in a generally bell shape, the attachment pieces act to protect the saddle pommel near the base of the saddle horn. The horn wrap may be beveled near its edges so as to allow for smooth layers on the saddle horn which can increase the contact of the rope to the saddle horn to increase the friction resisting the dally sliding when weight is applied to the rope.
US07992365B2
A method of verifying the seating and securing of a closure on a container includes the steps of: (a) positioning a container on a stage of an automated capping station; (b) bringing a closure into contact with the container; (c) detecting the nature of a physical relationship between the container and the closure; (d) responsive to step (c), relatively moving the closure and the container if step (c) indicates seating of the closure on the container is proper; and (e) detecting the nature of a physical relationship between the closure and the container to determine whether the closure is properly secured.
US07992362B2
A kit of parts for a column assembly includes a sleeve having a first end portion, and a second opposed end portion. The kit further includes a collar having a collar aperture therethrough for receiving the first end portion of the sleeve in sliding fit. The kit further includes a skirt having skirt a first end and a skirt second end opposed to the skirt first end. A skirt aperture extends through the skirt for receiving the first end portion of the sleeve in sliding fit to position the skirt second end is adjacent the collar. A base is positionable adjacent the first end portion. The collar is selectively securable to the either the base or the skirt second end, and the skirt first end is selectively securable to the base, such that the column assembly is selectively assemblable with or without the skirt.
US07992361B2
Disclosed herein are multiwall panels comprising micro-scale surface features and methods of making the same. In one embodiment, a multiwall panel is disclosed. The multiwall panel comprises, a top sheet, a bottom sheet, a rib disposed between and connected to the top sheet and the bottom sheet, and a micro-scale surface feature disposed on a surface of the multiwall panel, wherein the micro-scale surface feature comprises a width measured at a base of the surface feature, wherein the width is about 30 micrometers to about 3 millimeters. In another embodiment, a process of forming multiwall panels is disclosed. In yet another embodiment, a naturally lit structure is disclosed.
US07992358B2
A guiding means at a joint comprising groove (1) and tenon (2) preferably intended to be joined with glue. The tenon (2) and/or groove (1) includes guiding wedges (3).
US07992346B2
A drive device for a sliding door system having a transom and at least one door leaf guided along the transom. The drive device includes: a housing which can be mounted on the transom; a pulley which can be driven in rotation by a drive, the pulley being mounted for rotation on the housing and having a flange with locking elements adjacent to the housing; an endless traction mechanism guided around the pulley for moving the at least one door leaf linked to the traction mechanism; complementary locking elements which can be moved relative to the housing to engage the locking elements on the flange and thereby prevent rotation of the pulley; and an electromechanical actuation device which moves the complementary locking elements in response to an impulse emitted by a locking control.
US07992344B2
An artificial soil and a method for growing vegetation on a sloped surface using the same are disclosed. The artificial soil is produced by mixing peat or grass peat, paper chip or pulp chip, saw dust or bark, fermented animal waste or dried animal waste, and a microbe activator, frisol; and by adding clay or Silt(SILT) or granular to the mixture. The method comprises forming a vegetation base layer by applying the artificial soil to a sloped surface; waiting until the vegetation base layer has a crack by a shrinkage; and applying a seed mixture of artificial soil over the vegetation base layer, the seed mixture of artificial soil obtained by adding a myocardium catalyst, a microbe activator, a material binder, an evaporation prevention material, and grass seeds, weed seeds, and tree seeds to the artificial soil with water.
US07992337B2
A method and apparatus are provided to mounted recoil dampening apparatus on a rifle at a selected slope, cant, length, and stowed position.
US07992336B2
A gunstock including a barrel brace and a pistol grip projecting downwardly from the rear of the barrel brace. An X-shaped crosspiece projects rearwardly from the pistol grip. A butt projects rearwardly from the crosspiece. A handle projects forwardly from the bottom of the pistol grip.
US07992325B2
The subject invention improves traditional safety equipment intended to protect the lower leg, ankle, foot, and toes applicable in industrial and commercial as well as casual and athletic uses. The personal protective equipment (PPE) of the subject invention comprises a soleplate, a metatarsal component, a toe cap, and a tibia-fibula component; these components can be implemented alone or in combination within a shoe or boot providing for various levels of protection depending on the desired application. Further embodiments provide for both the implementation of the protective components within the footwear as well as components that can be worn in conjunction with pre-existing shoes or boots.
US07992324B2
A shoe sole is described that provides both cushioning and stability. The sole has a plurality of layers, including a transition layer which allows relative motion between the layers adjacent to the transition layer. The relative motion between the layers of the sole reduces the impact of horizontal shear stresses on the wearer's feet and ankles. One such transition layer includes pliable material and deformable holes within the pliable material. Another transition layer includes at least two rigid plates held together by less rigid grommets or sidewalls. The transition layer may be disposed beneath the entire shoe or only portions of the shoe, with either a more conventional sole structure or rigid support members completing the sole.
US07992323B2
An improved structure of ventilating insole, which is composed of a shoe-shaped lower insole, an air permeable layer (cloth or leather) in shoe-shaped and a sponge is placed between the lower insole and the air permeable layer, its features are as follows, a concave trough with casing is set in the central part of the lower insole when molding it in one-body-type, an elastic, porous sponge which is trough-shaped in equal thickness is placed onto the trough of the lower insole, then casing around trough is glued to the air permeable layer with air inlet ports at the heel and air outlet ports at the toe portions, a ventilating insole is then finished. Such an insole provides for pumping cool air into the interior of the shoe as a result of the normal walking action, thus, the shoe can keep ventilating properly.
US07992321B2
A laundry dryer includes a cylindrical drum shell mounted for rotation on front and rear stationary bulkheads of the dryer. A drive system is configured to rotate the drum in first and second opposite directions. Three rollers are arranged about a lower portion of the drum circumference, on the rear bulkhead, to stably support the rotatable drum during rotation in the first and second directions. The arrangement can also avoid potential flexing and distortion of a cylindrical drum shell of relatively large diameter. In addition, a reversing idler assembly is provided for maintaining proper tension on a drive belt during drum rotation in the two directions. The assembly provides a biased mount for two pulleys on a pair of arms integrally formed with a spring as a single piece, in lieu of separate articulated mounting arms and a separate biasing spring.
US07992315B2
A plug gauge (1) includes a support and protection system that defines a longitudinal axis with a handle (2) closed by a cap (13) that includes electronic devices for the wireless transmission of electrical signals representative of a dimension to be checked, and a probe (6) including a measuring armset coupled with a transducer for generating electrical signals. The probe is connected to the cap of the handle by means of an interface element (8) that includes mechanical references to prevent rotations of the probe with respect to the handle about the longitudinal axis.
US07992309B2
A cutting blade is disclosed fabricated of micromachined silicon. The cutting blade utilizes a monocrystalline silicon substrate having a {211} crystalline orientation to form one or more cutting edges that are defined by the intersection of {211} crystalline planes of silicon with {111} crystalline planes of silicon. This results in a cutting blade which has a shallow cutting-edge angle θ of 19.5°. The micromachined cutting blade can be formed using an anisotropic wet etching process which substantially terminates etching upon reaching the {111} crystalline planes of silicon. This allows multiple blades to be batch fabricated on a common substrate and separated for packaging and use. The micromachined cutting blade, which can be mounted to a handle in tension and optionally coated for increased wear resistance and biocompatibility, has multiple applications including eye surgery (LASIK procedure).
US07992308B1
The present invention is an extended reach power tool apparatus. The apparatus includes a powerhead and a yoke. The powerhead includes a motor which is enclosed by a casing. The yoke includes a base portion configured for being secured to a pole. The yoke also includes a boss configured for being pivotally secured to the powerhead. Further, the powerhead may be rotatable about the boss. The boss may form an aperture configured for receiving wiring, such that the wiring may be routed from a source, through the pole, and to the powerhead.
US07992301B2
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing an exhaust element of an exhaust line of a vehicle with a heat engine. The exhaust element includes a box having, internally, at least one compartment and at least one tube extending at least partly inside such a compartment. The method includes inserting sound-insulation into at least one such compartment. The insertion is ensured through injection into such a compartment through an opening in the tube from the inside of the tube. The invention also relates to an exhaust element obtained by implementing this method, including forming a box with at least one compartment containing sound-insulation and at least one tube extending at least partly inside at least one such compartment, the tube having an opening provided for in the body of the tube.
US07992290B2
An exemplary method of making an FPC includes forming a substrate comprising metal foil layers interleaved with intervening layers by: (a) laminating intervening layers with metal foil layers; (b) adhering a covering film to outermost surfaces of the substrate; (c) defining a hole in one side of the substrate through the covering film and at least two metal foil layers and the intervening layer between the at least two metal foil layers by etching or laser technology; and (d) plating a portion of an inner wall of the hole with conductive material to form a via to electrically connect the at least two metal foil layers.
US07992288B2
An apparatus (40) for fixing a flexible printed circuit board module (20) to a sliding mechanism (10) of a portable electronic device is provided. The apparatus includes a base (41) and a pressing device (43). The base includes an assembling stage (414) and defines a mounting space (419) therein. The assembling stage is configured for positioning the sliding mechanism and the flexible printed circuit board module thereto. The pressing device is mounted in the mounting space and configured for sliding within the mounting space and pressing the flexible printed circuit board module toward the sliding mechanism.
US07992278B2
A method of operating a production line comprises the steps of supporting equipment in the production line on a plurality of crawlers comprising at least one rolling track and a structural support for supporting the equipment. A first plurality of lifting magnets coupled to an interior surface of said at least one rolling track is configured to oppose a second plurality of lifting magnets coupled to an exterior surface of said structure support to lift the structural support, such that the structural support floats between and within said at least one rolling track. The magnetic fields experienced by the first and second plurality of lift magnets are adjusted to translate the at least one rolling track, such that the crawlers move along the production line.
US07992276B2
A fixture exchange rail system is provided having first and second fixture assemblies movably mounted with respect to respective first and second stationary rails. A movable rail is disposed substantially adjacent to, and movable between, the first and second stationary rails. The movable rail is sufficiently configured to selectively receive the first and second fixture assemblies thereon. A method of operating a workstation having a fixture exchange rail system operable to enable work on a workpiece is also provided including the steps of: A) determining the style of workpiece present at the workstation; B) aligning a movable rail with one of a first and second stationary rail having a respective first and second fixture assembly mounted thereto corresponding to the style of workpiece; and C) moving the fixture assembly corresponding to the style of workpiece from the stationary rail to the movable rail.
US07992275B1
A method is disclosed herein for lifting thrusters on vessels enabling for on vessel maintenance at sea. The method can include engaging a thruster mounting flange with a thruster well bottom flange; installing alignment guide plates to provide a rough alignment; positioning a seal to provide a connection; installing fasteners to secure the flanges; actuating clamps to secure the flanges while compressing the seal; raising the thruster out of the thruster well; transporting the thruster to a deck of the floating vessel; actuating clamps to hold the flanges; removing the fasteners; flowing water into the thruster well; disengaging the clamps; and lifting the thruster with the lifting means.
US07992271B2
A processes for manufacturing actuating assembly for tuning a circuit by forming a carrier substrate containing a membrane, a conductive layer, and piezoelectric actuators are disclosed. The process includes the steps of: providing a substrate having a bottom protective layer on a bottom side and etched trenches on a top side; depositing a top protective layer on the top side of the substrate; depositing a first conductive layer on the top protective layer; patterning the first conductive layer; patterning the bottom protective layer to form an etch mask aligned with the patterned first conductive layer; forming a piezoelectric structure on the top side of the substrate; depositing a membrane layer along the top side of the substrate and above the piezoelectric structure; curing the membrane layer; depositing a second conductive layer on the cured membrane layer; depositing a protective photoresist layer on the second conductive layer; patterning and hard-baking the photoresist layer; removing a portion of the substrate from the bottom side of the substrate, forming an etched opening in the substrate; removing a portion of the top protective layer; removing a portion of the second conductive layer to form a patterned second conductive layer; and removing the patterned photoresist layer. Changes in shape of the resulting piezoelectric arrangement allow a deflection of the membrane and a corresponding controllable upward or downward movement of the conductive element.
US07992269B2
A child restraint assembly for a child vehicle seat includes a buckle assembly including a buckle and a pair of latches, a harness coupled to the buckle assembly, and a harness adjuster to adjust the harness. The buckle includes a buckle actuator slidable between a first position and a second position relative to a front surface of the buckle to unlock the buckle assembly. The harness adjuster includes a housing and a harness adjuster actuator movable between a first position and a second position relative to a front surface of the housing to unlock the harness adjuster. Movement of the buckle actuator from the first position to the second position is in the same direction as movement of the harness adjuster actuator from the first position to the second position. The buckle can include a grip surface of sufficient thickness to enable a user to brace a finger against the buckle grip surface when actuating the buckle actuator. Likewise, the housing can include a grip surface of sufficient thickness to enable a user to brace a finger against the housing grip surface when actuating the harness adjuster actuator. The child restraint assembly also can include a chest clip coupled to the harness. The chest clip can include a male member and a female member releasably coupled to the male member, the male member having a pair of opposing grip surfaces of sufficient thickness to enable a user to grip the male member when decoupling the male member and the female member.
US07992264B2
A clasp, including a first magnet, a second magnet, wherein the clasp is closed by coupling the first magnet and the second magnet and the clasp is opened by uncoupling the first magnet and the second magnet.
US07992262B2
A rope cleat secures a rope to a structure. The cleat has a body with opposite first and second portions joined along a longitudinal central plane. The body has a U-shaped cavity inside it tapering between a large entrance leg and a smaller exit leg, which communicate at a confluent portion. A flange is integrally attached to the body first portion. The flange is mounted against the structure through a mounting hole. The flange has an entrance hole and an exit hole spaced apart and extending through the flange. The rope is easily inserted into the large entrance hole, through the U-shaped cavity, and out the smaller exit hole. A knot is then tied to secure the rope in the cleat. The cleat has registration pins on one body portion, and corresponding registration holes on the opposite portion. The pins align the body first and second portions for assembly with a screw.
US07992259B2
A security device includes a housing containing a ratchet mechanism and a rotatable spool for storing a plurality of cable loops which extend outwardly from a plurality of openings formed in the housing and wrapped around the sides of a box-like object. A collar is mounted on the bottom of the housing and has openings adjacent each of the housing opening requiring the cable loops to abruptly change direction after exiting the housing and passing either beneath or above the collar before extending along the secured object. This abrupt change of direction reduces the amount of force which are exerted on the cable loops from being transmitted onto the ratchet mechanism. In alternate embodiments, adjacent cable loops pass through one or a pair of rings which cause a change of direction in the cable loops to reduce the transmission of forces onto the ratchet mechanism.
US07992253B2
A vacuum cleaner is provided. The vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner body, in which a dust collector mount part is formed, a dust collector that is removably mounted on the dust collector mount part and having a dust storage part in an inside thereof, at least one compressing member that reduces a volume of dust stored in the dust storage part of the dust collector, a power transfer device that transfers a driving force to the at least one compressing member from outside connected with the at least one compressing member, and a controller that decides an amount of dust stored in the dust storage part.
US07992250B2
A removable roller surface insert for use with a container of rollable liquid. The insert may, in one embodiment, include a roller surface having an upper edge, and an upper contact portion attached to the roller surface at or near the upper edge. The upper contact portion may be configured to contact an inner sidewall surface of the container at or near the upper rim. All, or substantially all, of the insert may be, when the insert is in a use position, located within a first half of the container, the first half defined by a vertical plane passing through a centerline of the container.
US07992248B2
A wiper blade assembly has a resilient wiper element with a crown having lengthwise grooves and a tip for wiping a window. An arcuate metal flexor has inner edges disposed in the grooves of the crown and outer edges. An elongate cover has an upper wall and a pair of flanges curled inwardly in spaced relation from the upper wall to provide elongate channels. The outer edges of the flexor are disposed in the channels. The connector is configured for attachment to a wiper arm, and has a lower surface with a pair of flanges curled in spaced relation from the lower surface to provide opposite facing pockets that slidingly receive the cover flanges therein. A projection on one of the connector or the cover is received in an opening of the other of the connector or the cover to lock the connector to the cover.
US07992247B2
The invention relates to a toothbrush that is produced by AFT and has a head part and at least one carrier element connected thereto. A front surface of the head part is formed by the top surfaces of the at least one carrier element and has a non-planar three-dimensional configuration, or is capable of assuming such a configuration during intended use. The invention also relates to a process for producing such a toothbrush.
US07992245B2
The invention relates to a cleaning tool for a cleaning device, the cleaning tool being subject to wear during operation. In order to make it easier to identify wear, the invention proposes that the cleaning tool comprise a sensor device with a sensor element which has a physical characteristic variable which changes as a function of the degree of wear of the cleaning tool. The invention also proposes a cleaning device having such a cleaning tool, the cleaning device having a detector device which is coupled to the sensor device for the purpose of sensing the change in the physical characteristic variable of the sensor element, and having an indicator device which is connected to the detector device.
US07992242B2
A zoned mattress including at least a head firmness zone, a leg firmness zone between the head and leg firmness zones overlaid by a knit top fabric knit from threads of at least two different colors to define three different firmness indicating areas corresponding to the three firmness zones of the mattress. At least one of the firmness indicating areas is defined by threads differing in color as compared to the color of the threads defining at least one of the two remaining firmness indicating areas.
US07992234B2
A seat assembly for sliding along opposing rims of a bathtub is disclosed. The seat assembly includes a seat member, a friction element affixed to the seat member so as to extend under the seat member, and a flexible slider affixed to the seat member so as to also extend under the seat member. The slider and friction element are positioned and configured so that in a first state, if the seat member is positioned on the opposing rims without additional weight on the seat member, the slider holds the friction element up off a rim while facilitating sliding of the seat member along a rim. In a second state, if the seat member is positioned on the opposing rims with a human weighing over 50 pounds sitting on the seat member, the friction element can contact the rim and thereby impede sliding of the seat member along a rim.
US07992217B2
An apparatus is configured with one or more sensors arranged to detect a first shape-related parameter, one or more control elements arranged to provide a force, and circuitry operably connected to the one or more sensors and the one or more control elements to determine the force provided to the one or more control elements.
US07996909B2
An information processing apparatus for determining whether or not to transmit a predetermined content to a reception apparatus connected to a network, in accordance with a response time taken to respond to a predetermined command, including: reception means receiving a response to a command; measuring means measuring the response time to the command; authentication means authenticating the reception apparatus; generation means generating authentication data to be inserted into the command; transmission means transmitting the command including predetermined one of the authentication data; storage means storing the authentication data contained in the command and the response data contained in the response; request means requesting the reception apparatus for transmission of the authentication data and the response data; and determination means determining whether the authentication data and the response data transmitted from the reception apparatus, and determining transmission permission/inhibition of a content to the reception apparatus.
