US08055605B2

A method, system, and computer program product for interactive searching with executable suggestions provides a search engine and data management technology that determine what a user is looking for, analyze the data in a database, and present immediately useful suggestions for finding the right information. Executable suggestions are presented that enable a user to further narrow or broaden a search intelligently and adaptively in real-time. Each executable suggestion describes a search and corresponding search criteria and provides information on the actual search results a user will obtain according to this search criteria. In one embodiment of the present invention, a system has a suggestion engine and one or more suggestion spaces.
US08055599B1

Pattern recognition based on associative pattern memory (APM) and properties of cycles generated by finite cellular automata. APM addresses (e.g., positions in a two dimensional array) represent states. Cycles are repeating sequences of addresses. Each state is mapped to a “randomly” selected region within the input pattern. Each feature extracted from this region determines one of many next states. All next states (one for each feature type) and all sampled regions are assigned to each state randomly upon APM initialization. The process progresses from state to state, sampling regions of the pattern until the state-transition sequence repeats (generates a cycle). Each feature pattern is represented by one cycle, however different cycles can be derived from one pattern depending on the initial state. Some embodiments use a refractory period assuring a minimum cycle length, making it likely that any given pattern yields only one cycle independent of the initial state.
US08055594B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that proactively monitors and detects metal whisker growth in a target area within a computer system. During operation, the system collects target electromagnetic interference (EMI) signals using one or more antennas positioned in the vicinity of the target area. Next, the system analyzes the target EMI signals to proactively detect the onset of metal whisker growth in the target area.
US08055570B2

A method for controlling resource pool depletion includes, at a first time, determining a first remainder of a depletion interval; on the basis of the first remainder, determining a first depletion rate for urging the pool to reach a selected state at the end of the depletion interval; on the basis of the first depletion rate, partially depleting the pool; and at a second time following the first time, determining a second remainder of the depletion interval; receiving state information indicative of a difference between a state of the pool at the first time and a state of the resource pool at the second time; on the basis of the second remainder and the state information, determining a second depletion rate for urging the pool to reach a selected state at the end of the depletion interval; and on the basis of the second depletion rate, partially depleting the pool.
US08055560B2

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, a computer implemented method for Account Payable (AP) accounting for a multi-company group is provided. The method comprises recording a voucher with a multi-company accounting system including entering input voucher detail lines into the system. At least two of the input voucher detail lines are associated with two distinct companies of the multi-company group. The system automatically adds at least a pair of multi-company generated balancing lines associated with the voucher for balancing money owed by each of the distinct companies to define an outstanding balance associated with each of the distinct companies. A payment is recorded in the system to reduce the outstanding balances and system automatically adds a pair of multi-company generated “Due To/Due From” lines as “Due To/Due From” entries to balance the money owed between the distinct companies.
US08055555B2

A service provider management system (SPMS) that connects to storage resources in a datacenter controlled by a service provider and a database that stores information about the datacenter and customers that receive the storage resources as a service. The SPMS enables the service provider to allocate storage resources to a customer and to assign ownership to billable devices, such as disks, volumes, ports, and so forth, as well as to generate billing information based on hardware configuration and customer usage. The SPSM is supported on a server architecture, which includes a Web server that exports a first interface to the service provider to enable the service provider to manage the data storage resources to which the SPMS is connected, and a second interface to the customer to enable the customer to manage the allocated data storage resources directly.
US08055543B2

A system, method and program product is provided for establishment of a referential interface between business entities such as manufacturers and distributors in a computerized marketplace. The interface allows commercial interaction between two potentially geographically and technologically disparate systems. The interface is established through definition and then deployment of a distributor profile document, interrelated with a set of referential interface terms and conditions and a referential interface business policy. The profile document has associated terms and conditions representing business rules and processes referring to the business policies which then have business logic implementations. The contract prescribes the business rules that will be followed between a manufacturer and a distributor with the business policies providing mapping to units of business logic in the implementation of the distributor. Additionally the interface allows and may require setup and customization of business policy command implementation logic specific to the desired distributor. The established interface is further customizable and extensible allowing a variety of distributors to be connected to a marketplace as required with relative ease.
US08055533B2

A method for determining parking assignments for material handling vehicles in a manufacturing system is provided. The manufacturing system is operable to perform fabrication processes on a plurality of loads. The method includes identifying at least one idle material handling vehicle. A first cost factor associated with expected transit times for the at least one idle material handling vehicle to available parking locations in the manufacturing system is determined. A second cost factor based on a number of loads available to be serviced by the at least one idle material handling vehicle in the parking locations and relative priorities assigned to the loads is determined. A parking location for the at least one idle material handling vehicles is determined based on the first and second cost factors. A parking request is issued to the at least one idle material handling vehicle based on the determined parking locations.
US08055517B2

Advanced patient management systems include a unit for collecting data from a device associated with a patient, and a host in communication with the unit, the host identifying a time for the device to update data on the device. The system can identify a time for the device to update data associated with the device by developing a histogram of the availability of the device for interrogation. The system can also optimize processing loads for the system by developing a histogram of the time at which the caregiver is most likely to access the system to review the collected and processed data. Methods for optimizing device data update and processing times are also included.
US08055516B2

