US08051228B2

An integrated processor design includes physical interface macros supporting heterogeneous electrical properties. The processor design comprises a plurality of processing cores and a plurality of physical interfaces to connect to a memory interface, a peripheral component interconnect express (PCI Express or PCIe) interface for input/output, an Ethernet interface for network communication, and/or a serial attached SCSI (SAS) interface for storage.
US08051226B2

A method is provided for generating a control vector. The method comprising: providing a circular buffer having a plurality of storage elements that are arranged sequentially from a designated first storage element to a designated last storage element, and when the designated last storage element of the plurality of storage elements is accessed, the access continuing in a sequential order continuing with the designated first storage element; determining a beginning storage element of the plurality of storage elements to be accessed; and generating a control vector, the control vector comprising a plurality of index values, each of the plurality of index values corresponding to one of the plurality of storage elements of the circular buffer to be accessed in the sequential order from the beginning storage element to an ending storage element.
US08051225B2

A storage controller that performs user-friendly information display, simplifies updating of support information, has external storage controllers to provide sufficient input/output performance, and expands the range of external storage controllers to be supported; and a controlling method for that storage controller. The storage controller includes a code extract/convert unit for converting a first code indicating a vendor name and/or device name of an external storage controller, obtained based on inquiry data transmitted from the external storage controller, into a second code indicating a real vendor name and/or real device name of the external storage controller. The storage controller creates support information that compiles information of each model regarding whether or not it can be connected to the respective external storage controllers. Furthermore, a path control system and a timeout time can be set for the respective external storage controllers.
US08051221B2

A communication system that performs data communications based on an SCSI command defined in the SCSI standard, the communication system includes; a peripheral device that performs at least one of writing and reading to/from a recording medium inserted into a slot; and an information processing device connected to the peripheral device, including: an OS kernel; an adding unit that adds communication data to a free area of Inquiry data generated by issuing Inquiry command to the OS kernel; and a transmitting unit that transmits the Inquiry data to the peripheral device including the communication data added by the adding unit, wherein the peripheral device includes: a receiving unit that receives the Inquiry data transmitted by the transmitting unit; and an extracting unit that extracts the communication data added to the received Inquiry data.
US08051209B2

A method is presented for resolving conflicts between interrelated data on a client computer and a server computer. Information for one or more tasks stored on a client computer is published to a server computer. When one or more of the tasks are edited, at least one bit is set in a data structure for each task in which a task attribute is changed. When a sync operation is performed, tasks on the client computer are compared with a task list from the server computer. If any of the bits in the data structure for the task are set, and the date and time that the task was last modified on the server computer is later than the date and time that the client computer last initiated a sync operation, the user is alerted to a conflict in the task and is permitted to manually resolve the conflict.
US08051208B2

The present invention discloses a method for delivering short messages in an IMS. The method includes: The sender encapsulates multiple concatenated short message segments into an IMS message, and sends the IMS message to the receiver. The present invention also discloses a system and apparatus for delivering short messages in an IMS. Through the embodiments of the present invention, the receiver can obtain a complete short message upon receiving the message.
US08051206B2

An intelligent network address translation system and methods for intelligent network address translation. In one embodiment, a network packet is received from a host device, and a stored record associated with the host device is identified. The stored record includes information relating to connection parameters associated with the host device. Using the stored record, a processor determines whether the network packet should be assigned a dedicated address. If so, then the network packet is transmitted using communication parameters including a dedicated IP address. If the packet should not be assigned a dedicated address, then the packet is transmitted using connection parameters including a default public IP address and a port number.
US08051191B2

A networked computer with a networking framework that can operate in accordance with a standard protocol or may be configured to perform one or more functions that alter or extend processing according to the standard. The framework includes extensibility points and a mechanism to receive plug-ins that may perform extensibility functions. Network profile information indicates configuration of the extensibility points, including specific extensibility functions to be executed at the extensibility points. This information may be used to configure the extensibility points so that, as the computer operates, the extensibility functions are selectively executed instead of or in addition to standard functions.
US08051189B2

Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for notifying a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) entity of a fast switchover event. According to one method a first SIP entity having an active host and a standby host is provided. At the active host a SUBSCRIBE message is received from a second SIP entity for subscribing to a fast switchover notification service. The standby host is switched to an active mode. In response to switching the standby host to active mode, a NOTIFY message is sent to the second SIP entity for notifying the second SIP entity that the standby host is operating in active mode.
US08051180B2

A method for providing access to a computing environment includes the step of receiving a request from a client system for an enumeration of available computing environments. Collected data regarding available computing environments are accessed. Accessed data are transmitted to a client system, the accessed data indicating to the client system each computing environment available to a user of the client system. A request is received from the client system to access one of the computing environments. A connection is established between the client system and a virtual machine hosting the requested computing environment via a terminal services session, the virtual machine executed by a hypervisor executing in the terminal services session provided by an operating system executing on one of a plurality of execution machines.
US08051178B2

A system for providing collaborative browsing of information and interactive communications on the worldwide web. A customer may use the system for a co-browsing session with a customer assistance representative by simply providing an access number from an accessed web site to the customer service representative. The customer is transparently switched from a normal web site to a co-browsing web site merely by clicking on a button to request assistance. The co-browsing site includes software to periodically poll a server for synchronization purposes.
US08051176B2

A method and system are disclosed for predicting connections in a computer network. In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, predictive connection information is determined for a second connection through a switch between a client and a plurality of servers. A first server of the plurality of servers determines the predictive connection information using at least connection information associated with a first connection through the switch between the client and the first server. The first connection is associated with the second connection. The predictive connection information is communicated from the first server to the switch.
US08051174B2

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates managing a number of active servers in a cluster. A forecast component can predict at least one of login rate or number of connections in the cluster at a future time. A dynamic load analysis component can evaluate dynamic behaviors in login rate and number of connections in the cluster as a result of load dispatching. Moreover, a provisioning component can determine a number of servers in the cluster needed based at least in part on the prediction and dynamic behavior analysis. In addition, the provisioning component can include an additional margin in the number of servers needed in accordance with multiplicative factors.
US08051167B2

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network element including one or more of the following: receiving, by the network node, a packet belonging to an IP flow; when the IP flow is a flow for which content information is to be sent to the content identification device, performing the steps of: determining, using deep packet inspection, that the packet contains a value for at least one field of interest, determining whether all fields of interest needed by the content identification have been seen by the network node among a plurality of packets belonging to the IP flow, and communicating the value of the at least one field of interest to the content identification device.
US08051165B2

A mediation method and a mediation system divided into independent node components that process event records independently of the other components of the system. In addition, the system is provided with at least one node manager component that monitors the functioning of the node components. Each of the independent node components operates according to its own settings and is thus self-contained and capable of continuing operation even though some of the other components are temporarily inoperative. The system comprises audit counters providing counts relating to the processed event records, and the node manager is configured to check whether the counts of the audit counters match, in order to ensure that no event records are lost in the mediation system.
US08051164B2

Service impact data is efficiently propagated in a directed acyclic graph with restricted views. One or more service components, impact rules and business rules are grouped together into a directed acyclic graph and a related metadata array. Impact propagation uses related metadata array to minimize traversal of the graph. As nodes of the graph are updated to propagate impact data, a determination is made as to when no further impact propagation is required. Subsequently, calculations are terminated without having to traverse the entire graph. This method allows a system or business administrator to view and receive real-time notification of the impacted state of all nodes in the graph that are available to their permitted view. Restricted views ensure that available service impact data is only displayed to end users having the proper authorization to view the underlying impact model data.
US08051160B2

A network hub in a communication network that acts as a server to network clients to push, or transmit, information regarding the state of local and remote devices and networks. The information can be one, or more, status information, which information can be one or more predefined fields in a frame, which represents a packet of data. In one embodiment, it is desirable that the frame be a “legitimate” Ethernet-type frame. The status field can be a “push”-Type status field. The push operation can be a unicast, a multicast, or a broadcast, or a hybrid transmission. The hub can be a switch, repeater, a bridge, a router, a gateway, or a hybrid thereof. Also, the hub according to the present invention can be an OSI Layer 2 device, an OSI Layer 3 device, or a hybrid thereof. It is desirable that the hub be devoid of a microprocessor. As described herein, the hub may have plural ports, for example, four, eight, or more ports.
US08051144B2

Connections between a Java 2 enterprise edition (J2EE) application server and a common object request broker architecture (CORBA) enterprise information system are managed. A resource adapter is integrated with the application server. The resource adapter includes an encapsulated CORBA interface to the enterprise information system. Additionally, a persistent CORBA connection is established between the application server and the enterprise information system.
US08051138B2

A mechanism is disclosed for generating a composite email for an email conversation. The composite email includes content automatically extracted from a plurality of the emails in the email conversation, and may be generated in response to a user accessing just one of the emails in the email conversation. A mechanism is also disclosed for discovering and recovering lost emails in an email conversation. A mechanism is further disclosed for automatically moving emails from one container to another after an email has been read. These and other advantageous email generating, manipulation, and organization mechanisms are disclosed herein.
US08051131B2

A method and system for managing and manipulating documents sent via e-mail wherein dedicated e-mail addresses associated with daemons, or other programming code, are used to direct the functions carried out on the documents, such as printing, storing, or posting to an Internet file, portions of an e-mail message or attachments.
US08051128B2

Feed usage data can be generated. Entries within an existing server log can be identified. The entries can correspond to user requests for a feed from a selected Website. Feed usage data from the identified entries can be determined. Communication of a message to at least one user according to the stored feed usage data can be initiated.
US08051122B2

A general-purpose register file including a plurality of general-purpose registers stores parallel arithmetic data. A plurality of pattern registers store a plurality of items of pattern data indicating the rearrangement of data in bytes, in half words, in words, or in a combination of these units. A data select circuit selects one of the items of pattern data stored in the plurality of pattern registers according to specifying data included in an instruction. A rearranging circuit rearranges parallel arithmetic data according to the item of pattern data selected by the data select circuit.
US08051119B2

A decimal floating point finite number in a decimal floating point format is composed from the number in a different format. A decimal floating point format includes fields to hold information relating to the sign, exponent and significand of the decimal floating point finite number. Other decimal floating point data, including infinities and NaNs (not a number), are also composed. Decimal floating point data are also decomposed from the decimal floating point format to a different format.
US08051115B2

A method for determining file fragmentation and performing subsequent defragmentation, including measuring a file fragmentation factor, measuring a file extent distance factor, measuring a file fragmentation level, selecting a file stored as multiple extents on at least one disk, selecting a free space extent on the disk whose length most closely matches the length of the file, calculating a fragmentation level of the disk from a fragmentation factor and a file extent distance factor of free space extents or allocated space extents of the disk, calculating the effect that moving the file to the free space extent would have on the fragmentation level, and moving the file to the free space extent provided that doing so causes the fragmentation level to satisfy a criterion.
US08051094B2

Various embodiments of a system and computer program product to access metadata from a plurality of data servers from a federated database management system are provided. In one embodiment, a request for metadata, from a client application, is received by the federated database management system. Data servers which are accessible from the federated database management system are identified. For each data server, metadata describing data of a data source of that data server is retrieved in accordance with the application request. The retrieved metadata from each of the data servers is aggregated to produce an aggregated result in a uniform format. The aggregated result is provided. In another embodiment, for each data server, a source metadata request for metadata of that data server is generated in accordance with the application request and a source metadata application programming interface. A view is created based on the source metadata request for metadata for each data server.
US08051091B2

A first request to access a first set of items is received, wherein each item is associated with one or more properties. A second request to access a second set of items is also received. A determination is made as to whether items from the first set are in the second set of items, and the sets are divided into one or more subsets based on the determining. Each of the one or more subsets is assigned to a respective thread, and the respective thread of the subset that does not contain items in the second request is processed. This way, individual subsets (i.e. data partitions) can be processed by multiple threads in parallel without having to synchronize them.
US08051089B2

A system and method for searching real estate properties, a system and method for estimating the size of an area, and a system and method for associating an image with information relevant to the image is disclosed. A system for searching real estate properties comprises a data storage unit configured to store map information, additional relevant georeferenced information and information about real estate properties, including information identifying the locations of the real estate properties; and a display unit configured to receive a search request from a user, communicate with the data storage unit, and provide search results to the user, including a map showing locations of real estate properties, in response to the search request, the display unit being further configured to displaying a user interface with which the user may associate information, personal to the user, with a particular real estate property.
US08051084B2

Systems and methods are described that calculate the interestingness of a set of one or more records in a database, either absolutely (i.e., compared to an overall collection of records) or relative to some other set of records. In one embodiment, the measure is a relative entropy value that has been normalized. Various applications of the measure are described in the context of an information retrieval system. These applications include, for example, guiding query interpretation, guiding view selection and summarization, intelligent ranges, event detection, concept triggers and interpreting user actions, hierarchy discovery, and adaptive data mining.
US08051081B2

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable media for transmedia video bookmarks, the method comprising receiving a first place marker and a second place marker for a segment of video media, extracting metadata from the video media between the first and second place markers, normalizing the extracted metadata, storing the normalized metadata, first place marker, and second place marker as a video bookmark, and retrieving the media represented by the video bookmark upon request from a user. One aspect further aggregates video bookmarks from multiple sources and refines the first place marker and second place marker based on the aggregated video bookmarks. Metadata can be extracted by analyzing text or audio annotations. Another aspect of normalizing the extracted metadata includes generating a video thumbnail representing the video media between the first place marker and the second place marker. Multiple video bookmarks may be searchable by metadata or by the video thumbnail visually. In one aspect a user profile stores video bookmarks on a per media and per user basis.
US08051070B2

An acquiring unit acquires from each of a plurality of database servers processing capacity information for a query received from a client. A generating unit generates a first code indicating a first processing and a second code indicating a second processing for the query. A first transmitting unit transmits the first code to the database servers. An executing unit executes the second processing by using first result data of XML data acquired by executing the first processing from the database servers. A second transmitting unit transmits second result data of XML data acquired by executing the second processing to the client.
US08051069B2

A method and system are disclosed for operating a high speed data stream management system which runs a query plan including a set of queries on a data feed in the form of a stream of tuples. A predicate prefilter is placed outside the query plan upstream of the set of queries, and includes predicates selected from those used by the queries. Predicates are selected for inclusion in the prefilter based on a cost heuristic, and predicates are combined into composites using a rectangle mapping heuristic. The prefilter evaluates the presence of individual and composite predicates in the tuples and returns a bit vector for each tuple with bits representing the presence or absence of predicates in the tuple. A bit signature is assigned to each query to represent the predicates related to that query, and a query is invoked when the tuple bit vector and the query bit signature are compatible.
US08051065B2

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods and computer program products for generating search results comprising web documents with associated expert information. One embodiment of a method for generating such search results includes receiving one or more search queries, selecting one of the one or more search queries, determining one or more categories of web documents responsive to the selected search query and crawling a web graph of linked web documents to identify one or more web documents tagged as within the one or more categories responsive to the selected search query. The method further includes generating a result set of the one or more web documents identified as within the one or more categories responsive to the selected search query, ranking the result set and generating a list of ranked search results responsive to the selected search.
US08051060B1

A method that accepts a data file, iteratively tests different information units as record delimiters and field delimiters, and chooses as the data files record delimiter, R, and field delimiter, F, the information units that result in the lowest generalized entropy that is computed on fields created by use of the chosen delimiter pair R,F.
US08051058B2

A system for estimating cardinalities for a plurality of columns in a database system is disclosed. The system include obtaining statistics collected for the plurality of columns. A first portion of the statistics indicates at least one relationship between at least a portion of the plurality of columns, while a second portion of the statistics includes single column statistics. The system also include utilizing the first portion and the second portion of the statistics to estimate the cardinality for the plurality of columns.
US08051048B2

The invention relates to a system and a method for automated transfer and subsequent evaluation of the quality of mass data of a technical process or a technical project in a standardized environment (70) of one or more data processing devices with an assignment module (20) for allocating the mass data from one or more data sources (10) to structure elements in the standardized environment of the data processing device (70) and for generating a defined mapping of the mass data to be read in. The assignment module (20) interacts with a read-in module (30), into which the mass data can be read in an automated operation according to the selected assignment. The data read in can be fed to a checking module (40) for automated checking and/or for generation of a report for evaluation of the quality of the measured data read in. The check results generated by the checking module (40) can be fed to a processing module (60) for automated logging in predefined structures, and the results of the check can be transferred into the standardized environment (70) of the data processing device.
US08051047B2

A document management system includes a reception unit that receives a designated document that has been designated by a user, an extraction unit configured to extract signature information from the received designated document, a search unit configured to search a database for another document having signature information that matches the signature information extracted by the extraction unit, the another document being a different version of the designated document, and a display control unit configured to, based on a result of the search, perform control to display document information of the designated document and document information of the another document in association with version information determined based on the signature information.
US08051045B2

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for archiving data from a database. One method includes identifying a data record to be archived; determining the contents of an archive record, the archive record having values for a first plurality of attributes in the data record; storing the archive record in a data archive; determining the contents of an index record, the index record comprising values for a second plurality of attributes in the data record; adding the index record to a dictionary-based archive index with a reference to the location of the archive record in the data archive; deleting the data record from the database; accepting a query for a desired archive record; and performing a search of the archive index to find the desired archive record.
US08051042B2

An apparatus for and a method are provided for managing data by dividing file identifier descriptors (FIDs) included in metadata of a universal disk format (UDF) file system, and arranging them. The apparatus for managing data includes an input unit that receives a command for generating data in a file system environment, a controller that determines a data type corresponding to the command, a data generator that generates the data by referring to the command, and a metadata updater that arranges an FID with respect to the generated data according to the data type.
US08051038B1

A computer-implemented system for maintaining a set of databases includes a first server that stores a master database of records that is updated on an intermittent basis, a second server that stores a computer-searchable, enhanced database of the same records as the master database, means for receiving intermittent updates from the master database and incorporating the updates into the enhanced database, means for electronically inputting information from sources other than the master database into the enhanced database, the information from other sources is more recent than information in the master database means and for revising the enhanced database to contain such more recent information and means for distributing information from the enhanced database to one or more subscriber servers.
US08051035B2

An image management system includes a first storage device configured to store a list of image identifiers indexed by one or more image property descriptors, wherein each of the image identifiers corresponds to a digital image, an index processor in communication with the first storage device, configured to write the image identifiers and the associated image property descriptors for each image identifier in the image index storage, and a search processor in communication with the first storage device, configured to receive a specified image property descriptor and to identify one or more image identifiers that match the specified image property descriptor.
US08051021B2

A system and method for resource adaptive classification of data streams. Embodiments of systems and methods provide classifying data received in a computer, including discretizing the received data, constructing an intermediate data structure from said received data as training instances, performing subspace sampling on said received data as test instances and adaptively classifying said received data based on statistics of said subspace sampling.
US08051020B2

A method for predicting properties of lubricant base oil blends, comprising the steps of generating an NMR spectrum, HPLC-UV spectrum, and FIMS spectrum of a sample of a blend of at least two lubricant base oils and determining at least one composite structural molecular parameter of the sample from said spectrums. SIMDIST and HPO analyses of the sample are then generated in order to determine a composite boiling point distribution and molecular weight of the sample from such analysis. A composite structural molecular parameter is applied, and the composite boiling point distribution and the composite molecular weight to a trained neural network is trained to correlate with the composite structural molecular parameter composite boiling point distribution and the composite molecular weight so as to predict composite properties of the sample. The properties comprise Kinematic Viscosity at 40 C, Kinematic Viscosity at 100 C, Viscosity Index, Cloud Point, and Oxidation Performance.
US08051018B1

The present invention relates to a method for optimizing the design of a shape morphing structure using a genetic algorithm. The method includes defining design parameters of a surface having variable properties into a chromosome. The variable properties of the chromosome are the actual properties of the chromosome. The chromosome has a total of Nmax genes, where each gene corresponds to a variable property element in the surface. Additionally, each gene has n design parameters, wherein the design parameters are incremental changes to the actual properties of the chromosome. A genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the genes until a fitness level for at least one chromosome has been exceeded. When the fitness value for any chromosome in the population is above a predetermined threshold, then the design process is terminated and the final design solution[s] are the design parameters of the chromosome[s] that exceed the predetermined threshold value.
US08051011B2

Electronic currency consists of data in a form suitable to be stored in a user's data storage medium, comprising information on the data value, identification of each specific set of data or data point, and authentication information suitable to verify that said data has been generated by a specific Currency Issuing Authority (CIA). A method and a system for effecting currency transactions between two users over the Internet or other communication network are also described.
US08051010B2

A method, system and computer program product relating to automatically validating a transaction between an issuer having a signing key, an emitter having an emitter key, an acceptor having a unique identity and a limit on transactions and a validator.
US08051004B2

An automated method is provided for processing large deposits that exceed an established deposit insurance limit so that the large deposits are fully insured. The large deposits are received from a plurality of unaffiliated custodians from their respective depositors. A processor receives orders from the plurality of custodians to process large deposits. The processor partitions each of the large deposits for each order into a plurality of deposit portions in a manner so that each deposit portion does not exceed the established deposit insurance limit. The processor then assigns at least some of the deposit portions for each of the large deposits for each order to at least some custodians that are unaffiliated with the custodian that received the large deposit for deposit therein.
US08051001B1

A system and method for providing a linear spread in an electronic trading environment are described. According to one example embodiment, a trading system can receive market information associated to a trading strategy, known as a spread. The trader may also define a market volatility parameter to utilize in the calculation of a linear spread price axis. The received market information and a divide spread algorithm are also used to determine the linear spread price axis. The trading application determines a linear spread price axis, at which price levels are separated by consistent linear tick increments. The linear spread price axis allows for more efficient and effective trading in the electronic trading environment especially when certain tradeable objects are traded or when certain spread algorithms, like the divide spread algorithm, are utilized.
US08050998B2

The subject mater herein relates to Internet-based commerce and, more particularly, to a flexible asset and search recommendation engines. Various embodiments herein provide systems, methods, and software to identify relationships between assets and provide asset recommendations as a function of the identified relationships. In some embodiments, relationships between assets are identified by gathering statistics including a probability of an action in view of one or more other actions an entity may have performed.
US08050990B2

A method of generating a purchase order includes receiving purchasing data for the item to be purchased in a computerized system and generating the purchase order based on received purchasing data for the item to be purchased, determining whether a sufficient amount of funds is available for the purchase order, submitting the purchase order for a remedial action to obtain the sufficient amount of funds if the sufficient amount of funds is not available, determining a supplier for the item to be purchased from a plurality of potential suppliers using an automated auction system if a sufficient amount of funds is available, and modifying the purchase order to include data from the automated auction regarding the supplier.
US08050989B2

A method and system for identifying outlier hyper-cells in an N-dimensional hierarchical datset having dimensions {x1,…xN} are provided. In some embodiments, the method is applied recursively where (i) in accordance with outlier ‘scores,’ hypercells of a hypcell set PGIVEN are categorized S201 as ‘likely-outlier’ or ‘winners’ while other hypercells are (at least initially) rejected as a set of ‘losers’; (ii) scores of hypercells of a subset of the initially rejected ‘losers’ are analyzed, and in accordance with these scores a subset of ‘winners of losers’ are selected S209; (iii) one-level extensions S213 of at least some hypercells of these ‘winners of losers’ are formed; (iv) a recession set S226 is formed where at least one ‘extension’ hypercell hc is included in the recusion set only if the hypercell is not a previously considered hypercell and/or a subcell of a previously categorized (and/or reported) as ‘outlier’ hypercell; (v) the aforementioned steps are repeated after setting PGIVEN to the recursion set. In some embodiments, the hypercells are indicative of discrepancies between measurements provided by two different metering systems.
US08050981B2

Some embodiments provide a method and a system for receiving selection of a plurality of entities in the network-based facility from an administrator, receiving selection of an action from the administrator, and applying the selected action to each entity in the plurality of entities.
US08050979B2

A method and a system are described for catalog generation based on divergent listings. For example, a listing module may receive a divergent listing and collect data corresponding to an item in the listing. Each divergent listing of an item for sale is divergent with respect to other listings of the same item for sale. A calculation module may calculate an entropy value based on the collected data, the entropy value indicating a degree of difference between the item in the listing and a product in a catalog. A catalog module may associate the listing to the product in the catalog based on the entropy value.
US08050954B2

One aspect of the invention is a method for scheduling a meeting. An interface is provided to allow a user to input information regarding a meeting into a computer. The interface may include an alternative attendee data field to allow a user to provide alternative attendee information. The alternative attendee information may indicate whether an invitee to a meeting may send an alternate person to the meeting in place of the invitee. The alternative attendee information may be received using the interface, and then stored and associated with other data concerning the meeting being scheduled.
US08050951B2

Described are a method, computer program product, and system for risk management using readily available, gridded hazard data to estimate and obtain a risk analysis parameter (e.g., expected repair cost) for use in risk management, such as in seismic risk management. The method includes calculating economic risk for buildings in terms of an expected annualized loss (EAL). EAL is the product of a scenario loss estimate called probable frequent loss (PFL) and an economic hazard coefficient (H). H can be created using readily available gridded hazard data produced by the U.S. Geological Survey. The method also includes a technique for calculating shaking intensity, sEBE, which is needed for determining PFL. Incorporated into a system, the system can be utilized by engineering consultants (or others interested in risk management) via the Internet, or on any other computer readable medium.
US08050950B2

Systems and methods for boarding passengers on flights or other transportation according to bids received from the passengers are provided. Passengers seeking to fly standby on an undersold flight can submit a bid representing the amount the passengers are willing to pay to board the flight. The airline can determine the number of seats available on the flight, and board the highest bidding passengers until the flight is full. Similarly, passengers willing to be bumped from an oversold flight can submit a bid representing the incentive the passengers are willing to accept to be bumped from the flight. The airline can determine the number of passengers that must be bumped from the flight, and bump the lowest bidding passengers (i.e., those willing to accept the least costly incentive) until a sufficient number of passengers have been bumped from the flight.
US08050938B1

An integrated system for the management of a healthcare provider is disclosed and has a scheduling module for supporting scheduling encounters with the patients, a registration component for registering the patients, an account management module for maintaining patient financial information, and a clinical module for maintaining electronic patient records. The integrated system is stored on a portable computer-readable resource and run on a processor connected to the portable computer-readable resource.
US08050936B1

Systems and techniques, including computer-implemented techniques, can be used to receive a base schedule that includes multiple rotations that each include one or more segments. A set of itineraries can be generated based upon the segments in the base schedule, and each itinerary can include an origin, a destination, and one or more segments linking the origin and the destination. The set of itineraries can be automatically analyzed to identify one or more valid itineraries within the set of itineraries, such that each valid itinerary complies with one or more constraints.
US08050935B2

A method and apparatus for dynamic Web Service composition is described. A user request is received. Multiple Web Services that may need to be performed according to the user request are identified. A Web Service composition is generated from the multiple Web Services. The Web Service composition is expressed in a business process modeling language that incorporates exception handling.
US08050933B2

A receiver in an audio coding system receives a signal conveying frequency subband signals representing an audio signal. The subband signals are examined to assess one or more characteristics of the audio signal including temporal shape. Spectral components are synthesized having the one or more assessed characteristics, integrated with the subband signals and passed through a synthesis filterbank to generate an output signal.
US08050931B2

In a masking sound generation apparatus, a CPU analyzes a speech utterance speed of a received sound signal. Then, the CPU copies the received sound signal into a plurality of sound signals and performs the following processing on each of the sound signals. Namely, the CPU divides each of the sound signals into frames on the basis of a frame length determined on the basis of the speech utterance speed. Reverse process is performed on each of the frames to replace a waveform of the frame with a reverse waveform, and a windowing process is performed to achieve a smooth connection between the frames. Then, the CPU randomly rearranges the order of the frames and mixes the plurality of sound signals to generate a masking sound signal.
US08050929B2

An optimal selection or decision strategy is described through an example that includes use in dialog systems. The selection strategy or method includes receiving multiple predictions and multiple probabilities. The received predictions predict the content of a received input and each of the probabilities corresponds to one of the predictions. In an example dialog system, the received input includes an utterance. The selection method includes dynamically selecting a set of predictions from the received predictions by generating ranked predictions. The ranked predictions are generated by ordering the plurality of predictions according to descending probability.
US08050928B2

A method of speech to DTMF generation involving ASR-enabled and DTMF-controlled communications systems. The ASR-enabled system is used to recognize speech received from the DTMF-controlled telecommunications system using sampling rate independent speech recognition. It then identifies a speech segment contained in the speech received from the DTMF-controlled system that corresponds with at least one keyword associated with user-defined data. Then, the ASR-enabled system transmits at least one DTMF signal to the DTMF-controlled system in response to the identified speech segment. This allows a user of an ASR-enabled system such as a vehicle telematics unit to at least partially automate access to the DTMF-controlled system using the telematics unit, so that voice mailbox numbers, passwords, and the like normally entered via a telephone keypad can be automatically sent to the DTMF-controlled system from the telematics unit without having to be manually input each time by the user.
US08050927B2

Provided is an apparatus and method for output voice, which receives an information item suitable to a user's taste among information items existing on a network such as the Internet in a text format, converts the information item into voice, and then outputs the voice. The apparatus to output voice includes an information search unit searching at least one first information item corresponding to a preset information class among information items existing on a network, an information processing unit extracting a core information item from the first information items in such a manner as to correspond with a preset reproducing time period, a voice generating unit converting the core information into voice, and an output unit outputting the converted voice.
US08050923B2

A speech analyzer is integrated or otherwise coupled to an audio player. The speech analyzer is used to identify recorded communication sessions in accordance with a search criterion. A search criterion may be spoken or otherwise communicated to the speech analyzer. Results generated by the speech analyzer are converted into visual information that is presented to a user of the speech analyzer. Results generated by the speech analyzer can be cached for real-time user review while the speech analyzer processes additional stored conversations.
US08050911B2

A system, method, apparatus, signal-bearing medium, and means for transmitting speech activity in a distributed voice recognition (VR) system. The distributed voice recognition system includes a local VR engine in a subscriber unit (102) and a server VR engine on a server (160). The local VR engine comprises a voice activity detection (VAD) module (106) that detects voice activity within a speech signal, and comprises an advanced feature extraction (AFE) module (104) that extracts features from a speech signal. The detected voice activity information is transmitted over a first wireless communication channel to the server (160). The feature extraction information is transmitted over a second wireless communication channel, separate from the first wireless communication channel, to the server (160). The server (160) processes the received information to determine a linguistic estimate of the electrical speech signal, and transmits the linguistic estimate to the subscriber unit (102).
US08050910B2

The fundamental frequency of a harmonic signal is estimated by forming a fundamental frequency hypothesis (f0′). A comb filter is provided based on the fundamental frequency hypothesis. The harmonic signal is filtered using the comb filter. The fundamental frequency hypothesis is tested for each tooth in the comb filter. A signal indicating an estimated fundamental frequency of the provided harmonic signal may be outputted based on the testing.
US08050906B1

Systems and methods for translating text are disclosed. The systems and methods parse source text into source text segments and style attributes that are associated with the source text segments. A database may be queried for translation text segments in a desired language that match the source text segment. The match criteria may be exact or fuzzy match. In addition, a context criterion may be used do determine matches. The context criterion may include a company criterion, an intended use criterion, a product criterion, or other user specified criterion. Translation segments that match the source segment are then output using the style of the source segment.
US08050905B2