US07996901B2
Hypervisors are a new technology in the industry that enable multiple Operating Systems to co-exist on a single client. The use of a hypervisor provides a novel approach to email virus protection. The hypervisor is able to fire up an Operating System on demand, for a specific purpose, or have it running from the powering of the computer. A second Operating System can be provided as a donor Operating System that acts as a scratch area or scratch pad. Emails sent to the recipient are opened under the donor Operating System, or the “Scratch OS”. Once the email activities are complete, the “Scratch OS” can be discarded. Thus, any damage that may be caused by an email virus would be nil, and further the User Operating System would be undamaged. This method would be effective in precluding any damage that a virus may have done.
US07996899B1
A communication system comprises a content provider system configured to receive a content request indicating content and a device identifier, determine a first key based on the device identifier, process the content using the first key to modify the content from an unprotected state to a protected state, and transfer the content in the protected state. The communication system further comprises an end user system configured to receive the content in the protected state and process the content with a second key to modify the content from the protected state to an unprotected state wherein the second key is internally hard coded to the end user system.
US07996896B2
Methods and apparatus for dynamically revising host-intrusion-protection configurations according to varying host state and changing intrusion patterns are disclosed. A set of local servers, each functioning as a deep-security manager supporting a respective subset of the hosts, maintains and updates protection software containing filters and rules for deploying each filter. A local server cyclically monitors each host of its subset of hosts at time instants separated by adjustable monitoring periods to acquire host-characterizing data and determine an optimal set of filters. The local server maintains a profile for each host and determines a current monitoring period for a host according to the host's current profile. The processing effort is reduced by judicial adjustment of successive monitoring periods and selectively tailoring the host-characterizing data to the conditions of each host.
US07996889B2
When an unregistered PC card 111 not having an access level registration is mounted in a PC card reader part 110, a user interface requesting an access level setting to the user is executed through an operation unit 103 or a display part 104 (or a local host 112). Also when a PC card 111, having registration as to whether or not to transmit the mounting and on a destination of notice of the mounting, is mounted in the PC card reader part 110, a PC card mounting notice message is transmitted to a destination according to such registered information.With this configuration, there is provided an access control comprehensively usable to the PC cards of various types, capable of activating an access control user interface at the PC card mounting and transmitting a PC card mounting to host/user.
US07996884B2
An arrangement for providing data in the context of security management for a franking system has a remote data center at which a list of data sets is stored the data sets containing security information as well as information regarding associated security policies, appertaining at least to security measures and the location of their storage in the franking system. A method for server-controlled security management of performable services in an electronic system includes the steps of receiving a request for a desired service, determining a security feature to be selected and generating a data set corresponding thereto, selecting a logical channel and transferring to data set via that channel establishing the service end, and waiting for receipt of a further service request or for the ending of the communication connection.
US07996883B2
Delegating resource management to customers in a technology outsourcing environment includes providing the customer with a secured user interface (e.g., HTML pages) for selecting one or more parameters (e.g., User Ids, application name and version, etc.) associated with a resource management task (e.g., password management). The parameters are used to automatically perform the task using a centralized identity management system and repository for storing and updating data, such as data associated with customers, User Ids, environments, applications and application versions. Such a system and method enables the delegation of resource management tasks across multiple environments hosting disparate hardware and software platforms, including multiple versions of applications.
US07996878B1
The invention provides a system and method that transforms a set of still/motion media (i.e., a series of related or unrelated still frames, web-pages rendered as images, or video clips) or other multimedia, into a video stream that is suitable for delivery over a display medium, such as TV, cable TV, computer displays, wireless display devices, etc. The video data stream may be presented and displayed in real time or stored and later presented through a set-top box, for example. Because these media are transformed into coded video streams (e.g. MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.), a user can watch them on a display screen without the need to connect to the Internet through a service provider. The user may request and interact with the desired media through a simple telephone interface, for example. Moreover, several wireless and cable-based services can be developed on the top of this system. In one possible embodiment, the system for generating a coded video sequence may include an input unit that receives the multimedia input and extracts image data, and derives the virtual camera scripts and coding hints from the image data, a video sequence generator that generates a video sequence based on the extracted image data and the derived virtual camera scripts and coding hints, and a video encoder that encodes the generated video sequence using the coding hints and outputs the coded video sequence to an output device. The system may also provide customized video sequence generation services to subscribers.
US07996877B2
A system and method are disclosed for facilitating fast-forwarding by viewers through a first-run program beyond the current broadcast point. In one embodiment, the first-run program is distributed before its scheduled publication time, and may be viewed at any time after the publication time. In a second embodiment, content is distributed on or after the publication time, but at a rate greater than the normal viewing rate. In a third embodiment, content is distributed on demand after the publication time by a media distribution server. In a fourth embodiment, a viewer participating in a multicast session of the content requests content beyond the current broadcast point. The viewer is switched to a unicast session, and the requested content is transmitted to the viewer. In alternative embodiments, a release code may be provided to control the time after which the viewer will be permitted to view program segments beyond the current broadcast point.
US07996870B2
An information processing apparatus carries out a process using delivery information delivered through a network. Only divisional delivery information used in the process of an n-time speed and acquired through a network by dividing the delivery information when the process is carried out at the n-time speed (where n>1) is acquired. Confirmation information used in confirming whether or not the divisional delivery information thus acquired is normally acquired through the network then is acquired, and the confirmation process of whether or not the divisional delivery information is normally acquired is carried out using the confirmation information. A processor carries out the process of the n-time speed using the divisional delivery information when the divisional delivery information is determined to have been normally acquired.
US07996864B2
A television viewer uses a PIP format for display of program related information such as television program listings from a program schedule data base in the background and moving, real time or stored video clip images of a program selected from the displayed listings in the PIP window. All the text of the background information lies outside the PIP window. In one embodiment, as the viewer selects a particular program from the display of current television program listings by means of a cursor or a code number, the corresponding program automatically appears in the PIP window.
US07996860B2
Apparatus for reducing sensitivity of an article to mechanical shock comprises a frame; first and second planar masses mounted in the frame for bi-directional movement relative to the frame along a first axis of displacement; a first lever pivotable about a first fulcrum secured to the frame; the lever having one end connected to the first mass and the other end connected to the second mass, and the fulcrum being disposed between the ends of the lever; whereby the torque exerted about the fulcrum by the first mass is countered by the torque exerted about the fulcrum by the second mass in response to a mechanical shock applied to the frame along the axis of displacement such that an article carried by the first mass in use has reduced sensitivity to the shock.
US07996849B2
Provided are a method, apparatus and a computer program for managing message queues. Message streaming is enabled in a transactional messaging system that supports priority ordering of messages, without the need for complex locking mechanisms. Any messages which are transferred from a message queue to a message consumer after the message consumer initiates commit processing are replaced on the message queue at an appropriate position ahead of other messages. As part of commit processing, the consumer sends back to the manager of the message queue an identification of messages delivered to it before the commit, and this list of messages is extracted and compared with a message log to identify undelivered messages. Successfully delivered and committed messages can be committed by the queue manager, and undelivered messages can be replaced on the queue. A special high priority is assigned to the replaced messages to place them ahead of other messages.
US07996847B2
The invention is directed to a method for correlating processor usage to customer billing in an on-demand server with real-time allocation/deallocation of processing resources. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: providing a plurality of processors, each processor having thermal control circuit (TCC) logic; determining a processing requirement for the plurality of processors; and dynamically controlling a processing capability of the plurality of processors to provide the determined processing requirement by selectively enabling or disabling the TCC logic of each processor.
US07996846B2
A method is disclosed for allocating computer system resources, such as memory, among applications. Input parameters are received for applications. The parameters include a minimum entitlement value, a maximum entitlement value, and a weight. The minimum entitlement is the minimum amount of resources that the application should receive. The maximum entitlement is the maximum amount of resources that the application should receive. The weight specifies the priority of the application relative to other applications, for purposes of distributing system resources. Computer system resources are then allocated among applications based on the parameters.
US07996844B2
Processing time for job execution is shortened by using computation capability to the maximum extent possible.When a user makes a job request, the job request is sent from an LDS program of a first computer to a second computer; the second computer executes data preparation processing and empty area reservation processing with regard to a storage unit (disk A) and stores the results to an the FIFO of the first computer; when the output from the FIFO is transferred via a job release program to the LDS program, the transferred content is then transferred to a third computer; and the third computer selects a computer that should execute the job, from among a group of computers and commands the selected computer to execute the job.
US07996840B2
A method of scheduling a request for a plurality of Web services can include providing service activation rules. Each service activation rule can specify a trigger condition and a state condition for causing a watcher to invoke a particular Web service. The method also can include receiving an event indicating a change in a common memory, wherein each event specifies trigger information, comparing the trigger conditions of the service activation rules with the trigger information of the event, adding the service activation rules that match the event to a trigger list, and comparing the state conditions of service activation rules in the trigger list with a state of the common memory. The service activation rules of the trigger list that match the state of the common memory can be selected thereby causing the invocation of at least one watcher and corresponding Web service.
US07996838B2
Workloads, as defined by customers, are tracked on an individual basis. This tracking enables a customer to identify the amount of resources consumed by a particular workload. The customer defines the workload to be tracked, and that workload is tracked using a Unit of Work value. The Unit of Work value ensures that there is an accounting for the resources attributable to that workload.
US07996834B2
The embodiments contemplate a system and method for a restriction of virtual machines for a group of one or more users. A predefined policy may include a restriction related to the group, as well as a measure of enforcement to initiate in the event of a violation of the restriction. The measure of enforcement may include a warning message or denial of resources. The restriction may be resource-based, time-based, machine-based, or a combination. The restriction may be a group-level restriction, in which the entire group actions are monitored, or a user-level restriction, in which the user's actions are monitored. In the event a user is assigned to more than one group, the policies of each group are assigned a priority level. The priority level dictates the restriction as well as the measure of enforcement.
US07996828B2
This disclosure involves back-end field control of layered software. For example, a method for providing back-end field control of an interface can comprise receiving a request to update one or more attributes of a business object, where the request is associated with a first software layer. The method then identifies one or more additional software layers associated with the business object and determines whether the request can update to the one or more attributes violate settings of the one or more attributes associated with the one or more additional software layers.
US07996824B2
A synthetic benchmark for a computer program and a method and computer program product for creating a synthetic benchmark for a computer program. The synthetic benchmark is created using statistical information that is collected about an executing program, and some hints about the machine on which the benchmark will be run. When executed, the synthetic benchmark exhibits behavior similar to the computer program to permit computer performance to be accurately measured.
US07996823B2
A mechanism to provide debugging and optimization in policy and knowledge controlled distributed computing system through the use of tagged policies is provided. An aspect of the mechanism tags one or more policies, for instance, at their creation time, execution time and/or at any other time an event that affects the policies occur. Decisions made according to policy execution or evaluation may be traced using the tags.
US07996822B2
A tracer object for tracing a user or process in a data processing system is provided. An application receives a tracer key containing a request for information to be traced. The received tracer key is checked against all tracer keys that the application has stored. If a match between two tracer keys is found, the stored tracer key maps the tracer key containing the request to the stored tracer key's associated tracer object and applies the conditions and modifiers contained in the tracer key containing the request to the tracer object. The tracer object then gathers the required information as requested.
US07996815B2
A test tool infrastructure comprising: a test tool interface for generating a test tool module, the test tool interface including: a variable declaration input to create a variable declaration block of the test tool module, the variable declaration block user can declare fixed string variables, random integer variables and random string variables; a preparation input to create a preparation block of the test tool module, the preparation block including processes executed once for the entire program; an initial input to create an initial block of the test tool module, the initial block including processes executed once for each client specified in the initial block; a loop input to create loop block of the test tool module, the loop block including processes executed a number of times specified in an iteration command; a cleanup input to create a cleanup block of the test tool module, the cleanup block including clean-up processes executed once for each client; and a terminate input to create a terminate preparation block of the test tool module, the terminate preparation block including clean-up processes executed once for the entire program.
US07996810B2
A computer system for designing a low leakage monotonic CMOS logic circuit. The system performing the computer implements steps of: (a) specifying a reference PFET having its threshold voltage and its gate dielectric thickness and a reference NFET having its threshold voltage and its gate dielectric thickness; (b) synthesizing a schematic circuit design with standard design elements, the standard design elements including one or more reference PFETS and one or more reference NFETs; (c) analyzing one or more circuits for logic stages having predominantly high input logic states or predominantly low input logic states; (d) selecting one or more logic stages determined to have predominantly high input logic states or predominantly low input logic states; and (e) replacing the standard design elements of the selected logic stages with reduced current leakage elements.
US07996808B2
A computer readable medium, system and associated method is provided for designing an integrated circuit with inserted loops. The method comprises the steps of inserting a loop with tagged wire segments and/or vias in a fully routed and DCR clean integrated circuit; performing a DRC; and fixing DRC violations by removing tagged wire segments and/or vias which contribute to a violation.
US07996807B2
Disclosed are embodiments of a clock generation circuit, a design structure for the circuit and an associated method that provide deskewing functions and that further provide precise timing for both testing and functional operations. Specifically, the embodiments incorporate a deskewer circuit that is capable of receiving waveform signals from both an external waveform generator and an internal waveform generator. The external waveform generator can generate and supply to the deskewer circuit a pair of waveform signals for functional operations. The internal waveform generator can be uniquely configured with control logic and counter logic for generating and supplying a pair of waveform signals to the deskewer circuit for any one of built-in self-test (BIST) operations, macro-test operations, other test operations or functional operations. The deskewer circuit can selectively gate an input clock signal with the waveform signals from either the external or internal waveform generator in order to generate the required output clock signal.
US07996801B2
Methods and systems for on-the-fly chip verification method for tracking non-contiguous events. A method includes comparing a first search marker associated with a first check vector to a search key associated with an output vector of a design under test (DUT). The method also includes performing either: verifying a validity of the output vector when the first search marker equals the search key, or comparing a second search marker associated with a second check vector to the search key when the first search marker does not equal the search key.
US07996797B1
A method for designing a system on a target device includes entering the system. The system is synthesized. The system is mapped. The system is placed on the target device. The system is routed. Physical synthesis is performed on the system immediately after more than one of the entering, synthesizing, mapping, placing and routing procedures.
US07996795B2
A method, a computer medium storing computer instructions performing a method, and a computer with processor and memory perform stress modeling as follows. The stress model transforms a representation of a material conversion of a first material in the integrated circuit to a second material in the integrated circuit. Prior to the material conversion the first material occupies a first space having a first boundary. After the material conversion the first material and the second material together occupy a second space having a second boundary. The first space and the second space are different. The stress model performed by the computer system transforms the representation of the material conversion of the first material to the second material into: i) the first material occupying the first space having the first boundary, and ii) a strain displacement condition of the first material. The strain displacement condition is determined by a spatial change from the first boundary to the second boundary.
US07996792B2
A computer-implemented method for management of voicemail messages, performed at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display, includes: displaying a list of voicemail messages; detecting selection by a user of a respective voicemail message in the list; responding to the user selection of the respective voicemail message by initiating playback of the user-selected voicemail message; displaying a progress bar for the user-selected voicemail message, wherein the progress bar indicates the portion of the user-selected voicemail message that has been played; detecting movement of a finger of the user from a first position on the progress bar to a second position on the progress bar; and responding to the detection of the finger movement by restarting playback of the user-selected voicemail message at a position within the user-selected voicemail message corresponding substantially to the second position on the progress bar.
US07996769B2
A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with a disambiguation routine that is operable to disambiguate text input. In addition to identifying and outputting representations of language objects that are stored in the memory and that correspond with a text input, the device is able to perform a spell check routine during input of a text entry and to learn and automatically correct mistakes typically made by the particular user.
US07996746B2
A method for constructing a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code using a structured base parity check matrix with permutation matrix, pseudo-permutation matrix, or zero matrix as constituent sub-matrices; and expanding the structured base parity check matrix into an expanded parity check matrix. A method for constructing a LDPC code using a structured base parity check matrix H=[Hd|Hp], Hd is the data portion, and Hp is the parity portion of the parity check matrix; the parity portion of the structured base parity check matrix is such so that when expanded, an inverse of the parity portion of the expanded parity check matrix is sparse; and expanding the structured base parity check matrix into an expanded parity check matrix. A method for encoding variable sized data by using the expanded LDPC code; and applying shortening, puncturing.
US07996745B2
An error correction device is provided. Such error correction device may make use of an error correction code defined by a parity matrix specialized for the application to multilevel memories. For example, the parity matrix is characterized by having a Maximum Row Weight equal to 21.
US07996744B2
An approach is provided for efficient retransmissions by allocating a transmission resource for transmitting data and allocating a retransmission resource for retransmitting the data according to a transmission scheme that specifies relationship between the transmitted data and the retransmitted data for providing communication over a radio network.
US07996733B2
A data processing system employing identify indicators associated with various components of the system. The indicator may be activated whenever a corresponding component requires maintenance, field testing, installation, replacement, and the like. The user may specify global and local conditions under which an activated identify indicator is reset. After the indicator is activated, the system monitors for the satisfaction of one of the conditions. When one of the conditions is satisfied, the system deactivates the indicator automatically. The global conditions apply across logical partitions in a logically partitioned system thereby reducing the occurrence of stale identify indicators on all partitions.
US07996732B2
A program product is embedded in a media accessible by a computer operative to request a plurality of program tasks for wakeup so as to execute the plurality of program tasks in a predetermined schedule. The program product causes at least one of the computer and another computer to execute the instructions of measuring a delay period between a request of at least one of a plurality of program tasks and a wakeup thereof. The instructions include comparing the measured delay period with a predetermined first timeout value, thus determining whether at least one of the plurality of tasks is abnormally executed by the computer based on the comparison result.
US07996730B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for a customizable collector application, which automates multiple diagnostic techniques to obtain sets of diagnostic information. The collector application is easily customizable for use by different products, and may reduce the diagnostic information gathering to a single session. This includes gathering all of the required sets of information about a product problem, the hardware environment, the maintenance levels of the operating system environment, and the involved middleware, both local and distributed. In addition, the collector application has a reusable framework designed to have minor external customization for each product that requires its' service. The output of the collector application may be provided in a format, such as XML, that is viewable by another application, such as browser.
US07996729B2
A method and system for automatically generating a helpdesk ticket when a remote rendering device possesses a series of customer resolvable events within a time period. The helpdesk ticket can be moved into an active state when an alert associated with the customer resolvable events is triggered and the ticket can be moved into a passive state when the alert is no longer triggered for the predefined time period. The helpdesk ticket can be retained in the active state if the fault condition detected for a defined number of times without being out of that state for the predefined time period. A device management module sends a notification indicative on each change of the state associated with the rendering device to a helpdesk unit. The device management module can also reset the time period between alerts if the problem occurs infrequently and the ticket can be automatically closed.
US07996727B2
Methods and devices operate to apply and provide differing levels of error correction within a multi-level, non-volatile memory. In an example, the differing level of error correction is provided within one page of a row of multi-level cells relative to other pages stored within the same row of multi-level cells.
US07996722B2
Embodiments of the invention are associated with an application process that comprises multiple threads, wherein threads of the process are disposes to run on a data processing system, and each thread can have a user mode or a kernel mode machine state, or both, selectively, when it is running. An embodiment directed to a method comprises the steps of allocating a specified memory location for each of the threads, and responsive to a given thread entering a sleep state, selectively saving the kernel mode machine state of the given thread in the specified memory location for the given thread. The saved machine state comprises the state of the given thread immediately prior to the given thread entering the sleep state. In response to detecting a hang condition in the operation of the process, a debugger is attached to the process to access at least one of the saved user mode machine states. The method further includes analyzing information provided by the at least one accessed machine state to determine the cause of the hang condition, and restoring the original state upon detachment, so the debugger attachment is completely transparent to the target process.
US07996721B2
A method and system for a process monitor using a hardware communication format is described. The system includes a process monitor and a hardware device to send and/or receive messages in a hardware communication format to a management server. Hardware communication formatted messages are sent to a management server when an unexpected event occurs with the processes running on the system. The management server may respond with a command to perform an action on the system.
US07996718B1
Techniques for continuous data protection are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for reducing data protection system outages comprising polling a data protection client device, receiving a response from the data protection client device, parsing the response to determine whether restarting a data protection process is required, and restarting a data protection process on the data protection client device, if restarting the data protection process is required.
US07996713B2
A method performed by a primary server includes receiving integrity criteria and sending a health check request to a secondary server based on the received integrity criteria. The method also includes receiving integrity information from the secondary server and checking the integrity information against the integrity criteria. The method further includes initiating a non-compliance action if the integrity information does not comply with the integrity criteria.
US07996695B2
A circuit for reducing sleep state current leakage is described. The circuit includes a hardware unit selected from at least one of a latch, a flip-flop, a comparator, a multiplexer, or an adder. The hardware unit includes a first node. The hardware unit further includes a sleep enabled combinational logic coupled to the first node, wherein a value of the first node is preserved during a sleep state.
US07996692B2
The information processing apparatus equipped with a microprocessor is provided. The information processing apparatus equipped with a microprocessor includes: an operation clock signal generator that generates a frequency-variable operation clock signal supplied to the microprocessor; and a power supply voltage generator that determines a value of a power supply voltage to be supplied to the microprocessor according to a logarithm of a frequency of the operation clock signal and generates the power supply voltage.
US07996689B2
A system and method for power control for ASIC device is disclosed. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a system for adjusting power consumption of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) device. The system includes a first buffer that is configured to receive and store data. For example, the first buffer can be characterized by a first buffer level. The method also includes a controller configured to generate a control signal. According to an embodiment, the controller is coupled to the first buffer. The system additionally includes a power supply component, which is configured to receive the control signal and to provide at least at a first voltage and a second voltage. For example, the first voltage and the second voltage are different. The system further includes a processing unit coupled to the first buffer, the processing unit further being configured to receive the data from the first buffer and to process the data, the processing unit being electrically coupled to the power supply component.
US07996688B2
Disclosed are systems and methods which power-down (reduce power to or deactivate) circuits in an ultrasound system during periods in which an acoustic signal is not being acquired, although image processing and other system functions are continued normally. Such circuits may be powered-down between each of a series of acoustic signal acquire operations, such as between acoustic signal scan lines and/or between acoustic signal scan frames. The circuitry which is powered-down between scan lines and scan frames may not the same, although some circuitry may be common to both. Embodiments may further operate to adjust the acoustic signal dead time circuitry power-down cycle, such as by adjusting acoustic signal frame rates. Power-down techniques may be utilized in addressing power issues and/or in controlling thermal aspects of the operation of an ultrasound diagnostic system.
US07996684B2
A digital logic circuit comprises a programmable logic device and a programmable security circuit. The programmable security circuit stores a set of authorized configuration security keys. The programmable security circuit compares the authorized configuration security keys with an incoming configuration request, and selectively enables a new configuration for the programmable logic device in response to the configuration request. In another exemplary embodiment, a programmable security circuit also stores a set of authorized operation security keys. The programmable security circuit compares the authorized operation security keys with an incoming operation request from the programmable logic device, and selectively enables an operation within the programmable logic device in response to the operation request.
US07996673B2
A system for encrypting and decrypting messages using a browser in either a web or wireless device or secure message client software for transmission to or from a web server on the Internet connected to an email server or message server for the situation where the sender does not possess the credentials and public key of the recipients. The encryption and decryption is conducted using a standard web browser on a personal computer or a mini browser on a wireless device, or message client software on either a personal computer or wireless devices such that messages transmitted to the web or wireless browser or message client software can be completed and encrypted and signed by the user such that encrypted and signed data does not require credentials and public key of the recipients. A method for delivering and using private keys to ensure that such keys are destroyed after use is also provided. A method of transmitting encrypted messages to a web or wireless browser or message client and decrypting and verifying such messages by recipients who do not possess or who are not enrolled in a PKI and do not have private keys. A method for authenticating the sender/user of the browser, and a method for accessing or generating public and private keys for encrypting and decrypting messages for recipients who are not enrolled in a public key infrastructure.
US07996669B2
A computer platform (100) uses a tamper-proof component (120), or “trusted module”, of a computer platform in conjunction with software, preferably running within the tamper-proof component, that controls the uploading and usage of data on the platform as a generic dongle for that platform. Licensing checks can occur within a trusted environment (in other words, an environment which can be trusted to behave as the user expects); this can be enforced by integrity checking of the uploading and license-checking software. Metering records can be stored in the tamper-proof device and reported back to administrators as required. There can be an associated clearinghouse mechanism to enable registration and payment for data.
US07996666B2
There is provided a method for altering a sequence in which programs and content are loaded upon startup of an electronic device. A user may change the loading sequence by selecting a program or content before the loading sequence has finished. In addition, the altered loading sequence may be saved and utilized when the electronic device is powered on again. There is also provided a tangible, machine-readable medium for performing the described method. Finally, there is provided an electronic device having a memory device for storing a loading program that defines a loading sequence, a processor for loading programs and content based on the loading sequence, and a user interface for delivering user input to the loading program to alter the loading sequence.
US07996656B2
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a pipeline to execute instructions out-of-order, where the pipeline has front-end stages, execution units, and back-end stages, and the execution units are coupled between dispatch ports of the front-end stages and writeback ports of the back-end stages. Further, a reconfigurable logic is coupled between one of the dispatch ports and one of the writeback ports to perform specialized operations or handle instructions that are not part of an instruction set architecture (ISA) used by the pipeline. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07996653B2
In one embodiment, a node comprises a plurality of processor cores and a node controller configured to receive a first read operation addressing a first register. The node controller is configured to return a first value in response to the first read operation, dependent on which processor core transmitted the first read operation. In another embodiment, the node comprises the processor cores and the node controller. The node controller comprises a queue shared by the processor cores. The processor cores are configured to transmit communications at a maximum rate of one every N clock cycles, where N is an integer equal to a number of the processor cores. In still another embodiment, a node comprises the processor cores and a plurality of fuses shared by the processor cores. In some embodiments, the node components are integrated onto a single integrated circuit chip (e.g. a chip multiprocessor).
US07996651B2
An n-bit microprocessor device has an n-bit central processing unit (CPU); a plurality of special function registers and general purpose registers which are memory-mapped to a plurality of banks, with at least two 16-bit indirect memory address registers which are accessible by the CPU across all banks; a bank access unit for coupling the CPU with one of the plurality of banks; a data memory coupled with the CPU; and a program memory coupled with the CPU, wherein the indirect address registers are operable to access the data memory or program memory and wherein a bit in each of the indirect memory address registers indicates an access to the data memory or to the program memory.
US07996645B2
Data is written to a hard disk drive using shingled writing principles, i.e., each data track is partially overwritten when an immediately contiguous data track is written. One or more contiguous data tracks establish a band, and a band establishes a respective segment in a log-structured file system.
US07996634B2
Memory system with controller for managing management data and reverse flag for reversing write data
A semiconductor storage device includes a first nonvolatile memory to store user data of a file, a second nonvolatile memory to store management data of the file, the second nonvolatile memory being different in type from the first nonvolatile memory, and a controller to control read/write of data with respect to the first and second nonvolatile memories.
US07996624B2
In one embodiment, a processor comprises a prefetch unit coupled to a data cache. The prefetch unit is configured to concurrently maintain a plurality of separate, active prefetch streams. Each prefetch stream is either software initiated via execution by the processor of a dedicated prefetch instruction or hardware initiated via detection of a data cache miss by one or more load/store memory operations. The prefetch unit is further configured to generate prefetch requests responsive to the plurality of prefetch streams to prefetch data in to the data cache.
US07996622B1
In the event of a cache miss, data is written from main memory to the cache. To select a cache line to write the data to, cache lines in the cache that are not referenced during a certain interval are identified. One of the identified cache lines is selected and the data can be written to that cache line.
US07996616B2
Techniques and methods are used to control allocations to a higher level cache of cache lines displaced from a lower level cache. The allocations of the displaced cache lines are prevented for displaced cache lines that are determined to be redundant in the next level cache, whereby castouts are controlled. To such ends, a line is selected to be displaced in a lower level cache. Information associated with the selected line is identified which indicates that the selected line is present in a higher level cache. An allocation of the selected line in the higher level cache is prevented based on the identified information.
US07996603B2
A refresh controller transmits two refresh request signals of a first request signal which indicates a time at which a refresh operation of a DRAM may be performed and a second request signal which indicates a time at which a refresh operation of the DRAM must be performed, to an arbitrator. On the other hand, also transfer request signals each of which requests a data transfer are transmitted from plural data transfer parts, respectively, to the arbitrator. If no transfer request signal is input when a first request signal is input to the arbitrator, a refresh operation of the DRAM is performed. As a result, a refresh operation is performed when the crowding level of a bus is relatively low. This improves an efficiency in a data transfer.
US07996597B1
A device may include a group of requestors issuing requests, a memory that includes a set of memory banks, and a control block. The control block may receive a request from one of the requestors, where the request includes a first address. The control block may perform a logic operation on a high order bit and a low order bit of the first address to form a second address, identify one of the memory banks based on the second address, and send the request to the identified memory bank.
US07996591B2
A computing device that allows for a flexible allocation of bandwidth among peripheral devices using a peripheral bus is disclosed. The computing device includes a peripheral bus and at least two slots. The computing device may be used with a single peripheral card or multiple peripheral cards. In a multi-card configuration the invention allows the bandwidth on the peripheral bus to be shared by all the cards. In a single-card configuration, the computing device allows available bandwidth on the peripheral bus to be used by a single card. The device is particularly useful with PCI express compliant expansion cards, such as graphics adapters.
US07996590B2
A semiconductor memory module includes a memory module board having at least one semiconductor memory device. The semiconductor memory device includes a data input buffer that receives data and a first reference voltage via first and second input terminals, a command/address buffer that receives a command/address signal and a second reference voltage via first and second input terminals, and a first termination resistor unit connected to the first input terminal of the data input buffer. The semiconductor memory module further includes a second termination resistor unit located on the memory module board and connected to an internal command/address bus. The first termination resistor unit includes a first resistor connected between a first voltage source and the first input terminal of the data input buffer, and the second termination resistor unit includes a second resistor connected between a second voltage source and the first input terminal of the command/address input buffer.
US07996589B2
An interface is provided between a handwriting receiving panel and an auto complete process. A user writes onto the handwriting receiving panel which recognizes the handwritten text. The handwritten text is forwarded to the auto complete process which provides suggested content to the user based on the handwritten text. The user can select the suggested content for use with another application. Alternatively, the user may add additional information to the handwriting receiving panel to enable the auto complete process to provide more or different suggested content.
US07996587B2
A module with isolated analog inputs for a programmable controller, the module including plural input pathways that are each isolated with aid of at least one optical isolation static relay controlled selectively with the aid of a controller. The module further includes a multiplexer including plural channels each controlled to open or to close, a channel of the multiplexer being placed in series with an isolated input pathway of the module.
US07996586B2
A USB port transmitter includes a plurality of arbiters, each employing a distinct priority rule to select one USB transmission from among multiple scheduled USB transmissions based on their types. A selector selects one of the arbiters to select the one USB transmission from among the multiple scheduled USB transmissions. A programmable storage element controls the selector to select the one arbiter. In one embodiment, at least a first arbiter prioritizes header/data packets higher than link commands, and at least a second arbiter prioritizes link commands higher than header/data packets. In one embodiment, at least one arbiter prioritizes flow control and power management link commands higher than header/data packets. In one embodiment, at least a first of the arbiters prioritizes USB LGO_Ux link commands higher than USB LAU/LXU link commands, and at least a second arbiter prioritizes USB LAU/LXU link commands higher than USB LGO_Ux link commands.
US07996584B2
An HDMI cable carries high speed encoded data which are transmitted differentially over data channels, along with a clock. High-frequency loss and differential skew within a differential signal may be compensated by analog circuits embedded in the cable. These embedded circuits are tuned at production for best performance by observing the quality of the recovered analog signal. The embedded circuits are powered by a combination of power sources, both carried within the cable, and harvested from the high-speed signals themselves.
US07996580B2
A host device includes an electrical activity monitoring (EAM) module that is configured to monitor the electrical activity of a slave storage device interfaced with the host device. Responsive to the value of, or change in, the electric current fed to the slave storage device being at or near a certain level, or within a predetermined range, the EAM module notifies the host device that the slave storage device has pending service request(s) or information for the host device.
US07996572B2
Systems and methods of managing transactions provide for receiving a first flush command at a first I/O hub, wherein the first flush command is dedicated to non-posted transactions. One embodiment further provides for halting an inbound ordering queue of the first I/O hub with regard to non-posted transactions in response to the first flush command and flushing a non-posted transaction from an outgoing buffer of the first I/O hub to a second I/O hub while the inbound ordering queue is halted with regard to non-posted transactions.
US07996571B2
A system for implementing wireless control between apparatuses. In at least one scenario, an apparatus may, after an event (e.g., receiving wireless communication), create a wireless message based on the event, and may then send the wireless message to a peripheral apparatus. The peripheral apparatus may utilize some or all of the message data to formulate and display a user interface. Inputs (e.g., soft-coded or hardware based buttons) in the peripheral device may be actuated in accordance with the user interface, which may result in a response message being sent to the apparatus. The response message may, in turn, trigger functionality in the apparatus.
US07996569B2
Methods and systems for zero copy in a virtualized network environment are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include a plurality of GOSs that share a single NIC. The NIC may switch communication to a GOS to allow that GOS access to a network via the NIC. The NIC may offload, for example, OSI layer 3, 4, and/or 5 protocol operations from a host system and/or the GOSs. The data received from, or to be transmitted to, the network by the NIC may be copied directly between the NIC's buffer and a corresponding application buffer for one of the GOSs without copying the data to a TGOS. The NIC may access the GOS buffer via a virtual address, a buffer offset, or a physical address. The virtual address and the buffer offset may be translated to a physical address.
US07996560B2
A method is provided with which a name of a virtual port is not changed when virtualized storage is moved among switches. Information about a creator and a borrower of name information is added to a table including name information and address information of a virtual port of a name server managing the name information and the address information. The name information is provided to plural switches and managed. In addition, name information, which can be used commonly among name servers managing the name information and the address information is pooled in advance, and the name information of the virtual port is borrowed from there.
US07996553B2
The invention provides a solution for performing multicast for streaming transmission in a telecommunication system. An intermediate node is proposed which is able to connect the functionality of a broadcast/multicast server and of a streaming node. Further the intermediate node is responsible for the establishment of a bearer for multicast transmission. The establishment of a session is done by means of a translation the on-demand single-use signalling into multi-user push signalling. Furthermore an adaptation of the streaming flow for a whole multicast group or for individual subgroups of a multicast group is performed.
US07996549B2
A method for recording and real-time playback of presentation layer protocol data includes the step of intercepting, by a recorder, a presentation layer protocol data stream comprising a plurality of packets, during transmission of the presentation layer protocol data stream from a first device to a second device, the presentation layer protocol data stream representing display data. A distributor transmits a copy of at least one packet of the presentation layer protocol data stream. A protocol engine uses information associated with the at least one copied packet to regenerate the display data represented by the at least one copied packet. The steps of intercepting the presentation layer protocol data stream and of transmitting the copy of the at least one packet repeat until the first device completes transmission of the protocol data stream to the second device.
US07996544B2
The invention detects a denial of service attack at a node by monitoring the number of discarded packets in relationship to the number of inbound packets. When an attack is detected, relevant inbound packet information is collected during the attack to help characterize the attack and at least to pinpoint the source of the last hop to the attacked node.
US07996531B2
A routing method operative in a content delivery network (CDN) where the CDN includes a request routing mechanism for routing clients to subsets of edge servers within the CDN. According to the routing method, TCP connection data statistics are collected are edge servers located within a CDN region. The TCP connection data statistics are collected as connections are established between requesting clients and the CDN region and requests are serviced by those edge servers. Periodically, e.g., daily, the connection data statistics are provided from the edge servers in a region back to the request routing mechanism. The TCP connection data statistics are then used by the request routing mechanism in subsequent routing decisions and, in particular, in the map generation processes. Thus, for example, the TCP connection data may be used to determine whether a given quality of service is being obtained by routing requesting clients to the CDN region. If not, the request routing mechanism generates a map that directs requesting clients away from the CDN region for a given time period or until the quality of service improves.
US07996527B2
A system, method and apparatus for facilitating communication among a number of distributed clients in a distributed network is disclosed. A user, such as through a personal digital assistant device, may select one or more instant messages for transmission to one or more other users in the network. The instant messages may be sound instant message and/or text instant messages. During messaging, message status indicators provide users with the status of their respective messages. In one embodiment, the messages may be deemed to be either pending or received as distinguished by a pending status indicator and a received status indicator.
US07996526B2
Information from multiple sources can be communicated to a policy server. Based on that information, the policy server can determine allocation of bandwidth, transmission priority and/or other network resources based on preferences and/or service selections provided by a subscriber and communicate information about those determinations to other network elements for policy implementation. The information provided to a policy server for determining network resource allocation can include information about one or more applications executing at a customer equipment device, information about access network bandwidth usage, information about services for which one or more devices is authorized, and/or information about network conditions.