A software application is provided for a user to select a backed up data file and specify a task to be performed by an online service provider on the selected file. The application automatically connects to the online service provider and uploads the selected file for the online service provider to perform the task. Tasks that can be performed include printing, sharing, viewing, playing and archiving the selected file. Task preferences, user settings and user information can also be specified by the user and uploaded to the online service provider. Automatic connection to the online service provider can be via default setting, selected file type, or specified task. Alternatively, the user can designate which service provider is to perform the task. Payment for the task can be accomplished via bundled credits or by other payment mechanisms.
US08050896B2

A geospatial modeling system may include a geospatial model data storage device and a processor. The processor may cooperate with the geospatial model data storage device for selecting and transforming a reference sample of a geospatial model frequency domain data set into a corresponding reference sample geospatial model spatial domain data set, where the geospatial model frequency domain data set has at least one void therein. The processor may further cooperate with the geospatial model data storage device for iteratively inpainting data into the at least one void in the geospatial model frequency domain data set to generate an inpainted geospatial model frequency domain data set, selecting and transforming a test sample of the inpainted geospatial model frequency domain data set into a corresponding test sample geospatial model spatial domain data set, and comparing the reference sample geospatial model spatial domain data set and the test sample geospatial model spatial domain data set to determine whether to stop the iterative inpainting.
US08050891B2

Techniques, systems and computer program products are disclosed for providing sensor mapping. In one aspect, a method includes receiving input from a user. The received input includes at least one of motion, force and contact. In addition, a sensor signal is generated based on the received input. From a choice of data structures a data structure associated with a selected application having one or more functions is identified. The data structure indicates a relationship between the generated sensor signal and the one or more functions of the selected application. The generated sensor signal is selectively mapped into a control signal for controlling the one or more functions of the selected application by using the identified data structure.
US08050890B2

A system and method for visualization of the components of an enterprise system and the rendering of information about the health or status of the enterprise system, its components, and/or its subcomponents. The invention uses a combination of color codes or other indicators and a combination of algorithms and/or rules-based systems to control the computation of status/severities to associate to components and setup the color codes and indicators.
US08050887B2

An embodiment of the present invention may provide a method and system for detecting icing on at least one wind turbine blade. An embodiment of the present invention takes the form of a software application and process that utilizes the measured wind speed to detect icing on at least one wind turbine blade.
US08050885B2

A method for determining the effects of the wind on a blind (1) or the like that is provided with a sensor means (231) for measuring the effects of the wind in a first measurement direction (X1) and in a second measurement direction (Y1), the two directions being different, the method comprising the following steps: collecting, from the sensor means, a first signal representative of the effects of the wind on the blind or the like, in the first measurement direction; collecting, from the sensor means, a second signal representative of the effects of the wind on the blind or the like, in the second measurement direction; which comprises the step of: processing these signals so as to provide a secondary signal representative of the effects of the wind and independent of the orientation of the sensor means in a plane defined by the two directions, in order to obtain uniform sensor detection sensitivity irrespective of the orientation of the sensor.
US08050882B2

A system and method for online configuration of a measurement system. The user may access a server over a network and specify a desired task, e.g., a measurement task, and receive programs and/or configuration information which are usable to configure the user's measurement system hardware (and/or software) to perform the desired task. Additionally, if the user does not have the hardware required to perform the task, the required hardware may be sent to the user, along with programs and/or configuration information. The hardware may be reconfigurable hardware, such as an FPGA or a processor/memory based device. In one embodiment, the required hardware may be pre-configured to perform the task before being sent to the user. In another embodiment, the system and method may provide a graphical program in response to receiving the user's task specification, where the graphical program may be usable by the measurement system to perform the task.
US08050873B2

The crystal structure of ligand-bound EGLN1 catalytic domain of prolyl hydroxylase is disclosed. These coordinates are useful in computer aided drug design for identifying compounds that regulate EGLN1 prolyl hydroxylase and thereby regulate HIF-regulated disorders.
US08050868B2

The present invention provides automated methods and associated software for determining the organization of a component of interest in individual cells by determining the amount or distribution of the cellular component of interest as a function of position relative to a reference component in the individual cells.
US08050864B2

A method is present for displaying weather information. A number of weather conditions present within an altitude range along a route of an aircraft is identified from weather data. A type of weather indicator is selected based on a type of weather condition in the number of weather conditions to form a number of weather indicators. A vertical situation display is displayed with the number of weather indicators in a number of locations on a display corresponding to the number of locations for the number of weather conditions.
US08050860B2

The invention relates to a method and device for displaying a flight plan of an aircraft. The display device includes a display presenting unit making it possible to identify the flight phase of each waypoint of a flight plan which is displayed on a screen, and an activation unit making it possible to directly access a corresponding flight phase page.
US08050853B2

A method for identifying traffic information for at least one sub-link includes receiving traffic information including a sub-link identifier enabling a determination of whether the received traffic information includes sub-link information, traffic status information enabling a determination of traffic information for a sub-link, information identifying a link within which the sub-link is located, and sub-link location information enabling a determination of a portion of the link that corresponds to the sub-link. The method also includes determining, based on the sub-link identifier whether the received traffic information includes sub-link information and dependent on whether the sub-link identifier enables a determination that the received traffic information includes sub-link information.
US08050852B2

An abnormality detection device for an internal combustion engine capable of performing abnormality detection with accuracy, and an air/fuel ratio control apparatus for an internal combustion engine capable of performing air/fuel ratio control with accuracy. An estimated value of the amount of intake air at a valve closing time at which an intake value is closed, is computed. The in-cylinder air/fuel ratio in a cylinder is computed by using the estimated value. The obtained in-cylinder air/fuel ratio is used as an input air/fuel ratio to identify a parameter in a primary delay element. Determination as to the existence/nonexistence of an abnormality in a pre-catalyst sensor (A/F sensor) is made on the basis of the obtained parameter.
US08050851B2

In a hybrid vehicle, once an engine is started in response to prohibition of an operation stop of the engine based on a deterioration factor, the operation stop of the engine is not allowed irrespective of the value of the deterioration factor D until elapse of a certain time period since the start of the engine. The deterioration factor has an increase according to discharge of a battery and a decrease according to charge of the battery and represents start of deterioration of the battery when exceeding a specific reference value. Such prohibition of the engine operation stop prevents a stop of the engine within a relatively short time period after a start of the engine based on the deterioration factor. This arrangement effectively prevents the driver from feeling odd and uncomfortable due to frequent stops and starts of the engine based on the deterioration factor, which is not apparently correlated to the driver's accelerating operations.
US08050847B2

A method for operating an exhaust gas mass flow sensor which is used, in particular, in exhaust gas mass flows of motor vehicles has an operating mode and a cleaning mode. In an operating mode, the exhaust gas mass flow sensor is operated at an operating temperature. In a cleaning mode, the exhaust gas mass flow sensor is changed over for the purpose of cleaning a measurement region and is cleaned at a cleaning temperature which is higher than the operating temperature.
US08050835B2

A method, apparatus and system for controlling transmission clutch system output pressures is provided. A transmission control unit and a pressure control device including an electro-hydraulic valve and a pressure switch cooperate to provide self-calibrating clutch pressure control systems.
US08050832B2

The present invention relates to a method for determining the rotational speed of the main shaft (3) of a transmission in which the main shaft (3) is connected to an output shaft (4) via a shiftable planetary gear (17), whereby the main shaft (3) is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the sun gear (18) and the output shaft (4) is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the planet carrier (20). The steps of the method are picking up the rotational speed (nHohlrad) of the ring gear (22), picking up the rotational speed (nAbtrieb) of the output shaft or the planet carrier (20), and computing the rotational speed (nHauptwelle) of the main shaft (3) from the rotational speed (nHohlrad) of the ring gear and the rotational speed (nAbtrieb) of the output shaft or the planet carrier (20). The present invention further relates to a transmission having a rotational speed pickup device.
US08050823B2

The present apparatus stabilizes the behavior of the vehicle when a lateral disturbance occurs and includes a lateral disturbance detection unit, a target yaw rate computation unit and a vehicle yaw rate control unit. The lateral disturbance detection unit detects a lateral disturbance. The target yaw rate computation unit calculates a driver's steering angle when the lateral disturbance is detected, and calculates a target yaw rate using the calculated driver's steering angle, and vehicle information, including vehicle behavior information and vehicle specification information. The vehicle yaw rate control unit controls a vehicle yaw rate so as to attenuate a turning moment attributable to the lateral disturbance, thereby causing the controlled vehicle yaw rate to converge on the calculated target yaw rate.
US08050821B2

The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for regulating state variable estimators used in a hybrid active damping system for a vehicle powertrain. The state estimator provides variable estimates for operating states, such as real-time torque values of axles and dampers, that are not readily measurable with production powertrain and driveline hardware. This facilitates implementation of other control algorithms, such as torque oscillation damping control schemes which use multivariable feedback. The apparatus and method monitors the operating mode of the powertrain, and resets the state estimator for the hybrid active damping ring (HADR) under predetermined operating conditions. For instance, the state estimator includes an array of current state and predicted state variables that are set equal to corresponding reference values or measured values if the powertrain enters into four-wheel drive low (4WDLO).
US08050819B2

A toe angle changing control ECU for controlling a toe angle of wheels of a vehicle. The toe angle changing control ECU includes: a straight traveling state judging section for judging whether or not the vehicle is in a; a memory for storing the toe angle of the wheels while the vehicle is in the straight traveling state; and a toe angle setting section for setting the wheels to the toe angle stored in the memory (44) when the straight traveling state judging section judges that the vehicle is in the straight traveling state. While in the straight traveling state, the wheels are set to a toe angle at which the wheels are substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, reducing the rolling resistance of the wheels, and improving fuel consumption.
US08050810B2

A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle with an engine, a battery, and at least one motor generator. System efficiencies of each of several candidate driving states are calculated. Calculating efficiency when the battery is discharged uses power of the engine Pfuel, power drawn from the battery Pb,out, and required driving power Pdemand. Calculating efficiency when the battery is charged uses Pfuel, Pdemand, and power charged to the battery Pb,in. Pb,out is calculated using a real battery discharge power Pb,out,real, a battery discharge energy efficiency ηbd, a historic efficiency ηb,pwr of energy loss when the battery is charged, and a correction coefficient SOCcorrection for controlling the battery charge amount. Pb,in is calculated using real battery charge power Pb,in,real, battery charge energy efficiency ηbc, ηbd, and efficiency ηin,pwr when power is consumed in the future. The driving state with the highest efficiency is then selected.
US08050807B2

Methods and apparatus for vertical motion detection of objects, such as aircraft. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving altitude data for an object, determining a residual of a lag function, wherein the lag function comprises a moving average of the altitude data for the object, and wherein the residual corresponds to a difference between a value for the lag function and the object altitude data at a given time such that the residual grows in magnitude over time in response to the object transitioning from level flight to vertical motion, detecting vertical motion of the object by comparing a sum of data derived from the residuals against a threshold value, and outputting a vertical motion indicator after detecting the vertical motion of the object.
US08050803B2

A power feeding system includes a power feeding apparatus and a power line communication unit. The power feeding apparatus feeds power from a power line to an external apparatus. The power line communication unit communicates via the power line, which is a communication medium. The power feeding apparatus includes an acquisition unit, a restriction unit and a determination unit. The acquisition unit acquires restriction information used to restrict the feeding of the power to the external apparatus. The restriction unit restricts the feeding of the power to the external apparatus to which the power feeding apparatus is to feed the power. The determination unit determines as to whether or not the restriction unit has to restrict the feeding of the power, based on the restriction information acquired by the acquisition unit.
US08050797B2

A automation equipment control system comprises a general purpose computer with a general purpose operating system in electronic communication with a real-time computer subsystem. The general purpose computer includes a program execution module to selectively start and stop processing of a program of equipment instructions and to generate a plurality of move commands. The real-time computer subsystem includes a move command data buffer for storing the plurality of move commands, a move module linked to the data buffer for sequentially processing the moves and calculating a required position for a mechanical joint. The real-time computer subsystem also includes a dynamic control algorithm in software communication with the move module to repeatedly calculate a required actuator activation signal from a joint position feedback signal.
US08050793B1

A method includes providing a design data file specifying at least one target feature on a first reticle. A reticle qualification data file specifying a plurality of feature measurements associated with features formed using the first reticle is provided. At least one of the feature measurements is linked to the target feature on the first reticle. The target feature and the linked feature measurement are stored in a data store.
US08050785B2

Order handling apparatus of the present invention stores assembly standard information that at least one component is managed for each assembly and component standard information which is basic information of a component to be mapped with each other. Order handling apparatus duplicates component standard information together with assembly standard information to generate individual assembly information for arranging an assembly, assigns arranging formation representing whether a component is arranged or not to generate individual component information and stores them. Order handling apparatus determines whether to reflect an update of component standard information in component standard information contained in individual assembly information based on arranging information when component standard information stored in standard assembly storing unit is updated.
US08050784B2

A computer program to assist in programming an industrial control system provides a programmer with a functional description of the data of low-level devices in the industrial controller, as gleaned from electronic data sheets, whose data is extracted and combined with mapping data used during the configuration of the industrial controller. The functional description may be used to create a reference for the programmer that may be incorporated into the control program source file.
US08050781B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to dynamically measuring the speed of a circuit and modifying the operating voltage of the circuit based on the measured speed, in order to minimize the power being used while still ensuring proper operation of the circuit. Consequently, circuits of higher inherent speeds may have their voltages decreased (thus decreasing their actual speeds), while circuits of lower speeds may have their voltages increased, or kept the same. Thus, the resulting speeds of all circuits may be kept within a limited range to ensure proper operation. In addition, the power dissipated of circuits of higher speeds may be decreased.
US08050773B2

A medical stimulation lead is provided. The medical stimulation lead includes an elongated lead body including a substantially rounded cross-section and including a first biased portion forming a first section of the substantially rounded cross-section and a second biased portion forming a second section of the substantially rounded cross-section. A plurality of electrodes are provided connected to the elongated lead body. A restraining body is removably connected to the elongated lead body releasably exerting a force substantially counter to the biases of the first biased portion and the second biased portion. The retraining body releasably maintains the substantially rounded cross-section of the elongated lead body, wherein removal of the restraining body permits the first biased portion and the second biased portion to expand, dividing the substantially rounded cross-section. The present invention further provides a method for providing spinal cord stimulation and a stimulation lead including an elongated plate.
US08050771B2

An antenna structure for an implantable medical device (IMD) is provided that includes an antenna embedded within a structure derived from a plurality of discrete dielectric layers. An array of electrodes are connected to the antenna structure and arranged for applying a bias across selected segments of the dielectric layers for altering the performance characteristics of the antenna. The bias applied by the array of electrodes can be selected to provide desired impedance matching between the antenna and the surrounding environment of the implant location to mitigate energy reflection effects at the transition from the antenna structure to the surrounding environment, to provide beam steering functionality for the antenna, or to alter the gain of the signals received by the antenna. IMD is configured to monitor received signal characteristics (e.g., RSSI, EVM or bit error rate) and alter material properties of the dielectric material through biasing to control antenna performance.
US08050769B2

The present invention involves systems and methods for determining nerve proximity, nerve direction, and pathology relative to a surgical instrument based on an identified relationship between neuromuscular responses and the stimulation signal that caused the neuromuscular responses.
US08050762B2

Methods and systems for detecting capture using pacing artifact cancellation are described. One or more pacing artifact templates are provided and a cardiac signal is sensed in a cardiac verification window. Each of the pacing artifact templates may characterize the pacing artifact associated with a particular pacing energy level, for example. A particular pacing artifact template is canceled from the cardiac signal. Capture is determined using the pacing artifact canceled cardiac signal. Detection of fusion/pseudofusion beats may be accomplished by comparing a cardiac signal to a captured response template.
US08050753B2

A neural stimulation system includes a safety control system that prevents delivery of neural stimulation pulses from causing potentially harmful effects. The neural stimulation pulses are delivered to one or more nerves to control the physiological functions regulated by the one or more nerves. Examples of such harmful effects include unintended effects in physiological functions associated with autonomic neural stimulation and nerve injuries caused by excessive delivery of the neural stimulation pulses.
US08050734B2

A method for performing patient specific analysis of disease relevant changes of a disease in an anatomical structure of interest is provided. The method comprises determining a percentage of the anatomical structure that is encompassed by a diseased tissue region using a patient specific healthy tissue model. The method then comprises determining the amount or spatial distribution or a combination thereof of tissue volume variation due to the disease in the anatomical structure based on the percentage of the anatomical structure encompassed by the diseased tissue region and an estimated original amount of tissue.
US08050732B2

A system and method for cardiac mapping and ablation include a multi-electrode catheter introduced percutaneously into a subject's heart and deployable adjacent to various endocardial sites. The electrodes are connectable to a mapping unit, an ablation power unit a pacing unit, all of which are under computer control. Intracardiac electrogram signals emanated from a tachycardia site of origin are detectable by the electrodes. Their arrival times are processed to generate various visual maps to provide real-time guidance for steering the catheter to the tachycardia site of origin. In another aspect, the system also include a physical imaging system which is capable of providing different imaged physical views of the catheter and the heart. These physical views are incorporated into the various visual maps to provide a more physical representation. Once the electrodes are on top of the tachycardia site of origin, electrical energy is supplied by the ablation power unit to effect ablation.
US08050724B2

A method for controlling power in a wireless telephone set. The method includes the steps of detecting whether or not any interrupting signals have been generated and performing a user mode for supplying power only to sections necessary for operations according to an origin of the interrupting signals, when said interrupting signals are generated.
US08050722B2

In a voltage supply control device, a voltage conversion circuit receives a voltage from a battery and generates a desired voltage. A switching control unit executes switching so as to supply a voltage to a power amplification circuit through the voltage conversion circuit when the voltage of the battery is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value or supply the voltage to the power amplification circuit from the battery without intervention of the voltage conversion circuit when the voltage of the battery is less than the predetermined threshold value. The switching control unit uses different voltage threshold values for a plurality of transmission modes classified in accordance with the assumed values of appropriate voltages to be supplied to the power amplification circuit. A cellular phone terminal and a voltage supply control method are also disclosed.
US08050720B2

A speed dialing method for displaying contact information for use in a mobile communication device is disclosed. Plural time threshold values and information display transparencies corresponding to the time threshold values, respectively, are defined. When the mobile communication device receives a trigger signal generated by pressing a button and a time for continuously receiving the trigger signal respectively reaches the time threshold values, contact information corresponding to the pressed button is displayed with information display transparencies corresponding to the time threshold values on a screen of the mobile communication device. When the time for continuously receiving the trigger signal reaches a dial threshold value, a contact phone number assigned to the pressed button is dialed by the mobile communication device.
US08050719B2

Disclosed are a mobile station unit which can obtain azimuth information with a simple construction and a radio communication system including the mobile terminal unit. According to the present invention, in a terminal station, an arrival direction obtaining section 203 obtains an arrival direction of a received azimuth designation signal from a reference station or another terminal station using an arithmetic operation or the like. A transmitting direction forming section 204 determines the direction opposite to the arrival direction obtained by the arrival direction obtaining section 203 as a transmitting direction. A reference azimuth detecting section 207 detects the transmitting direction determined by the transmitting direction forming section 204 as a reference azimuth. An azimuth designation signal generating section 205 generates an azimuth designation signal so as to radiate radio waves having directivity in the transmitting direction determined by the transmitting direction forming section 204.
US08050717B2

In a signal processing system, a set of channel signals from an array of sensors of different operating characteristics are processed in calibration circuitry that calculates individual average values of the channel signals and calculates an average of the individual average values of channel signals as a reference value. Reciprocal calculators calculate reciprocal values of the individual average values of the channel signals. Scaling circuitry scales the reciprocal values by the reference value to produce a set of amplitude calibration signals and scales the channel signals by the calibration signals respectively. As a result, the channel signals are normalized by their own average values and scaled by the reference value to produce a set of calibrated channel signals.
US08050713B2

A remote control panel (RCP) is provided for controlling an operation of a radio (104, 106). The RCP (102) includes a keypad (208) configured for receiving user input commands for controlling the radio using the same keypad commands as would be used when operating the same without the RCP. The RCP also includes a display unit (206) for displaying information concerning an operational state of the radio. The RCP further includes a communication interface (212, 312-316, 320-322) configured for relaying information from the RCP to the radio located a distance away. The interface is also configured for relaying information from the radio to the RCP. The RCP includes a computer processing device configured for providing an extended capability for the radio exclusive of a predefined functional capability. The extended capability is selected from the group consisting of additional digital data processing capability, additional display capability, and additional communication capability.
US08050705B2

An improved method and system for removing operating restrictions associated with a predetermined subscriber identity module (SIM) from a wireless device. A user is allowed to securely log onto a Web site that contains support information on subscription plans, billing, termination, penalties, and device-to-SIM unlocking. After satisfying any outstanding contract terms and payment of termination or device unlock fees, the user initiates a device-to-SIM unlock procedure. A client application on the wireless device securely transfers subscription, system, and SIM information to a device-to-SIM unlock system which uses the information to generate appropriate unlock codes. The unlock codes are then securely transferred to the client application, which processes them to remove operating restrictions associated with the predetermined SIM from the device and allow it to thereafter implement a plurality of SIMs.
US08050704B2

A method for effectively allocating a transmission power and a method for transmitting SCH are disclosed. In this case, the transmission power of the SCH, which is important for initial cell search of the user equipment, is increased but is not allocated to a predetermined frequency region within one OFDM symbol to obtain the increased transmission power, thereby minimizing an influence on transmission of other channels within one OFDM symbol.
US08050691B2

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement in a mobile telecommunication network for detection of a UE transmitted signal. The arrangement comprises means for detecting the signal during the time ttot, wherein said means comprises a correlator adapted for combined coherent and non-coherent correlation, wherein the length of the coherent correlation interval is L signal samples, the number of coherent correlation intervals is M and the coherent correlation results in a coherent correlation result for each of the coherent detection intervals M, and means for adding the coherent correlation results non-coherently. Further, the arrangement comprises means for selecting one of the length L of coherent detection interval and the total detection interval ttot based on at least one of the parameters cell size, UE speed and acceleration, number of participating Location Measurements Units and a desired total false alarm rate.
US08050688B2

A user requests a service using a communication device (102) capable of providing information about the location of the user. The request is communicated by the communication device (102) along with information about the location of the user to a service provider agent (108) capable of dispatching a service provider (112) responsive to the service request. The service provider agent (108) may deliver to the user information relating to the manner in which the service will be rendered and information to facilitate payment for the service. This information may be provided by way of a token delivered to the user's communication device (102). Once the service is rendered, and the user is proximate the service provider (112), the service provider (112) and the communication device (102) exchange data to complete the service transaction, which may include information necessary to render the service and to affect payment for the service.
US08050675B2

Improved search capabilities are disclosed for mobile communications devices such as cell phones, as well as improved techniques for delivering sponsored content in a mobile communication environment.
US08050665B1

Disclosed herein is a system and method for selectively providing an audible alert to remind the user of a mobile communication device that they have received an incoming message. A first alert is provided initially after the incoming messages is received. Thereafter, additional alerts are suppressed unless motion of the mobile communication device is detected.
US08050658B2

A computer program product, apparatus and method for establishing a voice call of a mobile communication system includes: authenticating an origination terminal through a traffic channel by performing call connection between the origination terminal and an origination side network; authenticating a destination terminal through a traffic channel by performing call connection between a termination side network and the destination terminal when the authentication is successful; and establishing a speech path between the origination terminal and the destination terminal when the destination terminal is successfully authenticated. A request and submission of an OTP for authenticating a user of a mobile terminal is possibly performed according to the voice call protocol, whereby the security of the mobile terminal can be strengthened and the strong demand of users with respect to protecting the privacy and information can be satisfied.
US08050653B2

Methods and systems for handling attachments on wireless mobile communication devices. An attachment provided with a secure message is received at a message server. The secure message itself was received by the server as an attachment. The secure message is processed in order to locate within the secure message the requested attachment. The located attachment is provided to a mobile device.
US08050651B2

The detector is reduced in DC power consumption when an input signal is at a low amplitude level. The detector includes first and second input terminals, first and second transistors, and a load element. The first and second input terminals are supplied with complementary input signals reverse to each other in phase. The first input terminal is connected to the first input electrode of the first transistor and the second input electrode of the second transistor. The second input terminal is connected to the second input electrode of the first transistor and the first input electrode of the second transistor. The load element is connected between output electrodes of the transistors and an operating voltage point. A detection voltage resulting from full-wave rectification arises from a circuit node. In the condition where a signal input to the input terminals is at a low amplitude level, the transistors are both in OFF state. Thus, DC power consumption is reduced.
US08050650B2

A band pass filter includes a first micro-strip port for receiving a radio-frequency signal, a second micro-strip port for outputting a filtered radio-frequency signal and comprising at least one resonating cavity formed for enhancing rejecting effect of image frequency corresponding to the filtered radio-frequency signal, and a plurality of resonators arranged between the first micro-strip port and the second micro-strip port for performing band pass filtering on the radio-frequency signal to generate the filtered radio-frequency signal.
US08050643B1

In a method and system for controlling gain in an RF receiver, an RF signal is analyzed over different attack and decay windows, from which the receiver determines (1) if the signal is in an attack condition with dip values below a threshold level thus indicating a need for increasing signal gain, or (2) if the signal is in a decay condition with threshold values above a threshold level thus indicating a need for decreasing signal gain. The receiver applies attack and decay windows of different sizes and in an asynchronous manner to create a gain control scheme that is insensitive to transient effects such as channel interference and deep fading that affect the intensities of an in-band signal.
US08050641B2

In at least some disclosed embodiments, a wireless electronic system includes a decoder module coupled to a processor. The decoder module is configured to send a signal to the processor based on a less than completely acquired burst of data. The less than completely acquired burst of data is part of a complete burst of data, and the complete burst of data is contiguous. The processor causes a reduction in power consumption of the wireless electronic system based on the signal.
US08050633B2

A wireless communication system is disclosed. The present invention mainly includes a transceiver, a first filter unit, a second filter unit, and a first amplifying unit, wherein the first filter unit is a harmonic oscillation circuit having an inductive component and a capacitive component serially coupled to each other, and the harmonic oscillation circuit as well as the circuit of the second filter unit efficiently filter out a local oscillation frequency signal and intermediate frequency signal traveling along with a radio frequency signal, thereby preventing neighboring communication systems from electro-magnetic interference due to radiation of the local oscillation frequency signal and intermediate frequency signal into air via an antenna after being amplified by the first amplifying unit.
US08050628B2

Systems and methods according to embodiment of the present invention prevent or otherwise mitigate data corruption and interference that may result when a communications on-the-move transmission is blocked by a radio relay link antenna transmitting on a shared frequency band. Harmful radiation that could affect persons blocking the line-of-sight of a COTM transmission is also prevented or mitigated. According to one embodiment of the present invention, if a building or other obstruction blocks the line-of-sight between a COTM antenna and a target satellite, the transmission will automatically cease, preventing or minimizing any potential interference that can occur, such as the interference to a radio relay link antenna operating atop a building. Similarly, persons who may have been in the line-of-sight will not be subjected to harmful radiation. COTM transmission remains offline until free line-of-sight is re-established.
US08050626B2

The invention relates to a portable terminal such as a portable telephone terminal and so forth for effecting communication, information processing and so forth, and to provide the portable terminal and a master slave portable telephone system capable of rendering a transmission and/or reception mode of information to be multi-functional to enhance communication function, thereby enhancing the convenience thereof. The portable terminal comprises an information transmission and/or reception part for effecting transmission and/or reception of information, a radio communication part for effecting communication by radio, and an information processing part for processing information. The portable terminal can effect transmission and/or reception of information relative to another portable terminal by any of a master terminal made up of the information transmission and/or reception part and the information processing part, a slave terminal made up of the information transmission and/or reception part and the radio communication part, and a normal terminal configured by combining the radio communication part with the information processing part via the information transmission and/or reception part.
US08050617B2

An image forming apparatus includes: a conveyance unit that conveys plural single cut-sheet recording media arrayed along a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction; and an image forming unit that forms an image on the plural single cut-sheet recording media conveyed by the conveyance unit.
US08050615B2

According to an embodiment of the invention, a sliding plate that slides in contact with an inner wall of a disposed toner duct is oscillated by using rotation of a disposed toner collection auger. As the sliding plate is oscillated, disposed toner falling and fed through the disposed toner duct is oscillated. The disposed toner adhering to the inner wall of the disposed toner duct is removed by sliding of both lateral parts of the sliding plate in contact with the inner wall.
US08050612B2

A technique of reducing temperature unevenness in a heating member which heats a heating target member while reducing heat capacity of the heating member in a fixing device for an image forming apparatus is provided. The fixing device has a heating member having diamond fine particles dispersed and contained at least in its surface layer, a pressurizing member which is pressed in contact with the heating member and nips and carries a sheet in collaboration with the heating member, and a heating unit which heats the heating member.
US08050607B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming mechanism for forming an image on a recording medium with a developer according to image data and a fixing mechanism for fixing the developer forming the image on the recording medium. The fixing mechanism includes a pressing member, a fixing member, a tension roller, and a cleaner. The fixing member and the pressing member respectively apply heat and pressure to the recording medium conveyed through a nip formed between the pressing member and the fixing member. The tension roller contacts one of the pressing member and the fixing member that contacts the developer forming the image on the recording sheet to apply tension to the one of the pressing member and the fixing member. The cleaner contacts the tension roller and removes contaminants including the developer adhered to the tension roller.
US08050606B2

A material for removing residue toner has a non-woven felt with excellent oil retentivity, cleaning, and dry heat-stability, which is disposed on an oiled belt, an oiled roller or an oiled pad for a fixing machine or the like in a photographic imaging process. The material is composed of the felt in which carded lap is milled by punching with needle, the carded lap being consisted mainly of one or more heat-resistant organic fibers whose cross section has an acute angle. The felt is attached adhesively on a body of an acting member and comes into contact with the surface of an operating member such as a fixing roller or a developing roller.
US08050589B2

A tandem type of process unit removably loaded in an image forming device has a plurality of process cartridges, a pair of lower supporting plates, and a pair of upper supporting plates. Each of the plurality of process cartridges has a photosensitive drum rotatably about an axis extending in a first direction. Each of the plurality of process cartridges has two side faces facing each other in the first direction and a cartridge electrode provided on the side face. The plurality of process cartridges is aligned in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Each of the lower supporting plates supports a lower part of the side face of each of the plurality of process cartridges. The pair of upper supporting plates is positioned upward and separately from the pair of lower supporting plates. Each of the upper supporting plates supports an upper part of the side face of each of the plurality of process cartridges. The pair of upper support plates and the pair of lower support plates provide a side opening facing the side face of each of the plurality of process cartridges to expose the electrode of each of the plurality of process cartridges toward outside through the side opening.
US08050583B2

A fixing device, an image forming apparatus using the fixing device, and a temperature control method therefor. The fixing device includes a fixing roller, a heat roller including first and second heat sources, a fixing belt, a pressure roller including a pressure heat source, a first temperature detector, a second temperature detector, and a pressure temperature detector. The heat sources are regularly on and off according to a duty cycle, and at least one of the heat sources is controlled by the duty cycle during paper feed. A wattage of one of the heat sources is added to a wattage of at least one of the other heat sources when the temperature detected by the first or second temperature detector corresponding to the one of the heat sources reaches the set temperature such that a duty ratio of the at least one of the other heat sources is increased.
US08050582B2

In a black monochromatic mode, an intermediary transfer belt is separated from an upstream photosensitive drum in a state in which a downstream photosensitive drum contacts the intermediary transfer belt. At this time, a stretching roller is moved upwardly in interrelation with a contact-separation mechanism to increase an angle of contact of the intermediary transfer belt with the downstream photosensitive drum compared with the case of a full-color mode. On the other hand, in the full-color mode, the stretching roller is moved downwardly to be separated from an inner surface of the intermediary transfer belt.
US08050580B2

A continuous-sheet printing tandem electrophotography system for printing a continuous sheet includes first and second electrophotography units. A first size of the continuous sheet is measured before an image printed by the first electrophotography unit with a first parameter value is fused on the continuous sheet. A second size of the continuous sheet is measured after the image printed by the first electrophotography unit is fused on the continuous sheet. The second electrophotography unit then prints the continuous sheet with a second parameter value that is determined by a size difference between the first and the second sizes. The first and the second sizes include a page length and a page width of the continuous sheet. The parameter values include a print speed, a polygon mirror rotating speed, a video clock frequency, and a laser power.
US08050579B2

An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a paper-type detecting unit that detects a paper type of a sheet to be printed, a fixing unit that sets fixing temperature on the basis of the paper type detected by the paper-type detecting unit and fixes a toner image on the sheet, and a fixing-temperature changing unit that changes the fixing temperature of the fixing unit to high temperature when a printed image fixed by the fixing unit is an image that fades or is matte compared with fixing temperature for an image that is rough or is glossy.
US08050578B2

An image forming apparatus is supplied that can obtain a correct temperature inside an image forming section and can perform an optimum temperature control so that it is possible to prevent remainder toner on the surface of the image carrying body from solidifying. In the image forming apparatus, in order to heat and fix toner image onto print medium, an image forming section forms the toner image on surface of an image carrying body; a conveying section conveys the print medium; a transferring section transfers the toner image on the image carrying body onto the print medium conveyed by the conveying section; a fixing section heats and fixes the toner image transferred on the print medium; a fixing section temperature detection section detects a temperature of the fixing section; an apparatus controlling section controls the temperature of the fixing section on the basis of a detection result of the fixing section temperature detection section; and an inner temperature detection section detects an image forming apparatus inner temperature, wherein the inner temperature detection section is set up in a location outside the image forming section, where temperature changes due to a heat influence from the fixing section as that a toner accommodating portion inside the image forming section has the same heat influence, and the apparatus controlling section sets a temperature setting value of the fixing section on the basis of a detection result of the inner temperature detection section.
US08050577B2

An image forming apparatus and a controlling method thereof. The image forming apparatus includes a fixing member having a heating source to heat a developer of a recording medium, a power supply unit to the heating source, first and second temperature sensors for respective first and second positions on the fixing member, a width sensor for the recording medium, and a control unit, when a difference between the first temperature and the second temperature is greater than a predetermined reference value, determining whether the first temperature is abnormal based on the width of the recording medium and, when the first temperature is abnormal, interrupting the power supply to the heating source. An error in the temperature sensor is determined when a temperature difference between the first and second position of the fixing member is greater than a predetermined degree and the recording medium passes through both temperature sensors.
US08050575B2

An image forming apparatus includes a first developing cartridge and a first photosensitive cartridge. The first developing cartridge is removably mounted in the first photosensitive cartridge and includes a toner hopper, a supply roller and a developing roller. The first photosensitive cartridge includes a photosensitive drum, a charger provided at a position adjacent to the photosensitive drum, a first wall provided adjacent to the supply roller, the toner hopper, and the developing roller when the first developing cartridge is mounted in the photosensitive cartridge, the first wall including a first opening, and a second wall which faces the first wall and is provided adjacent to the charger, the second wall including a second opening on an opposite side of the charger from the photosensitive drum. A portion of a wall of the first developing cartridge projects through the first opening in the first wall of the first photosensitive cartridge.
US08050563B2

A technique is proposed for performing add/drop operations in an OADM assembly serving an optical network and comprising an add unit and a drop unit. With respect to at least one optical channel assigned to an optical wavelength λ, the OADM assembly is capable of dropping the channel from the network via the drop unit as a first signal, and adding the channel to the network via the add unit as a second signal. According to the technique, the OADM assembly additionally comprises an authentication and control unit ACU for authenticating the at least one optical channel and controlling the OADM assembly. The ACU is authenticates the optical channel by comparing one or more components of the first signal with one or more components of the second signal serving as a reference, and based on the authentication result, makes decisions whether to allow or block the dropping and/or adding of the optical channel.
US08050560B2

A distributed resources sharing method using weighting factors of sub-domains in an optical network includes connecting working paths to an optical network according to a request of a subscriber, and calculating weighting factors for measurement of concentration of the sub-domains including the working paths by using information on connected working paths. The method also includes setting up the backup paths by using the weighting factors, and allocating resources in response to connection request at the time of setting up the backup path and sharing the allocated resources. With this method, it is possible to prevent a waste of idle resources caused from concentration of allocated resources. In addition, since the information of the idle resources in the network can be sensed at the time of selecting the backup paths by using a weight factor, the shared resources can be distributed, thereby maximizing efficiency of the resources.
US08050558B2

The optical signal sampling apparatus and the optical signal monitor apparatus are configured of an optical combiner for combining an optical signal to be sampled and a sampling light pulse with each other and an electroabsorption modulator. The electroabsorption modulator has two optical terminals for inputting/outputting the light and a power supply terminal for applying the electric field to the optical path connecting the two optical terminals, and has such a characteristic that the absorption rate of the light propagating through the optical path changes in accordance with the magnitude of the electric field, the light emitted from the optical combiner is received by one of the two optical terminals, and the absorption rate is increased when the sampling light pulse is not incident while the absorption rate is decreased when the sampling light pulse is incident. Further, the apparatuses include a DC power supply for applying a predetermined DC voltage to the power supply terminal and an optical separator for selectively emitting the optical signal component to be sampled, of the optical signals emitted from another of the two optical terminals.
US08050554B2

Provided are a fault localization apparatus based on an optical communication network and a method thereof. In the fault localization apparatus according to the present invention, a downstream light source is used as a monitoring optical signal instead of using an additional monitoring light source and a subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) monitoring pulse signal of a certain frequency band having no interference with a frequency band of a downstream data signal is used and thus a fault position may be detected at low cost.
US08050549B2

A method for controlling an auto macro function of a lens module is provided. Firstly, a control switching module is provided. The both terminals of the coil of the lens module are connected to a power source and the control switching module, respectively. In response to a first signal state of a control signal, a constant current is transmitted from the power source to the coil. The magnets attached on the magnet yoke provide a permanent magnetic field, and the constant current passing through the coil causes a magnetic force to be generated on the coil while moving the lens holder toward the magnet yoke by a constant distance. In response to a second signal state of the control signal, the power source stops transmitting the constant current to the coil, wherein a restoring force generated by the deformed spring causes the lens holder to return to its original position.
US08050541B2

A method, apparatus (100) and system (200) for altering the playback speed of recorded content (105) to match a target syllable rate is provided. A user may enter a desired, target playback syllable rate through a user interface (101), such as a keypad or touch screen. Alternatively, the target playback syllable rate may be determined from identification of the source of the recorded content (105). An actual playback syllable rate (106) associated with the recorded content (105) is then determined. The recorded content (105) is then altered, by time domain harmonic scaling in one embodiment, such that the altered playback speed (109) substantially matches the target playback syllable rate. In so doing, a listener is able to receive recorded content (105) at a faster or slower rate than it is produced. Elements that may compromise the intelligibility of the recorded content (105), including distortion (114), background noise (113), ambient noise (117) and audible intonations (115), may be measured such that the target playback syllable rate may be compensated.
US08050535B2

A contents display control means displays video contents in a contents display screen area, a virtual space display control means displays a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional virtual space and an object appearing in the two-dimensional or the three-dimensional virtual space in a virtual space display screen area, and a motion control means controls, when the video contents is displayed in the contents display screen area, a motion of the object, with reference to additional information of the video contents and motion control information specifying the motion of the object when the additional information satisfies a certain condition. Accordingly, a novel video contents display method can be provided with the use of the additional information multiplexed into the video contents.
US08050531B2

A high efficiency electro-optic dendrimer based technology for nanophotonic integrated circuit devices is presented. In particular, a high power terahertz (THz) source is implemented using an electro-optic dendrimer via electro-optic rectification. Electro-optic rectification provides inherent power scalability, because, pump-THz conversion is not limited either by emission saturation or by heat dissipation. Low dielectric loss and high electro-optic coefficient of dendrimer along with a waveguide structure provides higher output power and tunable THz power generation. A dendrimer fiber array is also disclosed by means of which the input/output signals are connected to multiple components and devices.
US08050527B2

In one of the embodiments there is disclosed a self healing optical fiber cable assembly comprising an elongated optical fiber core having a cladding layer, a buffer layer, a sealing layer that seals any microcracks or defects in the buffer layer, the cladding layer, and the optical fiber core, and, an outer protection layer, wherein an end of the outer layer is connected to a strain relief device to provide expansion protection to the cable assembly and to minimize strain on the cable assembly, and further wherein an end of the strain relief device is connected to an optical fiber module. The cable assembly may further comprise a constraining layer and/or a strengthening layer. There is also disclosed a method of making a self healing optical fiber cable assembly.
US08050523B2

A medical instrument system includes an elongate flexible instrument body with an optical fiber substantially encapsulated in a wall of the instrument body, the optical fiber including one or more fiber gratings. A detector is operatively coupled to the optical fiber and configured to detect respective light signals reflected by the one or more fiber gratings. A controller is operatively coupled to the detector, and configured to determine a twist of at least a portion of the instrument body based on detected reflected light signals. The instrument may be a guide catheter and may be robotically or manually controlled.
US08050511B2

A method for displaying an image includes receiving an image having a first luminance dynamic range and modifying the image to a second luminance dynamic range free from being based upon other images, where the second dynamic range is greater than the first dynamic range. The modified image is displayed on a display.
US08050505B2

In a card serving as an external storage device to be inserted into a digital color multi-function printer, features of a reference image and processing rule information indicating processing content to be applied to input image data judged to be similar to the reference image are prestored. Then, in cases where the input image data is judged to be similar to the reference image, the content of a process to be performed on the input image data is controlled in accordance with the processing rule information corresponding to the reference image. This makes it possible to save users the trouble of setting the content of a process to be performed on input image data, and to prevent a shortage of memory capacity of a memory of the image processing apparatus even in cases where there is an increase in the number of reference images.
US08050499B2

The present invention is intended to generate data optimal for both display and reuse from an image. From an input image, vector data of a display foreground layer, vector data of a non-display foreground layer, and a display background layer in which a portion of the input image is filled are generated. Next, electronic data including the display foreground layer, display background layer, and the non-display foreground layer is generated. By using the multi-layered electronic data, a composite image of the display foreground layer and the display background layer is provided for display, and the layers for display are switched for reuse. This makes it possible to provide data optimal for both display and reuse.
US08050498B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, featuring receiving user input defining a sample of pixels from an image, the image being defined by a raster of pixels. While receiving the user input, the following actions are performed one or more times: pixels are coherently classified in the raster of pixels as being foreground or background based on the sample of pixels; and a rendering of the image is updated on a display to depict classified foreground pixels and background pixels as the sample is being defined.
US08050494B2

Systems and methods for motion detection of human skin within temporally adjacent electronic images are provided. Motion detection is accomplished by analyzing the color values of selected pixels within the electronic images represented in CbCr color space. Histogram distributions which represent skin colors and non-skin colors in CbCr color space are modeled in order to provide likelihoods that a selected color value appears within the histogram distributions. Posterior skin probability values, indicating the probability that a selected pixel having a given CbCr color value represents human skin, are calculated from these likelihoods. For each of the selected pixels, an intensity difference of the pixel between the electronic images is compared to an adaptive intensity threshold which is a function of the posterior skin probability in order to determine whether the pixel is in motion.
US08050483B2

Registration of preoperatively acquired MRI images of soft parts to intraoperatively acquired X-ray images of soft parts is not possible. The invention shows a way of nevertheless using such preoperatively acquired images for superimposition with 2D projections of the soft parts, taking an indirect route via 3D/3D registration of images of the spinal column. For this purpose, 3D image data sets of the spinal column must be obtained separately on the one hand using MRI and on the other using the X-ray imaging system so that the 3D/3D registration produces a mapping rule which then also applies to the preoperatively acquired images of the soft part if the soft part images and the spinal images are acquired without intervening change in the patient position in the MRI scanner.
US08050481B2

The present invention is a multi-stage detection algorithm using a successive nodule candidate refinement approach. The detection algorithm involves four major steps. First, a lung region is segmented from a whole lung CT scan. This is followed by a hypothesis generation stage in which nodule candidate locations are identified from the lung region. In the third stage, nodule candidate sub-images or the lung region of the CT scan pass through a streaking artifact removal process. The nodule candidates are then successively refined using a sequence of filters of increasing complexity. A first filter uses attachment area information to remove vessels and large vessel bifurcation points from the nodule candidate list. A second filter removes small bifurcation points.
US08050476B2

The systems and methods enhance, or increase the strength of, signals collected from a target object, to facilitate identification of the object, by removing or suppressing signal variations or aberrations associated with the object or its surroundings.
US08050467B2

A sliding type thin fingerprint sensor package mainly comprises a substrate and a fingerprint sensor chip. The chip defined as a sliding region and a conductive portion comprises a dielectric layer, a circuit layer and a passivation layer. The circuit layer has a plurality of external contact pads and at least one electrostatic conductive pad close to a window of the dielectric layer. The passivation layer formed on the circuit layer has a plurality of first openings to expose the external contact pads and a second opening to expose the electrostatic conductive pad of the circuit layer and the window of the dielectric layer. The electrostatic conductive pad and the window are located at the sliding region and the external contact pads are located at the conductive portion. The fingerprint sensor chip is electronically connected with the substrate. A sensing region of the fingerprint sensor chip is exposed via the second opening of the passivation layer and the window of the dielectric layer.
US08050464B2

An image taking apparatus according to an aspect of the invention comprises: an image pickup device which picks up an object image and outputs the picked-up image data; a face detection device which detects human faces in the image data; a face-distance calculating device which calculates the distance between the faces among a plurality of faces detected by the face detection device; and a controlling device which controls the image pickup device to start shooting, after a shooting instruction is issued, in the case where the distance between the faces calculated by the face-distance calculating device is not greater than a first predetermined threshold value. The image taking apparatus allows shooting the moment the distance between the faces is close enough not be greater than to a predetermined threshold value.
US08050460B2

The invention relates to a method for the prediction of the size to be expected of the image of a stationary object associated with a road in a picture of the environment in the field of view of a camera device which is in particular arranged at a motor vehicle and which has an image plane including image elements, wherein at least one relevant spatial zone from the field of view of the camera device is determined; wherein boundaries of the calculated projection onto the image plane of the at least one relevant spatial zone are determined in order to determine at least one relevant image zone; wherein a directional beam is determined for each of the image elements in the at least one relevant image zone, said directional beam including those spatial points from the field of view which would be projected onto the respective image element on a projection onto the image plane; and wherein at least one value for the size to be expected of the image of a road sign in the respective image element is determined for each of the image elements in the relevant image zone.
US08050457B2

To enable obtainment of a composite image including a movement trajectory of a moving body, even from a moving image including a background. A sampler samples frames from moving image data. A first mask frame calculator calculates mask frames including mask regions, which correspond to positions of the moving body on the frames. A second mask frame calculator accumulates and binarizes the mask frames to calculate a reference mask frame. A region masker masks the frames by using the mask frames and the reference mask frame to cut out moving body regions, which correspond to a moving body, from the frames. A composer overwrites moving body regions on one of the frames in chronological order to obtain a composite image, which includes the movement trajectory of the moving body.
US08050450B2

An image is processed to encode a digital watermark, with different regions thereof processed using different levels of watermark intensity. In an image comprised of elements of differing sizes (e.g., halftone shapes of different sizes, or lines of different width), the different regions can be defined by reference to the sizes of elements contained therein. Regions characterized by relatively small elements can be watermarked at a relatively low intensity. Regions characterized by relatively large elements can be watermarked at a relatively high intensity. A variety of other features are also discussed.
US08050442B1

A horn based loudspeaker system provides control over peak to peak pressure of an acoustic signal across its frequency spectrum. Frequency spectrum matched acoustic energy added to the acoustic signal at diverse points distributed along the horn.
US08050435B2

There is provided a hearing aid fitting apparatus with which the needs of a hearing aid user can be satisfied. The present invention is constituted such that this apparatus comprises an adjustment value input part 2 and a display part 3 on which is displayed hearing aid data set by this adjustment value input part 2, wherein first favorably assisted hearing aid data is selected from among first and second hearing aid data set by the adjustment value input part 2, then this selected first favorably assisted hearing aid data is compared with third hearing aid data set by the adjustment value input part and second favorably assisted hearing aid data is selected, after which the first and second favorably assisted hearing aid data are displayed on the display part, and hearing aid write data is selected from the first and second favorably assisted hearing aid data displayed on the display part.
US08050433B2

An apparatus and method for canceling crosstalk between 2-channel speakers and two ears of a listener in a stereo sound generation system. The crosstalk canceling apparatus includes a first signal processing unit to cross-mix first and second channel signals with gain and delay-adjusted first and second channel signals, a second signal processing unit to adjust frequency characteristics of the signals mixed in the first signal processing unit.
US08050429B2

A method of releasably securing an article with an audio recording includes handling a binder clip having audio circuitry with recordation and playback capabilities. The binder clip includes a pair of actuating arms and a gripping portion. The audio circuitry is in the form other than that of a cell phone attached to the binder clip. The method additionally includes compressing the pair of actuating arms of the binder clip above the gripping portion to expand the gripping portion and inserting at least a portion of the article into the gripping portion. The method further includes releasing the actuating arms so that the gripping portion grips the portion of the article inside the binder clip and recording audio onto the audio circuitry.
US08050424B2

Speaker system is constructed of a plurality of speakers each including a bass-reflex type cabinet. The speaker system is designed to differentiate a low-band resonance frequency between the speakers by differentiating inner cubic capacities of the speaker cabinets from each other. Audio signal of a different channel is input to each of the speakers, and only low-frequency signals of all of the channels are added together so that the added result is supplied to all of the speakers. Thus, using the differentiated low-band resonance frequencies, the speaker system permits reproduction of low-pitched sounds with a flat characteristic.
US08050420B2

An integrated seat speaker includes a cushion, a seat frame defining a first internal air volume, and a speaker enclosure defining a second internal air volume. The second internal air volume is acoustically coupled to the first internal air volume through an air passageway, thus producing a continuous acoustical air volume. An acoustic sealing member is disposed between the enclosure and the frame. The frame includes a closure feature at one end for isolating a portion of the first internal air volume. The cushion includes an outer surface, and the speaker enclosure is enclosed within the seat cushion and at least partially concealed by the outer surface. A method optimizes the acoustical performance of a speaker assembly by acoustically coupling an internal air volume defined by a speaker enclosure to another internal air volume defined by a seat frame to create a continuous acoustical air volume.
US08050413B2

A system and method for monitoring for a specified frequency band is disclosed. The technology initially utilizes a micro-electromechanical system (“MEMS”) based acquisition device to monitor an environment. The MEMS device receives a signal from the environment, and generates an input signal comprising an electronic representation of the received environmental signal. This input signal is then conditioned for at least one frequency band. Embodiments of the invention next allow the conditioned signal to be compared to various pre-defined events in order to determine the signal's origin.
US08050404B2

A system, method, and network interface obscures the existence of data encryption in a communication network is provided. A set of characters is generated by using a set of encryption keys as an input to a pseudo-random function. Each character corresponds to an index value. The encrypted data is divided into a plurality of parts. Each part is sectioned into a plurality of groups. Each group of the plurality of groups is encoded by mapping the group to a character in the set of characters according to its corresponding index value. The mapped characters are transmitted through the communication network.
US08050401B2

Method and system to encrypt and decrypt data is provided. The method comprising, providing input data to be encrypted, said input data made up of a plurality of sub-data, each said sub-data comprising sequence of bits of data; dynamically selecting a plurality of invertible encryption parameters; and performing one or more rounds of a combination of data modification, sequence modification and data-sequence modification using plurality of selected encryption parameters deriving encrypted data. The system includes a processor for executing code for dynamically selecting a plurality of invertible encryption parameters.
US08050397B1

In one embodiment, a method for discriminating between a machine generated multi-tone signal and a simulated voice multi-tone signal is provided. The method may comprise comparing output profiles generated from sampled outputs of a plurality of filters. The plurality of filters may have a single input sample stream applied to them and each filter may be preset at a measured multi-tone frequency associated with an identified prospective multi-tone signal. Based on the comparison of the output profiles, an inequality degree between the output profiles is generated and compared to an inequality threshold, thereby to determine whether the input sample stream comprises a machine generated multi-tone signal.
US08050392B2

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for processing responses in a prompting system. Responses are monitored to a menu of prompts in the prompting system. A response to a prompt is tagged with a location identifier. The location identifier identifies subject matter that corresponds to the prompt. The location identifier is stored in a database. If the menu of prompts changes, then the location identifier permits navigation to the same subject matter, even though the prompt is reassigned to new subject matter.
US08050381B2

The solid-state image pick-up device (1) includes a photodetecting section (10) which is formed by two-dimensionally aligning M×N (M and N are integers not less than 2) pixels in M rows and N columns and has a rectangular photodetecting surface. This solid-state image pick-up device (1) is supported rotatably by a rotation controlling section, and the rotation controlling section controls the rotation angle of the solid-state image pick-up device (1) so that the row direction or column direction of the photodetecting section (10) becomes parallel to the movement direction (B) of the solid-state image pick-up device (1) in one of the two imaging modes, and both of the row direction and the column direction of the photodetecting section (10) tilt with respect to the movement direction (B) of the solid-state image pick-up device (1) in the other imaging mode of the two imaging modes.
US08050376B2

An all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) composed of digital circuits is provided. The ADPLL includes a phase-frequency detector (PFD), a control unit, a digital controlled oscillator (DCO), and a plurality of frequency dividers. A first frequency divider divides a frequency of a feedback signal CKOUT by a natural number M to generate a first output signal CKOUT/M. The PFD generates a decrement signal dn and an increment signal up, based on a phase difference and a frequency between a first reference clock signal CKIN and the first output signal CKOUT/M. The DCO generates a clock signal CKDCO based on the digital control signals. A second frequency divider receives the digital control signals from the control unit and the CKDCO from the DCO and divides the frequency of the CKDCO by a bit number of the digital control signals to generate a feedback signal CKOUT to the first frequency divider.
US08050375B2

An embodiment of the present invention provides a phase locked loop that operates on clock signals derived from an RF clock signal generated by the phase locked loop. A frequency reference input provides a reference clock. A controllable oscillator generates the RF clock signal with a plurality of phases. A switch is coupled to receive the RF clock, and is operative to select one of the plurality of phases. A phase detection circuit is coupled to the switch and is operable to receive a selected phase and to provide digital phase error samples indicative of a time difference between the reference clock and the selected phase.
US08050372B2

A clock-data recovery circuit includes a plurality of input ports and a code generation circuit. The plurality of input ports generates sampling clock signals based on digital control codes and samples input data signals based on the sampling clock signals to generate output data signals and phase detection signals, respectively. The code generation circuit generates the digital control codes based on the phase detection signals received from the input ports during a training mode.
US08050371B2

A method and system for compensating for the effect of phase drift in a data sampling clock during data transfer between sub-systems of an electronic device. The sub-systems of the electronic device transfer data frame by frame. Each frame includes multiple data windows. Each data window includes multiple data bits. The method includes sampling each of the one or more data bits of a data window at one or more early instances, a prompt instance, and one or more late instances. Further, the method includes calculating the phase-error value of the sampled data window, based on the data sampled. Furthermore, the method includes compensating for the effect of phase drift in the data sampling clock, based on the calculated phase error value.
US08050369B2

A receiver receives and front-end processes a plurality of component carrier signals, each carrier spaced apart in frequency. The digitized, baseband component carrier signals are inspected to determine estimates of timing offsets between the carriers. A control unit selects a first component carrier signal having data scheduled to the receiver. If data is scheduled to the receiver on other component carrier signals, the control unit generates timing and frequency offset adjustment control signals to time- and frequency-align each other component carrier signal having relevant data, to the first component carrier signal. All the relevant component carrier signals are then combined, and a single OFDM symbol, spanning all the relevant component carriers, is presented to an FFT for symbol detection.
US08050364B2

A digital signal receiving apparatus includes: detection-judging portion judging a possible presence of a desired signal when a signal level of a smoothed signal is greater than a reference level; wherein said first smoothed signal and said second smoothed signal are compared in order to generate a detection signal representing a judgment of a possible presence of a desired signal, said second smoothed signal having a convergence speed slower than that of the first smoothing filter, a filter controlling portion switching an adaptive filter from an adaptive mode to a non-adaptive mode when the detection-judging portion judges the possible presence of the desired signal and switching from the non-adaptive mode to the adaptive mode when the detection-judging portion judges the absence of the desired signal; a limiting portion limiting a signal level of an auto-correlation signal to the signal level of the smoothed signal; and a demodulating portion demodulating the auto-correlation signal having the signal level limited by the limiting means so as to generate a demodulated signal, wherein the input to the demodulator is limited to the level of a smoothed signal, said smoothed signal being generated from the input of the detection judging portion.
US08050362B2

A soft-bit de-mapping device and method of generating soft bits for decoding quantizes a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) value for a received value using functions bits and channel parameter bits to generate the soft bits. The function bits are generated by quantizing an LLR function for the received value, which includes modifying an original curve of the LLR function to a modified curve such that a segment of the original curve with the lowest slope is protected in the modified curve for a fixed equal quantization step-size. The channel parameter bits are generated by quantizing a channel parameter for the received value to generate channel.
US08050361B2

First and second transmission links are established with a remote station. An information signal is encoded to provide an encoded information signal having more bits than the information signal. First and second transmission signals are provided wherein each transmission signal has bits selected from the encoded information signal. Each of the first and second transmission signals is transmitted to the remote station by way of a respective one of the first and second transmission links. The remote station receives and combines the first and second transmission signals transmitted by the remote station to provide a combined encoded signal. The combined encoded signal is decoded by the remote station to provide the information signal. The first and second transmission links can be formed between the remote station and a single base station or between the remote station and two separate base stations.
US08050357B2

A method of generating a codebook for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is provided. The codebook generation method includes: assigning a single-polarized preceding matrix to diagonal blocks among a plurality of blocks arranged in a block diagonal format in which a number of diagonal blocks corresponds to a number of polarization directions of transmitting antennas; and assigning a zero matrix to remaining blocks excluding the diagonal blocks.
US08050356B2

A transmitter in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication system is provided. The transmitter includes a multiplexer for multiplexing an input bit stream into a plurality of bit streams, and outputting the bit streams in parallel; a bit-order rearranger for reordering bits constituting the bit streams, which are output from the multiplexer in the same time period, and outputting the reordered bits as reordered bit streams; and a modulator for modulating the parallel reordered bit streams output from the bit-order rearranger according to their associated modulation schemes, and transmitting the modulated symbols via their associated antennas.
US08050342B2

Method and apparatus for receiving coded signals with the aid of CSI are provided. The method comprises: performing channel estimation to obtain a CFR estimation vector; computing a squared magnitude of the CFR estimation vector, and obtaining a normalization factor α by averaging the squared magnitudes of CFR estimations on all N subcarriers; finding a norm-shift operand m satisfying the condition that α0=2m is a power of 2 number closest to the normalization factor α; performing a CSI-aided one-tap channel equalization on an output signal vector from a DFT processor by using the norm-shift operand m; performing constellation demapping; and performing channel decoding. The method further comprises obtaining a weighting factor vector by right shifting m bits of the squared magnitude of the CFR estimation vector so that the constellation demapping can use the weighted decision boundary values in case that its input signal is sensitive to both amplitude and phase.
US08050340B2

An interleaving method (1) and a frequency interleaver (EF) of data symbols. The data symbols are for allocation to carriers of a set of NFFT carriers of a module for multiplexing and modulation by orthogonal functions in a multicarrier transmitter device (EM). The method includes selecting in time-varying manner from the set of carriers, carriers that are dedicated to transmitting data symbols and in dynamically interleaving a block of carriers constituted by the selected carriers and by null carriers.
US08050331B2

A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for encoding and/or decoding video frame data. In one embodiment, the video coder comprises a noise filtering module to operate on transformed frame data and perform signal estimation on a plurality of transform coefficients by estimating signal power for each of the plurality of transform coefficients, comparing the signal power of said each coefficient with at least one threshold, and setting the value of said each transform coefficient based, at least in part, on results of comparing the signal power to the at least one threshold.
US08050327B2

A receiving system includes a tuner receiving a broadcast signal including data groups, each data group including enhanced data and known data sequences; a demodulator demodulating the received broadcast signal; a channel equalizer compensating channel distortions of the demodulated broadcast signal based on channel impulse responses (CIRs) estimated using at least two of the known data sequences; a block decoder decoding the enhanced data in the channel distortion compensated broadcast signal; a Reed-Solomon (RS) frame decoder correcting errors in the enhanced data based on a number of errors estimated by performing Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) decoding on an RS frame and a reliability map representing reliability information of the enhanced data; and a derandomizer derandomizing the error-corrected enhanced data.
US08050322B2

A bitrate control method and apparatus for video sequence coding by using only intra pictures are provided. The rate control method includes: separating a video sequence formed only with intra pictures, into picture group units, slice units, and macroblock units; and performing bitrate control so that a predetermined amount of bits can be generated when encoding is performed. According to the method and apparatus, overflow and underflow of a buffer can be prevented.
US08050312B2

A system and method of multi-source communications, including a source provider, a transmitter, a receiver, a summing device, a plurality of delay devices, and a switch. The source provider provides a signal including a first and second signal. The transmitter is in communication with the source provider and the receiver. The receiver is in communication with the transmitter. The summing device combines the first and second signals received by the receiver. The delay device delays at least one of the first and second signals. The switch forms a bypass, such that at least one of the first and second signals bypasses one of the plurality of delay devices.
US08050309B2

A multipath discriminator module and related methods are provided for communications and/or navigation systems that implement spread spectrum modulation. In one example embodiment, the module includes an input suitable for receiving navigation signals, a sampler for supplying sampled signals at a frequency twice the apparent frequency of the code of the signals, and a submodule for calculating an error signal from the sampled signals.
US08050306B2

A pulsed CO2 laser is Q-switched by an intracavity acousto-optic (AO) Q-switch including an AO material transparent at a fundamental wavelength of the laser. In one example the AO material is germanium.
US08050293B2