US07996525B2
In one embodiment the present invention includes a computer-implemented method comprising specifying configuration information for creating one or more software servers as images on a cloud computing system, specifying a processing load threshold, and continuously monitoring a processing load on one or more software servers. If the monitored load exceeds the processing load threshold, a request to the cloud computing system may be generated to instantiate an instance of one of said images. The method further includes creating a server instance on the cloud in response to the request, distributing the processing load across the one or more servers and the server instance, and monitoring the processing load on the one or more servers and the server instance.
US07996509B2
Mechanisms for performing zoning of devices, such as Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) devices, for example, in a storage area network (SAN) in which all host systems of the SAN are automatically mapped to all of the storage systems are provided. Mechanisms for automatically mapping backend storage enclosures to appropriate storage system controllers on the SAN are provided. The zoning is automatically performed based on whether ports/phys are coupled to host systems, storage systems, and whether there are storage system controllers associated with the storage systems. Based on the automatic zoning, mapping of the storage devices of the storage systems to the host systems may be automatically performed via zone permission tables. By automating the zoning, users that do not necessarily have a detailed knowledge of the storage device communication protocol or SANs may configure the SAN even if it utilizes a complex and large architecture.
US07996499B2
A Web service request is received that is constructed according to a first Web service technology and that targets an activation file constructed according to the first Web service technology. When the Web service request is received, it is modified to target an activation file constructed according to a second Web service technology. Binding properties associated with the Web service request and binding properties supported by a targeted Web service may also be identified. Binding properties for use in forwarding the Web service request to the Web service are then selected based upon the binding properties associated with the Web service request and the binding properties supported by the Web service. The Web service request is then forwarded to the Web service using a binding having the selected binding properties.
US07996485B2
A switch includes a reserved pool of buffers in a shared memory. The reserved pool of buffers is reserved for exclusive use by an egress port. The switch includes pool select logic which selects a free buffer from the reserved pool for storing data received from an ingress port to be forwarded to the egress port. The shared memory also includes a shared pool of buffers. The shared pool of buffers is shared by a plurality of egress ports. The pool select logic selects a free buffer in the shared pool upon detecting no free buffer in the reserved pool. The shared memory may also include a multicast pool of buffers. The multicast pool of buffers is shared by a plurality of egress ports. The pool select logic selects a free buffer in the multicast pool upon detecting an IP Multicast data packet received from an ingress port.
US07996482B1
A client playback architecture for a media content distribution system is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the client playback architecture is a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) based architecture. The RDMA based architecture enables the client playback device to obtain media content from a central server in real-time or in substantially real-time as the media content is needed for playback at the client playback device. More specifically, the playback device includes RDMA enabled playback circuitry operating to perform RDMA transfers for select media content, buffer the media content received as a result of the RDMA transfers, and provide the media content for presentation to one or more associated viewers via one or more audio/video interfaces.
US07996479B2
A method of controlling a system of monitoring messages in a network is described. A message sent by a user of the network to one or more recipients is received and a weight is applied to any text from any previous message that appears in the message. A measure of language content used in the message is formed and stored in one or more data stores. Information identifying the sender of the message is also stored. The stored measure of the language content and the stored information identifying the sender is reported to an administrator of the system.
US07996477B2
The subject application is directed to a system and method for document processing device operation monitoring. Operational data is first communicated between document processing devices on one of a plurality of networks, each network having an assigned audit server from among a plurality of audit servers. Operational data is received into each audit server from each document processing device in its associated network. The audit servers output operational data from each document processing device in a thin client language via attachment to an e-mail. A data server receives the e-mail from each audit server and parses the operational data from each received e-mail. The parsed data is then stored in a database associated with the data server. The data server then generates a device report in accordance with a query to the database.
US07996474B2
A method and system for placing, displaying and printing email strings in different chronological orders.
US07996473B2
A method, system and computer usable medium are disclosed for delivering an electronic message. A first computer is used to receive voice data from a user and to generate a message data file therefrom. A test is then conducted to determine whether a predetermined second computer is operably coupled to the communication network. If the result of the test indicates that the second computer is not coupled to the communication network, the message data file is forwarded to a predetermined storage location in an electronic messaging system. The message data file is subsequently retrieved from the predetermined storage location by the predetermined second computer and processed to comprise text data or voice mail data prior to forwarding to the predetermined storage location in the electronic messaging system.
US07996470B2
Systems and methods for handling email messages are described. Some embodiments are directed to determining whether an email message meets a predefined condition, and executing an action in an instant messaging (IM) system in response to determining that the email message meets the predefined condition. Other embodiments are directed to providing a programming interface, and storing inputs provided by a user at the programming interface. For those embodiments, the programming interface is adapted to receive user input in the form of a markup language. The inputs include a condition and an action. Yet other embodiments are directed to determining whether a digital message meets a predefined condition, and executing a filtering algorithm on the digital message in response to determining that the digital message does not meet the predefined condition. The digital message may be, for example, an email message or an IM message.
US07996457B2
A system and method of proxy domain name registration permits a would-be domain name registrant anonymity. A registrar affords customers the opportunity to use the proxy registration. If the customer seeking registration of a domain name requests, the registrar obtains contact information needed for registration from a proxy entity established for this purpose. The registrar completes the registration of the domain name with the appropriate registry (i.e. “.com, .net” etc.). The contact information published in WHOIS is that of proxy entity. Contractually the customer is afforded control over the domain name. Emails intended for the customer are received by the proxy entity who may filter them if the customer requests. Emails sent by the customer are sent to the proxy entity who in turn sends them to the indicated addressee.
US07996440B2
One or more classification algorithms are applied to at least one natural language document in order to extract both attributes and values of a given product. Supervised classification algorithms, semi-supervised classification algorithms, unsupervised classification algorithms or combinations of such classification algorithms may be employed for this purpose. The at least one natural language document may be obtained via a public communication network. Two or more attributes (or two or more values) thus identified may be merged to form one or more attribute phrases or value phrases. Once attributes and values have been extracted in this manner, association or linking operations may be performed to establish attribute-value pairs that are descriptive of the product. In a presently preferred embodiment, an (unsupervised) algorithm is used to generate seed attributes and values which can then support a supervised or semi-supervised classification algorithm.
US07996431B2
Systems, methods and computer program products for generating metadata and visualizing media content
The exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a method for generating metadata for media content that includes a digital media file and includes retrieving a media content subset from a media content source, saving the received media content subset at a computing system, and generating metadata by processing the media content using the computing system. The method further includes associating generated metadata with media content to facilitate the visualization and navigation of the media content, and adding the metadata to at least one metadata repository designed for efficient retrieval of metadata elements.
US07996429B2
Mechanisms to persist object relations are provided. A project is defined as a series of interrelated objects having dependencies and relationships with one another. The dependencies and relationships are maintained via a storage organization for files that define the objects within a project storage environment for the project. Thus, the dependencies and relationships are not maintained via hardcoded instructions or references that are included within the files.
US07996422B2
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for adaptive media playback based on destination. The method for adaptive media playback comprises determining one or more destinations, collecting media content that is relevant to or describes the one or more destinations, assembling the media content into a program, and outputting the program. In various embodiments, media content may be advertising, consumer-generated, based on real-time events, based on a schedule, or assembled to fit within an estimated available time. Media content may be assembled using an adaptation engine that selects a plurality of media segments that fit in the estimated available time, orders the plurality of media segments, alters at least one of the plurality of media segments to fit the estimated available time, if necessary, and creates a playlist of selected media content containing the plurality of media segments.
US07996416B2
Techniques for object relational mapping in database technologies are described herein. According to one embodiment, in response to a query statement for accessing a relational database, a syntax tree is generated to represent semantic information of the query statement, where the query statement includes a wildcard parameter and is implemented as an object of a SQL. A data type of the wildcard parameter is predicted based on the semantic information obtained from the syntax tree in view of a structure representing the syntax tree. The predicted data type of the wildcard parameter is used to access the corresponding entry of the relational database. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.
US07996397B2
A method and apparatus for using network traffic logs for search enhancement is disclosed. According to one embodiment, network usage is tracked by generating log files. These log files among other things indicate the frequency web pages are referenced and modified. These log files or information from these log files can then be used to improve document ranking, improve web crawling, determine tiers in a multi-tiered index, determine where to insert a document in a multi-tiered index, determine link weights, and update a search engine index.
US07996385B2
A method and apparatus for defining the scope of a search is described. In one embodiment, user input is received, and the scope is defined, based on the user input, for a search of free-form text for information from any random rows within a tabular structure of source data. In one embodiment, the search is intended for finding, in the free-form text, a sub-set of data fragments that matches information from any single row within the tabular structure of the source data.
US07996381B2
A system for collecting, managing and disseminating information relating to medical procedures includes a central computer and a plurality of medical devices each in communication with an injector, a scanner, a hospital system and/or at least one other device. Each medical device receives (I) before a procedure is performed, patient identification information from a user interface, the scanner and/or the hospital system and (II) during and/or after the procedure, injection information from the injector and imaging study information from the scanner. Each medical device has an associated database for storing as a record therein the patient identification information, the injection information and the imaging study information for each procedure performed on each patient. The central computer remotely links to each medical device for accessing, collecting and storing in a related database the records transmitted therefrom and for analyzing the records and creating therefrom at least one related entry based thereon.
US07996378B2
In accordance with the teachings described herein, systems and methods are provided for graphically distinguishing levels from a multidimensional database. Levels from a multidimensional database are distinguished, such as by associating two or more of database's levels with a plurality of different visual indicators.
US07996375B2
A computer-implemented method for delivering content is provided, including specifying a rule having a trigger and defining a content presentation action, and receiving a search query from a user. The method further includes generating a result set in response to the search query, identifying at least one characteristic of the result set, and comparing the at least one characteristic to the trigger. If the at least one characteristic satisfies the trigger, the content is presented as specified by the content presentation action that is defined by the rule. Other embodiments are also described.
US07996370B2
A method, apparatus, and program product restore database data having dependencies or ordering sensitivities, or that incorporates a database index. Unresolved dependencies are identified in response to an attempt to restore data in a computer. The data restoration is deferred and the data is cached when it has an unresolved dependency. After the dependency is resolved, the data restoration is completed. The unresolved dependency may be based-on data that must be restored or created prior to completing restoration. Deferred data is cached in memory and tracked in a deferred operation table. Data that is deferred may be accessed so long as operations that access the underlying based-on data are denied.
US07996368B1
A device list is created including one or more device objects, wherein each device object represents a physical device coupled to a computer system, wherein each device object includes one or more device attributes of the physical device. The device list is indexed into using a device attribute.
US07996367B2
The exchange of documents for execution can be performed efficiently using an automated system that routes and stores documents based on routing information. Routing may be accomplished with reminders for individuals of deadline for responding. After execution is confirmed, an executed copy may be forwarded to all parties and desired non-parties. If execution or approval is desired from a plurality of individuals, documents received from each of the plurality of individuals can be merged into a single, fully executed document if the approval/signatures are obtained simultaneously. Search capability for identifying data regarding the document, text within the document, or both may also be provided.
US07996363B2
A method and apparatus for applying changes to a standby database in real-time. According to one aspect, a change is applied to data contained in a standby database. The standby database functions as a replica of a primary database. The primary database has a current online redo log file to which a particular redo block was written. According to one aspect, prior to the archiving of the current online redo log file, the particular redo block is received at a process associated with the standby database. A change indicated by the particular redo block is applied to the data contained in the standby database.
US07996348B2
Memory architecture provides capabilities for high performance content search. The architecture creates an innovative memory that can be programmed with content search rules which are used by the memory to evaluate presented content for matching with the programmed rules. When the content being searched matches any of the rules programmed in the Programmable Intelligent Search Memory (PRISM) action(s) associated with the matched rule(s) are taken. Content search rules comprise of regular expressions which are converted to finite state automata (FSA) and then programmed in PRISM for evaluating content with the search rules. PRISM architecture comprises of a plurality of programmable PRISM Memory clusters (PMC) which comprise of a plurality of programmable PRISM Search Engines (PSE). Groups of PMCs can be programmed with the same rules and used in parallel to apply these rules to multiple data streams simultaneously to achieve increased performance. PMC groups provide 10 Gbps performance with 10 PMC groups enabling 100 Gbps content search and security performance.
US07996343B2
Described is using semi-Riemannian geometry in supervised learning to learn a discriminant subspace for classification, e.g., labeled samples are used to learn the geometry of a semi-Riemannian submanifold. For a given sample, the K nearest classes of that sample are determined, along with the nearest samples that are in other classes, and the nearest samples in that sample's same class. The distances between these samples are computed, and used in computing a metric matrix. The metric matrix is used to compute a projection matrix that corresponds to the discriminant subspace. In online classification, as a new sample is received, it is projected into a feature space by use of the projection matrix and classified accordingly.
US07996342B2
Systems, methods and computer program products for supervised dimensionality reduction. Exemplary embodiments include a method including receiving an input in the form of a data matrix X of size N×D, wherein N is a number of samples, D is a dimensionality, a vector Y of size N×1, hidden variables U of a number K, a data type of the matrix X and the vector Y, and a trade-off constant alpha; selecting loss functions in the form of Lx(X,UV) and Ly(Y,UW) appropriate for the type of data in the matrix X and the vector Y, where U, V and W are matrices, selecting corresponding sets of update rules RU, RV and RW for updating the matrices U,V and W, learning U, V and W that provide a minimum total loss L(U,V,W)=Lx(X,UV)+alpha*Ly(Y,UW), and returning matrices U, V and W.
US07996329B1
Profit optimization methods and systems for a supply chain are described. An implementation of the technique includes determining the initial cost of components required to manufacture a product, dynamically determining the cost for substitution of at least one product component, dynamically determining the location of at least one substitute component, and manufacturing the product for the lowest cost based on the results of the cost of substitution and substitute component location determinations. At least one of the cost of substitute components and the component locations may be determined at or near the time of manufacture.
US07996315B1
When the deposit of a negotiable instrument, such as a check, is done electronically by using a digital image of the negotiable instrument rather than the negotiable instrument itself, during the process, at least two negotiable instruments may exist: the physical negotiable instrument and the digital image of the negotiable instrument. To change the physical negotiable instrument to a non-negotiable instrument, a bank or other financial institution may send a transmission to modify the appearance of the negotiable instrument, thus effectively “voiding” the physical negotiable instrument. The negotiable instrument may have various inks or mechanisms that facilitate the modification of the appearance through the application of a stimulus, such as heat or light. The financial institution may cause the application of the stimulus to modify the appearance of the negotiable instrument.
US07996314B1
When the deposit of a negotiable instrument, such as a check, is done electronically by using a digital image of the negotiable instrument rather than the negotiable instrument itself, during the process, at least two negotiable instruments may exist: the physical negotiable instrument and the digital image of the negotiable instrument. To change the physical negotiable instrument to a non-negotiable instrument, a bank or other financial institution may send a transmission to modify the appearance of the negotiable instrument, thus effectively “voiding” the physical negotiable instrument. The negotiable instrument may have various inks or mechanisms that facilitate the modification of the appearance through the application of a stimulus, such as heat or light. The financial institution may cause the application of the stimulus to modify the appearance of the negotiable instrument.
US07996310B1
A computing system facilitating electronic bill presentment and payment features for authorized users via a user interface is introduced including an analysis engine. The analysis engine, in response to user interaction with the user interface, selectively performs user-defined analysis on at least a subset of retrieved billing information associated with one or more billers. The analysis engine further generates one or more user-defined report(s) based, at least in part, on the user-defined analysis.
US07996304B1
Embodiments consistent with the present invention provide a credit enhancement structure for risk allocation between parties that minimizes the regulatory capital reserve requirement impact to an institution subject to capital reserve requirement. A subject pool of assets held by the institution, such as a pool of loans, is rated to determine its risk levels. Based on the rated risk levels, a guarantor party agrees to be responsible for a portion of the risk associated with the pool of assets, which may define the maximum risk exposure of the institution holding the asset pool. The risk-rated capital reserve requirements are applied to the asset pool based on the risk level rating and the guarantor's agreed upon risk responsibility such that the institution holds a reduced amount of reserve capital compared to what it would otherwise be required to hold.
US07996302B2
A system and method for factoring in a trader's trading activity into the margin requirements is disclosed. In the securities arena, day traders are assessed different margins than non-day-traders, however, the specific profile of the trader is analyzed (that is, the same rule applies to all day traders).
US07996295B1
Data structures for transferring catalog and system order information between a manufacturer and a customer are shown. The data structures are configured to allow custom systems to be automatically ordered. These data structures advantageously allow a manufacturer and customer to electronically order systems, and specifically, non-commodity systems, quickly and easily.
US07996294B1
Disclosed are systems and methods for financial planning. The systems and methods communicate with a customer and provide a financial planning service for use with at least one financial planning product by collecting data from a customer using a structured data collection form which is dynamically modified based on the financial product selected, the data provided by the customer, and data relating to the customer that is retrieved from a database.
US07996275B2
Disclosure includes selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants, enabling a trial mode for the merchant, during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant, forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant, allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant, requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order.
US07996261B1
In one aspect, the invention comprises a system for enabling a crossing system operator to calculate a rebate payment to a second participant for executing the block order of a first participant based on at least one of: (a) a difference between a benchmark price and an execution price of the block order; (b) total volume of block execution; and (c) an amount that decays exponentially with the time between the first participant's order and the order's execution by a liquidity provider.
US07996258B2
A computer system and a method as a part of the registration and/or inspection system of a state or other jurisdiction results in the assignment of a vehicle identification code to each vehicle and notification to the registrant to take the vehicle to an inspection/installation facility wherein a GPS receiver and transmitter are either installed, updated or checked for operability on a regular basis, such as yearly. Each registered vehicle in a state or other jurisdiction, as a result of the regular registration process or as the result of a temporary registration process when the vehicle enters the state temporarily, has a GPS receiver and transmitter transmit in real time location data of the vehicle via a wireless communication system such a WiFi, cellular, satellite or other system to an electronic storage subsystem which stores for each vehicle identification code the location data and time in real time and maintains it for a predetermined period of time, such as twelve months. This data may be accessed by authorized users for various purposes including law enforcement, emergency responses and/or roadway planning studies and the like. The data may also be used in settlement of negligence or criminal complaints. An alarm detection system detects either the loss of signal or a tampering signal transmitted to the state computer system.