An apparatus and method for constructing a data unit that includes a buffer status report (BSR) such that when BSR triggering is performed, the size(s) of the necessary sub-header(s) are also to be considered together in addition to the BSR size. There is a checking unit that checks whether any padding region is available in a MAC PDU that was constructed, a comparing unit that compares the number of padding bits with the size of a buffer status report (BSR) plus its sub-header, and a processing unit that cooperates with the checking unit and the comparing unit to trigger a buffer status report (BSR) procedure if the number of padding bits is larger than the size of the BSR plus its sub-header, including the BSR and its sub-header in the MAC PDU, and setting an LCID in the sub-header to indicate a BSR is included, the BSR having been triggered due to padding. Using such apparatus allows the sub-header(s) to be inserted (included) into the MAC PDU (or transport block (TB) or other data unit).
US08050286B2

A method of communicating feedback information between a mobile station and a base station comprises determining a need to request bandwidth allocation; providing information to a base station according to the determining, wherein the information indicates bandwidth allocation for a fast feedback channel; and performing communication with the base station upon bandwidth allocation according to the provided information.
US08050283B2

An improved network router apparatus and associated network architecture is disclosed. In one exemplary embodiment, the router apparatus is adapted to interface between an external network (such as an HFC/DOCSIS digital network) and a local network created using existing HFC cabling within a premises. The router device provides address translation between the single IP address assigned to the router by the external network and the addresses of the individual nodes or access points on the local network through creation of logical ports assigned to various portions of the available bandwidth of the cable system. The router further distinguishes network protocols from the media content streamed over the HFC network, allowing for the foregoing functionality and replacing any existing cable modem. Methods of initiating the router and assigning addresses are also disclosed, as well as business models for leasing the router equipment and access points.
US08050272B2

An improved system and method are disclosed for peer-to-peer communications. In one example, the method provides for concurrent sessions to be maintained by multiple endpoints.
US08050270B2

A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising transparently snooping a path control message comprising a first path identifier, wherein the path control message is sent between a plurality of routers and is not intended for the network component, analyzing a plurality of frames each comprising a second path identifier, and diverting at least some of the frames away from at least one of the routers, wherein the second path identifier in the diverted frames matches the first path identifier. Included is a method comprising configuring a bypass path by snooping a control frame comprising a label switched path (LSP) identifier, and routing a plurality of data frames associated with the LSP identifier to the bypass path without routing any subsequent control frames associated with the LSP identifier to the bypass path.
US08050267B2

In one embodiment, a method includes establishing a control channel across a wide area network (WAN) from a first gateway that has a first public internetwork layer (L3) address to a second gateway that has a second public L3 address. Each gateway connects a local area network (LAN) to the WAN. Negotiations over the control channel establish a first set of private L3 addresses for the first LAN and a non-overlapping second set for the second LAN. A different address from the first set is provided for each different node in the first LAN. A discovery packet is received from the first LAN. The discovery packet is encapsulated in a tunnel packet directed to the second public L3 address. The tunnel packet is sent over the WAN to the second gateway which extracts the discovery packet. The second gateway sends the discovery packet over the second LAN.
US08050265B2

A method of switching data packets between an input and a plurality of outputs of a switching device. The switching device comprises a memory arranged to store a plurality of data structures, each data structure being associated with one of said outputs. The method comprises receiving a first data packet at said input, and storing said first data packet in a data structure associated with an output from which said data packet is to be transmitted. If said first data packet is intended to be transmitted from a plurality of said outputs, indication data is stored in each data structure associated with an output from which said first data packet is to be transmitted, but said first data packet is stored in only one of said data structures. The first data packet is transmitted from said data structure to the or each output from which the first data packet is to be transmitted.
US08050255B2

A method and system for routing a call connection signal and corresponding contextual information to an appropriate destination is provided. A call center and at least one user may exchange signals, and/or contextual information during a call set-up phase. Relevant contextual information and other detailed information may be identified and collected from their corresponding sources. Based on the relevant contextual information and other detailed information, one or more appropriate routed destinations may be determined. In addition, contextual information may be tailored for each of the determined routed destinations. The call connection signal and the tailored contextual information are routed to each routed destination. In this manner, necessary contextual information may be readily available for the routed destination at the time of the call connection and thus the routed destination can provide a faster service.
US08050254B2

A media over packet networking appliance provides a network interface, a voice transducer, and at least one integrated circuit assembly coupling the voice transducer to the network interface. The at least one integrated circuit assembly provides media over packet transmissions and holds bits defining reconstruction of a packet stream having a primary stage and a secondary stage. The secondary stage has one or more of linear predictive coding parameters, long term prediction lags, parity check, and adaptive and fixed codebook gains. The packet stream has an instance of single packet loss, and the reconstruction includes receiving a packet sequence represented by P(n)P(n−1)′, [Lost Packet], P(n+2)P(n+1)′, and P(n+3)P(n+2)′, obtaining as information from the secondary stage one or more of the linear predictive coding parameters, long term prediction lags, parity check, and adaptive and fixed codebook gains, and performing an excitation reconstruction utilizing said packet sequence thus received.
US08050252B2

A video data network device arranged to receive a video signal and an associated synchronisation signal and to launch video data packets representing the video signal onto a packet-based data network comprises means for detecting whether the video signal is synchronised with the synchronisation signal; and means for launching data onto the network indicating whether the video signal is synchronised with the synchronisation signal.
US08050248B2

The invention relates to retransmissions in wireless communication systems. It is proposed to reduce the retransmission delays by utilizing feedback associated with a lower protocol layer than the conventional feedback messages of the ARQ functionality. After sending a packet from a transmitter towards a receiver, the transmitter monitors the link for a low-level control signal from the receiver. The low-level control information can e.g. comprise power control commands or be related to link quality indicators. Based on this signal, it is decided whether a retransmission is to take place, e.g. at the transmitter or at an external control unit.
US08050245B2

An RF module for multimode-multiband communication includes an RF switch, a GPS communication module, a CDMA communication module, a GSM communication module, a WLAN communication module. The GPS communication module, the CDMA communication module, the GSM communication module and the WLAN communication module are connected the RF switch. The RF switch can switch among the GPS communication module, the CDMA communication module, the GSM communication module and the WLAN communication module to transmit/receive signals correspondingly.
US08050234B2

A cellular wireless communication system and method of operation manages Walsh codes in order to ensure that sufficient Walsh codes are available to prevent call blocking and to support additional hand-off operations. In an initial operating condition, the cellular wireless communication system services normal hand-off operations in which a maximum number of cells and sectors may participate in hand-off. With hand-off operations according to the present invention, each cell or sector participating in hand-off for a mobile terminal uses a unique Walsh code for covering its forward link signals. When the number of Walsh codes available for servicing new calls is reduced so that it meets or exceeds a Walsh code availability threshold, the number of cells and sectors that may participate in hand-off is reduced from the maximum number. In the number of participating cells/sectors results in release or non-use of some Walsh codes. In subsequent operations when sufficient Walsh codes are available for servicing hand-off operations, a greater number, up to the maximum number of cells and sectors may again participate in hand-off of the mobile terminal.
US08050230B2

A method of triggering handoff of a mobile station to a candidate BSS, for VoWLAN communication, uses a roaming controller for monitoring link qualities of the serving and candidate BSS by selective/controlled fast scanning through RSSI screening at each packet reception. Using link qualities, a list of candidate BSSs for handoff is maintained. The controller selects a candidate BSS for handoff and completes pre-authentication of the mobile station with the selected best candidate BSS. When the link quality of the of the selected candidate BSS becomes better than that of the serving BSS, handoff is triggered. Link qualities may be monitored by screening a metric other than RSSI. When no candidate BSS is found, scanning is reduced/temporarily interrupted, to conserve power. When the serving BSS link quality is above a given threshold when the mobile station is in the serving BSS center, the functions of fast scanning and pre-authentication are interrupted.
US08050224B2

A system to communicate a superposition coded packet from a base station to a plurality of remote stations. At the base station, from a list of user candidates for superposition coding a most deserving user may be determined. Those user candidates with a requested data rate less than that of the most deserving user may be eliminated. A superposition coded packet may be compiled from the remaining user candidates. On receipt, the most deserving user may process the superposition coded packet by assuming a predetermined power allocation. Further, if a user successfully in decodes early, power may be re-allocated to another user.
US08050222B2

A radio network controller 3 is so constructed as to divide a plurality of base stations 2 into a group of base stations included in an E-DCH active set and a group of base stations included in an active set for soft handovers (i.e., a prior art active set) according to a status of reception of data in each of the plurality of base stations 2.
US08050209B2

A group communication method capable of performing group communication without additional functions provided on a network and with preventing excessive network traffic. Each communication device first transmits an enrollment message. A providing device groups the communication devices, creates a group key specifying the communication devices that are identified as a same subgroup, and transmits the group key to the communication devices. The communication devices receive and store the group key. To transmit distribution data to a subgroup, the providing device transmits the data together with data corresponding to the group key to a selected communication device of the subgroup. When the communication devices recognize the distribution data, the communication devices determine whether to receive the distribution data, based on the distribution data and the stored group key.
US08050204B2

A wireless network includes access points arranged in concentric rings and grids of concentric rings. At low network loads, only access points in the center are on to reduce power consumption. As network loads increase, access points in concentric rings are turned on. As network loads decrease, access points in concentric rings are turned off.
US08050197B2

A connection controller for controlling connection with a partner terminal with which communication is performed via a predetermined communication service includes setting information storage means for storing a record of setting information for the connection with the partner terminal, interruption processing means for temporarily stopping communication with a first terminal in the process of the communication with the first terminal and for starting communication with a second terminal, recovery processing means for restarting the communication with the first terminal on the basis of information stored in the setting information storage means when the interrupting communication with the second terminal terminates, terminal detection means for detecting a third terminal, and transfer processing means for starting communication between the third terminal detected by the terminal detection means and a terminal designated by the first terminal and disconnecting the communication with the first terminal in the process of the interrupting communication.
US08050195B2

A traffic performance in a tree type multi-hop wireless network of a CSMA/CA method is evaluated easily and highly precisely. A traffic performance evaluation system in the multi-hop wireless network includes: a performance index estimation unit regarding the multi-hop wireless network as a combination of a plurality of single-hop wireless networks and estimating a traffic performance index around each node of the network; and a performance index determination unit determining a traffic performance index of the whole multi-hop wireless network based on an estimation result of all the nodes by the performance index estimation unit.
US08050191B2

An apparatus and method for information storage and retrieval of communication network performance data includes a first step 200 of obtaining performance data from network entities. A next step 202 includes generating a rating for the performance data relating to how interesting that data is to network entities. A next step 204 includes archiving a portion of the performance data in response to the rating of the performance data.
US08050189B2

A method, device and computer-readable storage element for dynamically changing a maximum access channel rate at a site in a communication system. The method includes setting a maximum access channel rate for an access channel at a site, which comprises a coverage area for a base station. The method further includes determining a first access probe success rate that measures a rate at which first attempt access probes sent from the terminals on the access channel are received, and changing the maximum access channel rate based on the first access probe success rate.
US08050186B2

The invention refers to a method for optimising the data communication in a network comprising a wireless radio network using connection oriented protocol (TCP) over internet protocol (IP). The network comprises a router (SGSN) intervening the connection oriented setup between a host (SERVER) and a client (MS), and changing the maximum segment size (MSS, ms) into a maximum segment size (MSS, sgsn) based on the router's (SGSN) knowledge about the radio network.
US08050183B2

In some ring protocols, control messages are exchanged among ring nodes in order to implement certain behaviors, such as loop-free behavior and/or failure recovery, within the ring. A segment of a ring can be replaced by another network, effectively turning the ring into a daisy chain. If the intervening network does not allow transmission of the control messages used by the ring protocol, certain control messages may be blocked, causing the ring to operate in undesirable ways. Reflector ports can be implemented at each end of the daisy chain in order to prevent these control messages from being blocked.
US08050181B2

A network diagnostic component that is placed in-line between a first and second node. The diagnostic component is used to perform a comparison operation on any specified portion of a network data frame. For example, the first node may communicate with the second node using a network data frame that includes one or more data units. The network diagnostic component uses a starting and ending address that specify where in the network data frame to begin and end the comparison operation. A match template that specifies a particular condition for comparison is also used. The network diagnostic component then performs the comparison operation by searching for a data unit that at least partially matches the comparison condition in the portion of the network data frame specified by the starting and ending addresses. The data unit may be located at any location in the specified portion of the data frame.
US08050175B2

There is disclosed a method, an apparatus, a computing device, and a storage medium for testing a network. A plurality of packets may be received. A packet group identification number for each packet may be determined by extracting two or more packet group identification fields from the packet, each packet group identification field located at a respective offset from one of a signature field, a start of the packet, a start of an IP header, and a start of a protocol header; and combining the two or more packet group identification fields to form the packet group identification number. The network testing system may measure, compile, and store performance statistics for packets having the same packet group identification number.
US08050173B2

A system and method for dynamically reducing the precision of datapath modules within an FFT unit without adversely affecting the demodulation of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal. An FFT unit is typically implemented in an OFDM receiver to separate sub-carriers within a received OFDM signal. In general, an FFT unit implemented within an OFDM receiver must be designed to operate with a precision high enough such that quantization noise, introduced within the FFT unit, does not dominate the overall maximum SNR requirement of the system. However, the SNR requirement for many OFDM receivers is dynamic and, as a result, OFDM receivers often have an instantaneous SNR requirement far below the required maximum. In these situations, it would be advantageous to reduce the precision of datapath modules within the FFT to conserve power, which is often limited in wireless devices.
US08050171B2

An information recording/reproducing device according to an example of the present invention includes a first head and a second head each having a conductive region formed of a conductive material, a recording medium having a data area from which data is read by the first head, and a servo burst area from which a servo burst signal is read by the second head, a driver for positioning the first head and the recording medium based on the servo burst signal, and a resistance element for covering a surface of the conductive region of the second head.
US08050170B2

A near field optical head includes: a slider provided so as to float from a surface of the magnetic recording medium by a predetermined distance, the slider having a facing surface faced to a surface of the magnetic recording medium; a tipped-shaped near field light generating element formed on the facing surface to have a bottom surface in contact with the facing surface, a top surface formed into a flat surface by cutting a top end of a cone or a pyramid, the flat surface being at a predetermined angle with the bottom surface, and a side surface connecting the bottom surface with the top surface for generating near field light from the top surface; a magnetic pole part formed from a main magnetic pole formed on the side surface and an auxiliary magnetic pole facing the main magnetic pole; a thin film-shaped magnetic circuit connected to the magnetic pole part; and a coil wound around the magnetic circuit.
US08050169B2

The optical scanning device [10] is arranged for scanning a record carrier [1]. The record carrier has an outer face [7]. The scanning device comprises a radiation source [11] for generating a radiation beam [12] and an objective system [25] having an exit face [26] arranged for evanescent coupling of the radiation beam between the exit face and the outer face and for converging the radiation beam to a focus [27]. A tilt measuring system [67, 77] provides a tilt signal [87; 88] representing a tilt angle between the objective system and the record carrier. A control unit [95] determines a distance signal representing a distance between the exit face and the focus from the tilt signal.
US08050167B2

An optical device includes a sub-mount 2 mounting first and second semiconductor lasers 1a, 1b and having an onboard part for the semiconductor lasers and an optical-path conversion mirror 7 integrated with each other, and a light receiving element 11 arranged on a light receiving element substrate to have first and second light receiving regions separated from each other by at least one parting line. In the optical device, one light gravity center of an optical spot, which is formed on the light receiving element 11 by homeward flux of light emitted from the first semiconductor laser 1a and reflected by an optical disc 55, and another light gravity center of an optical spot, which is formed on the light receiving element 11 by homeward flux of light emitted from the second semiconductor laser 1b and reflected by the optical disc 55 are together positioned on the parting line.
US08050163B2

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of recording a unique ID to a read-only optical disc based on the 17PP modulation. The read-only optical disc (1) has set thereon a specific physical cluster to which a unique ID is to be recorded. With user data to be recorded to the specific physical cluster being made all zero (0), a pit/land pattern is formed, and a molding machine using a molding die is used to form many optical discs in the common manner. Thereafter, an ID unique to each optical disc is generated, and a land in a predetermined position in the specific physical cluster is transited to a pit by irradiating high-power laser light to the land correspondingly to the bit information, so that the pit/land pattern will comply the 17PP modulation rule even after the transition of the land to the pit.
US08050162B2

A tilt control method for a near-field optical disc drive is provided. A gap between a lens and a disc is estimated. A tilt compensation for the lens is estimated according to a tilt signal when the lens is within a far-field region. A coarse tilt control is performed on the lens according to the tilt compensation when the lens is within the far-field region.
US08050160B2

Frequency response is characterized for mechanical components of a multirate system operating in a closed-loop environment. A disturbance is injected at the frequency of interest and at each of the alias frequencies thereof as an input into the multirate system, and a matrix equation composed of resulting measurements of the response of the multirate system is solved to compute the frequency response at the frequency of interest and at each of the alias frequencies. The resulting frequency response can be used to synthesize the transfer function of the entire system, which allows simulation and evaluation of the relative performance of multiple controller designs without the need for further frequency response measurements.
US08050157B1

A method and apparatus for recovering clock timing from a bi-phase modulated portion of a high frequency modulation (HFM) signal. The HFM signal includes signal transitions between a high level and a low level. A clock count is initiated upon detection of a first signal transition in the bi-phase modulated portion of the HFM signal. The clock count corresponds to an expected clock timing of the HFM signal. The clock count is stopped upon detection of a second signal transition in the bi-phase modulated portion of the HFM signal subsequent to the first signal transition. An actual clock count includes a number of clock cycles occurring between the first and second signal transitions based on the expected clock timing. An expected clock count between signal transitions of the bi-phase modulated portion of the HFM signal is identified if the actual clock count between the first and second signal transitions falls within a range of clock counts. The range of clock counts includes the expected clock count and a subset of clock count deviations from the first expected clock count. An error between the actual clock count and the first expected clock count is determined.
US08050152B2

An optical pickup unit comprising: an objective lens that focuses laser light on an optical disc; a lens holder that holds the objective lens; a coil that is fitted on the lens holder and capable of driving the lens holder; and a reinforcement member that is fitted on the lens holder and reinforces strength of the lens holder.
US08050151B2

An address-accessing device includes first and second information generators for producing first and second information according to the received address signals; a phase offset detector for producing a phase offset according to the first and second information; a reference signal generator for producing a reference signal according to the phase offset, the first information and the second information; and a decoder used to determine the structure type of an address-in-pregroove unit (ADIP) according to the reference value. This address-accessing device is capable of adjusting the decision level and the phase offset automatically to lower the error rate occurring in the address access procedure.
US08050145B2

A timing device is disclosed which is for controlling electronic devices and which is mounted in a wall switch box. This timing device comprises at least one controller, at least one transceiver in communication with the controller, at least one interface; and at least one cover plate. This device can also include at least one key coupled to the cover plate for interacting with the interface when said cover plate is inserted onto said at least one interface.
US08050134B2

A memory system includes a master device, such as a graphics controller or processor, and an integrated circuit memory device operable in a dual column addressing mode. The integrated circuit memory device includes an interface and column decoder to access a row of storage cells or a page in a memory bank. During a first mode of operation, a first row of storage cells in a first memory bank is accessible in response to a first column address. During a second mode of operation, a first plurality of storage cells in the first row of storage cells is accessible in response to a second column address during a column cycle time interval. A second plurality of storage cells in the first row of storage cells is accessible in response to a third column address during the column cycle time interval. The first and second pluralities of storage cells are concurrently accessible from the interface.
US08050131B2

A system and method for performing memory operations in a multi-plane flash memory. Commands and addresses are sequentially provided to the memory for memory operations in memory planes. The memory operations are sequentially initiated and the memory operation for at least one of the memory planes is initiated during the memory operation for another memory plane. In one embodiment, each of a plurality of programming circuits is associated with a respective memory plane and is operable to program data to the respective memory plane in response to programming signals and when it is enabled. Control logic coupled to the plurality of programming circuits generates programming signals in response to the memory receiving program commands and further generates programming enable signals to individually enable each of the programming circuits to respond to the programming signals and stagger programming of data to each of the memory planes.
US08050130B2

In a semiconductor memory device and an internal data transmission method thereof, the device includes a memory controller, a pair of data lines, and a plurality of memory banks. During an internal data transmission operation, the memory controller externally receives and stores a source address and a target address in response to an externally applied command and outputs an internal control signal and an internal address signal using the source address and the target address. The internal control signal includes an internal write signal and an internal read signal. Transmission data is transmitted on the pair of data lines during the internal data transmission operation. The plurality of memory banks read the transmission data stored in a region corresponding to the source address in response to the internal read signal, transmit the transmission data on the pair of data lines, and write the transmission data transmitted on the pair of data lines in response to the internal write signal. During the internal data transmission operation, the transmission data is transmitted from the region corresponding to the source address to a region corresponding to the target address, and is not output external to the semiconductor memory device.
US08050124B2

A semiconductor memory device includes: plural bit lines connected with plural memory cells, respectively; plural transfer lines allocated in common to the plural bit lines; sense amplifiers (SA1) and (SA2) connected to these transfer lines, respectively; and a control circuit making the sense amplifier (SA2) perform a converting operation during an amplifying operation performed by the sense amplifier (SA1). Because the plural sense amplifiers are allocated to the same bit lines, and these are operated in parallel in this way, data can be read at a high speed.
US08050122B2

A fuse apparatus for controlling a built-in self stress unit includes a built-in self stress configured to repeatedly generate any stress test pattern in a test mode, and generate a one-cycle end signal when one cycle for the generated stress test pattern has ended, and a fuse configured to record an operation state of the built-in self stress according to the one-cycle end signal. A method for controlling a built-in self stress includes repeatedly generating any stress test mode, in a test mode counting the generated stress test pattern, and activating a cycle end signal when a counting value reaches a predetermined value, and recording an operation state of the built-in self stress in a fuse on the basis of the counted value.
US08050120B2

A sensing delay circuit includes a logic element which responds to a test mode signal to transfer a start signal, a delay unit which is configured of a plurality of inverters having MOS transistors with controlled threshold voltage, and receives external voltage as bulk voltage and delays an output signal from the logic element by a predetermined period, and a buffer which responds to an output signal from the delay unit to buffer the output signal from the logic element and output it.
US08050110B2

A semiconductor memory device of the claimed invention, having an active state for performing a read or write operation and an inactive state except for the active state includes a data input/output (I/O) line; a pull-up latch unit for pulling-up the data I/O line when the semiconductor memory device is in the inactive state; a pull-down latch unit for pulling-down the data I/O line when the semiconductor memory device is in the inactive state; and a selection unit for selectively driving one of the pull-up latch unit and the pull-down latch unit.
US08050107B2

A method writes data in a non-volatile memory. The method provides, in the memory, a non-volatile main memory area comprising target pages, a non-volatile auxiliary memory area comprising auxiliary pages, and, in the auxiliary memory area: a current sector comprising erased auxiliary pages usable to write data, a save sector comprising auxiliary pages comprising data linked to target pages to be erased or being erased, a transfer sector comprising auxiliary pages including data to be transferred to erased target pages, and an unavailable sector comprising auxiliary pages to be erased or being erased. The method can be applied in particular to FLASH memories.
US08050104B2

A non-volatile memory device and system are provided. The non-volatile memory device including; a memory cell array of memory blocks, and a bit line bias block connected to the bit lines and configured to precharge the bit lines, a page buffer precharging the plurality of bit lines and sensing data stored in the memory block via the bit lines, and a controller controlling the bit line bias block to simultaneously precharge the bit lines with the page buffer, thereby reducing the bit line bias time.
US08050102B2

Memory devices and methods facilitate flexibility in applying differing biasing schemes to word lines. For example, one such memory device can include an architecture capable of partitioning word lines into one of a plurality of address spaces. Each address space has a corresponding configuration control bus. By identifying the address space to which a word line belongs, its appropriate configuration control bus may be selected and the control signals from the selected bus used to select the appropriate potentials for driving the word lines.
US08050093B2

A non-volatile memory device and a bad block remapping method use some of main blocks as remapping blocks to replace a bad block in a main cell block and selects remapping blocks using existing block address signals. Thus, separate bussing of remapping block address signals is not needed. The bad block remapping includes comparing an external block address input from an external source to a stored bad block address, generating a bad block flag signal when the external block address is identical to the stored bad block address, generating a remapping block address selecting the remapping blocks in response to a remapping address corresponding to the bad block address, selecting one of the external block address and the remapping block address in response to the bad block flag signal to create a selected address, and outputting a row address signal in accordance with the selected address.
US08050092B2

Method and apparatus for outputting data from a memory array having a plurality of non-volatile memory cells arranged into rows and columns. In accordance with various embodiments, charge is stored in a volatile memory cell connected to the memory array, and the stored charge is subsequently discharged from the volatile memory cell through a selected column. In some embodiments, the volatile memory cell is a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell from a row of the cells with each DRAM cell along the row coupled to a respective column in the memory array, and each column of non-volatile memory cells comprises Flash memory cells connected in a NAND configuration.
US08050087B2

Provided are a semiconductor device having a block state confirmation cell that may store information indicating the number of data bits written to a plurality of memory cells, a method of reading memory data based on the number of the data bits written, and/or a memory programming method of storing the information indicating the number of the data bits written. The semiconductor device may include one or more memory blocks and a controller. Each of the memory blocks may include a plurality of memory cells each storing data, and a block state confirmation cell storing information indicating the number of data bits written to the memory cells. The controller may read the data bits from the memory blocks based on the number of data bits, which is indicated in the information in the block state confirmation cell.
US08050085B2

A semiconductor processing device according to the invention includes a first non-volatile memory (21) for erasing stored information on a first data length unit, a second non-volatile memory (22) for erasing stored information on a second data length unit, and a central processing unit (2), and capable of inputting/outputting encrypted data from/to an outside. The first non-volatile memory is used for storing an encryption key to be utilized for encrypting the data. The second non-volatile memory is used for storing a program to be processed by the central processing unit. The non-volatile memories to be utilized for storing the program and for storing the encryption key are separated from each other, and the data lengths of the erase units of information to be stored in the non-volatile memories are defined separately. Therefore, the stored information can efficiently be erased before the execution of a processing of writing the program, and the stored information can be erased corresponding to the data length of a necessary processing unit in the write of the encryption key to be utilized in the calculation processing of the CPU.
US08050078B2

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to memristor devices that provide nonvolatile memristive switching. In one embodiment, a memristor device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a nanowire disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The nanowire is configured with an inner region surrounded by an outer layer. The memristor device may also include a mobile dopant confined to the inner region by repulsive electrostatic forces between the outer layer and the mobile dopant. The resistance of the nanowire is determined by the distribution of the mobile dopant in the inner region.
US08050077B2

A transistor-based fuse structure is realized in a semiconductor device having a semiconductor substrate, transistor devices formed on the semiconductor substrate, and the transistor-based fuse structure formed on the semiconductor substrate. The transistor-based fuse structure includes a plurality of transistor-based fuses, and the method begins by selecting, from the plurality of transistor-based fuses, a first target fuse to be programmed for operation in a low-resistance/high-current state, the first target fuse having a first source, a first gate, a first drain, and a first gate insulator layer between the first gate and the semiconductor substrate. The method applies a first set of program voltages to the first source, the first gate, and the first drain to cause breakdown of the first gate insulator layer such that current can flow from the first source to the first gate through the first gate insulator layer, and from the first gate to the first drain through the first gate insulator layer.
US08050076B2

According to one exemplary embodiment, a one-time programmable memory cell includes an access transistor coupled to a shiftable threshold voltage transistor between a bitline and a ground, where the access transistor has a gate coupled to a wordline. The shiftable threshold voltage transistor has a drain and a gate shorted together. A programming operation causes a permanent shift in a threshold voltage of the shiftable threshold voltage transistor to occur in response to a programming voltage on the bitline and the wordline. In one embodiment, the access transistor is an NFET while the shiftable threshold voltage transistor is a PFET. In another embodiment, the access transistor is an NFET and the shiftable threshold voltage transistor is also an NFET. The programming voltage can cause an absolute value of the threshold voltage to permanently increase by at least 50.0 millivolts.
US08050070B2

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rectifier circuit that can suppress deterioration or dielectric breakdown of a semiconductor element due to excessive current. A rectifier circuit of the present invention includes at least a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a diode which are sequentially connected in series in a path which connects an input terminal and one of two output terminals, and a transistor. The second capacitor is connected between one of a source region and a drain region and a gate electrode of the transistor. Further, the other one of the source region and the drain region and the other one of two output terminals are connected each other.
US08050069B2

A bus centering device for use in an aircraft electrical power distribution system that includes a positive bus rail, a negative bus rail, and a ground is described. The device includes a central node, a first and second switching component configured to couple the central node to the positive rail and the negative rail for a first and second predetermined duty cycle, respectively. The device includes an inductive component coupled between the central node and ground, and is configured to maintain a voltage at the central node substantially equal to ground, wherein a voltage between the positive rail and the central node is maintained substantially equal to a voltage between the negative rail and the central node. The device includes a first and second current limiting device configured to maintain a continuity of current from the inductive component when the first and second switching components are turned off.
US08050056B2

A mounting apparatus for electronic components is provided. The mounting apparatus includes a mounting frame including a support portion, backing portion, and lip portion. The backing portion is coupled to a support portion rear end and includes a first segment and a second segment, wherein the second segment is oriented perpendicular to the support portion and the first portion. The lip portion is coupled to a support portion front end such that the support portion and the lip portion define a plurality of slots extending therethrough. The mounting apparatus also includes a plurality of tee bolts each including a first portion and a second portion extending perpendicularly through the first portion, wherein the first portion is removably inserted into a slot. The mounting apparatus also includes a plurality of locating pins that are inserted into a threaded hole extending through the backing portion second segment.
US08050054B2

A base plate for a heat sink comprises a cooling plate and spacer elements, which are arranged on the surface of the cooling plate. The spacer elements and the cooling plate are made as one piece and the material in the surface region of the cooling plate and of the spacer elements being the same and formed in the same process.
US08050052B2

An apparatus for applying a uniform retention and extraction force to a computer expansion board. The apparatus includes a body with upper and lower retaining members that define a retention channel between them sized to receive an edge of an expansion board. At each end of the catch body pins are provided that extend into a support structure, which is mounted to the computer chassis adjacent a mounting surface for the expansion board. A handle assembly is provided with arms pivotally mounted to the support structure. Each arm includes a dowel that extends into a groove in the catch body. During operation of the mechanism, a handle attached to the arms is moved to pivot the arms and force the catch body from an open position to a closed position with the side pins riding in the guide slots and the dowels riding in the grooves of the catch body.
US08050048B2

A lead frame has multiple regions having different wetting characteristics on its surface. For example, one region is formed to handle silver plating while another has less wetting ability. A boundary between the regions causes a wetting force difference that inhibits molten solder flow between regions during solder die bonding.
US08050040B2

A flexible printed circuit (FPC) board includes a flexible substrate, an electric terminal portion, and a reinforcing structure. The electric terminal portion is disposed on a bottom surface of the flexible substrate and is suitable to be inserted into an electrical connector to electrically connect therewith. The reinforcing structure is disposed on a top surface of the flexible substrate and located just above the electric terminal portion. The reinforcing portion includes a stiffener plate bonded to the top surface of the flexible substrate and a pad bonded to a top surface of the stiffener plate. The pad is shorter than the stiffener plate.
US08050034B2

An electronic apparatus comprises a case configured to house an electronic circuit unit and includes an air intake, through which external air is taken into the case, and an exhausting opening, from which the air is ejected, an circulator provided in the case and configured to take the external air into the case through the air intake and supply the air to the electronic circuit unit, an evaporation unit provided in the case and configured to cool the air by thermal exchange between the air and a working medium and guide the air to the exhausting opening, the working medium being vaporized as a result of the thermal exchange, and a condenser provided out of the case and configured to liquidize the working medium and supply the working medium to the evaporation unit.
US08050033B2

An electronic apparatus comprises a housing that contains a heat-generating component, a heat radiating component and a fan that is adapted to apply air to the heat radiating component and including an inlet port and an outlet port. The electronic apparatus further comprises a support member situated within the housing and arranged so that that the outlet port of the fan faces the heat radiating component. Being coupled to the fan and the heat radiating component, the support member comprises an opening portion to direct air to the fan, where the opening portion is aligned with the inlet port of the fan.
US08050031B2

An electronic device includes a main body, a cover, and two supports. The main body defines two receiving slots. The cover is hinged on the main body. Each support includes a supporting member and a driving member hinged on each other. The driving member is hinged on the main body, so that the supporting member of each support is capable of being fully received in the receiving slots or pushed out of the main body, in response of the positions of the cover.
US08050029B1

Aspects of the invention include a method and apparatus for cooling a hard drive in a hard drive array. In one example, the cooling device has similar dimensions as a hard drive on a server. Within the cooling device is a fan. The positioning of the fan provides both impingement and indirect airflow on a hard drive. The cooling device may also have power and data connections identical to those of the hard drive. These connections allow the cooling device to be connected and controlled by a control unit. The control unit may operate to monitor and control the temperature of the hard drive by controlling the power and speed of the fan. In another example, the cooling device is operable to cool DIMMs on a circuit board.
US08050019B2

A keypad suitable for use with a mobile communication or a handheld device. The keypad includes an actuator component formed from multiple materials and comprises a plurality of actuators, a sealing bead and/or a light guide. The sealing bead is formed from a flexible or compressible material such as silicone rubber. When the keypad is installed the sealing bead is compressed against the mounting surface in the device and provides a seal for the keypad against environmental agents such as moisture, dust and/or electrostatic discharges.
US08050007B1

An air terminal/point base has an air terminal/point plate with upper and lower surfaces and apertures. The upper surface has an upstanding cylinder with a threaded aperture. An air terminal/point has a threaded base coupled to the threaded aperture. A conductive cable couples the air terminal/point to a ground. A patch of roofing material having upper and lower surfaces is in a configuration corresponding to the air terminal/point plate. The patch has a plurality of apertures in axial alignment with the apertures of the air terminal/point plate. A rivet extends through the apertures of the air terminal/point plate and each patch coupling the lower surface of the air terminal/point plate to the upper surface of an associated patch. The method includes the step of cohering the patch to the material through the application of pressure applied for 3 to 5 seconds and heat at a temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
US08050004B2

A power circuit includes a gate drive sever comparator circuit operable to disconnect a pre-drive transistor circuit from ground in response to an over voltage fault condition. A back-up gate drive comparator circuit operable to switch a reference directly into a multiple of shunt MosFets such that the multiple of shunt MosFets are turned on to reverse the over voltage fault condition until voltage drops and the gate drive sever comparator circuit and the back-up gate drive comparator circuit turn off to maintain a regulated voltage between comparator controlled limits.
US08050003B2

The present invention discloses an electrostatic discharge protection circuit. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of the present invention includes a transfer unit that transfers electrostaticity from at least one of a plurality of input/output pads to a boost bus line, a trigger unit that responds to the electrostaticity transferred via the boost bus line to detect a trigger voltage and apply it to a trigger bus line, and a plurality of clamp units that are connected between the input/output pads and an internal circuit. The clamp units are triggered by the trigger voltage of the trigger unit to discharge electrostaticity of the input/output pads to a first or second power supply voltage line, thereby safely protecting the internal circuit from electrostatic damage and lowering the operating voltage of the clamp unit with minimum costs without increasing an area of the electrostatic discharge protective circuit within a semiconductor integrated circuit.
US08050001B2

A timed electrical outlet (or pluggable apparatus) and a method of operation thereof. The electrical outlet (or pluggable apparatus) includes a current sensor, a counter, and an electrical switch. When an electrical load is plugged into the electrical outlet (or pluggable apparatus), the current sensor senses the flow of current and triggers the counter to start counting. When the counter is finished counting, the counter triggers the electrical switch, opening the current path within the electrical outlet (or pluggable apparatus) such that electrical current no longer flows to the electrical load.
US08049986B2

According to one embodiment, a control method for a magnetic disk device includes writing data by varying a phase of the array period of the plurality of magnetic elements or a phase of the time period of the recording signal in one section of the track from a corresponding phase in another section of the track, reading a reproduction signal from the track, and determining a phase shift between the array period of the plurality of magnetic elements and the time period of the recording signal, based on a reproduction signal read from the one section and a reproduction signal read from the other section. In another embodiment, a magnetic disk includes a track in which magnetic elements are magnetically separated and arranged in an array period, and a phase of the array period in one section is different from a phase in another section of the track.
US08049985B2

In a particular embodiment, a system is disclosed that includes a solid-state data storage medium, a disc data storage medium, and a controller adapted to selectively adjust a spindle speed associated with the disc data storage medium and a buffer size associated with the solid-state data storage medium responsive to a trigger.
US08049982B1

Methods and apparatus are provided for measuring servo address mark distance in a read channel using selective fine phase estimates. A distance between servo address marks (SAMs) in servo data of a magnetic recording media can be computed by obtaining a count of a number of time intervals between SAM patterns; obtaining a plurality of fractional phase estimates; selecting at least one of the plurality of fractional phase estimates as a selected fractional phase estimate based on a selection criteria; and combining the count and the selected fractional phase estimate to compute the distance. The fractional phase estimates can include a first fractional phase estimate having a lower resolution and higher accuracy in the presence of frequency errors relative to a second fractional phase estimate and wherein the second fractional phase estimate has more resolution and lower accuracy in the presence of the frequency errors relative to the first fractional phase estimate. The selection criteria can comprise a frequency error threshold.
US08049981B2

A method of controlling a filter coefficient of a continuous time filter of a data storage device is provided. The method of controlling filter coefficient includes positioning a magnetic head at a first reference height from surface of a magnetic disk and outputting a plurality of CSM values by measuring a channel state from a read signal output from the magnetic head when changing a cut-off frequency of the continuous time filter, positioning the magnetic head at a second reference height spaced from the first reference height and measuring a bit error ratio from a read signal output from the magnetic head positioned at the second reference height according to at least one CSM value selected among a plurality of CSM values, and controlling a filter coefficient value to determine a cut-off frequency of the continuous time filter according to a measured bit error ratio.
US08049969B2

A zoom lens system includes in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a negative refracting power, a second lens unit having a positive refracting power, a third lens unit having a negative refracting power, and a fourth lens unit having a positive refracting power. At the time of zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, distances between the lens units change by at least the first lens unit, the second lens unit, and the third lens unit being moved. The second lens unit includes in order from the object side, a first sub-unit having a positive refracting power, a second sub-unit having a negative refracting power, and a third sub-unit having a positive refracting power. A surface on the object side and a surface on an image side of each of the first sub-unit, the second sub-unit, and the third sub-unit are in contact with air, and (the zoom lens system) satisfies the following conditional expression (1). 3.2<(β2t/β2w)/(β3t/β3w)<7  (1)
US08049967B2

Provided is a low-cost and compact super-wide-angle anamorphic lens having small number of lenses and exhibiting excellent lens performance when the lens is used for an onboard camera, capturing of an unwanted portion is minimized. The super-wide-angle anamorphic lens has an angle of view of 180° or more in the horizontal direction, and includes a first lens having a negative power, a second lens having a negative power, a third lens having a positive power, a fourth lens having a positive power in that order from an object side. One of the aforementioned third lens and fourth lens is provided with at least one non-rotationally symmetric aspherical surface.
US08049965B2

Provided is a display member containing: an display layer which exhibits a structural color and contains spherical bodies and a matrix; and a reflective interface which reflects a light transmitting through the display layer, wherein the reflective interface is made between the display layer and a reflective interface forming layer which is provided in contact with the display layer; and a refractive index of the spherical bodies na, a refractive index of the matrix nb and a refractive index of the reflective interface forming layer nc satisfy the following Formulas (1) and (2): 0.35
US08049963B2

A dichromatic lens includes a plurality of zones being arranged on a lens structure, each of the zones having a specified radius and varying height. The lens structure focuses propagating light applicable to any intensity distribution for a plurality of wavelengths.
US08049953B2

Provided is a microcapsule patterning method for patterning electrophoretic microcapsules on a substrate, the method including the steps of: preparing a microcapsule slurry in which microcapsules and a water-soluble binder are mixed; putting the microcapsule slurry into a liquid ejector having injection and ejection ports formed therein; and applying the microcapsule slurry contained in the liquid ejector onto the substrate so as to pattern pixels using the microcapsules. Accordingly, specific patterns are formed without physical and chemical damage to the microcapsules. Therefore, the patterns can be used as pixels of flat panel displays. Further, through the patterning, it is possible to implement a color display device which does not exhibit performance degradation.
US08049942B2

A multiplexed holographic recording apparatus records multiplexed holograms in a plurality of recording regions that are formed on a holographic recording medium. In particular, the apparatus first records a predetermined number of multiplexed holograms in each of the recording regions formed in a predetermined range or an overall range of the holographic recording medium through holographic recording performed N times, and then performs the (N+1)th holographic recording in each recording region formed in the predetermined range or the overall range. When n other recording regions (where n=0, 1, 2, . . . ) are superimposed on each recording region formed on the holographic recording medium, a difference in the degree of multiplexing between the recording regions formed in the predetermined range or the overall range of the holographic recording medium does not exceed a predetermined value of n+1.
US08049935B2

An optical scanning device is provided which comprises a laser array which emits laser beams including a number of beams (1, 2, . . . , n) writing a swath of rasters having a laser scanning section which, when an interlaced scanning period i, is set to a natural number between beams which are adjacent in a sub-scanning direction, scans the laser beams emitted from the laser array with the interlaced scanning period i. The laser scanning section can scan the laser beams such that the beam number n and the interlaced scanning period i are relatively prime natural numbers, and n>i. In a first scan, data for raster lines (1, 2, . . . , n) can be selectively associated with a respective first exposure. At a second scan, data for raster lines (i+1, i+2, . . . , n) can be selectively associated with a respective second exposure and data for raster lines (n+1, n+2, . . . , n+i) can be selectively associated with a respective first exposure. The first respective exposure for raster lines (i+1, i+2, . . . , n) is not equal to the respective second exposure for raster lines (i+1, i+2, . . . , n).
US08049929B2

Aspects of color of a halftoned image are controlled or adjusted. A method for adjustment can include determining a color description of a color of an area or window associated with a target halftoned pixel, determining a desired adjustment to the color associated with the target pixel, determining a color change value based on the desired adjustment and the color description associated with the target pixel, combining the color change value with at least one value of the target halftoned pixel, thereby generating at least one combined target pixel value and quantizing the at least one combined target pixel value. For instance error diffusion and/or rank-ordered error diffusion is used to perform the quantization. Color adjustments can be based on user preference and/or calibration compensations between original and target devices.
US08049928B2

The invention enables people to easily identify a printout image even in the case where the printout image is printed with a tint block image added thereon. More specifically, a physical page that is a printable area of printing paper is divided into areas, an intended document/image is printed in each of these divided areas (logical pages), and a tint block image is printed only in an area that is in this physical page but does not belong to any of the logical pages. Using a fact that a margin is produced in the so-called N-up printing, the tint block image is printed in this margin. Thereby, the tint block image can be printed in a location that will not interfere with whatever printout image to be printed.
US08049921B2

A data capture system receives a sequence of document objects and, for each, writes output data values to a structure. A first tier extraction system is adapted to receive each document object. For each required data element, the first tier extraction system obtains identification of a positional element value from a positional data set that includes, as its data element, identification of the required data element; and, if the document object includes a qualifying text string, writes an output data value to the output data structure in association with identification of the required data element. A second tier extraction system receives each such document object that does not include a qualifying text string, performs character recognition on a graphical representation thereof and, for each required data element, writes an output data value to the output data structure in association with identification of the required data element.
US08049909B2

An image forming apparatus capable of performing a skip copy and an image forming method using the same, the image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit to copy a document, and a control unit to control the image forming unit to skip a designated region of the document when the image forming unit copies the document. Accordingly, resources, such as ink, and time can be preserved.
US08049882B2

A system and method for use in spectrometric measurements of an article using selecting an optimal integration time range of the light detection system during which the measurement is to be applied, the optimal integration time being that at which a required value of signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the measurements is obtainable.
US08049881B2

A method of arranging and utilizing a multivariate optical computing and analysis system includes transmitting light from a light source; reflecting the light from the sample; directing a portion of the light reflected from the sample with a beamsplitter; and arranging an optical filter mechanism in a normal incidence orientation to receive the light reflected from the sample, the optical filter mechanism configured to filter and measure data carried by the light reflected from the sample.
US08049874B2

A method for measuring illuminance of a lamp utilizes at least one illuminance meter and a rotary apparatus. The lamp is installed on the rotary apparatus. The lamp emits light and projects onto an irradiation area. A measurement area is defined from within the irradiation area. The measurement area is evenly divided into n sub-measurement areas, wherein n is a natural number. The n sub-measurement areas are centrosymmetric. At least one illuminance meter measuring illuminance of the lamp is disposed on one of the n sub-measurement areas. The rotary apparatus drives the lamp to rotate 360/n° in turn. The single illuminance meter measures illuminance of the lamp in other (n−1) sub-measurement areas.
US08049851B2

A liquid crystal dripping method has a problem in that an uncured sealant increases in width at the time of attaching a pair of substrates and thus a liquid crystal material enters the sealant and unevenness occurs in the inner periphery of the sealant. A region in which reduced is the speed of diffusion of liquid crystal at the time of attaching a pair of substrates is provided between a sealant and an orientation film. Further, time for diffusing the liquid crystal and coming in contact with the sealant is made long. Accordingly, the sealant is subjected to photo-curing before the liquid crystal comes in contact with the sealant. The region in which reduced is the speed of diffusion of the liquid crystal is formed using a material for forming a vertical orientation film, a silane coupling agent, a substance having a photocatalytic function, or the like.
US08049840B2

The object of the invention is to provide a display apparatus that can partially eliminate the need for a backlight unit and that achieves a corresponding reduction in thickness. The display apparatus includes two display panels arranged one on top of the other and each having two transparent substrates disposed opposite each other with a liquid crystal layer provided therebetween, and the first display panel has a reflective layer, a light-guiding transparent substrate, and a light control layer, and the second transparent substrate, reflective layer, light control layer, and light source together constitute an illuminating means for illuminating the second display panel which is an illuminated member, with provisions made to illuminate the second display panel by the light emerging from the light-guiding transparent substrate.
US08049827B2

A thin film transistor array substrate includes an insulating substrate, a plurality of scan lines, an insulating layer, a plurality of data lines, and a plurality of pixels arranged in an array of rows and columns. The pixels in each row are aligned in a row direction, the pixels in each column are aligned in a column direction, and the pixels are separated from each other by the scan lines and the data lines. Each pixel includes a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode. The pixel electrode has at least one opening that extends from the periphery to the inside of the pixel electrode and at least one extension part that extends in the row direction into an opening of a neighboring pixel electrode in the same row. Each of the scan lines alternately controls one of the pixel electrodes in a first row and one of the pixel electrodes in a second row immediately adjacent to the first row.
US08049795B2

Disclosed are a lens shading compensation apparatus and a lens shading compensation method in an image sensor that compensate the difference in signal amplitude according to the position of pixels to preserve the quality of a primitive image. The lens shading compensation apparatus includes a pixel value analyzing part, an auto exposure value setting part, a central pixel detecting part, a table generating part, a pixel location calculating part, a mask image generating part and a compensation part. The above apparatus and method perform a color interpolation individually for red, green and blue, and then compensate a lens shading image for each color in accordance with its characteristics. Also the above apparatus and method can analyze and compensate a lens shading phenomenon without considering other colors or being interrupted by other colors.
US08049782B2

Provides an image blur correction device capable of accurately moving an imaging element, and an imaging device equipped therewith. The image blur correction device of the present invention includes a fixed plate (12); a moving base (14) to which an imaging element (16) is attached; support means (18) supporting a movable member; at least three drive coils (20) disposed on the movable member; a position sensor (24) disposed on the fixed member; at least three drive magnets (22) respectively attached to the fixed member in positions opposing each of the drive coils; detection means (34) for detecting blurring of an optical axis; and control means (36) for sourcing current to each of the drive coils so as to drive the movable member based on the blur of the optical axis and the position of the movable member, thereby controlling blurring of the image formed on the imaging device.
US08049765B2

A color gamut mapping method, which is capable of minimizing a color difference perceived by a person, preventing brightness and contrast from deteriorating, and improving color reproducibility, and a liquid crystal display device using the same are disclosed. The color gamut mapping method includes converting image data having an original gamut into lightness, chroma and hue data, adjusting a primary hue angle of the original gamut according to a reproduction gamut and adjusting the hue data according to the adjustment amount of the primary hue angle, changing the lightness of an original gamut boundary in consideration of a reproduction gamut boundary and changing the brightness data by the change amount of the lightness of the original gamut boundary, deciding a focal point, which is a reference point of color gamut mapping, according to the size, the shape and the position of the original/reproduction gamut in lightness and chroma coordinates, deciding a mapping slope according to the decided focal point FP and a mapping area in which the lightness and chroma data are located and mapping the original gamut to the reproduction gamut according to the decided mapping slope, and converting the lightness, chroma and hue data mapped to the reproduction gamut into image data.
US08049764B2

On the display screen of a video signal display device, when the emission amount is monotonically lowered toward the screen periphery from a certain point (screen center), if there are a plurality of regions that viewers notice easily (such as faces), then correction by monotically decreasing the emission amount cannot always raise the signal level in the regions that are noticed, and it may not be possible to obtain a sufficient sense of brightness. In the video signal processing device, a multiple object detection portion detects a plurality of objects that are included in a unit image, and a correction gain is calculated such that when the unit image is displayed on the display device, a point on the display screen at which an emission amount that is lower than the emission amount on the display screen at a point that is substantially in the center between any two objects is in a region between the points substantially in the center of the two objects, and the input video signal is corrected with that correction gain. Thus, it is possible to maintain a sense of brightness about a plurality of objects on the display screen that are readily noticed by viewers, while suppressing power usage by the display device that displays the video signal.
US08049758B2

A sensing baseball game apparatus (10) has a game machine (12) connected to a television monitor (18). A bat input device (32) is provided with an acceleration sensor. An acceleration signal is transmitted by an infrared-ray LED (34) to an infrared-ray receiving part of the game machine (12) whereby the game machine (12) determines a moving speed of the bat input device (32) to calculate a moving parameter of a ball to be batted. Accordingly, a batted ball is moved in the game scene according to the parameter.
US08049753B2

Methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program/software code products, operable in a computer graphics system designed to render images and to apply shading to images, enable the following: during rendering of an image, modifying the shading normal in the region of a corner of an object in the image, such that when shading is applied to the image, the shaded image is capable of providing to a human viewer, when viewing the corner in the image, the appearance or visual illusion of a rounded corner, wherein the modifying comprises: calculating an amount of modification to be applied to an original shading normal in the region of the corner to simulate the appearance of a given fillet radius R, the calculating comprising: interrogating surfaces within a distance R of the corner for their shading normal, and calculating a new normal that is a weighted blend between the shading normal of the original surface and the shading normal of the interrogated neighboring surface, thereby, by the shading effect, to simulate at render-time a rounding by varying the shading normal, creating a variation of the surface normal consistent with the appearance the object would have had, had it actually been rounded.
US08049744B2

A method and system for enhancing the life of a battery within a portable or otherwise battery operated electronic device. The method and system provide selectable display modes, e.g., from color to monochrome, that can be changed in order to enhance the life of the device's battery. The monochrome display mode can be selected by the when the battery level is detected below a predefined threshold. In one embodiment, the electronic device is a hand held computer system with a display device. When the battery level is detected as below a preselected level, a message may be generated on the computer display screen. The display mode can change from color to monochrome thereby saving power because the monochrome display. In one embodiment, color sequential techniques are used to provide a flat panel color display. Within the display, a transreflective layer provides reflective light for monochrome applications. When the battery energy returns to normal levels, the color display mode can be re-entered automatically. It is appreciated that the display mode changes can also be performed automatically if the battery level falls below certain critical levels.
US08049736B2

A printed circuit board (PCB) assembly provides a two layer capacitive trackpad sensor in which an EMI ground grid is interposed among the sensor's capacitive elements on each of its layers. The EMI grid on each of the two layers is electrically coupled via, typically, vias. The described arrangement of sensor elements (capacitor plates) and EMI ground grid traces may be incorporated into a PCB having additional layers (e.g., a four, six or eight layer PCB). If used in this manner, additional vias are provided on the PCB which permit electrical coupling between these “additional layers” and which are electrically isolated from, and shielded by, the EMI ground grid.
US08049729B2

A method for controlling movement of a computer display cursor based on a point-of-aim of a pointing device within an interaction region includes projecting an image of a computer display to create the interaction region. At least one calibration point having a predetermined relation to said interaction region is established. A pointing line is directed to substantially pass through the calibration point while measuring a position of and an orientation of the pointing device. The pointing line has a predetermined relationship to said pointing device. Movement of the cursor is controlled within the interaction region using measurements of the position of and the orientation of the pointing device.
US08049720B2

A display pointing device (10) includes a fingerprint sensing circuit (18) that optically senses, for example, a portion of a fingerprint or other skin texture, and a fingerprint movement detection circuit (20), operatively coupled to the fingerprint sensing circuit (18), that is operative to determine a direction of movement and a rate of movement of skin texture being sensed by the fingerprint sensing circuit (18) to produce pointing output data (24) for a display (12). The pointing output data (24) may be, for example, data representing a visual indication of a position on a display screen, such as a position of a cursor or of highlighted text, or any other suitable position indication. A method for providing pointing information for display includes sensing a fingerprint, determining a direction of movement and a rate of movement of the fingerprint and producing a pointing output for display based on a determined direction of movement and rate of movement of the sensed fingerprint.
US08049719B2

Virtual controllers for visual displays are described. In one implementation, a camera captures an image of hands against a background. The image is segmented into hand areas and background areas. Various hand and finger gestures isolate parts of the background into independent areas, which are then assigned control parameters for manipulating the visual display. Multiple control parameters can be associated with attributes of multiple independent areas formed by two hands, for advanced control including simultaneous functions of clicking, selecting, executing, horizontal movement, vertical movement, scrolling, dragging, rotational movement, zooming, maximizing, minimizing, executing file functions, and executing menu choices.
US08049702B2

A display device which is used in a miniaturized portable information device can exhibit the low power consumption even when a display is not changed over for a long period in a state that a battery or the like is used as a power source. The display device can maintain a high numerical aperture by suppressing the number of parts even when a memory element is provided to a pixel. In a liquid crystal display device, a pixel exhibits the low power consumption by including a memory element and thus preventing the transmission of a video signal. By making use of a charge held in a pixel electrode of a liquid crystal display panel, a signal for AC driving is formed in the inside of a pixel thus performing AC driving to perform a display without deteriorating liquid crystal even when the video signal is not rewritten. The liquid crystal display device can realize the memory element with the simple constitution without sacrificing a numeral aperture.
US08049699B2

A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a plurality of pixel electrodes arrayed in a matrix, each pixel electrode of the plurality of pixel electrodes having first and second sub-pixel electrodes. The apparatus further includes a plurality of first switching devices connected to the first sub-pixel electrodes, a plurality of gate lines connected to the switching devices, a plurality of data lines connected to the first devices and passing between the pixel electrodes to transmit data voltages, and first and second storage electrodes disposed between the pixel electrodes and the data lines disposed at both sides of the pixel electrodes and overlapping the first sub-pixel electrodes.
US08049695B2

A display that includes at least one gray level being provided to a plurality of pixels that illuminates each of the pixels with the gray level. The display applies interpolated corrective data for the pixels so as to reduce the mura effects of said display for those characteristics generally visible by the human visual system and so as not to reduce the mura effects of the display for those characteristics generally not visible by the human visual system.
US08049690B2

A circuit and a method for driving light emitting diodes (LEDs) are provided. First, an input voltage is converted into an output voltage and the output voltage is transmitted to the anode terminals of LED strings. The output voltage is reduced when the output voltage is greater than a first threshold voltage and the output voltage is reduced when the lowest level among the cathode terminal voltages of all the LED strings is greater than a second threshold voltage. Thus, the output voltage can be maintained at a lower level for driving all the LED strings to reduce unnecessary power wastage.
US08049684B2

An organic electroluminescent display device employing a demultiplexer to reduce the number of output lines of a data driver. The display device uses the demultiplexer to store a data voltage in a data line, and supplies the stored data voltage to a pixel when a scan signal is applied, thereby displaying an image. Here, the data voltage supplied to the pixel is lowered because an electric charge is shared between a data line capacitor and a storage capacitor in the pixel. To compensate for the lowered data voltage, an auxiliary capacitor is provided for generating a compensation voltage. Here, the auxiliary capacitor increases the data voltage according to a level change of the scan signal. Therefore, a decrease in level of the voltage applied to the pixel is reduced or prevented so that DC/DC efficiency is enhanced without lowering a power supply voltage and a reference voltage.
US08049674B2

A wide band antenna tracking modulator and method is disclosed. The system includes a common port for receiving an electromagnetic signal, a waveguide connected to the common port, at least a pair of side arms and a pair of coupling slots separated along an axis of the waveguide coupling the electromagnetic signals between the waveguide and the pair of side arms. The pair of coupling slots substantially coupled a higher order TE mode signal while substantially not coupling a primary TE mode signal. The method includes substantially coupling a higher order Transverse Electric (TE) mode signal of the electromagnetic signal while substantially not coupling a primary TE mode signal of the electromagnetic signal to at least a pair of side arms coupled to the wave guide though a pair of coupling slots separated along the axis of the waveguide.
US08049662B2

A method according to an aspect of the present invention includes determining a phase offset by simultaneously providing a calibration signal to a first element of an antenna and a second element of the antenna opposite the first element. The method further includes receiving an intermix signal by a third element of the antenna, measuring an amplitude characteristic for the intermix signal, and determining a phase offset based on the amplitude characteristic. The phase offset can be used to adjust a signal provided to the first element so that signals transmitted from the first element and second element are in phase with each other. This method can account for phase errors due to the construction or design of the antenna, and allows antenna elements to be calibrated without the need for phase detector devices.
US08049648B2

A high-rate constrained code is provided to encode/decode channel data. A transformer translates binary channel data into an arbitrary alphabet size. The transformer selects an indicator word and makes forbidden prefix substitutions in the data to be transformed. A finite-state encoder imposes some user-defined constraint on the transformed data before the data is transferred to the channel. The high-rate constrained coding technique may be used to produce high-rate DC-limited and run-length-limited codes. The high-rate code can be used in tandem with error-correcting codes.
US08049643B2

The invention is directed towards an automated system for tracking a vehicle, associating that vehicle with a vehicle washing selection, and tracking the vehicle until it enters the vehicle washing station for subsequent presentation of the vehicle washing selection to the control computer of the vehicle washing system for subsequent washing.
US08049630B2

An animal management system and scanning access device are disclosed. The scanning access device accesses RFID label disposed on/in animal body, and the information of the accessed RFID label is subsequently processed and transmitted to the animal management system via a communication transmission module for comparison. The scanning access device includes a first access module for accessing the RFID label disposed on/in animal body, an interface for the first access module to be coupled thereto and receiving the information of the RFID label accessed by the first access module, an input module for receiving operation message, a processing module for processing the information of the RFID label received by the interface and/or the operation message received by the input module, and a transmitting/receiving module for transmitting the processed information obtained from the processing module via the communication transmission module and/or receiving another information transmitted by the communication transmission module.
US08049623B2

Biological reagent carrier devices and methods are disclosed, which employ RFID techniques to associate information with biological reagents.
US08049621B1

A system for remotely reading embedded RFID tags may generally facilitate the retail facility planogram auditing process. A set of RFID tags embedded with products displayed for sale at a retail facility may be provided and configured to store associated product information. An array configured to read the stored associated product data and triangulate the positions of the embedded tags may be located within range of the retail facility. The collected product data and triangulated positions may then be used by the system to audit the retail facility's compliance with a predetermined planogram. The audit results may be thereafter stored in a computer medium, aggregated in accordance with a predetermined format, communicated to personnel, and provided in a reviewable format via a user interface.
US08049617B2

The present invention is directed to a method of asset location. Location data is received from a cellular transmitter associated with a selected asset, which location data includes data representative of a cellular receiver with which direct communication with the cellular transmitter is made. The location data is then communicated to a tracking service system, which tracking service system includes a database representative of geographic locations associated with a plurality of cellular receivers. The database is then queried with received location data so as to generate geographic tracking data associated with a location of the cellular receiver, the geographic tracking data including display data adapted to generate a map image including a representative of a location of the selected asset. The geographic tracking data is then communicated to an associated security agency so as to allow for viewing of an image generated in accordance with the display data and at least one of tracking and interception of the selected asset.
US08049606B2

A method for the assigning of identification codes that are sent in radio signals by tire pressure monitoring devices at the wheels of a vehicle and that are received by a receiver provided in or at the vehicle, which signals are relayed to an evaluation unit connected to the receiver, in which unit is stored a specific identification code for every wheel position of the vehicle and wherein the stored identification codes are compared with identification codes in subsequently sent radio signals, whereby for the storage of the identification code of the tire pressure monitoring device of a chosen wheel the specific wheel position intended for the chosen wheel is entered at a control unit, whis is in communication connection with the evaluation unit, subsequently the tire pressure monitoring device of the chosen wheel is caused to send a radio signal containing its identification code, this radio signal is received and the therein contained identification code is stored in the evaluation unit or in the control unit at a memory location assigned to the specific wheel position.
US08049602B2

The present invention describes a car anti-theft system. Specifically, the present invention has an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) patterned onto a visible surface of a vehicle. Vehicle theft is recognized when an unauthorized driver fails to enter a predetermined code, resulting in lighting of OLED. Lighted OLED may be seen by passers-by who may then alert police that a car is in the process of being stolen. Alternatively and additionally, OLED's may be integrated into primary car alarm systems so as to add an additional, visual, layer of car protection.
US08049592B2