US07996257B2
Mechanisms for collecting, calculating, and reporting quantifiable peer feedback on relative contributions of team members are provided. Team members may quantifiably evaluate other team members or work group members relative to each other by allocating points from a point pool to each member according to the team member's subjective evaluation. Various types of processing on the quantitative valuations of the team members' relative contributions to a project may be performed to weight the quantitative valuations due to particular criteria, provide relative evaluation calculations between team members' quantitative valuations, report generation, providing action plan suggestions for aiding a team member in increasing his/her relative valuation on future projects, and the like.
US07996256B1
Mathematical models for predicting shopper traffic at a shopper region useful for developing inter alia a metric for measuring impressions to in-store advertising.
US07996247B1
A method and apparatus for determining the amount of premium, policies, or quotations needed to improve market share in various geographic locations based on user selected criteria. The method comprises calculating a total estimated expenditure on insurance by zip code, an estimated market share for an insurance provider by zip code, a year-to-date sale-to-quote ratio by zip code, and finally the amount of premiums, policies, or quotations needed to achieve a market share in a zip code. The method and apparatus will also display or output demographic data, market data, insurance provider information, and calculated amounts of premiums, policies, or quotations needed to achieve a market share in a given zip code.
US07996243B1
A system and method facilitate alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions, such that each of the plurality of prescriptions requires a refill on the same date, thus limiting the number of occasions on which a customer must visit the pharmacy to retrieve refills of the aligned prescriptions, and increasing the likelihood that the customer will comply with the prescribed medication regimen. The system and method facilitate the alignment of the refill dates while complying with one or more rules governing the adjudication of the prescriptions.
US07996240B2
In a method and a system for determination of at least one additional examination process in the framework of a medical examination of a patient using a knowledge base, the knowledge base contains a number of rules, and each rule contains a condition from which a result can be derived. An item of patient-related information is automatically registered and used to output the examination-specific result.
US07996237B2
An aspect of the present invention provides collaboration services to business applications and such a service is provided by a mediator and a collaboration application. The collaboration service offers a user of the business application the ability to collaborate with other users of the business application or one or more responders such that any collaboration that occurs between the user and the responder is correlated to the business application and to the corresponding actions performed by the user with respect to the business application, thus maintaining the context of the collaboration. Another aspect of the present invention provides a collaboration service wherein the user of the business application is provided with at least part of a history of collaboration that occurred between the user and one or more responders.
US07996235B2
A method for acquiring marketing information from a marketing call center. The method involves a setting of a marketing information trigger based on a pre-determined event corresponding to at least one of a vehicle and an in-vehicle telematics unit, and an initiation of a call to the marketing call center to acquire the marketing information in response to an occurrence of the pre-determined event.
US07996232B2
Systems and methods for voice activated commands in a digital home communication terminal are disclosed. One example method includes storing a program audio signal corresponding to a program tuned by the digital home communication terminal. The method also includes storing an incoming audio signal carrying speech and removing from the incoming audio signal a portion of the incoming audio signal that corresponds to the program audio signal, this producing an improved version of the incoming audio signal. The method also includes selecting one of a plurality of voice-activated commands that corresponds to the improved version of the incoming audio signal, and performing a function corresponding to the selected voice-activated command.
US07996231B2
A barrier operator system, such as a garage door operator system, includes one or more remote control units, such as an inside remote control unit, an external wall mounted remote control unit and portable vehicle disposed remote control units which include speech recognition modules for recognizing spoken command signals to open or close a garage door or energize or de-energize lighting associated with the garage. The speech recognition modules are operably connected to interface or microcontroller circuits for operating a radio frequency transmitter for sending signals to operate lighting, and/or the barrier operator to move a barrier between open and closed positions, and possibly perform other functions.
US07996229B2
The present invention discloses a system and method for creating, editing, and posting a BLOG or a WIKI using a telephone. In the invention, a voice-based, real-time telephone communication can be established between a user and a voice response system. User speech can be received over the communication. The user speech can be speech-to-text converted to produce text. The text can be added to a BLOG or a WIKI, which can be posted to a server. The telephone communication can be terminated. The newly posted BLOG or WIKI can be served by the server to clients.
US07996227B2
There is disclosed a system and method for interpreting and describing graphic images. In an embodiment, the method of inserting a description of an image into an audio recording includes: interpreting an image and producing a word description of the image including at least one image keyword; parsing an audio recording into a plurality of audio clips, and producing a transcription of each audio clip, each audio clip transcription including at least one audio keyword; calculating a similarity distance between the at least one image keyword and the at least one audio keyword of each audio clip; and selecting the audio clip transcription having a shortest similarity distance to the at least one image keyword as a location to insert the word description of the image. The word description of the image can then be appended to the selected audio clip to produce an augmented audio recording including the interpreted word description of the image.
US07996224B2
Systems and methods relate to generating a language model for use in, for example, a spoken dialog system or some other application. The method comprises building a class-based language model, generating at least one sequence network and replacing class labels in the class-based language model with the at least one sequence network. In this manner, placeholders or tokens associated with classes can be inserted into the models at training time and word/phone networks can be built based on meta-data information at test time. Finally, the placeholder token can be replaced with the word/phone networks at run time to improve recognition of difficult words such as proper names.
US07996223B2
A system and method may be disclosed for facilitating the conversion of dictation into usable and formatted documents by providing a method of post processing speech recognition output. In particular, the post processing system may be configured to implement rewrite rules and process raw speech recognition output or other raw data according to those rewrite rules. The application of the rewrite rules may format and/or normalize the raw speech recognition output into formatted or finalized documents and reports. The system may thereby reduce or eliminate the need for post processing by transcriptionists or dictation authors.
US07996222B2
A contour for a syllable (or other speech segment) in a voice undergoing conversion is transformed. The transform of that contour is then used to identify one or more source syllable transforms in a codebook. Information regarding the context and/or linguistic features of the contour being converted can also be compared to similar information in the codebook when identifying an appropriate source transform. Once a codebook source transform is selected, an inverse transformation is performed on a corresponding codebook target transform to yield an output contour. The corresponding codebook target transform represents a target voice version of the same syllable represented by the selected codebook source transform. The output contour may be further processed to improve conversion quality.
US07996217B2
An apparatus for processing adaptive codebook pitch lag from one CELP based standard to another CELP based standard. The apparatus has various modules that perform at least the functionality described herein. The apparatus includes a time-base subframe checker inspection module, which is adapted to associate one or more incoming subframes with an outgoing subframes of a destination codec. The apparatus also has a decision module coupled to the time-base subframe inspection module. The decision module is adapted to determine a desired pitch lag parameter from a plurality of pitch lag parameters among respective two or more incoming subframes. The apparatus has a pitch lag selection module coupled to the decision module. The pitch lag selection module is adapted to select the desired pitch lag parameter.
US07996213B2
A similarity degree estimation method is performed by two processes. In a first process, an inter-band correlation matrix is created from spectral data of an input voice such that the spectral data are divided into a plurality of discrete bands which are separated from each other with spaces therebetween along a frequency axis, a plurality of envelope components of the spectral data are obtained from the plurality of the discrete bands, and elements of the inter-band correlation matrix are correlation values between the respective envelope components of the input voice. In a second process, a degree of similarity is calculated between a pair of input voices to be compared with each other by using respective inter-band correlation matrices obtained for the pair of the input voices through the inter-band correlation matrix creation process.
US07996210B2
A method for determining a sentiment associated with an entity includes inputting a plurality of texts associated with the entity, labeling seed words in the plurality of texts as positive or negative, determining a score estimate for the plurality of words based on the labeling, re-enumerating paths of the plurality of words and determining a number of sentiment alternations, determining a final score for the plurality of words using only paths whose number of alternations is within a threshold, converting the final scores to corresponding z-scores for each of the plurality of words, and outputting the sentiment associated with the entity.
US07996209B2
A method of generating and detecting confusing phones/syllables is disclosed. The method includes a generating stage and a detecting stage. The generating stage includes: (a) input a Mandarin utterance; (b) partition the Mandarin utterance into segmented phones/syllables and generate the most likely route in a recognition net via Forced Alignment of Viterbi decoding; (c) compare the segmented phones/syllables with a Mandarin acoustic model; (d) determine whether a confusing phone/syllable exists; (e) add the confusing phone/syllable into the recognition net and repeat step (b), (c), and (d) when the confusing phone/syllable exists; (f) stop and output all generated confusing phones/syllables to a confusing phone/syllable file when a confusing phone/syllable does not exist. The detecting stage includes: (g) input a spoken sentence; (h) align the spoken sentence with the recognition net; (i) determine the most likely route of the spoken sentence; and (j) compare the most likely route of the spoken sentence with the target route of the spoken sentence to detect pronunciation error and give high-level pronunciation suggestions.
US07996207B2
A multilingual bidirectional domain name is produced by receiving a domain name having characters from at least two character sets with different display orders with just one direction of reading; breaking domain name into labels delimited by a full stop punctuation marks, the labels having an original label display order as encountered from left to right; within a label, resolving display directions of indeterminate display order characters by assigning a strong reading direction left-to-right display order to each indeterminate display order character; subsequently, reordering the characters within each of the labels into a display order using the fully resolved characters while preserving the original label display order and wherein bidirectionality of characters within each label is produced, so that produced the multilingual bidirectional domain name contains at least two different directions of reading across the entire converted address; and, displaying the multilingual bidirectional domain name on a computer display.
US07996200B2
A method for transaction-based abstraction allows a comprehensive test plan to be automatically generated for a hardware design, where the test plan comprises a set of coverage points derived based on a signal classification created using transaction-based analysis to identify the architecturally-visible state of the design, using heuristic techniques to identify finite-state machines (FSMs) in a design that processes transactions, from which transaction boundaries can be identified, and wherein signals are classified based on the abstracted design as either transient, temporary, or persistent for use in developing the test plan.
US07996199B2
A method for performing an oilfield operation at a wellsite having a drilling rig configured to advance a drilling tool into a subsurface formation. The method includes generating a borehole temperature model for an area of interest using water depth information and a vertical stress model, generating a formation temperature model using the borehole temperature model, generating a mud-weight pressure model using the formation temperature model and pressure coefficients, generating a formation pore pressure model using the mud-weight pressure model, and adjusting the oilfield operation based on the formation pore pressure model.
US07996184B2
Errors of a measuring system are corrected by acquiring the phases of transmission tracking errors. A network analyzer includes a measuring system error factor recording unit which records measuring system error factors generated independently of frequency conversion carried out by a DUT, and an error factor acquiring unit which measures first coefficients and second coefficients of a correction mixer where a signal output from a terminal is a sum of a product of a signal input to the terminal and the first coefficient, and a product of a signal input to the other terminal and the second coefficient, and the ratio of magnitudes of the second coefficients is constant, and acquires the transmission tracking errors caused by the frequency conversion based on the measuring system error factors recorded in the measuring system error factor recording unit, the first coefficients, and the second coefficients.
US07996182B2
A water heater is provided with monitor/diagnostic display apparatus that selectively provides a user with visual or other type of indicia of the overall efficiency of the water heater. The apparatus includes a monitoring unit that may be mounted on the water heater, and a display unit that may be mounted either on the water heater or remotely therefrom.
US07996179B2
A method of measuring pose of mobile robot, and method and apparatus for measuring for measuring position of mobile robot using the same are provided. The apparatus for measuring the pose of a mobile robot includes an accelerometer measuring acceleration of the mobile robot in a forward direction, a uniform-motion-determining unit determining whether the mobile robot belongs to a uniform motion section, an acceleration section, or a deceleration section, and a pose-calculating unit calculating a pitch and a roll of the mobile robot in the uniform motion section, using the relationship between the measured acceleration in the forward direction and the acceleration due to gravity.
US07996174B2
A disk drive testing system includes at least one robotic arm defining a first axis substantially normal to a floor surface. The robotic arm is operable to rotate through a predetermined arc about and extend radially from the first axis. Multiple racks are arranged around the robotic arm for servicing by the robotic arm. Each rack houses multiple test slots that are each configured to receive a disk drive transporter configured to carry a disk drive for testing.
US07996171B2
A method and apparatus provides high-accuracy measurements of an electrical parameter across a broad range of parameter input values. In one embodiment, an intelligent electronic device (IED), e.g., a digital electrical power and energy meter, with a plurality of independently-adjustable gain factors measures a parameter, and calculates and stores calibration factors associated with known values of the measured parameter. The IED or meter applies the stored calibration factors when measuring unknown values of the measured parameter, to improve the accuracy of the measurement.
US07996169B2
The invention related to a method and circuit that is used to compensate for S-parameters of a passive circuit which do not satisfy passivity. The method includes the following steps: (1) getting S-parameters which do not satisfy passivity, these S-parameters being composed of an S-parameter matrix S; (2) computing matrix [S×S′], wherein matrix S′ is a complex conjugate transposed matrix of the S-parameter matrix S; (3) computing the eigenvalues of the matrix [S×S′], and choosing an eigenvalue Ψ whose real part real(Ψ) is the biggest; (4) computing a compensating value ξ, the compensating value ξ being equal to real(Ψ)1/2×(1+ε), wherein the ε is a very small positive number; and (5) dividing each of the S-parameters by the compensating value ξ to get the compensated S-parameters.
US07996167B2
An apparatus for estimating resistance characteristics of a battery includes a data storing manager for obtaining and storing battery voltage, current and temperature data of a battery, whenever estimating a battery resistance characteristic; an open circuit voltage calculator for calculating battery open circuit voltage from a battery voltage variation pattern measured at the present and in the past; a weighted mean resistance calculator for calculating a battery resistance parameter from a battery current and a difference between the battery open circuit voltage and a battery voltage, and calculating a weighted mean resistance from battery resistance parameters calculated at the present and in the past; a weighted mean resistance convergence calculator for calculating a weighed mean resistance convergence value by repeatedly calculating a weighted mean sequence using the weighted mean resistance as an initial condition; and a resistance characteristic estimator for estimating a battery resistance from the weighted mean resistance convergence value.
US07996165B2
A portable measurement device and method for measuring a parameter value of a battery. The measurement device connects a large resistive load to a battery being tested. The load is connected to the battery through a first set of kelvin connected clamps and a switch. A microprocessor measures open and closed circuit voltages via a second set of kelvin connected jaws. The microprocessor determines voltage drop curve data based on the measure open and closed circuit voltages. The microprocessor compares the voltage drop curve data to voltage drop profile data for a particular parameter to determine the parameter value for the battery.
US07996156B2
Structure-activity methods based on molecular descriptors that are a combination of structural information about the through-space and through-bond relationships between components of a molecule's structure and spectral data attributable to those components are disclosed. In some embodiments, a molecule is described by multiple sets of such descriptors to account for flexibility in the structure of the molecule. In a particularly disclosed embodiment, predicted 13C—13C COSY data and 13C—13C distance data are used as descriptors. Models of molecular properties may be established using the disclosed spectral data-activity methods and used to predict the properties of molecules.
US07996151B2
Provided is a navigation device which appropriately notifies a user of information. When traffic information and feature information are acquired, the traffic information and the feature information are associated with an ID number in accordance with time information and a type contained in the traffic information and the feature information to generate guidance having a single data structure. Calculated based on the time information of the guidance is an elapsed time up to a current time counted by a timer. Regarding the guidance having exceeded a predetermined time period, an icon A of such guidance is displayed in a display pattern different from the guidance not having exceeded the predetermined time period, where the icon A is displayed with higher transparency like an icon A1 or A2. Accordingly, the user can easily recognize the reliability of the traffic information and the feature information. The information is thus appropriately notified to the user.
US07996144B2
The invention relates to a method for the open-loop control of an internal combustion engine, which is operated with a fuel blend of an initial and at least one second fuel, the internal combustion engine having a fuel metering system, a tank fill-level gauge for determining the tank content and a change in the tank content, a sensor for the detection of the cylinder charge for determining an air mass supplied to the internal combustion engine and at least one exhaust gas probe for determining and controlling the oxygen content in the exhaust gas in a closed-loop. According to the invention, two methods, which are independent from each other, are used for determining the composition of the fuel blend.
US07996143B2
An evaporated fuel gas concentration learning section A8 renews an evaporated fuel gas concentration learning value based on a feedback correction amount FAF. An estimated purge rate calculating section A9 estimates, a flow of an evaporated fuel gas introduced into a combustion chamber based on a flow KP of an evaporated fuel gas passing through a purge control valve in consideration of a transportation delay time duration and a behavior of the evaporated fuel gas. An instructed injection amount determining section A10 calculates a purge correction amount based on the evaporated fuel gas concentration learning value and the estimated purge flow. An evaporated fuel gas purge stop timing adjusting section A11, at a purge control valve closing instruction timing, corrects the feedback correction amount to a base value and corrects the evaporated fuel gas concentration learning value so as to add, to the purge correction amount, an amount corresponding to an correction amount to correct the base injection amount provided by the feedback correction amount at a timing immediately before the feedback correction amount is corrected to the base value.
US07996139B2
During a starting operation or a low-speed drive of a vehicle on a slope, the drive control of the invention sets a gradient-corresponding rotation speed Nθ as a rotation speed of an engine to output a required driving force against a longitudinal vehicle gradient θfr (step S110), and sequentially sets a low-μ-road correction rotation speed Nlow upon identification of a low-μ-road drive condition, a vehicle speed difference-compensating rotation speed Nv based on a vehicle speed V, and a brake-based correction rotation speed Nb based on a brake pressure Pb (steps S120 through S250). The drive control sets a target engine rotation speed Ne* based on these settings (step S260) and subsequently sets a target throttle opening THtag (step S270). The operation of the engine is controlled with the greater between the target throttle opening THtag and a required throttle opening THreq corresponding to an accelerator opening Acc (step S290). This arrangement effectively prevents an unexpected slide-down of the vehicle along the slope.
US07996135B2
The present invention provides a starter capable of keeping a state where a pinion and a ring gear maintain meshing with each other when an engine stops without providing a plunger stopper using a solenoid or the like. The state where the pinion and the ring gear maintain meshing with each other in the engine stop mode continues by movement resistance which occurs when a torque transmission member moves. Concretely, an inclination angle of a helical spline in a helical spline engagement part is set so that the above state continues. The helical spline engagement part is a part where a helical spline on the outer periphery of an output shaft of a starter motor and a helical spline on the inner periphery of the torque transmission member mesh with each. Consequently, the above state continues without a plunger stopper using a solenoid or the like.
US07996133B2
An algorithm that is part of a collision preparation system that provides selective and limited vehicle braking to avoid undesirable intrusive high-G braking while still giving the system adequate time to activate collision mitigation devices on the vehicle before impact with an object. If a predicted time to collision between the vehicle and the object is less than a required time to collision, which is determined by how much time is necessary for a certain collision mitigation device to be activated, the algorithm calculates a time dilation deceleration. The system causes the vehicle to automatically brake to decelerate the vehicle at the time dilation deceleration until the time dilation deceleration reaches a predetermined decelerating threshold so that more time is available for the collision preparation system to determine whether to activate the collision mitigation device.