A network-based lighting equipment remote monitoring and management system is proposed, which is designed for use with a network system to allow the user to carry out monitoring and management tasks on one or more remotely-located lighting equipment systems in a real-time manner via the network system. The proposed system is characterized by the provision of a user-operated network-based real-time monitoring and management function for remotely-located lighting equipment, the capability to provide efficient and cost-effective management in the utilization of lighting equipment for saving energy and cost, and the capability to provide real-time warning of abnormal operating conditions of the lighting equipment.
US08049586B2

A magnetic coupler includes a first body, a second body and a plurality of magnetic elements. The first body has a first front side and a first backside. The first front side is formed with a plurality of positioning slots. The second body has a second front side and a second backside. The second backside is mounted on the first front side. The second body is formed with a plurality of positioning holes penetrating through the second body. Each magnetic element has a first portion and a second portion. The first portions of the magnetic elements respectively penetrate through the positioning holes so that the second portions of the magnetic elements are respectively embedded into the positioning slots.
US08049579B2

A resonator includes a translator, a stator, and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to provide first and second translator voltages and first through third stator voltages, wherein the translator is configured to move with respect to the stator at a resonant frequency of the resonator in response to the control circuit.
US08049578B1

Air loaded stripline assemblies and methods for providing same are disclosed. The air loaded stripline assembly includes circuit board layers interconnected to one another. A layer containing a conductive trace forming a stripline is connected to spacer layers. The spacer layers include voids or relieved areas, that define cavities adjacent areas of the stripline layer on which the stripline is formed. Ground plane layers are interconnected to the spacer layers, bounding the cavities. The air loaded stripline assembly can additionally incorporate conductive vias for electrically interconnecting the stripline to other components or assemblies. The air loaded stripline assembly can be formed using conventional printed circuit board techniques.
US08049574B2

A single pole multiple-throw switch for switching an RF signal to one of a plurality of outputs includes coupling the signal to a throw junction, said junction having connected thereto a plurality of switch legs, each leg includes a high voltage shunt diode spaced one quarter-wavelength from the throw junction; each diode mounted at its cathode end to a capacitor and adapted to receive a bias; wherein a controller applies a first DC bias to a selected one of the diodes to cause the selected diode to operate in reverse bias mode, such that the selected diode mounted on the corresponding capacitor provides a low insertion loss to pass the RF signal from the transmission line through the selected leg and to one of the outputs; and applies a second DC bias to the other diodes to cause the other diodes to operate in forward bias mode such that the other diodes mounted onto the corresponding capacitor provides a high insertion loss for blocking the RF signal to the remaining outputs.
US08049573B2

An isolator provides bidirectional data transfer for a plurality of communications channels. First and second dies are located on first and second sides of a voltage isolation barrier and have a first and second plurality of digital data input/output pins associated therewith. First circuitry on the first die and third circuitry on the second die serializes a plurality of parallel digital data inputs from the digital data input/output pins onto one link across the barrier and transmits synchronization clock signals associated with the digital data inputs over a link across the barrier. Second circuitry on the second die and fourth circuitry on the first die de-serializes the digital data inputs from the first link onto the second digital data input/output pins and receives the first synchronization clock signal associated with the digital data inputs on the second link.
US08049572B2

An oven-controlled crystal oscillator includes a circuit board, a crystal unit surface-mounted on the circuit board, and a temperature control circuit that maintains operating temperature of the crystal unit constant. The temperature control circuit includes a heating resistor, a power transistor that supplies power to a heating resistor, and a temperature sensitive resistor that detects temperature of the crystal unit. The heating resistor is formed, as a film resistor, on a surface of the circuit board in an area thereof in which the crystal unit is located. The temperature sensitive resistor is provided on the circuit board as a film resistor.
US08049571B2

A frequency-jittering apparatuses includes an oscillator and a frequency control circuit. The oscillator generates a signal. When the magnitude of the signal exceeds a magnitude of a reference signal, the oscillator operates substantially in a first state; and when the magnitude of the signal is lower than the magnitude of the reference signal, the oscillator operates substantially in a second state different from the first one. The frequency control circuit varies the reference signal to change the frequency of the signal output from the oscillator.
US08049568B2

Embodiments of the present invention enable a feedback-based VCO linearization technique. Embodiments include a frequency locked loop formed by feeding back a VCO's output into the VCO's input in negative phase by means of a frequency-to-voltage (F/V) converter. Embodiments enable constant VCO gain over a wide input tuning range and across PVT variations. Further, embodiments can be nested within a PLL, for example, with negligible area and power consumption overhead.
US08049562B2

An amplifier includes a first pair of transistors (the first pair) that defines a first output, each transistor of the first pair having a gate coupled to a first input terminal; a second pair of transistors (the second pair) that defines a second output, each transistor of the second pair having a gate coupled to a second input terminal; a first capacitor coupled to the second output terminal and to the gate of a first transistor of the first pair; a second capacitor coupled to the second output terminal and to the gate of a second transistor of the first pair; a third capacitor coupled to the first output terminal and to the gate of a third transistor of the second pair; and a fourth capacitor coupled to the first output terminal and to the gate of a fourth transistor of the second pair.
US08049556B2

A mobile telephone is provided that includes a plurality of circuit blocks and adapted to cut off the supply of power source voltage to any one of the circuit blocks. The mobile telephone also includes an interblock interface circuit provided on a signal path between an elected circuit block and a branch point at which the signal path branches into different branch paths so as to connect to other circuit blocks. The interblock interface circuit includes a signal gate for preventing signal transmission from the elected circuit block to the other circuit blocks, and includes a storage unit for storing a signal right before the power cut-off.
US08049539B2

A circuit with variation correction function is capable of obtaining an output characteristic near a desired value by suppressing variation of the output characteristic regardless of manufacturing characteristic variations of a component. An output signal different in phase from a reference signal is obtained by a dummy circuit having a capacitor of a same structure as a correction object capacitor in an operation circuit. The difference in phase between the reference signal and the output signal reflects manufacturing characteristic variation of the correction object capacitor. The difference in phase is detected by a phase comparator circuit and control signals are created by a control signal conversion circuit. Switches in the operation circuit are changed over with the control signal to adjust the capacitance of the correction object capacitor. The correction object capacitor is actuated at a capacitance near design capacitance regardless of manufacturing characteristic variation of the correction object capacitor.
US08049536B2

A half-power buffer amplifier includes a buffer stage having a first-half buffer stage and a second-half buffer stage. An output of the first-half buffer stage is controllably fed back to a rail-to-rail differential amplifier, and an output of the second-half buffer stage is controllably fed back to the rail-to-rail differential amplifier. A switch network controls the connection between the outputs of the buffer stage and an output node of the half-power buffer amplifier in a manner such that a same pixel, with respect to different frames, of a display panel is driven by the same rail-to-rail differential amplifier.
US08049524B2

A method for detecting component defects of an analog signal processing circuit, especially for a measurement transmitter. A test signal TS is generated at a first test point TP1 and an associated response signal RS tapped at a second test point TP2 and evaluated in a digital unit. In the evaluation, individual amplitude values of the response signal RS are compared with predetermined, desired values. In the case of significant deviations, a defect report is generated.
US08049515B2

The invention relates to MEMS resonators. In one embodiment, an integrated resonator and sensor device includes a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) resonator, and an anchor portion coupled to the MEMS resonator and configured to allow resonance of the MEMS resonator in a first plane of motion and movement of the MEMS resonator in a second plane of motion. In other embodiments, additional apparatuses, devices, systems and methods are disclosed.
US08049511B2

A method of detecting faulty via holes of a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board including a number of electric trace segments. The method includes steps of: providing a testing system, the testing system comprising a processor, a storing means and a resistance measuring device, the storing means for storing a function Ymin=fmin(X) wherein X represents a reference resistance associated with a given electric trace segment, Ymin represents a minimum threshold value; measuring a resistance of an electric trace segment of a to-be-tested printed circuit board using the resistance measuring device, a to-be-tested via hole located on the electric trace segment; and judging whether the to-be-tested via hole is a faulty via hole according to the following criteria: if |Xa−X|≧Ymin, the to-be-tested via hole is a faulty via hole, and if |Xa−X|
US08049508B2

A method and apparatus for determining a parameter of interest of an earth formation during drilling of a borehole. A first toroidal coil antenna induces a current along a path that includes a bottomhole assembly and the formation. A second toroidal coil antenna disposed at the drillbit and oriented at a non-zero angle to the longitudinal axis of the bottomhole assembly measures an electrical signal resulting from the current, the electrical signal being a parameter of interest of the formations.
US08049502B2

A radio frequency (RF) coil comprising a plurality of electrically uninterrupted conductive legs, each leg having a first end and a second end, and at least one continuous conductor electrically connected to the first ends of the legs. Frequency tuning of the coil is achieved by translating, along the legs, an electrically continuous tuning band that includes a capacitor closed about the axis of the coil in proximity to the conductive legs. Maintaining electrical symmetry of the coil results in tuning ranges of at least 30 percent of the nominal value of the resonant frequency.
US08049500B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with dynamically selectively configuring wireless transmitters associated with MRI detector coils are described. One example apparatus includes a detector coil to receive an NMR signal. The apparatus includes a dynamically configurable transmitter to transmit an RF transmission according to a configurable set of transmission parameters. The RF transmission is based on the NMR signal received by the MRI detector coil. The apparatus includes a tuning logic that cycles between an active state and a passive state under the control of a tuning program. While in the passive state, the tuning logic is to generate substantially no RF that could interfere with receiving the NMR signal at the MRI detector coil. While in the active state, the tuning logic is to configure the dynamically configurable transmitter to transmit according to the set of transmission parameters.
US08049499B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling the specific absorption rate (SAR) in a patient associated with a conductor are described. The conductor may be, for example, a wire associated with a pacemaker, a wire associated with a neurostimulator, an orthopaedic device, and so on. One example method includes calibrating a multi-channel transmitter associated with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus imaging the patient. The example method also includes controlling the MRI apparatus to transmit radio frequency (RF) energy to image the patient in a manner where the RF energy will only influence the SAR near the conductor in the patient less than a desired threshold amount.
US08049476B2

A power supply and a method for compensating for a droop component in an output signal of the power supply. The power supply may include an error amplifier and an oscillator coupled to a pulse width modulation circuit. Outputs of the pulse width modulation circuit are connected to switching circuits that have outputs coupled to an output node. The power supply further includes a droop compensation circuit connected to the output of the power supply, the outputs of the switching circuits, and to an input of the error amplifier. The droop compensation circuit includes an amplifier coupled to a feed-forward network and a current source coupled to the feed-forward network. The current source sources a current to or sinks a current from the feed-forward network to generate a droop compensation signal that is transmitted to the error amplifier. The current source may be controlled by a digital-to-analog circuit.
US08049474B2

A switching converter according includes a control arrangement to furnish a control signal dependent on the output voltage, as well as a first and at least one second converter stage. Each converter includes an inductive storage element, a ramp signal generator to furnish a signal having a ramp slope, a pulse width modulator which receives the control signal and the ramplike signal and which furnishes a pulse width modulated signal, and a driver circuit which receives the pulse width modulated signal and the input voltage and which applies the input voltage to the inductive storage element depending on the pulse width modulated signal. The ramp slope of the ramplike signal of the at least one second converter stage is adjustable. The ramp signal generator of the second converter stage receives a calibration signal which depends on the inductance of the inductive storage element of the first converter stage.
US08049451B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for a near field detection system. The apparatus comprises a glass plate, the glass plate having a first edge and comprising a first electrode, the first electrode disposed along the first edge of the glass plate, adapted to detect the presence of an object in near proximity to the glass plate, and adapted to transmit a signal in response to the presence of the object.
US08049450B2

A fan control circuit for controlling a fan to dissipate heat from an electrical device includes a comparator and an electrical switch. The comparator has a comparator input terminal, a comparator reference terminal, and a comparator output terminal. The comparator input terminal is connected to a power source via a first resistor and is also connected to the electrical device to receive a working current draw of the electrical device. The comparator reference terminal is receiving a reference voltage. The comparator output terminal is capable of outputting a comparison result between a voltage received by the input terminal and the reference voltage. The electrical switch has a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal. The control terminal is connected to the comparator output terminal of the comparator to receive the comparison result. The first terminal is connected to the power source via a resistor. The second terminal is grounded and connected to the terminal via a fan.
US08049446B2

A motor control device includes a dq-axis current control unit for generating a dq-axis voltage reference based on a dq-axis current reference and a dq-axis current signal, an initial magnetic pole position estimation unit for estimating a magnetic pole position of the motor upon power-on to generate a magnetic pole position signal, and a magnetic pole position estimation precision confirming unit for supplying a current in a d-axis direction after generation of the magnetic pole position signal with the initial magnetic pole position estimation unit, and checking an error of the magnetic pole position signal based on an angle of movement of the motor.
US08049445B2

A motor controller that outputs a drive signal to a direct-current motor to drive the motor is provided. The motor controller includes a drive circuit that generates the drive signal. The drive circuit superimposes on a direct-current voltage an alternating-current component having a frequency in the audible frequency range of the human ear, thereby generating the drive signal.
US08049421B2

When a light emitting element is actuated to allow the light emission, the generation of Joule heat occurs, leading to the decomposition or crystallization of an organic compound to cause the degradation of the light emitting device. Therefore, a light emitting element of the present invention is provided for effecting removing or decreasing the generation of heat. In the present invention, between two electrodes, layers having organic compounds and carbon-based thin films are alternatively laminated one after another for stepping down the driving voltage in the light emitting element using the tunnel effect. In addition, a carbon-based thin film is placed on a film containing an organic compound, so that it prevents the electric field from being locally concentrated and also prevents the generation of short-circuit between the anode and the cathode.
US08049414B2

A display device (1; 101) includes a plurality of picture elements (2; 102) for displaying still and moving images, alphanumeric characters or the like. The picture elements can be controlled, either individually or in groups, by an electronic control system. The display device (1; 101) has a first flat substrate (3; 103) with fastening elements (5; 105) which project at least in sections, from its first surface (4; 104) to detachably fix the display device (1; 101) to a carrier device (7), by the co-operation of the fastening elements (5; 105) of the first flat substrate (3; 103) with the carrier device (7).
US08049409B2

Disclosed is an OLED in which separation regions of spacers in odd and even rows are formed so that a fine metal mask (FMM) between light emission layers may move without being caught in the spacers. The OLED includes even and odd spacers protruding upwardly between light emission layers and are separated by separation regions. The separation regions of each row of spacers is aligned with spacers of adjacent rows and are not aligned with the separation regions of the adjacent rows.
US08049404B2

An active matrix drive organic EL display panel comprising an organic TFT with a configuration that prevents the occurrence of current leak, and a manufacturing method thereof are proposed. The organic EL display panel comprises: a substrate; an organic EL element comprising in order from the substrate, a first display electrode, an organic functional layer and a second display electrode; and an organic TFT for driving and controlling the organic EL element comprising in order from the substrate a gate electrode, a gate insulation film, source/drain electrodes, and an organic semiconductor layer. The organic EL display panel further comprises: a first bank having a first window section for demarcating a light emitting region on which the organic functional layer is provided on the first display electrode and a second window section demarcating a transistor region on which the organic semiconductor layer is provided between the source/drain electrodes; and a second bank located in the perimeter of the second window section and protruding in a direction that intersects with the main surface of the substrate.
US08049402B2

An improved OLED display includes a substrate, a semiconductor having a uniform thickness formed on the substrate, first and second ohmic contacts, and a driving voltage line having an input electrode and an output electrode. An insulating layer is formed on the driving voltage line and the output electrode. A control electrode is formed on the insulating layer and overlaps the semiconductor.The method of manufacturing the OLED display entails forming a semiconductor on a substrate, forming a photoresist film on the semiconductor, forming a doped amorphous silicon layer on the photoresist film, removing the photoresist film along with a portion of the doped amorphous silicon disposed on the photoresist film to form first and second ohmic contacts, respectively forming input and output electrodes on the first and second ohmic contacts, forming an insulating layer on the input and output electrodes, and forming a control electrode on the insulating layer.
US08049392B2

An apparatus for holding a brush in contact with a moving conductive surface, the apparatus includes: a rotatable member disposed adjacent to the brush; and a spring coupled to the brush and to the member and configured to bias the brush towards the moving conductive surface; wherein the rotatable member in a first position makes contact with the brush to secure the brush from movement and in a second position releases the brush from the contact to allow the spring to hold the brush in contact with the moving conductive surface.
US08049391B2

A multi-pole PMDC motor has brush gear for transferring electrical power from motor terminations to its windings via a commutator. The brush gear comprises a brush card supporting at least four brush assemblies. The brush assemblies are separated into two brush groups with the brush assemblies of each group being electrically connected together by links of flexible wire.
US08049390B2

A stator structure includes: a stator core (104) having a large number of concave slots (105) and a large number of convex magnetic poles (106) circumferentially alternately arranged; and magnet wires (101) of rectangular cross section in each of which an insulating coating (103) is formed on the outer surface of a metal wire (102), wherein each of the slots (105) is formed so that the distance (W2) between both the side surfaces (109, 109) of the slot (105) gradually decreases from the bottom (107) to a distal opening (108) of the slot (105), each of the magnet wires (101) is wound around the associated magnetic pole (106) and inserted in tiers in the associated slot (105), and the magnet wire (101) is placed in the slot (105) so that the width (W1) thereof continuously or stepwise decreases from the bottom (107) to the distal opening (108) of the slot (105).
US08049387B2

An electric motor has a rotor (20), a housing (10) and a ring magnet (12) fixed onto an inner surface of the housing. The housing (10) has a cross section in a polygon, preferably tetragonal, shape that comprises a plurality of side portions (10a˜10d) and a plurality of curved corner portions (11a˜11d), each of which connects two adjacent side portions. The thickness of the ring magnet at portions corresponding to the corner portions of the housing is larger than the thickness of the ring magnet at portions corresponding to the side portions of the housing. An air gap (123) is formed between a peripheral surface of the rotor and an inner surface of the ring magnet, the thickness of the air gap at portions corresponding to the corner portions of the housing being smaller than that of the air gap at portions corresponding to the side portions of the housing. The motor has a polygon housing which is convenient to install and has good space utilization.
US08049386B2

A seal cartridge for a generator includes a housing which defines an annular cavity. An axial load spring and a seal ring within the annular cavity such that the seal ring is biased by the axial load spring.
US08049380B2

An electric motor has a stator and a rotor. The stator has a housing with inlets and outlets. The rotor has a shaft, a rotor core and a commutator. A fan is fixed to the rotor. An end cap is fitted to the housing to close a first end of the housing and support electrical components, including brush gear. The brush gear includes two brush assemblies, each comprising a brush for making sliding electrical contact with the commutator and a brush guidance mechanism for resiliently urging the brush into contact with the commutator. The brush assemblies are accommodated in compartments of the end cap. Each compartment has vents on an axially facing side thereof and openings in a transverse wall thereof. An air guide guides a part of the airflow generated by the fan exiting from at least one of the outlets of the housing to flow into the compartments via the openings and exit the compartments via the vents to cool the brushes.
US08049377B2

A hydrogen cooled generator having an axis and a plurality of phases comprises a main casing section enclosing a stator with windings; a casing end section; at least one end winding disposed in the casing end section; a toroidal duct formed on at least one of the casing end section and the main casing section having a bottom wall and two side walls, wherein at least one of the bottom wall and the two side walls shares a wall of the casing end section so as to form a common wall; and at least one bushing penetrating the common wall and inclined towards the axis of the generator, the at least one bushing having a first end connected to the at least one end winding and a second end terminating in the toroidal duct.
US08049360B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for energy control and vehicle energy control. A vehicle energy control system includes an intelligent device that is configured to determine an energy demand of the intelligent device during an operation of a vehicle. The vehicle energy control system also includes an energy management system. The energy management system is configured to communicate with the intelligent device regarding the energy demand to coordinate scheduling of energy distribution during the operation. The energy management system is further configured to generate an energy distribution schedule to account for the energy demand and at least a second energy demand of another device.
US08049359B2

A method is disclosed that defines a protocol for distributing power to high voltage components when two conditions exist: they being when the vehicle is being propelled or operated and when the power requested of the power supply is less than what the power supply can provide. The method determines which high voltage components can receive reduced or intermittent voltage and still allow the vehicle to operate in a proper manner. Calibrations of the usage and energy loss are based on parameters that dictate how important it is that a particular high voltage component receives as much of its requested power as possible. The critical function components will be weighted differently than those less critical components.
US08049357B2

Apparatus and method for generating electrical energy from a body of water flowing in a downstream direction are disclosed. A lever arm including a flap member is coupled to a rotatable shaft. The lever arm is movable from a first vertical position where the flap member is located in the body of water and a second vertical position where the flap member is in located above the body of water. When the lever arm is lowered into the first vertical position, the body of water engaging the flap member pushes the lever arm from an upstream position to a downstream position. The rotation of the lever arm from the upstream position to the downstream position actuates the rotatable shaft, which can be coupled to a power generation device configured to generate electrical energy from motion of the rotatable shaft.
US08049350B2

In an apparatus (and a method) for controlling a cogeneration system equipped with a generation unit having a generator connectable to an AC power feed line between a commercial power network and an electrical load and an internal combustion engine driving the generator, and a heat exchanger that exchanges heat between coolant and exhaust heat from the engine, there are provided with a condensate water hose discharging condensate water generated by condensation of moisture in exhaust gas, a hose temperature sensor detecting temperature in the hose, an exhaust gas temperature sensor detecting temperature of the exhaust gas from the engine and an exhaust gas blowout discriminator discriminating that the exhaust gas blows out through the hose when a difference between the hose temperature and the exhaust gas temperature is found to be less than a predetermined value. With this, exhaust gas leakage caused by blowout can be easily detected.
US08049347B2

The engine equipped with a generator is provided. The stator fixed to the crankcase includes a plurality of iron cores arranged in the circumferential direction about the crankshaft, and coils that are wrapped around the plurality of iron cores. The rotor includes a flywheel that is fastened to the crankshaft by a fixing mechanism, and a plurality of permanent magnets fixed to the flywheel. The fixing mechanism mounts the flywheel on the crankshaft in a position in which the center of one permanent magnet among the plurality of permanent magnets coincides with the center point between two mutually adjacent iron cores among the plurality of iron cores when the piston is at the top-dead-center or the bottom-dead-center.
US08049339B2

A semiconductor package with isolated inner lead(s) is revealed. A chip is disposed on a leadframe segment and encapsulated by an encapsulant. The leadframe segment includes a plurality of leads, an isolated lead, and an external lead where each lead has an internal portion and an external portion. The isolated inner lead is completely formed inside the encapsulant and the external lead is partially formed inside and extended outside the encapsulant. At least one of the internal portions of the leads is located between the isolated inner lead and the external lead. Two fingers are formed at two opposing ends of the isolated inner lead without covering by the chip. One of the fingers imitates a plurality of fingers of the leads to arrange along a first side of the chip. The other finger of the isolated inner lead and a finger of the external lead are arranged along a second side of the chip. A jumping wire electrically connecting the isolated inner lead and the external lead is adjacent to the second side to achieve the redistribution of pin assignments without affecting wire-bonding. Especially, this package can be applied for multi-chip stacking.
US08049330B2

A structure of light emitting diode (LED) wafer-level chip scale packaging (WL-CSP) is disclosed. The process of making the same is also provided in this invention. The LED CSP utilizes the through hole metal filling to enhance heat conduction between the LED die and its carrier substrate. The CSP structure is achieved by bonding pre-processed through-hole-filling carrier substrate against the flip-chip LED wafer.
US08049329B2

A wafer stacked semiconductor package (WSP) having a vertical heat emission path and a method of fabricating the same are provided. The WSP comprises a substrate on which semiconductor chips are mounted; a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked vertically on the substrate; a cooling through-hole formed vertically in the plurality of semiconductor chips, and sealed; micro holes formed on the circumference of the cooling through-hole; and coolant filling the inside of the cooling through-hole. Accordingly, the WSP reduces a temperature difference between the semiconductor chips and quickly dissipates the heat generated by the stacked semiconductor chips.
US08049323B2

A chip holder formed of silicon, glass, other ceramics or other suitable materials includes a plurality of recesses for retaining semiconductor chips. The bond pads of the semiconductor chip are formed on or over an area of the chip holder that surrounds the semiconductor chip thus expanding the bonding area. The bond pads are coupled, using semiconductor wafer processing techniques, to internal bond pads formed directly on the semiconductor chip.
US08049319B2

This research discloses an ultra wideband system-on-package (SoP). The SoP includes a package body; a first integrated circuit mounted on the package body; a first signal transmission unit connected to the first integrated circuit; a signal via connected to the first signal transmission unit and including a slab line and a trough line; and a second signal transmission unit connected to the signal via. The technology of the present research can transmit ultra broadband signals by minimizing discontinuity of signals appearing during vertical transition that occurs in the course of a signal transmission to/from an external circuit, and a fabrication method thereof.
US08049315B2

A semiconductor package assembly may include a lead frame having a die bonding pad and plurality of leads coupled to the first die bonding pad. A vertical semiconductor device may be bonded to the die bonding pad. The device may have a conductive pad electrically connected to one lead through a first bond wire. An electrically isolated conductive trace may be formed from a layer of conductive material of the first semiconductor device. The conductive trace provides an electrically conductive path between the first bond wire and a second bond wire. The conductive path may either pass underneath a third bond wire thereby avoiding the third bond wire crossing another bond wire, or the conductive path may result in a reduced length for the first and second bond wires that is less than a predetermined maximum length.
US08049308B2

A semiconductor device having an improved contact structure. The device has a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of gate structures formed on the substrate. The device has a first interlayer dielectric overlying the gate structures. The device has a first copper interconnect layer overlying the first interlayer dielectric layer. The device also has a first low K dielectric layer overlying the first copper interconnect layer. A second copper interconnect layer is overlying the low K dielectric layer. In between the first and second copper layers is a copper ring structure enclosing an entirety of an inner region of the first low K dielectric layer. In a preferred embodiment, the copper ring structure is provided between the first copper interconnect layer and the second copper interconnect layer to maintain the inner region of the first low K dielectric layer. A bonding pad structure is overlying a region within the inner region.
US08049304B2

The invention includes ALD-type methods in which two or more different precursors are utilized with one or more reactants to form a material. In particular aspects, the precursors are hafnium and aluminum, the only reactant is ozone, and the material is hafnium oxide predominantly in a tetragonal crystalline phase.
US08049301B2

A planar transformer structure, which can be constructed in an integrated semiconductor circuit without using traditional metallic windings. To avoid large thermal expansion of metallic spiral windings and associated mechanical stress on a metal-semiconductor interface, it is suggested that highly doped semiconductor materials with or without silicides and salicides can be used to form windings or conducting paths because their thermal expansion coefficients are similar to that of semiconductor material. The planar semiconductor transformer may find application for low-power and signal transfer that needs electrical isolation.
US08049284B2

The present invention discloses a bipolar device. An emitter is formed in a semiconductor substrate. A collector is laterally spaced from the emitter in the substrate. A gate terminal is formed on the substrate, defining a space between the emitter and the collector. An extrinsic base is formed on the substrate with a predetermined distance from either the emitter or the collector, wherein the base, the emitter, the collector and the gate terminal are located in an active area defined by a hole in a surrounding isolation structure in the substrate.
US08049279B2

A semiconductor device includes a substrate of a first conductivity type, a first doped region of a second conductivity type, at least one second doped region of the first conductivity type, a third doped region of the second conductivity type, a gate structure, and at least one contact. The first and the second doped regions are configured in the substrate, and each second doped region is surrounded by the first doped region. The third doped region is configured in the substrate outside of the first doped region. The gate structure is disposed on the substrate between the first and third doped regions. The contact is disposed on the substrate. Each contact connects, in a direction parallel to the gate structure, the first and second doped regions alternately.
US08049275B2

There is provided a thin film transistor having improved reliability. A gate electrode includes a first gate electrode having a taper portion and a second gate electrode with a width narrower than the first gate electrode. A semiconductor layer is doped with phosphorus of a low concentration through the first gate electrode. In the semiconductor layer, two kinds of n−-type impurity regions are formed between a channel formation region and n+-type impurity regions. Some of the n−-type impurity regions overlap with a gate electrode, and the other n−-type impurity regions do not overlap with the gate electrode. Since the two kinds of n−-type impurity regions are formed, an off current can be reduced, and deterioration of characteristics can be suppressed.
US08049273B2

A power semiconductor device includes a backside metal layer, a substrate formed on the backside metal layer, a semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, and a frontside metal layer. The semiconductor layer includes a first trench structure including a gate oxide layer formed around a first trench with poly-Si implant, a second trench structure including a gate oxide layer formed around a second trench with poly-Si implant, a p-base region formed between the first trench structure and the second trench structure, a plurality of n+ source region formed on the p-base region and between the first trench structure and the second trench structure, a dielectric layer formed on the first trench structure, the second trench structure, and the plurality of n+ source region. The frontside metal layer is formed on the semiconductor layer and filling gaps formed between the plurality of n+ source region on the p-base region.
US08049271B2

A method is provided for forming a power semiconductor device. The method begins by providing a substrate of a second conductivity type and then forming a voltage sustaining region on the substrate. The voltage sustaining region is formed by depositing an epitaxial layer of a first conductivity type on the substrate and forming at least one terraced trench in the epitaxial layer. The terraced trench has a plurality of portions that differ in width to define at least one annular ledge therebetween. A barrier material is deposited along the walls of the trench. A dopant of a second conductivity type is implanted through the barrier material lining the annular ledge and said trench bottom and into adjacent portions of the epitaxial layer. The dopant is diffused to form at least one annular doped region in the epitaxial layer and at least one other region located below the annular doped region. A filler material is deposited in the terraced trench to substantially fill the trench, thus completing the voltage sustaining region. At least one region of the second conductivity type is formed over the voltage sustaining region to define a junction therebetween.
US08049266B2

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device is provided in such a manner that a semiconductor layer is formed over a substrate, a charge accumulating layer is formed over the semiconductor layer with a first insulating layer interposed therebetween, and a gate electrode is provided over the charge accumulating layer with a second insulating layer interposed therebetween. The semiconductor layer includes a channel formation region provided in a region overlapping with the gate electrode, a first impurity region for forming a source region or drain region, which is provided to be adjacent to the channel formation region, and a second impurity region provided to be adjacent to the channel formation region and the first impurity region. A conductivity type of the first impurity region is different from that of the second impurity region.
US08049255B2

A semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate and a TFT element disposed on the substrate. The TFT element includes a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, a semiconductor layer, and a source electrode and a drain electrode arranged in that order on the insulating substrate. The semiconductor layer includes an active layer composed of polycrystalline semiconductor and a contact layer segment interposed between the active layer and the source electrode and another contact layer segment interposed between the active layer and the drain electrode. The source and drain electrodes each have a first face facing the opposite face of the active layer from the interface with the gate insulating layer and a second face facing an etched side face of the active layer. Each contact layer segment is disposed between the active layer and each of the first and second faces of the source or drain electrode.
US08049253B2

A semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device are provided. A semiconductor device comprises a first single-crystal semiconductor layer including a first channel formation region and a first impurity region over a substrate having an insulating surface, a first gate insulating layer over the first single-crystal semiconductor layer, a gate electrode over the first gate insulating layer, a first interlayer insulating layer over the first gate insulating layer, a second gate insulating layer over the gate electrode and the first interlayer insulating layer, and a second single-crystal semiconductor layer including a second channel formation region and a second impurity region over the second gate insulating layer. The first channel formation region, the gate electrode, and the second channel formation region are overlapped with each other.
US08049248B2