US07996123B2
A control unit and a method for influencing the speed of an engine and the slip of a downstream clutch of a transmission of a ship's propulsion system via an electronic control unit in response to a manual control-signal generator to select the sense of rotation and the driving speed, wherein, as the clutch is engaged to initiate forward or reverse driving, a slip determination unit of the electronic control unit influences the slip of the clutch in response to a ramp function characteristic to reduce the clutch's slip during an engagement period.
US07996116B2
A method of monitoring voltage stability within an electrical power system comprises the steps of establishing a dynamic power system stability margin based on an operating characteristic of the power system; indicating that the power system has become unstable when the dynamic power system stability margin falls below a predetermined value; and initiating dynamic load shedding and/or restoration depending on stability margin.
US07996114B2
A workpiece picking device and method for reducing the cycle time of a picking operation of workpieces, by omitting or reducing the movement of a robot manipulator when an image of the workpieces is captured. An image processor of the picking device includes a camera controlling part for reading image data from a camera, a memory for storing the image data, a workpiece detecting part for extracting one or more images from the memory and detecting one or more workpieces in the image, and a workpiece selecting part for selecting a workpiece to be picked among the workpieces detected by the workpiece detecting part. The image processor further includes a stacked condition judging part for determining whether the condition of the stacked workpieces in a container is changed.
US07996104B2
A method and control system are provided for controlling a modular conveyor system, which may be networked together with other such systems in order to implement a control strategy for a modular conveyor system. The control system comprises a communications port for interconnection of the control system with a network for sending outgoing addressed data to other devices on the address-based network and for receiving incoming addressed data from other devices. The control system further comprises a logic system, which may receive a signal from an object sensor and provide a control signal or output adapted to control activation of a motorized roller assembly, based on an input signal from the object sensor or the communications port. The logic system may provide for single step operation whereby system troubleshooting may be facilitated, and in addition may provide situation aware and output value source selection functionality.
US07996102B2
A method for monitoring a manufacturing process features acquiring metrology data for semiconductor wafers at the conclusion of a final process step for the manufacturing process (“Step a”). Data is acquired for a plurality of process variables for a first process step for manufacturing semiconductor wafers (“Step b”). A first mathematical model of the first process step is created based on the metrology data and the acquired data for the plurality of process variables for the first process step (“Step c”). Steps b and c are repeated for at least a second process step for manufacturing the semiconductor wafers (“Step d”). An nth mathematical model is created based on the metrology data and the data for the plurality of process variables for each of the n process steps ('Step e“). A top level mathematical model is created based on the metrology data and the models created by steps c, d and e (”Step f'). The top level mathematical model of Step f is based on those process variables that have a substantial effect on the metrology data.
US07996089B2
Apparatus for producing a dorsiflexion of the foot of a patient comprises a combined sensing and stimulation electrode device having neurosense and stimulation electrode means capable of sensing a nerve signal from a peripheral nerve and stimulating peripheral motor nerve fibers. The neurosense and stimulation electrode means are implantable above the knee of a patient. Means for receiving and processing the sensed nerve signals are provided to identify a signal indicative of the timing of hell strike and heel lift of the patient and for producing a control signal in response thereto. Means for operating said neurosense and stimulation electrode means in response to the control signal to produce stimulation of the peripheral motor nerve fibers are also provided.
US07996087B2
Systems including an implantable receiver-stimulator and an implantable controller-transmitter are used for leadless electrical stimulation of body tissues. Cardiac pacing and arrhythmia control is accomplished with one or more implantable receiver-stimulators and an external or implantable controller-transmitter. Systems are implanted by testing external or implantable devices at different tissue sites, observing physiologic and device responses, and selecting sites with preferred performance for implanting the systems. In these systems, a controller-transmitter is activated at a remote tissue location to transmit/deliver acoustic energy through the body to a receiver-stimulator at a target tissue location. The receiver-stimulator converts the acoustic energy to electrical energy for electrical stimulation of the body tissue. The tissue locations(s) can be optimized by moving either or both of the controller-transmitter and the receiver-stimulator to determine the best patient and device responses.
US07996086B2
A method for operating a cardiac pacemaker in which the mode of operation of the pacemaker is altered in response to detecting an episode of atrial tachycardia. In accordance with the invention, the pacemaker's pacing mode is altered in a manner that attempts to maintain hemodynamic stability during the atrial tachycardia. Such a mode switch is particularly applicable to pacemaker patients suffering from some degree of congestive heart failure.
US07996085B2
In a system for sensing electrical signals within a living body, and specifically for tracking location of an object in the body using impedance measurements, an isolation circuit maintains isolation between the pacing and position sensing circuits, even while the heart is being paced.
US07996083B2
An implantable pacemaker is provided with a far-field sensing channel which requires a reduced refractory period during the time when pacing pulses are delivered as compared with sensing channels using intra-cardiac electrodes. The far-field sensing channel may use the conductive housing of the implantable device or can and an indifferent electrode mounted on the device header as the electrodes for its differential inputs. Such a far-field sensing channel is able to sense activity occurring in either the atria or the ventricles for the purposes of arrhythmia detection and/or capture verification.
US07996071B2
Cardiac methods and devices that separate signals using at least two composite signals acquired at least at two input impedances. A target source impedance may be selected, and a cardiac signal may be separated from composite signals using the selected target source impedance. Medical systems include a cardiac device having a housing that provides amplification circuitry configured to have a first amplifier input impedance and a second amplifier input impedance, such as using two separate circuits or switching between two input impedances. One or more electrode assemblies are coupled to the amplification circuitry. A signal processor is provided in the housing configured to separate a source signal using a first composite signal detected at the first input impedance and a second composite signal detected at the second input impedance. The phase response of the first input amplifier circuit is about equal to that of the second input amplifier circuit.
US07996069B2
A spectroscope includes first and second beam redirectors in optical communication with first and second fibers respectively. The first and second beam redirectors are oriented to illuminate respective first and second areas. The second area is separated from the first area by a separation distance that exceeds the separation distance between the first and second beam redirectors.
US07996068B2
Devices and methods for use in detecting an optical signal, such as from a fluorescent agent, and converting it to a visible signal are provided. Aspects of the devices include a first light source that emits light onto a region of interest such as a body tissue, body fluid, or agent such as a fluorescent agent introduced into the body; a detector for detecting light emitted or reflected from the region of interest; and a visible light source that emits visible light onto the region of interest, where the color or intensity of the visible light is selected based on the amount of light at one or more wavelengths detected by the detector. Devices and methods of the invention find use in a variety of applications, such as in applications in which it is desired to identify an anatomical structure during surgery, without the need to eliminate ambient light.
US07996063B2
A system and method for a medical intervention procedure within a cardiac chamber having an imaging system to obtain image data of the cardiac chamber and to create a 3D model from that image data, an interventional system to register the 3D model with a real-time image of the cardiac chamber and to display the 3D model, and an interventional tool positioned in the cardiac chamber to be displayed upon the interventional system and to be navigated in real-time over the registered 3D model. Preferably, the method and system also includes a storage medium to store the 3D model and wherein the interventional system receives the stored 3D model to register with the real-time image of the cardiac chamber.
US07996052B2
A flexible circuit board for an electronic apparatus includes a first connecting part and a second connecting part. The first connecting part has a first connecting terminal electrically connected to the first electronic module of the electronic apparatus. The second connecting part has a second connecting terminal electrically connected to the second electronic module of the electronic apparatus. The first connecting part and the second connecting part are not parallel.
US07996049B2
Methods and apparatus implementing spatial processing in a remote unit. In general, in one aspect, a remote unit in accordance with the invention includes a spatial processing unit to process signals received by a plurality of antennas.
US07996046B2
A notification charm for a wireless communication device and a method of operating the wireless device to provide an alert on the charm are presented. The charm may be a bracelet, watch, keychain, ring, or other ornamental device which can generate event and preference based alerts about events occurring on a wireless device.
US07996043B2
A method includes receiving a text message and identifying address card information within the message. A reduced version of the message is displayed by replacing the address card information of the message with an address card indicia. The receiving, identifying and displaying steps are performed by an electronic communication device.
US07996042B2
A mobile communication terminal and for providing call-forwarding information are disclosed. The method includes transmitting a registration message or an origination message including user identity information to a network and receiving call-forwarding information of a corresponding subscriber included in an ACK message, thereby providing call-forwarding information interworked with the network and the mobile communication terminal. Accordingly, a user of the mobile communication terminal can precisely recognize accurate call-forwarding information in real time.
US07996024B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for delivery of SMS messages are disclosed. According to one method, first routing data for delivery of an SMS message to a mobile terminal is received at a network element. Second routing data is transmitted from the network element in response to receiving the first routing data. An SMS message having the second routing data is received at the network element. The second routing data is converted at the network element to the first routing data for delivery of the SMS message to a mobile terminal. The network element uses the first and second routing data to correlate a request for the first routing data with receipt of the SMS message. The network element compares an SMSC address in the request for the first routing data with an SMSC address in the SMS message to detect the presence of address spoofing.
US07996012B2
A method and telecommunications node for implementing Tandem-Free Operation (TFO) between a pair of TFO partners in a telecommunications network. At call setup, a TFO negotiation is performed between the partners. Thereafter, if TFO is interrupted in at least one direction, state information and synchronization of the sending and/or receiving partner is maintained in the interrupted direction. An interruption may occur, for example, if a tone or announcement is to be sent. At the end of the interruption, sending and receiving of TFO frames is resumed with the same phase that was present before the interruption.
US07996011B2
Data is transmitted through a plurality of types of communication networks to a mobile communication terminal while a handover of the mobile communication terminal is handled. A communication control apparatus 10 is adapted to control data communication to a cell phone 50 connectable to a plurality of types of communication networks, and is composed of a detecting unit 12 for detecting a connection status of the cell phone 50 in each mobile communication network; an assigning unit 13 for assigning data addressed to the cell phone 50, to each mobile communication network to which the cell phone 50 is connected, based on a volume of the data addressed to the cell phone 50 and the detected connection status; a transmitting unit 15 for transmitting the data assigned to each mobile communication network, to the each mobile communication network; and a handover processing unit 14 for performing a handover process in the plurality of types of mobile communication networks, based on the detected connection status.
US07996008B2
A mobile communications terminal divides a plurality of multipath signals associated with radio signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations using an S-CCPCH into groups by base station, i.e., by transmit source, maximum-ratio-combines a plurality of multipath signals associated with each same base station which is a transmit source into a composite signal, decodes the composite signal, and selects a composite signal having a good decoded result from among decoded composite signals.
US07996000B1
A network device, system, and method are directed towards enabling a determination for page size tailoring of content based, in part, on estimating of effects of processes applicable to preparing the content for use on a specified mobile device. Before performing the processes on the content, an estimation of the effects of the configuring processes may be determined. If the estimated content size is determined to be too large for the specified mobile device's memory footprint, page tailoring techniques may be applied to the content. Such page tailoring techniques may include stretching the content across a plurality of files, discarding a portion of the content, reducing portions of the content, or the like. Various processes may then be applied to the content to configure it for use on the specified mobile device.
US07995999B2
Methods and systems are provided for delivering travel related information with an intelligent network. One method embodiment includes establishing a communication with the intelligent network through an access device, determining a location of the access device, and obtaining the travel-related information with the access device through the intelligent network, wherein the travel-related information includes data related to a location of the access device. Additional system and computer-readable media embodiments of the present methods and systems are also provided.
US07995997B2
A computer-readable medium, device and system for responding to a request for a geographically-based service are provided. A request for a geographically-based service is received. The received request indicates that a geographical position of a target node and a radius associated with a maximum distance from the geographical position is requested. A requesting service message is formatted that is associated with a higher-layer protocol and includes an indicator indicating that the geographical position of the target node and the radius is requested. The requesting service message is merged in a first header of a requesting datagram which is sent to the target node. A reply datagram is received from the target node and a reply position message component is extracted from the received reply datagram. A reply position message component is extracted from a second header of the received reply datagram. The first geographical position of the target node and the radius from the extracted reply position message component is determined. A response to the received request is provided based on the determined radius and the determined geographical position.
US07995996B2
A method and system for providing targeted advertisement information to consumers over a wireless communications network. In one embodiment, local advertisers register to advertise on certain wireless communications devices that are in close proximity to the advertiser. As a consumer enters a cell site that is near the location of the advertiser, the wireless network delivers a message to the wireless device that is specified by the local advertiser. An acknowledgement signal is then received by the network, and the local advertiser's account is charged for transmission of the advertisement. In a further embodiment, each of the messages stored in the database is also associated with one or more demographic codes, and users of wireless communications device select from one more demographic codes to describer their advertisement preferences. Messages to be transmitted to particular wireless communications devices are selected based upon both the location information and the demographics codes that are associated with the messages.
US07995995B2
An individual's identity is verifiable using voice biometrics. A voice biometric system includes a receiver configured to receive, from a remote communications device, a voice biometric sample of a party attempting to obtain a service from a remote system. The service is provided contingent on authentication of the party as the individual. The voice biometric system also includes a processor configured to compare the voice biometric sample received by the receiver to voice biometric information obtained from a storage to authenticate the identity of the party as the individual. The receiver and processor are provided within a communications network.
US07995994B2
A method of preventing theft of service in a communication system that includes a first wireless communication system and a second wireless communication system that includes a Femtocell access point (FAP) and a network controller that can communicatively couple the FAP to the first wireless communication system. The method creates an authorized session that includes a session identify for a first user equipment (UE). The UE is recognized by the first communication as an authorized UE to use the FAP. The method rejects a request by the FAP to register a second UE when the identity of the second UE does not match any identity in the set of first UE identities. The rejected request includes the session identity of the authorized session and the identity of the second UE. The second UE is not recognized by the first communication system as an authorized UE to use the FAP.
US07995993B1
The present invention comprises a system and method for providing a distributed wireless network. In a preferred embodiment, at least one information processor is coupled to and accessible over a communication network, such as the internet. Network bandwidth is provided to a first user of at least two end users for a first fee and to a second user of the at least two end users for a second fee. The bandwidth is provided by at least one network service provider. Further, at least two wireless gateway devices are each respectively operated by the end users, and the wireless gateway devices are configured to provide wireless access to the communication network within a transmission range and to communicate with the at one least information processor. Also, at least two wireless receiving devices are provided that are operable to receive the respective bandwidth from the at least two wireless gateway devices when in transmission range. Preferably, the first user is authorized to use the second bandwidth and the second user is authorized to use the first bandwidth via the wireless devices. Thus a system and method of sharing bandwidth is provided.
US07995991B2
An apparatus for allowing a telecommunication service provider to manage the risk that a subscriber will not pay their bill for use of the provider's telecommunication system comprising interface means, operating within a digital computer, for communicating information relating to a particular subscriber, said interface means includes a first portion for communicating information relating to said particular subscriber with a payment records database and a second portion for receiving a call information record for each call involving said particular subscriber, said call information record derived from information compiled by a switching center that is capable of establishing connections between a plurality of pairs of telecommunication devices and simultaneously maintaining such connections; credit means, operating within said digital computer, for using said first portion of said interface to obtain a billing and payment history for said particular subscriber, for using said billing and payment history to establish a credit limit for said particular subscriber; analysis means, operating within said digital computer, for receiving each of said call information record for said particular subscriber from said second portion of said interface means and using said call information record to compare call usage of said particular subscriber call to said credit limit for said particular subscriber; and output means, operating within said digital computer, for outputting an indication to the telecommunication service provider that said particular subscriber has exceeded said credit limit for said particular subscriber.
US07995989B2
Disclosed are methods and apparatus to control the actions of a user terminal (UT) located at a remote location, possibly far from a gateway (GW), which has an interface to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and/or to the Internet. The methods and apparatus provide for operation of a mobile satellite communication system having at least one gateway (GW), at least one user terminal (UT), and a constellation of satellites. The methods and apparatus allow access to the communication satellites by specifying an exclusion zone having a confidence limit (CL) associated therewith. The methods and apparatus selectively provide service to a UT depending on a determined location of the UT relative to the exclusion zone and on an estimated error (E) of the determined UT location, wherein location of the UT is determined by the UT, and transmitted to the GW, or location of the UT is determined by the GW.
US07995982B2
The present invention aims to efficiently calibrate the characteristics of a pair of reception or transmission low-pass filters by a receiving or transmitting circuit. A semiconductor integrated circuit includes an RF receiver that processes an RF reception signal, an RF transmitter that generates an RF transmission signal and a frequency synthesizer. A reception low-pass filter of the RF receiver suppresses undesired components contained in I and Q baseband reception signals. A transmission low-pass filter of the RF transmitter suppresses noise due to D/A conversion, which is contained in I and Q transmission analog baseband signals. A calibration test signal is supplied to the inputs of the pair of reception or transmission low-pass filters. A difference in phase between the pair of filters is detected by a phase detection unit. A calibration controller calibrates a relative mismatch between the cut-off frequencies of the pair of filters.
US07995981B2
In one embodiment, a method is provided. An in-band calibration tone is generated at a frequency of an undesired interfering signal. A receiver is calibrated using the calibration tone to reject image interference caused by the undesired interfering signal.
US07995975B2
A method and apparatus taught herein reduce the peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of a complex-valued signal based on detecting peaks in the signal that are above a peak threshold, characterizing the detected peaks in Cartesian coordinates, generating cancellation pulses in Cartesian coordinates based on the detected peak characterizations. PAR reduction processing continues with canceling the detected peaks by combining the cancellation pulses with a correspondingly delayed version of the signal. Advantageously, peak detection may be performed in polar form using a computationally efficient peak detection algorithm that avoids calculation of the I and Q peak waveforms unless a signal peak beyond a defined threshold is present. In one or more embodiments, the generation and use of asymmetric and/or shaped cancellation pulses offers further performance advantages.
US07995974B2
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for revoking a talk burst, which includes: entering a pending release state by a talk burst after a client having the talk burst releases the talk burst initiatively; monitoring a duration of the talk burst in the pending release state; and revoking the talk burst when the duration of the talk burst in the pending release state exceeds a preset duration. An embodiment also discloses an apparatus for revoking a talk burst. By applying certain embodiments of the present invention, after a client initiatively releases a talk burst so that the talk burst enters a pending release state, the talk burst can be revoked in time and the waiting time of the client is saved.
US07995971B2
Methods and systems for clocking FM transmit, FM receive and near field communication functions using DDFS are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include generating a Bluetooth signal that may comprise, for example, I and Q components, or Bluetooth local oscillator (LO) signals, for use in Bluetooth communication. One of the two Bluetooth LO signals may then be used by a DDFS to generate I and Q LO signals for FM reception and/or transmission. One of the I and Q LO signals for FM communication may be used by another DDFS to generate at least one LO signal for near field communication (NFC) transmission and/or reception. While the Bluetooth LO signal may vary in frequency as Bluetooth frequency hopping occurs, the FM LO signals may remain constant for a specific channel frequency. Similarly, while the FM LO signals may be changed to tune to different FM channels, the NFC LO signals may remain at a constant frequency.
US07995970B2
A wireless transceiver includes an antenna, a filter, a radio frequency (RF) signal processing circuit, a shared amplifying circuit, a first switch circuit, a second switch circuit, a sending power amplifier, and a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch. The filter is connected between the antenna and the SPDT switch. The RF signal processing circuit outputs a first control signal when the antenna is utilized to send RF signals, and outputs a second control signal when the antenna is utilized to receive RF signals. The first switch circuit is connected between the shared amplifying circuit and the sending power amplifier, and switches on according to the first control signal. The second switch circuit is connected between the shared amplifying circuit and the SPDT switch, and switches on according to the second control signal. The SPDT switch selectively connects the filter to the sending power amplifier or the second switch circuit.
US07995968B2
The absolute total isotropic sensitivity is determined for a communication device receiver circuit that is within a scattered field chamber (SFC) and is receiving communications from a base station simulator. Movement of a mode stirrer device within the SFC is controlled to sequentially move the mode stirrer device to a plurality of different static positions. The different static positions of the mode stirrer device are configured to differently mix polarizations of incident RF fields in the SFC. At each of a plurality of the different static positions of the mode stirrer device, the transmission power level from the base station simulator is varied through a plurality of different transmission power levels. At each of a plurality of the transmission power levels, a bit error rate and a received signal strength at which the communication device receives the communications from the base station simulator are measured. The absolute total isotropic sensitivity of the communication device receiver circuit is determined in response to the measured bit error rate, the measured received signal strength, and the associated transmission power levels.
US07995962B2
A sheet post-processing apparatus (1) includes a first stapler (4) and a second stapler (5) for stapling the stack of sheets on a stack tray (61), a first moving frame member (10) on which the first stapler (4) is mounted rotatably, a second moving frame member (11) on which the second stapler (5) is mounted, a rotating member (20) rotatably mounted on the first moving frame member (10), the rotating member (20) so held in engagement with the first moving frame member (10) as to move linearly the first moving frame member (10) by rotation of the rotating member (20), and also rotating the first stapler (4) by rotation of the rotating member (20), and a single drive power source (16) for driving the rotating member (20).
US07995958B2
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit fixing a toner image onto a sheet. The fixing unit includes a heating member having a sheet conveyed region that is set in accordance with the size of the sheet. The fixing unit further includes a coil generating magnetic field, a fixed core forming a magnetic path, movable cores forming a magnetic path together with the fixed core and arranged along the sheet conveyed region, a shielding member arranged on at least one movable core and shielding magnetism, and a magnetism adjustment unit rotating at least one movable core to switch the position of the shielding member between a shielding position where the shielding member is positioned inside the sheet conveyed region to shield the magnetism and a retracted position where the shielding member is positioned outside the sheet conveyed region to permit pass of the magnetism.
US07995956B2
A developer system and method for an electrographic printer is provided that provides a variable rate of developer flow to the photoconductor drum of the printer. The system includes a magnetic brush having a magnetic core surrounded by a toning shell that rotatably conveys a layer of developer to the photoconductor element; a sump containing a reservoir of developer, and a variable speed conveyor roller.
US07995955B2
In order to provide an image forming apparatus capable of maintaining the image quality by making smooth flowability of a surplus developer, which is discharged according to supply of a new developer (toner and carrier), toward a collection box, there are provided a stirring screw that electrify toner by stirring the toner together with a carrier; a casing that supports the stirring screw and stores a developer in which the toner and the carrier are mixed; a inlet used to supply the developer to the casing; a guide that guides the surplus developer discharged from the casing downward; and a reciprocating member that moves on a flow surface of the guide along which the surplus developer flows.
US07995949B2
A powder conveyance device is disclosed that enables plural powder conveyance paths to be easily and reliably attached and detached. The powder conveyance device includes a first housing including a first powder conveyance path, and a second housing including a second powder conveyance path, the first housing and the second housing being detachably attached to each other. A projection portion is provided in the first housing, the projection portion having a hole in communication with the first powder conveyance path, and a hole portion is provided in the second housing, the hole portion being in communication with the second powder conveyance path. When attaching the first housing to or detaching the first housing from the second housing, the projection portion is inserted into or drawn out of the hole portion.
US07995947B2
The invention provides a charging device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a fax machine, a printer or the like, the charging device including: a gold-plated discharge wire for charging an image carrier such as a photoconductive member or the like; and a cleaning member, having an abrasive, for cleaning the discharge wire, with the gold plating being maintained over time satisfactorily, and provides a process cartridge having this charging device. The cleaning member has an abrasive containing alumina and/or silicon, the grain size of which ranges from #6000 to #8000. The discharge wire is a tungsten wire on which a plating film is formed by gold plating, such that the thickness of the plating film is not smaller than 1.5 μm, and the diameter of the tungsten wire is not smaller than 30 μm.
US07995945B2
There is displayed, in a display section, a photocopy processing setting screen having a setting information display area to display information indicating various setting particulars of photocopy processing, a button display area to display various icons indicating the setting particulars of the photocopy processing, and a graphic to associate each setting particular displayed in the setting information display area with each icon to set the setting particular displayed in the setting information display area among the icons displayed in the button display area.
US07995940B2
A printing apparatus has a substantially shiny photoreceptor imaging surface, and a photosensor array disposed to receive specularly-reflected light from the imaging surface. A quantity of toner is placed on the imaging surface, and data is derived based on light reflected from the imaging surface. The reflected light is filtered to a color effectively complementary to the toner color. The system avoids noise caused by diffusely-reflected light from powdered toner.
US07995939B2
The present disclosure relates to a method, system and apparatus for calibrating an image forming device using a toner patch sensor which emits and detects light in at a given wavelength. A plurality of toner patches may be deposited onto a control surface, wherein the toner patches include a first toner patch including a first toner, a second toner patch including the first toner deposited over a second toner, and a third toner patch including the second toner. Signals indicative of the reflectivity of the plurality of toner patches and the control surface may be measured by emitting light of a given wavelength in the infrared spectrum and detecting the amount of incident light reflected from said plurality of toner patches and said control surface. The signals indicative of reflectivity may then be used to adjust operating parameters of the image forming device which may then control toner mass density.
US07995932B2
A printing apparatus, printing method and storage medium therefor for executing a plurality of trial printings. The apparatus includes a printing unit, a setting unit to set a printing condition, an inputting unit to input image data, first and second controlling units, and first and second accepting units. The first controlling unit controls the printing unit to execute first trial printing according to the inputted image data and the set printing condition. The first accepting unit accepts a changing instruction for changing the printing condition. The second accepting unit accepts an execution instruction for executing a second trial printing, and the second controlling unit controls the printing unit to execute the second trial printing according to the inputted image data and the changed printing condition. In a case where the first accepting unit does not accept the changing instruction, the second accepting unit cannot accept the executing instruction.
US07995929B2
An optical data receiver comprises an optical input for receiving optical data signals, an optical sputter for splitting the optical signals into first and second receiver arms, an optical filter in the first receiver arm, means for increasing an intensity ratio of optical signal strength in the first receiver arm to optical signal strength in the second receiver arm, means for adjusting a phase difference between the first and second receiver arms, and an optical coupler for coupling outputs of the first and second receiver arms to a photodetector. The receiver of the present invention selectively filters a carrier component of received optical data signals, adjusts the relative strength of the carrier component and the received signal and then recombines them. In this way efficient optical transmission can be achieved with direct detection at the receiver, without the need for a complex receiver design including a local oscillator.
US07995926B2
A scan acquisition technique for acquiring terminals (62, 64) that does not rely on precise alignment between a sensor (66, 70) and a transmitter (68, 72) associated with the terminals (62, 64). The terminals (62, 64) separate uncertainty regions (76, 78) into a plurality of sections (88, 90). Scan beams (82, 84) include encoded information of what section (88, 90) the scan beam (82, 84) is currently scanning. Each terminal (62, 64) will eventually receive the scan beam (82, 84) of the other terminal (62, 64). When it does, it will encode its scan beam (82, 84) with both the outgoing code and the return code for that section (88, 90), so that when it's scan beam (82, 84) is received by the other terminal (62, 64), that terminal (62, 64) will know what scan section (88, 90) the other terminal (62, 64) is located.
US07995922B2
A WDM system is used to transfer bytes of data between keyboard, display and camera portions of a hand held device. The data signals are converted into light wavelengths via lasers or LEDs of differing wavelengths and transported over an optical fiber cable. Mems devices help direct the wavelengths to the optical cable and mems devices may be used at the receiving end. The receiver illustratively has a photodiode array to receive the different wavelengths and produce electronic signals. Optical filters and micro-ring resonators may be employed.
US07995920B2
Optical network terminal (ONT) power failure management. A system for permitting a customer of a telecommunication company, for whom fiber to the premises (FTTP) has been installed, to control operating features associated with operation of a battery backup unit (BBU) which is used, during power failure, for powering the ONT associated with the FTTP installation and the customer's telephone(s). The controlling of these features includes utilization of signal-controlled switches, which are manually over-rideable by the customer, thereby providing the desired operating feature control.
US07995919B2
An optical intensity control system for use with an optical switch providing individual signal paths between input and output ports. The system has a optical splitters connectable to output multiplexers of the switch and also has variable optical intensity controllers (VOICs) for insertion into the individual signal paths. The VOICs individually control the intensity of optical signals present in the signal paths in accordance with intensity control signals. An equalizer is connected to the splitters and to the VOICs, for producing an estimate of the optical power of each individual switched optical signal and generating the intensity control signals. The equalizer is adapted to controllably isolate individual switched optical signals. In this way, individual and independent control of the power on each optical channel is provided, wavelength-dependent losses introduced by all the devices in the switch including the WDM devices at the output of the switch are accounted for and one optical coupler is required for each output optical fiber. Coarse equalization may be provided for each multiplexed optical signal either at the switch input or output, permitting a reduction in the dynamic range over which the VOICs inside the switch are required to operate.
US07995908B2
An exemplary image stabilizing camera system includes a fixed body having a first receiving cavity therein, a movable unit received in the first receiving cavity, a pivot member located between the fixed body and the movable unit, a motion sensor, and a driving module. The pivot member is engagingly received in and between the fixed body and the movable unit. The motion sensor is disposed on the fixed body and configured for detecting a movement of the image stabilizing camera system. The driving module is configured for driving the movable unit to rotate around the pivot member to compensate a movement of the image stabilizing camera system based on the motion detection result of the motion sensor.
US07995905B2
The invention relates to a method and system for producing steam in a heating unit, and a method of designing a heating unit for producing steam. The method relates to receiving a liquid including impurities at a predetermine flow rate within an entry port of a monotube in the heating unit, where the monotube has a lumen of a predetermined size. The received liquid is converted into a two phase flow including turbulent and laminar flow. At least the turbulent flow is passed through the lumen at a velocity sufficient to carry the impurities through an exit port of the monotube and produce steam. The velocity of the turbulent is responsive to at least the predetermined flow rate and predetermined size of the lumen.
US07995904B2
A method is described for trick mode playback, the method including selecting a key-frame in a recording substantially in the vicinity of a trick mode playback starting position, preparing a decryption key associated with a key period including the selected key-frame, sending the prepared decryption key to a descrambler, thereby enabling decryption of video beginning at the selected key-frame, sending a first number P seconds of decrypted video frames, starting at the selected key-frame, at a predetermined speed for a predetermined number of seconds, to a video decoder, in parallel to the sending P seconds of video frames, choosing at least a second video section to stream to the video decoder, sending a decryption key associated with the chosen second video section to the descrambler, and repeating the steps of selecting, preparing, sending the prepared decryption key, and sending a first number P seconds of decrypted video frames. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
US07995900B2
A method of presenting auxiliary data for an interactive recording medium is disclosed. In an interactive recording medium reproducing apparatus that reproduces A/V data and contents data recorded on an interactive recording medium and contents data provided by a contents providing server, the contents data provided by the contents providing server is presented appropriately according to the attributes of the contents data by using attribute information for the contents data.
US07995899B2
Control of audio/video equipment is provided by an apparatus constructed like a computer, with audio and video subsystems. The audio subsystem includes a programmable analog mixer and several analog and digital multiplexers to route and mix multiple inputs to multiple outputs. Databases are stored in computer mass storage to record preferences for playback of digital versatile discs, compact discs and audio files stored in the mass storage device, such as MP3 files. The playback preferences may include video output format, language, surround sound mode, etc. for DVDs and surround sound effects for CDs and audio files.
US07995891B2
An arrangement includes a photonic band-gap assembly comprising at least one input wave guide and at least one output wave guides, and at least one routing element responsive to signals to selectively route a signal from the input wave guide to one or more of the output wave guides.
US07995889B2
An optical transmission fiber comprises a central core having an index difference Δn1 with an outer optical cladding; a first inner cladding having an index difference Δn2 with the outer cladding; and a second buried inner cladding having an index difference Δn3 with the outer cladding of less than −3·10−3. The second buried inner cladding moreover contains Germanium in a weight concentration of between 0.5% and 7%. The fiber shows reduced bending and microbending losses whilst exhibiting the optical performances of a standard single-mode fiber (SSMF).
US07995881B2
An opto-electric hybrid module capable of reducing the propagation loss of light beams, and a manufacturing method thereof. An opto-electric hybrid module in which a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element are mounted on the front surface side of an electric circuit board E, and an optical waveguide W1 is bonded to the back surface side thereof. The optical waveguide W1 includes a core having opposite end portions formed as light reflection portions. Portions of the core near the opposite end portions are formed as extensions extending from the light reflection portions toward the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element. The extensions and are positioned in through holes for light propagation formed in the electric circuit board E, and have distal end surfaces and in face-to-face relationship with a light-emitting portion of the light-emitting element and a light-receiving portion of the light-receiving element, respectively.
US07995880B2
Optical path converting member, multilayer print circuit board, and device for optical communication
A device for optical communication including a conductor circuit and an insulating layer formed and laminated, an optical circuit and an optical path for transmitting an optical signal, and an optical element or a package substrate on which an optical element is mounted. An optical path converting member is disposed at the optical path for transmitting an optical signal so as to transmit an optical signal between the optical element and the optical circuit. The optical path converting member comprises a lens and an optical path conversion mirror having an entrance surface, an exit surface and a reflection surface. The lens is provided at either the entrance surface or the exit surface on the side facing the optical circuit.
US07995874B2
The present invention relates to an optical fiber distribution type detecting method and the like equipped with a structure for enabling efficient measurement of a temperature distribution or strain distribution. This method regulates a modulation frequency and modulation index for probe light and pumping light opposingly incident on an object from a light source and a phase difference between the probe light and pumping light, thereby successively setting the length and location of search domains in a region to be measured. In particular, a detection process is executed while resetting the search domain length shorter at a predetermined interval of time or when an abnormality is detected. Thus partly changing the distance resolution for a specific region in the course of the detection process enables efficient measurement operations in a short time.
US07995870B2
A method of extracting information parts, and a recorded medium recording the method, for retrieving image sequence data are disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, image frames included in an image sequence are converted to frames, in a quantity of n, including only the object that is separated from a background, and the corresponding shape descriptors, in a quantity of n, are extracted. The shape descriptors, in a quantity of n, are aligned according to a temporal order, to generate a shape sequence, which is frequency-converted along the time axis to obtain conversion coefficients having frequency information. Using coefficients in a low frequency area among the obtained conversion coefficients, a shape sequence descriptor is extracted. With this invention, video data expressing the motion of an object can be captured as an image sequence, and the similarity between video data can be distinguished by extracting information parts from each image sequence.
US07995864B2
A method for performing image registration is provided. The method comprises obtaining a reference image dataset and a target image dataset and defining an image mask for a region of interest in the reference image dataset. The method further comprises registering a corresponding region of interest in the target image dataset with the image mask, using a similarity metric, wherein the similarity metric is computed based on one or more voxels in the region of interest defined by the image mask.
US07995856B2
Methods and corresponding apparatus are presented that perform dynamic range compensation (DRC) and noise reduction (NR) together, adjusting the noise reduction parameters in response to the dynamic range compensation decisions. By such a modification of image noise reduction parameters based on the dynamic range compensation gain or, more generally, other such factors, these techniques make it possible to perform DRC on noisy images, achieving an image with low and uniform noise levels.
US07995852B2
An imaging device, comprising: an image pickup device which images a subject; and a motion estimating device which estimates a motion of the subject and a motion of the imaging device based on a dynamic image or a plurality of still images which are imaged to include the subject prior to actual imaging of a still image of the subject by the image pickup device.
US07995833B2
An inspection system includes a SEM visual inspection apparatus for detecting a defect in a semiconductor sample in steps of manufacturing a semiconductor device and a review apparatus for observing, at a high resolution, the defect in the semiconductor sample detected by the SEM visual inspection apparatus. The system has a function of transmitting an alignment dictionary image as one of alignment parameters to be set by the SEM visual inspection apparatus using an inspection recipe to the review apparatus.
US07995830B2
A process for using a hand-held infrared inspection system incorporating on-board training, on-board validation, on-board operator certification, on-board reporting information, or on-board survey instructions. Improved methods for automating area surveys are provided through exception-driven surveillance practices. Imbedded information enables less experienced operators to use more sophisticated devices more effectively. Validation or certification assures operator knowledge or ability. Multilevel classification of anomalies aids in automated analysis and report generation.
US07995823B2
A method and system are provided to report the findings of an expert's analysis of image data. The method and system are based on a reporting system that forms the basis of an image management system that can efficiently and systematically generate image reports, facilitate data entry into searchable databases for data mining, and expedite billing and collections for the expert's services. The expert identifies a significant finding on an image and attaches a location:description code to the location of that finding in order to create a significant finding and an entry into a database. Further descriptions of that finding, such as dimensional measurements, may be automatically appended to the finding as secondary attributes. After the evaluation, the system sorts the findings in the database and presents the findings by prioritized categories. The expert edits and approves a multimedia report which may be delivered by electronic means to an end-user.
US07995813B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed that reduces variation in radiation therapy treatment planning among plurality of users within the same or different geographic locations. The system includes a method and an apparatus that provide users with the knowledge information and utilizing the knowledge information to contour target volumes for radiation treatment planning. The mode of operation includes utilizing a stand-alone workstation or a server computer connected to the plurality of thin client workstations.