A semiconductor device includes a thyristor in which a first-conductivity-type first region, a second-conductivity-type second region having a conductivity type reverse to the first conductivity type, a first-conductivity-type third region, and a second-conductivity-type fourth region are sequentially arranged to form junctions. The third region is formed on a semiconductor substrate separated by an element isolation region. A gate electrode formed via a gate insulating film and side wall formed at wall side of both side of the gate electrode are provided on the third region, and the fourth region is formed so that one end thereof covers the joint portion between the other end of the third region and the element isolation regions, and so that the other end of the fourth region is joined with the sidewall on the other side.
US08049221B2

An objective is simplification of a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display device or the like. In a manufacturing method of a thin film transistor, a stack in which a first conductive film, an insulating film, a semiconductor film, an impurity semiconductor film, and a second conductive film are stacked in this order is formed, and the first conductive film is exposed by first etching and a pattern of the second conductive film is formed by second etching. Further, after thin film transistors are formed, a color filter layer is formed so that unevenness caused by the thin film transistors or the like is relieved; thus, the level difference of the surface where the pixel electrode layer is formed is reduced. Alternatively, a color filter layer is selectively formed utilizing the unevenness caused by thin film transistors or the like.
US08049218B2

A TFT LCD array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof. The TFT LCD array substrate comprises a substrate. A gate line and a gate electrode that is formed integrally with the gate line are formed on the substrate. A first insulating layer and a semiconductor layer are formed sequentially on the gate line and the gate electrode. A second insulting layer covers sidewalls of the gate line and the gate electrode, the first insulating layer, and the semiconductor layer. An etching stop layer is formed on the semiconductor layer and exposes a part of the semiconductor layer on both sides of the etching stop layer. The TFT LCD of the present invention can be manufactured with a four-mask process.
US08049216B2

A thin film transistor for a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), an array substrate and manufacturing method thereof are provided. The thin film transistor comprises a source, a drain, and a channel region between the source and drain. A source extension region is connected with the source, a drain extension region is connected with the drain, and the source extension region is disposed opposite to the drain extension region to form a channel extension region therebetween.
US08049212B2

A TFT includes a substrate, a transparent semiconductor layer on the substrate, the transparent semiconductor layer including zinc oxide and exhibiting a surface roughness of about 1.3 nm or less, a gate electrode on the transparent semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer between the gate electrode and the transparent semiconductor layer, the gate insulting layer insulating the gate electrode from the transparent semiconductor layer, and source and drain electrodes on the substrate, the source and drain electrodes being in contact with the transparent semiconductor layer.
US08049191B2

A method includes setting a target pattern to be formed on a substrate using a reticle, obtaining a first pattern using the reticle and a first illumination condition, calculating, a second illumination condition under which the target pattern is transferred onto the substrate using the reticle, and a third illumination condition under which the first pattern is transferred onto a substrate using the reticle, using mathematical models each of which defines the relationship between an illumination condition and a virtual pattern transferred onto a substrate using the illumination condition, determining a fourth illumination condition, obtained by adding the difference between the calculated second illumination condition and third illumination condition to the first illumination condition, as the illumination condition, and transferring the pattern of the reticle onto the substrate by illuminating the reticle using the determined illumination condition.
US08049177B2

A radiation image detection apparatus comprising a scintillator, which is configured to include columnar crystals and converts radiation into light when the radiation is irradiated thereon, and an optical detector, which converts the light, emitted from the scintillator into an electrical signal, the scintillator and the optical detector being arranged on a support such that the radiation is incident on the optical detector and the scintillator in this order, wherein a columnar crystal area is present at a radiation-incident side of the scintillator, and a non-columnar crystal area is present at a side of the scintillator opposite to the radiation-incident side; and a method for manufacturing the radiation image detection apparatus are provided.
US08049167B2

A FAIMS device for separating ions has a pair of electrodes for providing a compensation voltage and an asymmetric waveform that are separated and insulated where at least one porous spacer reside in the proximity of the analyzer region of the FAIMS cell. The porous spacers allow a focusing gas to flow into the analyzer region to provide pneumatic focusing of the ions traversing the analyzer region to improve the ion transmission.
US08049153B2

An image sensor pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion unit supported by a substrate and an insulator adjacent to the substrate. The pixel includes a light guide that is located within an opening of the insulator and extends above the insulator such that a portion of the light guide has an air interface. The air interface improves the internal reflection of the light guide. Additionally, the light guide and an adjacent color filter are constructed with a process that optimizes the upper aperture of the light guide. These characteristics of the light guide eliminate the need for a microlens.
US08049150B2

In one embodiment, a concentrating solar energy collector, which tracks movements of the sun along one axis has a reflective trough, at least one solar receiver mounted above the reflective trough and configured so that incident sunlight striking the reflective trough is directed toward the at least one solar receiver, and a reflector extender coupled to a first end of the reflective trough and configured to capture and direct incident sunlight towards the at least one solar receiver. In another embodiment, one or more extended end reflectors is attached with a reflective trough of a solar energy collector.
US08049147B2

A system includes a first heater located at the leading edge of a gas turbine structural member, a second heater located aft of the first heater, and a third heater located aft of the second heater. The first, second and third heaters are electrically-powered to prevent icing of the gas turbine structural member. Each of the heaters has a Watt density, and the Watt densities of the heaters differ from one another as a function of a magnitude of a cooling coefficient for airflow passing the vicinity of each heater.
US08049141B2

A method of rating the arc maintainability of an electric arc welding stick electrode by creating an arc between the electrode and a workpiece; moving the electrode along the workpiece while maintaining the arc; decreasing either the current or the voltage until a point is reached where the arc is extinguished; determining the open circuit voltage at the point; and, rating the electrode based upon the open circuit voltage point.
US08049129B2

A housing for a vacuum interrupter module that resists fracture when fasteners received therethrough are tightened, comprises an elongated hollow body from which a mounting flange extends from at least one end. Extending between the mounting flange and the body and/or coextensive with the mounting flange is a curved transition that maintains at least one curved recess, which partially surrounds corresponding mounting bores that are configured to receive suitable fasteners to mount the housing. Once mounted, the curved transition prevents stress forces imparted by the fasteners from deflecting the mounting flange, thereby inhibiting the formation of fractures therein.
US08049119B2

A packaged integrated circuit (IC) (100) includes a first substrate (110) comprising a first plurality of layers and a first circuit coupling features (112) at an upper surface of the first substrate (110), the first plurality of layers including a first electromagnetic interference shielding layer (132). The packaged IC also includes a second substrate (106) having an upper surface attached to a lower surface of the first substrate (110) by an electrically conductive adhesive material (136). The second substrate (106) includes a second plurality of layers and a second circuit coupling feature (108) at a lower surface of the second substrate (106). The first plurality of layer includes a second EMI shielding layer (134). The packaged IC further includes a functional die (124) disposed between the first (110) and the second (106) substrates and functionally coupled to the first (112) and/or the second (108) circuit coupling features. In the packaged IC, the adhesive material (136) electrically couples the first (132) and the second (134) shielding layers.
US08049117B2

A method for manufacturing a printed circuit board with a capacitor embedded therein which has a dielectric film using laser lift off, and a capacitor manufactured thereby. In the method, a dielectric film is formed on a transparent substrate and heat-treated. A first conductive layer is formed on the heat-treated dielectric film. A laser beam is irradiated onto a stack formed, from below the transparent substrate, to separate the transparent substrate from the stack. After the transparent substrate is separated from the stack, a second conductive layer is formed with a predetermined pattern on the dielectric film. Also, an insulating layer and a third conductive layer are formed on the first and second conductive layers to alternate with each other in a predetermined number.
US08049110B2

A method of manufacturing a microelectronic device including imprinting a layer on a substrate with an imprinted pattern, the imprinted pattern defining a first anchor impression within the layer that includes a first base region positioned adjacent the layer and a first distal region positioned opposite the first base region, the first distal region defining a cross sectional area greater than a cross sectional area of the first base region, and the imprinted pattern defining a second anchor impression within the layer that includes a second base region positioned adjacent the layer and a second distal region positioned opposite the second base region, the second distal region defining a cross sectional area greater than a cross sectional area of the second base region and greater than a cross sectional area of the first distal region.
US08049103B2

A semiconductor device is provided, which comprises a first electrode, crystalline semiconductor particles, a semiconductor layer, and a second electrode. The crystalline semiconductor particles of which adjacent particles are fusion-bonded, the crystalline semiconductor particles have a first conductivity type, and the semiconductor layer has a second conductivity type which is different from the first conductivity type.
US08049097B2

The solar cell comprises a front side comprising a first doped layer, a backside comprising formations defining channels therebetween, the backside further comprising a second doped layer situated on at least some of the surfaces of the channels facing the front side, and an electrically conductive layer situated on at least some surfaces of the channels facing the front side. The first and second doped layers comprise opposite polarity types.
US08049091B2

A wireless receiver for receiving a wireless transmitted audio signal from a wireless transmitter is provided. The wireless receiver comprises a tuning assisting unit for assisting in the tuning of a music instrument coupled to the wireless transmitter. The tuning assisting unit indicates whether the audio signal from the music instrument corresponds to a specified frequency. The wireless receiver furthermore comprises an audio amplifier for amplifying the received audio signal. The wireless receiver furthermore comprises a housing which incorporates the tuning assisting unit and the audio amplifier.
US08049089B2

A keyboard percussion instrument may include an improved dampening system that provides wave dampening or progressive dampening of the tone bars. A keyboard percussion instrument may also include a dampening system with a mechanism capable of retracting the damper without distorting the damper and capable of adjusting the leverage of the dampening system independently of the spring tension. A dampening system may further include an adjustable mounting for the damper that allows the dampening action to be adjusted at either end of the damper. A keyboard percussion instrument may further include an improved bar rail assembly that facilitates removability, adjustment of various dampening zones and/or vibration isolation.
US08049088B2

An improved string for a musical instrument comprising amorphous metal is disclosed. The string may be a single wire of amorphous metal or comprise a core wire and covering wire, wherein the core wire and/or covering wire comprises amorphous metal. Such a string has greater sustain of sound and higher volume of sound over a longer period of use than previously available metal strings. Musical instruments comprising such strings are also disclosed.
US08049086B1

A novel maize variety designated PHEGW and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHEGW with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHEGW through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PHEGW or a trait conversion of PHEGW with another maize variety. Inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHEGW, methods for producing other inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHEGW and the inbred maize varieties and their parts derived by the use of those methods.
US08049069B2

The present invention provides polypeptides, and polynucleotides encoding therefore, involved in the regulation of fibre initiation and/or elongation in fibre producing plants. In particular, the present invention provides methods of altering fibre initiation in cotton making use of transcription factors, regulatory proteins or cell cycle proteins produced at or around anthesis. The invention also relates to the use of these as markers of fibre production in plants including cotton.
US08049067B2

This invention provides methods of transforming organogenic plant cells and regenerating plants from transformed cells.
US08049057B2

A reinforced closure anchor includes a fabric layer having an adhesive side, an opposite non-adhesive side, and an outer edge. An anchor member layer having a reinforcing structure is disposed on the fabric layer. The anchor member is adhered to the fabric layer adhesive side. The anchor member is disposed within the outer edge of the fabric layer.
US08049053B2

In a method of synthesizing a silicoaluminophosphate molecular sieve, a synthesis mixture is prepared by combining a source of phosphorus and at least one organic directing agent; and then introducing a source of aluminum into the combination of the phosphorus source and organic directing agent, wherein the temperature of the combination is less than or equal to 50° C. when addition of the source of aluminum begins. After addition of a source of silicon, the synthesis mixture is heated to a crystallization temperature of between about 100° C. and about 300° C. and the molecular sieve is recovered.
US08049046B2

The present invention relates to compositions and processes of using perfluoropolyether to maintain or improve the oil return, lubrication, cooling capacity, or energy efficiency of a refrigeration, air conditioning or heat transfer system.
US08049041B2

A substituted phosphite suitable for lubricating base stocks and thermoplastic polymers represented by the structure: wherein R1 is selected from the group consisting of C1-C22 alkyl and C4-C22 cycloalkyl; R2 and R3 are selected to form a C5-C18 aryl; and R4 and R5 are selected from the group consisting of H, C1-C22 alkyl, C2-C22 alkenyl, C4-C22 cycloalkyl, and C5-C8 aryl. The substituted phosphite may be combined with at least one primary antioxidant as well as other additives.
US08049040B2

Fluorophosphate containing an ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene moiety of formula (I) or (II): (A)w-P(O)(O−M+)3-w  (I) or wherein A is Rf—(CH2)k—[(CF2CF2)y—(CH2CH2)z]mO and contains from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms; Rf is CnF2n+1; n and k are each independently 1 to about 6; y, z, and m are each independently 1, 2, 3, or mixture thereof; w is 1 or 2 or a mixture thereof; and M is hydrogen, ammonium ion, an alkali metal ion, or an alkanolammonium ion, said fluorophosphate useful as a surfactant for altering the surface behavior of a liquid by addition thereto, and for providing surface effects to a substrate treated with a composition containing the fluorophosphate.
US08049035B2

This invention is directed to the crystalline potassium salt of a lipoxin A4 analog of Formula (I): processes for preparing the crystalline potassium salts, methods for using them to treat disease-states characterized by inflammation, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising such crystalline potassium salts.
US08049033B2

Provided are a dendrimer solid acid and a polymer electrolyte membrane using the same. The polymer electrolyte membrane includes a macromolecule of a dendrimer solid acid having ionically conductive terminal groups at the surface thereof and a minimum amount of ionically conductive terminal groups required for ionic conduction, thus suppressing swelling and allowing a uniform distribution of the dendrimer solid acid, thereby improving ionic conductivity. Since the number of ionically conductive terminal groups in the polymer electrolyte membrane is minimized and the polymer matrix in which swelling is suppressed is used, methanol crossover and difficulties of outflow due to a large volume may be reduced, and a macromolecule of the dendrimer solid acid having the ionically conductive terminal groups on the surface thereof is uniformly distributed. Accordingly, ionic conductivity is high and thus, the polymer electrolyte membrane shows good ionic conductivity even in non-humidified conditions.
US08049032B2

A solid acid having a core of calixarene or calix resorcinarene. The solid acid is an ion conducting compound in which at least one of the hydroxyl groups is substituted by an organic group having a cation exchange group at a terminal end, a polymer electrolyte membrane including the same, and a fuel cell using the polymer electrolyte membrane. The polymer electrolyte membrane can provide low methanol crossover and high ionic conductivity. Accordingly, a fuel cell having high efficiency can be obtained by using the polymer electrolyte membrane.
US08049026B2

Ionic compounds which are liquids at room temperature are formed by the method of mixing a neutral organic ligand with the salt of a metal cation and its conjugate anion. The liquids are hydrophobic, conductive and stable and have uses as solvents and in electrochemical devices.
US08049017B2

A process is described for preparing isoxazoles of the formula I where the substituents are as defined below: R1 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, R2 is C1-C6-alkyl, R3, R4, R5 are hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, or R4 and R5 together form a bond, R6 is a heterocyclic ring, n is 0, 1 or 2; which comprises preparing an intermediate of the formula VI where R1, R3, R4 and R5 are as defined above, followed by halogenation, thiomethylation, oxidation and acylation to give compounds of the formula I. Also novel intermediates for preparing the compounds of the formula I and novel processes for preparing the intermediates are described.
US08049014B2

Provided are a novel aminoquinoline compound represented by Formula 1 or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, preparation method thereof, and a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating cutaneous cancer, comprising the aminoquinoline compound or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. Since the compound of Formula 1 exhibits excellent anti-proliferative effect on melanoma tumor cells, it is useful for preventing or treating cutaneous cancer. wherein R1, R2, and R3 are defined in the specification.
US08049008B2

Conformationally constrained compounds that mimic the secondary structure of reverse-turn regions of biologically active peptides and proteins as well as their prodrugs are disclosed. Such reverse-turn mimetic structures and prodrugs have utility over a wide range of fields, including use as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Libraries containing the reverse-turn mimetic structures of this invention are also disclosed as well as methods for screening the same to identify biologically active members. The invention also relates to the use of such compounds and prodrugs for inhibiting or treating disorders modulated by Wnt-signaling pathway, such as cancer, especially colorectal cancer, restenosis associated with angioplasty, polycystic kidney disease, aberrant angiogenesis disease, rheumatoid arthritis disease, tuberous sclerosis complex, Alzheimer's disease, excess hair growth or loss, or ulcerative colitis.
US08049006B2

A 7-membered heterocyclic compound having the formula (I), or its salt, or a solvate thereof with a chymase inhibitory action and useful for the prevention or treatment of various diseases, in which chymase is involved: a method for producing the same, and a pharmaceutical composition useful for the prevention or treatment of diseases, in which chymase is involved, including the compound of having the formula (I), or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt, or a solvate thereof are provided.
US08049002B2

Processes for the synthesis of lipochitooligosaccharides were developed. A fully acylated oligoglucosamine precursor is prepared and reacted with a glucosamine monomer that has an amine protecting phthaloyl group. With removal of the phthaloyl group, a fatty acid may be added on the terminal glucosamine unit, forming a lipochitooligosaccharide. The processes can be adapted for use on a commercial scale.
US08049001B2

A probe, a set of probes, and a probe carrier on which the probe or the set of probes is immobilized, are provided for classification of fungus species. The probe or the set of probes is capable of collectively detecting fungus of the same species and distinguishingly detecting those fungus from fungus of other species. The probe is an oligonucleotide probe for detecting a pathogenic fungus DNA and includes at least one of base sequences of SEQ ID NOS. 1 to 4 and mutated sequences thereof.
US08048998B2

The present invention relates to novel modified oligomeric compounds and to methods of making and using such compounds. The invention further relates to methods of enhancing the cellular uptake of oligomeric compounds comprising conjugating a metal chelator to those.
US08048990B2

The invention provides vitamin K-dependent polypeptides with enhanced membrane binding affinity. These polypeptides can be used to modulate clot formation in mammals. Methods of modulating clot formation in mammals are also described.
US08048988B2

Disclosed herein are non-natural amino acids and polypeptides that include at least one non-natural amino acid, and methods for making such non-natural amino acids and polypeptides. The non-natural amino acids, by themselves or as a part of a polypeptide, can include a wide range of possible functionalities, but typical have at least one oxime, carbonyl, dicarbonyl, and/or hydroxylamine group. Also disclosed herein are non-natural amino acid polypeptides that are further modified post-translationally, methods for effecting such modifications, and methods for purifying such polypeptides. Typically, the modified non-natural amino acid polypeptides include at least one oxime, carbonyl, dicarbonyl, and/or hydroxylamine group. Further disclosed are methods for using such non-natural amino acid polypeptides and modified non-natural amino acid polypeptides, including therapeutic, diagnostic, and other biotechnology uses.
US08048982B2

A method for producing an aromatic compound polymer comprising oxidatively polymerizing one or more of aromatic compound(s) having two or more hydrogen atoms directly connected to aromatic ring(s), in the presence of an oxidizing agent, wherein the method employs a catalyst composed of a transition metal complex or a catalyst prepared from a transition metal complex and an activating agent, and said catalyst has a parameter P defined by the following formula (A) of 0.50 or more, and a parameter Eo defined by the following formula (B) of 0.50 [V] or more: P=Af/Ai  (A) and Eo=(Epa+Epc)/2 [V]  (B).
US08048981B2

Disclosed are thermally curable compositions comprising at least one cyclic ether, an initiator selected from the group consisting of an iodonium salt, a sulfonium salt, an acylium salt, a tropylium salt, an oxonium salt, and combinations thereof, and a catalyst having structure Pd(Q)2, wherein Q is at least one ligand selected from the group consisting of a carboxylate, a halide, a ketoester, an ester, a ketone, an hydroxyl, and combinations thereof. Disclosed also are methods of curing the thermally curable compositions, and articles made therefrom. Curing methods comprise heating the composition to a suitable temperature for a period of time. Articles may comprise coated articles, shaped articles or shaped components. Compositions and methods may also be used for composite repair applications.
US08048976B2

Provided herein are polyfarnesenes such as farnesene homopolymers derived from a farnesene and farnesene interpolymers derived from a farnesene and at least a vinyl monomer; and the processes of making and using the polyfarnesenes. The farnesene homopolymer can be prepared by polymerizing the farnesene in the presence of a catalyst. In some embodiments, the farnesene is prepared from a sugar by using a microorganism.
US08048975B2

Biocompatible polymers are manufactured to include an amino acid mimetic monomer and one or more hydrophobic acrylate monomers. The amino acid mimetic monomers are selected to mimic the side chain of the amino acids asparagine or glutamine. The amino acid mimetic monomer can be a methacryloyl or acryloyl derivative of 2-hydroxyacetamide, 3-hydroxypropionamide, alaninamide, lactamide, or glycinamide. These amide functional groups offer the advantage of moderate hydrophilicity with little chemical reactivity. The amino acid mimetic monomer can be copolymerized with one or more hydrophobic acrylate monomers to obtain desired coating properties.
US08048971B2

The invention provides a process and an apparatus for the high pressure polymerization of ethylene in which a jet pump is used to pump a fluid into a polymer/monomer product mixture leaving a bumped tubular reactor. The fluid may be recycled monomer or another fluid such as a modifier.
US08048968B2

The invention provides an actinically-crosslinkable linear polysiloxane copolymer. The actinically-crosslinkable polysiloxane copolymer can be used to prepare a silicone hydrogel contact lens having a hydrophilic surface without post-curing surface treatment. The invention is also related to a silicone hydrogel contact lens obtained from a lens-forming material including an actinically-crosslinkable polysiloxane copolymer of the invention and to a method for making an actinically-crosslinkable polysiloxane copolymer of the invention. In addition, the invention provides a non-crosslinkable linear polysiloxane copolymer capable of being used as a internal wetting agent which can render the surface of a silicone hydrogel contact lens hydrophilic.
US08048967B2

A method for preparing nylon microspheres is provided, said method comprising steps (1), (2) and (3) or steps (1′), (2) and (3) as follows: (1) a radically polymerizable monomer is dispersed in a molten lactam monomer, and a free radical initiator is added, so that radical polymerization of the radically polymerizable monomer is carried out, to give a mixture of a free radical polymer and the lactam monomer; or (1′) a mixture of a free radical polymer and a molten lactam monomer is provided; and (2) an initiator and an activator, used for anionic ring-opening polymerization of the lactam monomer, are added to the mixture obtained in step (1) wherein the remaining radically polymerizable monomer and water are removed, or to the mixture obtained in step (1′), so that the anionic ring-opening polymerization of the lactam is carried out to give a polymer alloy of the free radical polymer/polyamide; and (3) the free radical polymer in the polymer alloy obtained in step (2) is removed by dissolution, giving nylon microspheres. Nylon microspheres are also provided, wherein the weight average molecular weight of the nylon lies in the range of 10000-300000, and the particle size of the nylon microspheres lies in the range of 0.1-500 μm.
US08048956B2

The present invention relates to process comprising reacting a polyfluorenes comprising at least one structural group of formula I with an iridium (III) compound of formula II The invention also relates to the polyfluorenes, which are products of the reaction, and the use of the polyfluorenes in optoelectronic devices.
US08048955B2

A polycarbonate thin molded article containing a resin composition, the resin composition containing: 100 parts by weight of a resin (A), the resin (A) being an aromatic polycarbonate or a resin mainly containing an aromatic polycarbonate;0.1 to 200 parts by weight of an inorganic compound (B); 0.001 to 10 parts by weight of at least one compound (C) selected from an organic acidic compound and an organic acidic compound derivative; and 0.001 to 1 part by weight of at least one metal salt (D) selected from an organic acid alkali metal salt and an organic acid alkaline earth metal salt, a part corresponding to at least 50% of the surface area of the polycarbonate thin molded article having a thickness of less than 0.7 mm, and a shrinkage ratio S1(%) in a molding flow direction of the polycarbonate thin molded article upon its being left under an atmosphere of 170° C. for 30 minutes satisfying the following formula (1): −60
US08048952B2

The present invention provides a stable silicone oil-in-water emulsion substantially free of any additives. The emulsions of the invention can be stable for at least about fifteen (15) and preferably for at least about thirty (30) minutes. The emulsions of the invention are useful for the siliconization of glass container surfaces.
US08048939B2

The present invention relates to a water-based ink for ink-jet printing which is excellent in rubbing resistance upon printing on coated papers such as photographic papers, and also exhibits a high optical density upon printing on plain papers. The water-based ink for ink-jet printing according to the present invention includes a dispersion of a pigment wherein the number of pigment-containing polymer particles in the pigment dispersion which have a particle size of 0.57 μm or more among the pigment-containing polymer particles contained in the pigment dispersion in the ink is 1.2×107/mL or less.
US08048931B2

An emulsifier containing a modified graphite oxide material, which is a thermally exfoliated graphite oxide with a surface area of from about 300 m2/g to 2600 m2/g.
US08048925B2

Disclosed are bis(thio-hydrazide amide) disalts, which are represented by Structural Formula (I): Y is a covalent bond or a substituted or unsubstituted straight chained hydrocarbyl group. R1-R4 are independently —H, an aliphatic group, a substituted aliphatic group, an aryl group or a substituted aryl group, or R1 and R3 taken together with the carbon and nitrogen atoms to which they are bonded, and/or R2 and R4 taken together with the carbon and nitrogen atoms to which they are bonded, form a non-aromatic heterocyclic ring optionally fused to an aromatic ring. Z is —O or —S. M+ is a pharmaceutically acceptable monovalent cation and M2+ is a pharmaceutically acceptable divalent cation.Also, disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions comprising a bis(thio-hydrazide amide) disalt described above. Further disclosed are methods of treating a subject with cancer. The methods comprise the step of administering an effective amount of a bis(thio-hydrazide amide) disalt described above.
US08048918B2

We describe methods and compositions for treating a patient suffering from a hyperproliferative disorder or photoageing. Our methods involve blocking the activity of a retinol binding protein receptor (RBPr) in cells of the patient, and/or administering to the patient an antagonist of a retinol binding protein receptor (RBPr) and/or lowering the endogenous level of retinoic acid (RA) in cells of said patient.
US08048915B2

The invention relates to an aqueous solution containing at least one species selected from the group consisting of a 1:1 molar complex of TeO2 with a moiety of formula (A) and ammonium salts thereof: HO—X—OH   (A) where X is an optionally substituted divalent saturated hydrocarbon group containing 2-8 carbon atoms in the chain connecting the two OH groups; and its use for stimulating cells to produce cytokines and for treating mammalian diseases and conditions responsive to increased production of cytokines. The complex may be used also for treating mammalian cancer which is not responsive to increased production of cytokines.
US08048911B2

A melanin eliminator preparation comprising a metal chelate compound represented by the following formula (I), wherein M denotes a metal, and R denotes hydroxyl, O-lower alkyl, an amine bonded at N, an amino acid bonded at N, or a peptide bonded at N, or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof.
US08048908B2

The use of substituted amides for modulating the activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) and the use of these compounds as pharmaceutical compositions, are described. Also a novel class of substituted amides, of the general formula I. Their use in therapy, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds, as well as their use in the manufacture of medicaments are described. The present compounds are modulators and more specifically inhibitors of the activity of 11βHSDI and may be useful in the treatment of a range of medical disorders where a decreased intracellular concentration of active glucocorticoid is desirable.
US08048903B2

The compounds of the formula (I) in which R1 represents hydrogen or in each case optionally substituted alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl or phenyl are highly suitable as microbicides for protecting plants and materials.
US08048898B2

A compound represented by formula (I) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: (wherein Y1 represents a nitrogen atom or a group represented by CRA, Y2 represents a nitrogen atom or a group represented by CRB, Y3 represents a nitrogen atom or a group represented by CRC, RA, RB and RC, which may be the same or different, each represent a hydrogen atom, etc. (excluding the case where Y1 is CRA, Y2 is CRB and Y3 is CRC), X represents an oxygen atom, etc., R1 represents a C1-C6 alkyl group, etc., R2 represents a C1-C6 alkyl group, etc., R3 represents an optionally substituted phenyl group, etc., R4 represents a hydrogen atom, etc., and R5 represents an optionally substituted phenyl group, etc.) has an inhibitory effect on the binding between S1P and its receptor Edg-1(S1P1), and is useful as a therapeutic agent for autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, rejection after organ transplantation, cancer, retinopathy, psoriasis, osteoarthritis, or age-related macular degeneration, etc.
US08048893B2

The present invention relates to the novel derivatives of formula (I) in which A is, if it is present, a (C1-C6) alkyl, a (C3-C6) alkenyl, a (C3-C6) alkynyl, a (C3-C7) cycloalkyl or a (C5-C7) cycloalkenyl, R1 is an NR6R7, (C4-C7) azacycloalkyl, (C5-C7) azacycloalkenyl, (C5-C9) azabicycloalkyl or (C5-C9) azabicycloalkenyl group; A-R1 is such that the nitrogen of R1 and the nitrogen in the 1-position of the pyrazole are necessarily separated by at least two carbon atoms, R3 is an H, halogen, OH, SH, NH2, ORc, SRc, SORa, SO2Ra, NHCHO, NRaRb, NHC(O)Ra, NHC(S)Ra or NHSO2Ra, R4 is an aryl or heteroaryl; and R5 is an H, halogen, CF3, CHF2, CH2F, linear or branched (C1-C6) alkyl or (C3-C7) cycloalkyl, to their racemates, enantiomers and diastereoisomers and to their mixtures, their tautomers and to their pharmaceutically acceptable salts.
US08048892B2

are useful as inhibitors of HIF prolyl hydroxylases where the definitions of the variables are provided herein.
US08048886B2

The present invention relates to novel IAP inhibitor compounds of formula I:
US08048884B2

The present invention provides selective 5-HT7 receptor antagonist compounds of Formula I and their use in the treatment of migraine: where A is —C(H)═ or —N═; m is 0, 1 or 2; R1 is optionally substituted phenyl, optionally substituted pyrazol-4-yl; optionally substituted imidazolyl, optionally substituted pyridyl, or thienyl; R2 is hydrogen or methyl; and R3 and R4 are as defined herein.
US08048869B2

One aspect of the invention is concerned with a method of hormone replacement therapy, which method comprises administering to a person in need of such a therapy an effective amount of an estrogenic component selected from the group consisting of: substances represented by the formula in which formula R1, R2, R3, R4 independently are a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group or an alokxy group with 1-5 carbon atoms; each of R5, R6, R7 is a hydroxyl group; and no more than 3 of R1, R2, R3, R4 are hydrogen atoms; precursors capable of liberating a substance according to the aforementioned formula when used in the present method, and mixtures thereof; said composition containing virtually no progestogen or anti-progestin. Another aspect of the invention relates to a drug delivery system for enteral or parenteral administration that contains at least 1 μg of the aforementioned estrogenic component and virtually no progestogen or anti-progestin.
US08048867B2

The present invention pertains, at least in part, to novel 9-substituted minocycline compounds. These minocycline compounds can be used to treat numerous tetracycline compound-responsive states, such as bacterial infections and neoplasms, as well as other known applications for minocycline and tetracycline compounds in general, such as blocking tetracycline efflux and modulation of gene expression.
US08048865B2

Methods for reducing chronic pain caused by a disrupted spinal disc are described. In one method, a physiologically acceptable amount of an injectable is injected into the disc. The injectable is obtained from a stock solution comprising chondroitin sulphate, glucosamine HCl, aqueous solution of dextrose; sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and a buffer substance in quantity to bring the pH of the stock solution to a value above about 6.0. Water is also added to dilute the stock solution. The stock solution may further comprise an anesthetic such as bupivicaine.
US08048862B2

The embodiments provide compounds of the general Formulae I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and X, as well as compositions, including pharmaceutical compositions, comprising a subject compound. The embodiments further provide treatment methods, including methods of treating a hepatitis C virus infection and methods of treating liver fibrosis, the methods generally involving administering to an individual in need thereof an effective amount of a subject compound or composition.
US08048857B2

A composition is provided for faster bone repair and early orthopedic implant fixation. The composition comprises an osteoinductive or osteopromotive biological factor embedded in a carrier slurry. The slurry is prepared by wetting a biodegradable polymer and calcium phosphate particles with a biocompatible fluid. The composition may be applied to the site of the bone fracture, to an orthopedic implant or to both during the surgical procedure. The composition utilizes low dosages of the biological factor and, therefore, is cost effective to be used routinely.
US08048855B1

A method for effectively suppressing GVHD, which occurs after peripheral blood stem cells allotransplantation, without causing marked side effects, and a pharmaceutical composition intended for this purpose and containing human G-CSF as an active ingredient. GVHD can be suppressed by administering human G-CSF to a transplantation recipient after peripheral blood stem cells transplantation.
US08048851B2

This invention provides novel active agents (e.g. peptides, small organic molecules, amino acid pairs, etc.) peptides that ameliorate one or more symptoms of atherosclerosis and/or other pathologies characterized by an inflammatory response. In certain embodiment, the peptides resemble a G* amphipathic helix of apolipoprotein J. The agents are highly stable and readily administered via an oral route.
US08048847B2

This invention relates to the use of the IL-2 common gamma (cγc) and related molecules for the modulation of signal activities controlled by NIK, and some new such molecules.
US08048846B2

The present invention provides a protein-silane and/or protein-siloxane copolymer obtainable by reacting a protein and a silane compound, the relative amounts of the protein and the silane compound being such that in the range of from 0.1 to 0.4 silane molecule is present for each reactive amino group of the protein. The copolymer is suitable for use in hair treatment compositions and is useful in reducing damage to hair caused by flexure and/or abrasion thereof.
US08048842B2

The present invention provides a thickening/foam-promoting agent having thickening/foam-promoting properties and a low odor, and a detergent composition containing the agent. The thickening/foam-promoting agent is composed of the following component (A):(A) a compound represented by the following formula (1): R1O—(PO)n/(EO)m—R2  (1), wherein R1 is a linear alkyl or an alkenyl group having 8 to 10 carbon atoms, PO is a propyleneoxy group, EO is an ethyleneoxy group, an average added molar number n is a number of 1.5 to 3.0, an average added molar number m is a number of 0 to 1.0, and R2 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, wherein the content of an alcohol of the formula (1), when n=0, m=0 and R2 is a hydrogen atom, is not more than 3000 ppm, and the detergent composition contains the component (A) and a surfactant (B).
US08048839B2

A highly anti-deodorizing cleansing and aiding agent for washing clothing articles, wherein the aiding agent comprises active principles including alpha and beta hydroxy acid and aliphatic alcohol esters having anti-deodorizing properties.
US08048838B2

A mixed powder or mixed granule containing at east 80% by weight of a mixture of (a) from 5 to 95% by weight of at least one glycine-N,N-diacetic acid derivative of the general formula (I) MOOC—CHR—N(CH2COOM)2  (I) where R is C1-12-alkyl M is alkali metal, (b) from 5 to 95% by weight of at least one polyethylene glycol or of at least one nonionic surfactant or of a mixture thereof or of a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohols, polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP), polyalkylene glycols and derivatives thereof, processes for producing these mixed powders or mixed granules, the use of these mixed powders or mixed granules, and a solid laundry detergent and a solid dishwasher detergent comprising the inventive mixed powder or mixed granule are described.
US08048836B2

The present invention is related to a hair styling composition for keratin fibers especially for hair comprising at least one film forming polymer and at least one arylated silicone.
US08048825B2

A haloalkylsulfonanilide derivative represented by general formula (I) or a salt thereof wherein R1 represents a halo(C1-C8)alkyl group, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9 and R10 represent hydrogen atoms, etc., n represents 1 or 2, A represents an oxygen atom, W represents an oxygen atom, X represents a halogen atom and m represents an integer of 0 to 4, are compounds useful as herbicides having both of remarkable herbicidal effect and characteristics such as excellent crop-weed selectivity. General formula (I):
US08048820B2

The invention relates to a shaped catalyst body for preparing maleic anhydride, which comprises mixed oxides of vanadium and of phosphorus as catalyst components. To develop a generic shaped catalyst body further so that it has improved properties, it is proposed that the basic geometric body enveloping the shaped catalyst body (100; 200) be a prism (180) having a first triangular face and a second triangular face and the shaped catalyst body (100; 200) be provided with three through openings (111, 121, 131; 211, 221, 231) which extend from a first face of the shaped body (100; 200) which contacts the first triangular face of the prism (180) to a second face of the shaped body (100; 200) which contacts the second triangular face of the prism (180).
US08048819B2

A cure catalyst is provided. The cure catalyst may include a Lewis acid and one or both of a nitrogen-containing molecule or a non-tertiary phosphine. The nitrogen-containing molecule may include a mono amine or a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound. A curable composition may include the cure catalyst. An electronic device may include the curable composition. Methods associated with the foregoing are provided also.
US08048818B2

An in-situ method for regenerating a deactivated catalyst removes a calcium sulfate layer masking active catalyst sites. A reducing agent converts the calcium sulfate to calcium oxide, which is then removed, by reintrainment into the flue gas steam using soot blowers or sonic horns. The method is particularly useful for regenerating selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts used to remove nitrogen oxides from flue gas produced by combustion of coal from the Powder River Basin. The method can be practiced using existing SCR system hardware, and without removing the SCR system from service.
US08048811B2

By forming a hardmask layer in combination with one or more cap layers, undue exposure of a sensitive dielectric material to resist stripping etch ambients may be reduced and integrity of the hardmask may also be maintained so that the trench etch process may be performed with a high degree of etch selectivity during the patterning of openings in a metallization layer of a semiconductor device.
US08048807B2

Provided is a method for fabricating a semiconductor device that includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a backside, where active or passive devices are formed in the front side, rotating the semiconductor substrate, and etching the backside of the semiconductor substrate by introducing a first etchant while the substrate is rotated, the first etchant including an R—COOH.
US08048806B2

In some implementations, a method is provided in a plasma processing chamber for stabilizing etch-rate distributions during a process transition from one process step to another process step. The method includes performing a pre-transition compensation of at least one other process parameter so as to avoid unstable plasma states by inhibiting formation of a parasitic plasma during the process transition. In some implementations, a method is provided for processing a workpiece in plasma processing chamber, which includes inhibiting deviations from an expected etch-rate distribution by avoiding unstable plasma states during a process transition from one process step to another process step.
US08048805B2

Improved methods for depositing low resistivity tungsten films are provided. The methods involve depositing a tungsten nucleation layer on a substrate and then depositing a tungsten bulk layer over the tungsten nucleation layer to form the tungsten film. The methods provide precise control of the nucleation layer thickness and improved step coverage. According to various embodiments, the methods involve controlling thickness and/or improving step coverage by exposing the substrate to pulse nucleation layer (PNL) cycles at low temperature. Also in some embodiments, the methods may improve resistivity by using a high temperature PNL cycle of a boron-containing species and a tungsten-containing precursor to finish forming the tungsten nucleation layer.
US08048794B2

A method of fabricating a thin wafer die includes creating circuits and front-end-of-line wiring on a silicon wafer, drilling holes in a topside of the wafer, depositing an insulator on the drilled holes surface to provide a dielectric insulator, removing any excess surface deposition from the surface, putting a metal fill into the holes to form through-silicon-vias (TSV), creating back-end-of-line wiring and pads on the top surface for interconnection, thinning down the wafer to expose the insulator in from the TSVs to adapt the TSVs to be contacted from a backside of the wafer, depositing an insulating layer which contacts the TSV dielectric, thinning down the backside of the wafer, opening through the dielectric to expose the conductor of the TSV to provide a dielectric insulation about exposed backside silicon, and depositing ball limiting metallurgy pads and solder bumps on the backside of the wafer to form an integrated circuit.
US08048793B2

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a flip chip, in which a gold typically used in a flip chip manufacturing is adhered by conductive adhesives, wherein the method comprises steps of depositing a metal seed layer on a substrate; applying and patterning a photoresist or a dry film; forming a gold bump by electroplating; patterning the seed layer; forming an insulating layer on the seed layer and upper end of the gold bump; and patterning an insulating layer. Accordingly, it is possible to manufacture a flip chip, in which electrical function between bumps can be evaluated, with less cost.
US08048789B2

Ordered, two-dimensional arrays of pyramidal particulates and related methods of preparation.
US08048780B2

A method of dividing an optical device wafer includes: a laser beam processing step of performing laser beam processing on the face side of an optical device wafer so as to form breakage starting points along streets; a protective plate bonding step of bonding the face side of the optical device wafer to a surface of a highly rigid protective plate with a bonding agent permitting peeling; a back side grinding step of grinding the back side of the optical device wafer so as to form the optical device wafer to a finished thickness of optical devices; a dicing tape adhering step of adhering the back-side surface of the optical device wafer to a dicing tape; a cut groove forming step of cutting the protective plate bonded to the optical device wafer along the streets so as to form cut grooves; and a wafer dividing step of exerting an external force on the optical device wafer through the protective plate, so as to break up the optical device wafer along the breakage starting points formed along the streets, thereby dividing the optical device wafer into the individual optical devices.
US08048770B2

An object is to suppress discharge due to static electricity generated by peeling, when an element formation layer including a semiconductor element is peeled from a substrate. Over the substrate, the release layer and the element formation layer are formed. The support base material which can be peeled later is fixed to the upper surface of the element formation layer. The element formation layer is transformed through the support base material, and peeling is generated at an interface between the element formation layer and the release layer. Peeling is performed while the liquid is being supplied so that the element formation layer and the release layer which appear sequentially by peeling are wetted with the liquid such as pure water. Electric charge generated on the surfaces of the element formation layer and the release layer can be diffused by the liquid, and discharge by peeling electrification can be eliminated.
US08048765B2

According to an exemplary embodiment, a method for fabricating a MOS transistor, such as an LDMOS transistor, includes forming a gate stack over a well. The method further includes forming a recess in the well adjacent to a first sidewall of the gate stack. The method further includes forming a source region in the recess such that a heterojunction is formed between the source region and the well. The method further includes forming a drain region spaced apart from a second sidewall of the gate stack. In one embodiment, the source region can comprise silicon germanium and the well can comprise silicon. In another embodiment, the source region can comprise silicon carbide and the well can comprise silicon.
US08048763B2

A deep isolation trench extending from the main surface of a substrate to a desired depth is formed on the substrate with an insulating film in buried in it to form a through isolation portion. Subsequently, after a MOSFET is formed on the main surface of the substrate, an interlayer insulating film is deposited on the main surface of the substrate. Then, a deep conduction trench extending from the upper surface of the interlayer insulating film to a depth within the thickness of the substrate is formed in a region surrounded by the through isolation potion. Subsequently, a conductive film is buried in the deep conduction trench to form through interconnect portion. Then, after the undersurface of the substrate is ground and polished to an extent not to expose the through isolation portion and the through interconnect portion, wet etching is performed to an extent to expose parts of the lower portion of each of the through isolation portion and the through interconnect portion.
US08048760B2

In various embodiments, semiconductor structures and methods to manufacture these structures are disclosed. In one embodiment, a structure includes a dielectric material and a void below a surface of a substrate. The structure further includes a doped dielectric material over the dielectric material, over the first void, wherein at least a portion of the dielectric material is between at least a portion of the substrate and at least a portion of the doped dielectric material. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08048749B2

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, by which a bottom gate thin film transistor that has an improved S value and a channel forming region with a smaller thickness than that of a source region and a drain region can be manufactured in a simple process. An island-like conductive film is formed over a surface of an insulating substrate in a portion corresponding to a channel forming region, and is covered with an insulating film to form a projection portion. After an amorphous semiconductor film is deposited to cover the projection portion, the amorphous semiconductor film is irradiated with laser light so as to be melted and crystallized. Part of the melted semiconductor over the projection portion flows into regions adjacent to both sides of the projection portion, which results in reduction in thickness of the semiconductor film over the projection portion (channel forming region).
US08048747B1

The present disclosure fabricates an embedded metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (MONOS) memory device. The memory device is stacked with memory layers having a low aspect ratio. The memory device can be easily fabricated with only two extra masks for saving cost. The present disclosure uses a general method for mass-producing TFT and is thus fit for fabricating NAND-type or NOR-type flash memory to be used as embedded memory in a system-on-chip.
US08048731B2

A method for reducing low frequency noise of a transistor operable at cryogenic temperatures includes a first step in which the transistor is illuminated with a light in a state that the transistor is activated and flowed current by supplying a power at a predetermined temperature, and a second step in which the transistor is operated at the predetermined temperature after the illumination of the light.
US08048728B2

A manufacturing method is provided which achieves an SOI substrate with a large area and can improve productivity of manufacture of a display device using the SOI substrate. A plurality of single-crystalline semiconductor layers are bonded to a substrate having an insulating surface, and a circuit including a transistor is formed using the single-crystalline semiconductor layers, so that a display device is manufactured. Single-crystalline semiconductor layers separated from a single-crystalline semiconductor substrate are applied to the plurality of single-crystalline semiconductor layers. Each of the single-crystalline semiconductor layers has a size corresponding to one display panel (panel size).
US08048727B2

An SRAM device includes a substrate having at least one cell active region in a cell array region and a plurality of peripheral active regions in a peripheral circuit region, a plurality of stacked cell gate patterns in the cell array region, and a plurality of peripheral gate patterns disposed on the peripheral active regions in the peripheral circuit region. Metal silicide layers are disposed on at least one portion of the peripheral gate patterns and on the semiconductor substrate near the peripheral gate patterns, and buried layer patterns are disposed on the peripheral gate patterns and on at least a portion of the metal silicide layers and the portions of the semiconductor substrate near the peripheral gate patterns. An etch stop layer and a protective interlayer-insulating layer are disposed around the peripheral gate patterns and on the cell array region. Methods of forming an SRAM device are also disclosed.
US08048725B2

A method of forming a pattern and a method of producing an electronic element are characterized by including a first step of forming an electrically conductive film (D) by applying a liquid composition onto a first plate (10), and heating the first plate (10); a second step of forming an electrically conductive pattern (D′) on the first plate (10) by pressing a second plate (20) having a projection-and-recess pattern on a surface side thereof onto a surface side of the first plate (10), on which the electrically conductive film (D) is formed, to transfer an unwanted pattern of the electrically conductive film (D) to top faces of projections (20a) of the second plate (20), thereby removing the unwanted pattern; and a third step of transferring the electrically conductive pattern (D′) to a surface of a transfer-receiving substrate (30) by pressing the surface side of the first plate (10), on which the electrically conductive pattern (D′) is formed, onto the surface of the transfer-receiving substrate (30), wherein the liquid composition contains a solvent having a vapor pressure of 133 Pa or less at a surface temperature of the heated first plate (10). These methods provide a method of forming a pattern and a method of producing an electronic element in which a state of a liquid-composition coating film is stabilized and a fine and precise pattern can be stably formed with good reproducibility.
US08048721B2

A method for filling multi-layer chip-stacked gaps is revealed, primarily comprising the steps as below. Firstly, a chip-stacked assembly is provided, comprising a substrate and a plurality of chips vertically stacked on the substrate where at least a first underfilling gap is formed between each two adjacent ones of the stacked chips with a height difference from the substrate. Then, the chip-stacked assembly is flipped and dipped into an underfilling material where the underfilling material is disposed in a storage tank in a flowing state to completely fill the first underfilling gap. Then, the chip-stacked assembly is taken out. Finally, the chip-stacked assembly is heated to cure the underfilling material filled in the first underfilling gap. Accordingly, multi-layer chip-stacked gaps with different heights can be simultaneously filled at one single step. The conventional underfilling difficulty of multi-layer chip-stacked gaps can be solved leading to higher productivity.
US08048718B2

A partly finished product of a semiconductor device includes a resin body encapsulating a semiconductor chip, first and second leads extended outwardly from the resin body, a dam bar connected between said first and second leads, and an excess resin portion protruding from the resin body between the first and second leads and the dam bar. The excess resin portion is cut off at two limited portions, and thereby two groove portions are formed in the excess resin portion. An apparatus for cutting the dam bar includes a punch having a cutting edge for cutting connection portions between the first and second leads and the dam bar and for cutting off the two limited portions of the excess resin portion. Since the cut region of the excess resin portion becomes smaller, a stress imparted to the resin body and/or the semiconductor chip through the excess resin portion can be smaller.
US08048717B2

A method and system and for fabricating 3D (three-dimensional) SIC (stacked integrated chip) semiconductor devices. The system includes a vacuum chamber, a vacuum-environment treatment chamber, and a bonding chamber, though in some embodiments the same physical enclosure may serve more than one of these functions. A vacuum-environment treatment source in communication with the vacuum-environment treatment chamber provides a selected one or more of a hydrogen (H2)-based thermal anneal, an H2-based plasma treatment, or an ammonia (NH3)-based plasma treatment. In another embodiment, a method includes placing a semiconductor chip in a vacuum environment, performing a selected vacuum-environment treatment, and bonding the chip to a base wafer. A plurality of chips formed as dice on a semiconductor wafer may, of course, be simultaneously treated and bonded in this way as well, either before or after dicing.
US08048716B2

A structure of embedded active components and the manufacturing method thereof are provided. The manufacturing steps involve providing a molding plate, and setting several active components on the molding plate as first. A dielectric layer covers the molding plate to cap the active components. An electric circuit is formed on the dielectric layer, in contact with the active components. Finally, the structure with embedded active components is released from the molding plate.
US08048715B2

A substrate includes first and second regions over which first and second semiconductor devices are to be respectively positioned. The first region is located at least partially within the second region. Contact areas are located external to the first region but within the second region. In one embodiment, in which semiconductor devices are to be stacked over and secured to the substrate in a flip-chip type arrangement, the contact areas correspond to bond pads of an upper, second semiconductor device, while other contact areas located within the first region correspond to bond pads of a lower, first semiconductor device. In another embodiment, the contact areas correspond to bond pads of the first semiconductor device, which are electrically connected thereto by way of laterally extending discrete conductive elements, while other contact areas that are located external to the second region correspond to bond pads of the upper, second semiconductor device.
US08048713B2

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing a plurality of CBRAM memories, each comprising a memory cell in a chalcogenide solid electrolyte, an anode, and a cathode, the process comprising implementing a sublayer of a high thermal conductivity material, higher than 1.3 W/m/K, which covers the set of contacts, then providing, on said sublayer, a triple layer comprising a chalcogenide layer, then an anodic layer, and a layer with second contacts (36), and finally an etching step.
US08048710B2

A photoelectric conversion device according to the present invention has a plurality of photoreceiving portions provided in a substrate, an interlayer film overlying the photoreceiving portion, a large refractive index region which is provided so as to correspond to the photoreceiving portion and has a higher refractive index than the interlayer film, and a layer which is provided in between the photoreceiving portion and the large refractive index region, and has a lower etching rate than the interlayer film, wherein the layer of the lower etching rate is formed so as to cover at least the whole surface of the photoreceiving portion. In addition, the layer of the lower etching rate has a refractive index in between the refractive indices of the large refractive index region and the substrate. Such a configuration can provide the photoelectric conversion device which inhibits the lowering of the sensitivity and the variation of the sensitivity among picture elements.
US08048703B2

A method of fabricating a light emitting device includes modulating a crystal growth parameter to grow a quantum well layer that is inhomogeneous and that has a non-random composition fluctuation across the quantum well layer.
US08048700B2

A semiconductor light-emitting device (LE1) comprises a multilayer structure LS generating light. This multilayer structure includes a plurality of laminated compound semiconductor layers (3 to 8) and has first and second main faces (61, 62) opposing each other. A first electrode (21) and a second electrode (31) are arranged on the first and second main faces, respectively. A film made of silicon oxide (10) is also formed on the first main face so as to cover the first electrode. A glass substrate (1) optically transparent to the light generated by the multilayer structure is secured to the multilayer structure through the film made of silicon oxide.
US08048697B2

A manufacturing method of the present invention includes a process using a first multi-tone mask, in which a first conductive layer in which a transparent conductive layer and a metal layer are stacked over a substrate, a gate electrode formed of a first conductive layer, and a pixel electrode formed of a single layer of the transparent conductive layer are formed, a process using a second multi-tone mask, in which a contact hole to the pixel electrode, and an island of an i-type semiconductor layer and an n+ type semiconductor layer are formed after a gate insulating film, the i-type semiconductor layer, and the n+ type semiconductor layer are formed, a process using a third photomask, in which a source electrode and a drain electrode are formed after a second conductive layer is formed, and a process using a fourth photomask, in which an opening region is formed after a protective film is deposited.
US08048693B2

The present invention provides methods for relaxing a strained-material layer and structures produced by the methods. Briefly, the methods include depositing a first low-viscosity layer that includes a first compliant material on the strained-material layer, depositing a second low-viscosity layer that includes a second compliant material on the strained-material layer to form a first sandwiched structure and subjecting the first sandwiched structure to a heat treatment such that the reflow of the first and the second low-viscosity layers permits the strained-material layer to at least partly relax.
US08048692B2

An LED light emitter with heat sink holder and a method for manufacturing it are both disclosed. The LED light emitter with heat sink holder includes a heat sink holder and at least an LED chip. The heat sink holder is made of high thermal conductivity coefficient, and includes a reflecting mirror having a central portion and a reflecting portion surrounding the central portion. A normal of a top surface of the reflecting portion forms an acute angle relative to a normal of a top surface of the central portion. The LED chip is unitarily connected with a top surface of the central portion, and an electrode unit connecting with and Ohmic contacting the light emitting film for supplying power for the light emitting film. The LED light emitter with heat sink holder improves heat dissipation and working duration.
US08048683B2

This invention is based on the identification of the role played by the receptor mX on certain insects through the behavior evinced in the taste sensory reactions of these insects. The invention addresses the use of the modulators on the mX receptor, such as L-canavanine and/or a mix of arginine and calcium and/or N-methyl-L-arginine (NMA) which are used to prepare a compound with repellent or attractive qualities with regard to certain insects. The invention also concerns the use of an mX insect receptor as a target for the identification of repellent substances regarding at least some insects.
US08048675B1

Provided herein are methods for generating human induced pluripotent stem cells free from genomic integration of exogenous transgenes by transfecting into nucleated blood cells one or more DNA expression vectors (e.g., plasmid vectors) that do not contain a mammalian origin of replication, and encode and permit expression of one or more reprogramming factors (e.g., Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc). Also provided herein are the integration-free human induced pluripotent stem cells obtained by the methods described herein.
US08048672B2

Isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding T-bet, and isolated T-bet polypeptides, are provided. The invention further provides antisense nucleic acid molecules, recombinant expression vectors containing a nucleic acid molecule of the invention, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced and non-human transgenic animals carrying a T-bet transgene. The invention further provides T-bet fusion proteins and anti-T-bet antibodies. Methods of using the T-bet compositions of the invention are also disclosed, including methods for detecting T-bet expression and/or activity in a biological sample, methods of modulating T-bet expression and/or activity in a cell, and methods for identifying agents that modulate the expression and/or activity of T-bet.
US08048662B2

Isolated sulfotransferase nucleic acid molecules that include a nucleotide sequence variant and nucleotides flanking the sequence variant are described, as well as sulfotransferase allozymes. Methods for determining if a mammal is predisposed to cancer also are described.
US08048657B2

The present invention relates to an enzyme blend composition comprising a glucoamylase, an acid stable alpha amylase, and an acid fungal protease. The present invention is further directed to a method for producing end products such as alcohols from fermentable sugars, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a slurry comprising a milled grain that contains starch with an alpha amylase to produce a liquefact; (b) contacting the liquefact with a glucoamylase, an acid stable alpha amylase, and an acid fungal protease, to produce fermentable sugars; and (c) fermenting the fermentable sugars in the presence of a fermenting organism to produce end products.
US08048651B2

The present invention features methods of increasing the production of a fine chemical, e.g., lysine from a microorganism, e.g., Corynebacterium by way of deregulating an enzyme encoding gene, i.e., fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides methods of increasing the production of lysine in Corynebacterium glutamicum by way of increasing the expression of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase activity. The invention also provides a novel process for the production of lysine by way of regulating carbon flux towards oxaloacetate (OAA). In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides methods for the production of lysine by way of utilizing fructose or sucrose as a carbon source.
US08048647B2

The present invention relates to a method for producing optically active IHOG, which can in turn be used for the production of monatin. The present invention further relates to a method for producing optically active monatin, and aldolase used for these methods. As such, the present invention enables the synthesis of 4-(Indole-3-ylmethyl)-4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutaric acid with high optical purity, which is useful as an intermediate in the synthesis of optically active monatin, from indole pyruvic acid and pyruvic acid (or oxaloacetic acid).
US08048645B2

The present invention provides a method of producing functional protein domains, which are fragments of primary translational products consisting of one or more distinct protein domains encoded by specific subsets of exonic sequences. The method is based on the integration, by a single homologous recombination event, of a regulatory unit into the eukaryotic gene coding for the primary translational product at the level of the intronic genomic region immediately adjacent to the exonic sequences which code for the functional protein domain.
US08048644B1

A method of using a biological indicator to detect and identify sources of fecal contamination such as leaking sewer lines, septic tanks, and holding lagoons, using a microorganism having a biological indicator including an exogenous DNA indicator sequence incorporated into the genome of the microorganism. The exogenous DNA indicator sequence functions as a detectable signal that may be detected by visual detection methods or direct detection methods of the indicator sequence itself.
US08048635B2

Methods of treating patients and evaluating patients for disease stage and/or severity are disclosed.
US08048632B2

The present invention provides assays for detecting the presence of the PV-BNGT04(RT73) canola event based on the DNA sequence of the recombinant construct inserted into the canola genome and of genomic sequences flanking the insertion site.
US08048620B2

A method for preventing bacterial biofilm formation in a blood product, the method comprising modifying a blood product with a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycol (PEG), PEG derivatives and mixtures thereof. Preventing bacterial biofilm formation in this way increases the planktonic to adherent ratio of any contaminating bacteria, and thereby facilitates detection of bacterial contamination.
US08048616B2

A method of lithography patterning includes forming a first resist pattern on a substrate, the first resist pattern including a plurality of openings therein on the substrate; forming a second resist pattern on the substrate and within the plurality of openings of the first resist pattern, the second resist pattern including at least one opening therein on the substrate; and removing the first resist pattern to uncover the substrate underlying the first resist pattern.
US08048613B2

An alkali development-type solder resist includes (A) a carboxyl group-containing photosensitive resin obtained by reacting (a) a compound having two or more cyclic ether or thioether groups in the molecule with (b) an unsaturated monocarboxylic acid, reacting the product with (c) a polybasic acid anhydride, reacting the resulting resin with (d) a compound having a cyclic ether group and an ethylenic unsaturated group in the molecule, and reacting the product additionally with (c) a polybasic acid anhydride, (B) an oxime ester-based photopolymerization initiator containing a specific oxime ester group, (C) a compound having two or more ethylenic unsaturated groups in the molecule, and (D) a thermosetting component, wherein the dry film obtained by applying the composition has an absorbance of 0.3 to 1.2 per 25 μm of the film thickness at a wavelength of 350 to 375 nm.
US08048609B2

A radiation-sensitive composition can be used to prepare positive-working imageable elements having improved sensitivity and solvent resistance. These elements are useful for making lithographic printing plates and printed circuit boards. The composition includes a water-insoluble polymeric binder that has at least 20 mol % of recurring units comprising hydroxyaryl carboxylic acid ester groups, some of which can be substituted with cyclic imide moieties.
US08048607B2

A compound having, in its molecule, a polymethine chain structure containing a partial structure represented by the following formula (1-1), and an image forming material containing the same. In the formula (1-1), R1, R2, R3, R4, and X each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, or a monovalent organic group. The image forming material is useful as the image recording layer of a planographic printing plate precursor.
US08048606B2

An imaging method is disclosed. An imaging composition is coated on a work piece followed by applying a sufficient amount of energy from a 3-D imaging system to form an image on the coated work piece. The image may be a logo or marker for alignment of parts.
US08048602B2

A color toner, a developer, a developing device for performing development by using the developer and an image forming apparatus having the developing device are provided. A developer, which contains a color toner formed by adding zinc oxide particles externally to the surfaces of toner base particles containing binder resin and colorant, in which the average primary particle size of zinc oxide particles falls in a range of 10 nm or more and 50 nm or less, the average particle size of primary-particle aggregates of zinc oxide particles is 0.3 μm or less and the zinc oxide particle is made of zinc oxide doped with aluminum, is charged in a developer tank of a developing device of an image forming apparatus for image formation.
US08048599B2

A color filter fabricated by an ink jet process is disclosed. The color filter includes a substrate, a plurality of pixel regions positioned on the surface of the substrate, and a plurality of colored photoresists. Each pixel region includes a plurality of sub-pixel regions, and each colored photoresist is positioned in each sub-pixel region. The colored photoresists include a plurality of hydrophile photoresists and a plurality of hydrophobic photoresists. The hydrophile photoresists and the hydrophobic photoresists are alternately arranged to prevent an overflow of the colored photoresists.
US08048598B2

A method of fabricating a halftone mask, which includes the steps of: forming shielding patterns on a transparent substrate; forming a first halftone transmission pattern on the transparent substrate between the shielding patterns; and forming a second halftone transmission pattern on the first halftone transmission pattern, wherein a width of the second halftone transmission pattern is narrower than a width of the first halftone transmission pattern, wherein the shielding patterns are in contact with a border of the first halftone transmission pattern; and wherein portions of the first halftone transmission pattern, at gaps that are present in between the shielding patterns and the second halftone transmission pattern, are uncovered by the second halftone transmission pattern.
US08048593B2

A mask blank substrate for a photomask is chucked on a mask stage of an exposure apparatus. A main surface, on the side where a thin film for a transfer pattern is to be formed, of the mask blank substrate has a flatness of 0.3 μm or less in a 142 mm square area including its central portion and has a convex shape being relatively high at its central portion and relatively low at its peripheral portion. The difference upon fitting, to the main surface of the mask blank substrate, a virtual reference main surface, having a spherical shape in a 132 mm square area, of a virtual reference substrate is 40 nm or less.
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