US07995812B2
System is provided for having more instinct image of an orthopedics disease and an oral surgery disease by applying a series of image processing on a X-ray image and diagnosing more exactly an orthopedics disease and an oral surgery disease. This system comprising means for capturing simple X-ray image in a computer, applying a contrast process on X-ray image taken in a computer, applying an embossing (raising) process on X-ray image which a contrast process was made or not made on, applying a light irradiation process in the embossed (raising) X-ray image, storing and controlling its data and X-rays image provided by a series of image processing, printing X-rays image provided by a series of processes on the monitor or on the paper.
US07995811B2
A method is disclosed for an imaging device, for anatomically assigning an image generated by the imaging device to object components of an object. Further, a computer program product and computer readable medium are disclosed, which are set up to carry out such a method. In the method, the object components are identified in a substantially autonomous fashion in an overview image that covers a larger area than an examination area. The image of the examination area is automatically assigned to at least one object component identified in the overview image given a known positional relationship between the image and the overview image, such that there is no need for an operator to carry out an individual assignment of the imaged object components.
US07995810B2
A system and methods for the efficient segmentation of globally optimal surfaces representing object boundaries in volumetric datasets is provided. An optical surface detection system and methods are provided that are capable of simultaneously detecting multiple interacting surfaces in which the optimality is controlled by the cost functions designed for individual surfaces and by several geometric constraints defining the surface smoothness and interrelations.
US07995797B2
An image pickup device that acquires images is controlled by an image pickup device controller that accepts image acquisition requests from multiple application programs, and an application scheduler selects application programs to be executed. Information indicative of the image data volumes and image data acquisition rates required for each of the multiple application programs is stored and used to select multiple concurrently executable application programs on the basis of the image data volumes and image data acquisition rates. An image acquisition scheduler determines the timing and intervals at which the multiple executable application programs repeat receiving image data from the image pickup device, without overlapping in terms of time. In addition, an operations section, which explicitly presents concurrently executable application programs to a user and commands the startup of these programs, is displayed on a navigation screen menu.
US07995785B2
A speaker assembly may include a speaker basket, a mounting plate, and a shell pot. The speaker basket may be a plastic speaker basket. The mounting plate may be insert molded into the speaker basket. The shell pot may be seated into an opening in the mounting plate and coupled to the mounting plate. Further, the shell pot may be configured to house additional speaker components, such as a motor assembly.
US07995774B2
In a sound field control apparatus including multiple speakers, multiple microphones gathering sound radiated from the multiple speakers, a mode decomposition filter that performs mode decomposition on a sound pressure distribution, and a control filter that controls the input signals to be input to the multiple speakers such that the mode amplitudes of the modes decomposed by the mode decomposition filter can have a predetermined value, a sound pressure distribution in the acoustic space is measured, and the sound pressure distribution in the acoustic space is expressed by using a sinusoidal function and cosine function of a space frequency of the mode to be controlled in amplitude. The mode space frequency is corrected such that the expressed sound pressure distribution can be equal to the measured sound pressure distribution, and the filter coefficient for the mode decomposition filter is determined based on the mode space frequency obtained by the correction (corrected mode space frequency).
US07995768B2
A sound reinforcement system which enables handsfree and high-quality sound reinforcement without requiring a person who is speaking to move to a microphone or move a microphone. At least one microphone and a plurality of speakers are arranged in a room. A speaker output adjusting section outputs sound picked up by the microphone to the plurality of speakers at predetermined levels.
US07995765B2
A method and system distributes N shares of a secret among cooperating entities using hyperplanes over GF(q), such that the secret can be reconstructed from K of the N shares (where K≦N). In one embodiment, the method constructs a K-tuple that contains the secret and elements of GF(q), where q is a power m of an odd prime p. The method further multiplies the K-tuple by a matrix of size (N×K) to produce an N-tuple using arithmetic defined on GF(q). Thus, N shares of the secret are generated, with each of the N shares including a component of the N-tuple.
US07995763B2
A user apparatus cannot acquire as many distribution keys Ki, . . . as a threshold value, to restore a content encryption key KM, unless it decrypts as many encrypted sub-content items as the threshold value after it has played back a sub-content item SC1. The user apparatus monitors the state in which the sub-content is being played back. It outputs a warning when the sub-content is in fast-forwarding state or skipping state. If the playback state is not returned to one before the fast forwarding or skipping, in spite of the warning, the user apparatus will erase the distribution keys acquired in the fast-forwarding state or skipping state.
US07995762B2
There is provided in accordance with the present invention a key issuing method for being performed by a user apparatus in a group signature system including the user apparatus and an issuer apparatus connected to the user apparatus through a network.
US07995760B2
The invention relates to a method for ensuring data transmission security between a first and a second communication device in short-range wireless communication. To set up a secure data transmission connection, the communication devices conduct a key exchange stage to generate at least one shared key between the communication devices. After said key exchange stage at least a first and a second check string is formed, said strings being based at least on a unique short random string and on the keys generated in each communication device at said key exchange stage. Thus, the security of the connection that is set up is ensured by comparing the correspondence of said check strings. The invention also relates to a communication system and a communication device, in which the method will be applied.
US07995755B2
A method for management of access means to conditional access data may include: initiating, from a security module of a multimedia unit, a verification of the next renewal date of the access means, which are associated to time information and are controlled by a management centre; determining, in the security module, the next renewal date of the access means; if the next renewal date of the access means is closer than a preset duration, then sending a request from the security module to the multimedia unit that requests the renewal of the access means; sending the request for renewal of the access means from the multimedia unit to the management centre; verifying by the management centre, if the multimedia unit is authorized to renew the access means; and in the case of a positive response, sending of an access means renewal message to the multimedia unit.
US07995742B2
A dialer for managing outgoing contacts is provided that includes a contact filtration agent 144 operable to retrieve presence information associated with a party to be contacted and determine, based on the presence information, whether or not to contact the party and, if so, when and where to contact the party.
US07995736B2
An embodiment of a method includes generating one or more route plans, each route plan being associated with a service plan, and provisioning the one or more route plans on a core routing engine accessible by a softswitch for routing calls according to the one or more route plans. The one or more route plans may include an on-net route plan and an off-net route plan. An embodiment of a system includes a local route manager (LRM) configured to generate one or more route plans associated with one or more respective service levels that customers can subscribe to. The system may further include an inventory of trunk groups containing a plurality of trunk group identifiers (IDs), wherein trunk group IDs are marked as either on-net or off-net.
US07995735B2
Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein provides an overall, or holistic view, of an enterprise's interaction with its customers. These embodiments can also provide a holistic view of other types of interactions. In one particular embodiment, a system collects and aggregates information related to user inquiries and/or response generated by different types of response systems. Such an embodiment could collect data about phone response system activities and aggregate that information with data about automated response system activities. Other embodiments collect and aggregate information related to customer information, contact resolutions and other information. Other embodiments of the disclosed technology generate reports based on aggregated information and/or generate recommendations to address problems with the individual response systems or the overall strategy for responding to customer inquiries.
US07995732B2
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for the management of an audio environment with multiple audio sources. According to various embodiments described herein, real-time audio from multiple sources is received. A speaker is identified for each of the audio sources. Upon detecting a change from a first audio source to a second audio source, an identification of the speaker associated with the second audio source is provided. According to various embodiments, a recording of the real-time audio may be made and descriptors inserted to identify each speaker as the audio source changes. Real-time feedback from the speakers regarding characteristics of the audio may be received and corresponding adjustments to the audio made.
US07995731B2
A conferencing room has conferencing equipment which identifies a person speaking, among a group of people in the conferencing room, to remote participants in a conference call. The conferencing equipment includes a plurality of unique tags, each fixed proximate to a seating position for a person in the conferencing room. Each person reads the tag at their seated position using a personal interrogator, which may be incorporated into a cellular telephone. The person's identification and seated location are received and stored by a controller. The controller receives inputs from a microphone array, which monitors the voices in the room. By using the microphone array, the controller can approximate the source of the voice to one of the unique tag locations and hence can identify the person speaking.
US07995729B2
An embodiment of a method includes determining a customer service plan identifier from information associated with a received call, determining a route plan associated with the identified customer service plan, and routing the call on a trunk group identified in the determined route plan. The method may further include determining a jurisdiction of the call based on a dialed number identified in the call, determining a local routing number (LRN) associated with the call, and using a portion of the LRN to determine the trunk group. An embodiment of a system includes a switch operable to select a route for routing a call received on an ingress trunk associated with a customer that subscribes to a service plan, wherein the switch is further operable to select the route based on the service plan subscribed to by the customer associated with the ingress trunk.
US07995726B2
A system for notifying an Internet-accessible device of a communication placed from a first telecommunications device to a second telecommunications device by a calling party is disclosed. The system includes a switch and a node in communication with the switch. The switch is for detecting the communication. The node is configured for communication with the Internet-accessible device and includes a first module and a second module. The first module is for determining information about the calling party. The second module is for determining information about the Internet-accessible device.
US07995724B2
A telecommunications system and method provides a time slicing capability whereby alternate services, such as advertising, can be provided to a party while being kept on hold. Thus, charges associated with portions of the call during which alternate services are provided can be billed to other parties, such as advertisers, and the cost for the call to the caller or the called party can be reduced. The connection between the caller and the called party is maintained during the time that alternate services are being provided so that when either the caller or the called party is available to accept or resume a call, the alternate services are terminated and the caller and called party are reconnected.
US07995723B2
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for specifying and obtaining services through audio commands, resulting in a live conversation between a user and a selected service provider using an audio-transmission medium (the telephone). A service seeker locates a service provider by entering a keypad code corresponding to a field of service or by speaking the name of a profession, which is recognized by the system. The seeker can then specify, via voice or keypad entry, a price range, quality rating, language, and keyword descriptors of the service provider, such as a service provider code number. In response, the system offers currently available service providers. Once an available service provider is selected, the system connects the service seeker with the service provider for a live conversation. The system bills the seeker for the time spent conversing with the service provider and compensates the service provider accordingly.
US07995719B2
The present invention is directed to the coordination of a voicemail response (e.g., away message) with calendar scheduling. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving a phone call; forwarding the phone call to a voicemail system; determining a phone number associated with the phone call; determining a calendar entry for a current time; and generating a voicemail response based on the phone number and the calendar entry.
US07995716B2
Some embodiments provide reception of a call from a calling party to a called party, acquisition of a voice message form the calling party to the called party, reception from the calling party a selection of an email message sent to the called party, and association of the voice message with the email message.
US07995709B2
A method and apparatus for providing a single shadow number to be associated with one or more out of area phone numbers that have registered service addresses in the same local area. For instance, if multiple subscribers with service addresses within the same local calling area choose to use out of area phone numbers, these multiple out of area phone numbers will all be associated with a single shadow phone number that is local within the local calling area. In one embodiment, when a subscriber using an out of area phone number places an E911 call, the out of area phone number as well as the associated shadow number will be sent to the E911 PSAP.
US07995705B2
The inspection methods and systems of the present invention are mobile, rapidly deployable, and capable of scanning a wide variety of receptacles cost-effectively and accurately on uneven surfaces. The present invention is directed toward a portable inspection system for generating an image representation of target objects using a radiation source, comprising a mobile vehicle, a detector array physically attached to a movable boom having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end is physically attached to the vehicle. The invention also comprises at least one source of radiation. The radiation source is fixedly attached to the distal end of the boom, wherein the image is generated by introducing the target objects in between the radiation source and the detector array, exposing the objects to radiation, and detecting radiation.
US07995699B2
A delay-locked loop (DLL) circuit. In the evaluation period, the DLL circuit adjusts needed delay period of time for a reference clock signal by adjusting the amount of the used delay units which each of has fixed delay period of time digitally and controlling the delay period of time of the voltage control delay circuit analogically. In the locking period, the DLL circuit utilizes the delay time of the delay units, which is decided in the evaluation period, along with the voltage control delay circuit, to lock phase of the reference clock signal. In this way, the stability of the delay period of time of the voltage control delay circuit increases.
US07995696B1
A communication system includes a transmitter that transmits multiple data streams to a receiver in the communication system. Each of the data streams includes data and a skip ordered set. The receiver includes a data buffer for each data stream that stores a minimal skip ordered set based on the skip ordered set in the data stream received by the data buffer. Each of the minimal skip ordered sets has a same number of symbols. Additionally, each buffer stores data of the data stream received by the data buffer. The receiver aligns the data among the data buffers based on the minimal skip ordered sets in the data buffers and outputs the aligned data. In this way, the receiver deskews the data in the data streams.
US07995688B2
An iterative channel estimation and inter-carrier interference (ICI) cancellation process is provided for OFDM receivers, and more particularly for mobile OFDM receivers. The iterative process uses decision feedback to estimate both the channel gain and the ICI gains, the latter being the multiplicative gain applied to the adjacent sub-carriers. Thus the receiver performs equalization and ICI cancellation in an iterative fashion and is advantageous for estimating fast fading channels.
US07995686B2
The present invention relates to a system for canceling co-channel interference (CC) in a cellular orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. The system canceling co-channel interference (CCI) in a cellular orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system comprises a mobile station (MS) receiver including a feedback generation unit for generating a feedback to a base station (BS) so as to control a transmission power of the transmitting frame of the BS, and a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) CCI cancellation unit for canceling CCI signals arriving from neighbor cells; and a BS transmitter including a closed-loop power control unit for controlling the transmission power of the transmitting frame according to the feedback received from the MS such that received power of desired signal at the MS receiver is different from that of an interferer signal.
US07995684B2
A receiver operates to AGC a multi-carrier signal through a corresponding number of inner loops and an outer loop AGC processes. A first number of bits for representing the multi-carrier signal with a limited amount of interference is determined through a calibration mode process. The first number of bits provides for quantization of the multi-carrier signal at an outer loop AGC to a maximum quantization level. After the received signal power estimate is reached a predetermined “ON” threshold, the outer loop AGC is operated at a second number of bits higher than the first number of bits to allow a quantization of possible interference in accordance with a difference of the first and second number of bits. The outer loop AGC switches back to use the first number of bits when the received signal power estimate falls below a predetermined “OFF” threshold.
US07995679B2
Provided are a method and system for digitizing a sensor model output signal. The system includes a filter, a demodulator coupled to the filter, a DC offset cancellation mechanism coupled to the demodulator, and an analog to digital converter (ADC). The ADC is directly coupled to the demodulator and the DC offset cancellation mechanism.
US07995678B2
A receiver includes a signal input for receiving a differentially-encoded quadrature phase-shift keyed (DEQPSK) communication signal. A demodulator performs bit decisions on a received coherent symbol and bit decisions on a received differential symbol. A processor is operative with the demodulator and scales a soft decision by a factor from 0 to 1 when the results of the bit decisions on the received coherent branch and differential branch are different.
US07995676B2
The present invention relates to methods and systems for enhanced signal acquisition through cross-ambiguity function (CAF) interpolation. In one aspect, the present invention provides methods and systems for CAF interpolation. In an embodiment, a first CAF generated using a low input sampling rate (e.g., 1 sample/chip) is interpolated to generate a second CAF having a higher sample per chip rate. By lowering the initial input sampling rate, cost and complexity of initial synchronization processing can be significantly reduced at the receiver. In another aspect, coherent and non-coherent interpolation methods and systems are provided for time and frequency CAF interpolation. Low cost and low complexity implementations of these methods and systems are also provided with associated CAF peak detection methods and systems.
US07995669B2
A DTV receiver includes a tuner tuning to a channel to receive a broadcast signal, and a demodulator demodulating the broadcast signal. The receiver further includes a first decoder which decodes main and enhanced data included in the demodulated signal by calculating soft decision values for the enhanced data and hard decision values for the main data. The receiver further includes a second decoder for decoding the main and enhanced data for first forward error correction, and a third decoder for decoding the FEC-decoded enhanced data for second forward error correction.
US07995662B2
Various embodiments of the invention may use bitmaps to communicate channel quality index (CQI) information for multiple sub-channels in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless communications network. A base station may use bitmaps to report on whether the CQI information for each sub-channel has been under-reported or over-reported. A mobile station may use bitmaps to consolidate CQI information for multiple sub-channels into a single CQI set of parameters.
US07995642B2
A method for performing data transmission between a transmitter and a receiver. The method includes the steps of generating a feedback message at the receiver in response to data received from the transmitter, assigning an identifier for the feedback message, storing the feedback message in association with the identifier in the receiver, transmitting the feedback message and the identifier to the transmitter, determining, at the transmitter, transmission format for data to be transmitted to the receiver based on the feedback message received from the receiver; and transmitting data and a control message, by the transmitter, using the determined transmission format, with the control message comprising the identifier of the feedback message based on which the transmission format is determined.
US07995635B2
A wavelength tunable laser according to the present invention includes a first facet and a second facet opposite the first facet, a reflective region provided adjacent to the second facet, and a gain region provided between the first facet and the reflective region. The reflective region has a plurality of reflection peak wavelengths that periodically vary at a predetermined wavelength interval. The first facet and the reflective region constitute a laser cavity. Furthermore, the gain region includes an active layer where light is generated, a diffraction grating layer having a diffraction grating whose grating pitch varies in a light propagation direction, a refractive-index control layer provided between the active layer and the diffraction grating layer, a first electrode for injecting current into the active layer, and a plurality of second electrodes arranged in the light propagation direction to inject current into the refractive-index control layer.
US07995634B2
A nitride semiconductor laser element exhibits high-speed responsiveness by largely reducing the capacitance of the nitride semiconductor laser element. The nitride semiconductor laser element includes an n-type semiconductor layer, an active layer and a p-type semiconductor layer each laminated on the main surface of the substrate. The nitride semiconductor laser element further includes a striped ridge portion formed in the p-type semiconductor layer, and pn-junctions of the semiconductor layer in the peripheral region remote from the ridge portion are broken by ion implantation to form an insulative region for reducing the capacitance of the element.
US07995631B2
A material having a surface and a dopant in the material distributed whereby the material has a spatially variant optical flux density profile. In accordance with the invention, tailored non-uniform gain profiles within a Yb:YAG laser component (rod, slab, disc, etc.) are achieved by a spatial material modification in the spatially masked pre-forms. High temperature-assisted reduction leads to the coordinate-dependent gain profiles, which are controlled by the topology of the deposited solid masks. The gain profiles are obtained by reducing the charge state of the laser-active trivalent Yb3+ ions into inactive divalent Yb2+ ions. This valence conversion process is driven by mass transport of ions and oxygen vacancies. These processes, in turn, affect the dopant distribution throughout the surface and bulk laser crystal.