A method and system for computerized medical diagnostics is disclosed. Beginning with interacting with a patient or a healthcare professional via a diagnostic module to obtain patient health items, the system automatically obtains an initial differential diagnosis and multiple strategy differential diagnoses based on the patient health items. In one embodiment, each strategy differential diagnosis is obtained with different analysis criteria of the patient health items. At least a portion of the strategy differential diagnoses are compared and a panel differential diagnosis based on the compared differential diagnoses is determined. The initial diagnosis and the panel differential diagnosis are reconciled so as to recommend an action or provide a diagnosis to the patient or the healthcare professional.
US08055504B2

Exemplary methods, systems, and products are disclosed for synchronizing visual and speech events in a multimodal application, including receiving from a user speech; determining a semantic interpretation of the speech; calling a global application update handler; identifying, by the global application update handler, an additional processing function in dependence upon the semantic interpretation; and executing the additional function. Typical embodiments may include updating a visual element after executing the additional function. Typical embodiments may include updating a voice form after executing the additional function. Typical embodiments also may include updating a state table after updating the voice form. Typical embodiments also may include restarting the voice form after executing the additional function.
US08055503B2

A system and method provide an audio analysis intelligence tool with ad-hoc search capabilities using spoken words as an organized data form. An SQL-like interface is used to process and search audio data and combine it with other traditional data forms to enhance searching of audio segments to identify those audio segments satisfying minimum confidence levels for a match.
US08055502B2

A voice dialing method includes the steps of receiving an utterance from a user, decoding the utterance to identify a recognition result for the utterance, and communicating to the user the recognition result. If an indication is received from the user that the communicated recognition result is incorrect, then it is added to a rejection reference. Then, when the user repeats the misunderstood utterance, the rejection reference can be used to eliminate the incorrect recognition result as a potential subsequent recognition result. The method can be used for single or multiple digits or digit strings.
US08055485B2

The proposed prediction of trends is based on history values of an observable. In more detail, a mathematical model is fitted on history values of an observable, said mathematical model having a ratio factor defined as a ratio between a number of history values used for calculation of a given observable value and a number of observable values modelled simultaneously. Information defining a minimum forecast horizon and a maximum forecast horizon together with respective ratio factor values is received, together with information defining a desired forecast horizon. A desired ratio factor value corresponding to the desired forecast horizon is determined based at least on said desired forecast horizon and said minimum and maximum forecast horizons together with said respective ratio factor values. The desired ratio factor value is used in fitting said mathematical model on said history values of said observable.
US08055472B2

A system and method is described herein that includes a software-based functionality to assess the relationship between reliability, operational, maintenance and plant betterment activities and to determine the frontier of efficient spending and other measures of performance to achieve a level of reliability that is based on data from units of similar design and performance.
US08055470B2

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to simulation of bucket testing. In a particular implementation, cohort of users associated with a value for an engagement metric may be selected based at least in part on an intersection of first and second probability distributions. Behavior of the first and second groups may be compared based at least in part on the selected cohort of users.
US08055465B2

Method, apparatus, and system, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for determining a periodic cycle of time series data. A frequency spectrum of the data is provided. The frequency spectrum is processed using at least one of the following steps, resulting in a processed frequency spectrum: filtering the frequency spectrum for reducing noise of the data, truncating the frequency spectrum at low frequencies, and weighting high frequency contributions over low frequency contributions of the frequency spectrum. A periodic cycle is extracted based on the processed frequency spectrum.
US08055458B2

A technique for determining performance characteristics of electronic devices and systems is disclosed. In one embodiment, the technique is realized by measuring a first response on a first transmission line from a single pulse transmitted on the first transmission line, and then measuring a second response on the first transmission line from a single pulse transmitted on at least one second transmission line, wherein the at least one second transmission line is substantially adjacent to the first transmission line. The worst case bit sequences for transmission on the first transmission line and the at least one second transmission line are then determined based upon the first response and the second response for determining performance characteristics associated with the first transmission line.
US08055457B2

A flow rate measuring device has a flow rate measurement unit, an appliance registering unit, a calculating unit, a determining unit, a first appliance identifying unit, and a second appliance identifying unit. The appliance registering unit stores at least first gas flow rate variation profiles on activation of respective gas appliances coupled to a flow channel, and second gas flow rate variation profiles based on the control specific to the respective gas appliances. The first appliance identifying unit identifies which gas appliance is activated based on the first gas flow rate variation profiles on activation. When a determining unit detects a stop of any of gas appliances, the second appliance identifying unit identifies a gas appliance in continuous use by using the second gas flow rate variation profiles based on the control specific to the respective gas appliances.
US08055453B2

In certain embodiments, estimating air in a cooling system includes measuring a property that can be used to estimate the air to yield a plurality of measurements. The measurements are performed for different heat loads and for different concentrations of non-condensable gas in the cooling system. The measurements are stored a data set.
US08055446B2

A method for processing magnetotelluric data to identify subterranean deposits is provided for. The data comprise the amplitude of alternating magnetic or electrical fields recorded over time in at least two vector components at one or more locations in an area of interest. Amplitude pulses are identified in the data, wherein the pulses are time segments comprising an amplitude peak meeting defined threshold criteria in at least one vector component. The pulses are filtered at a set of predetermined frequencies to separate amplitude data at each frequency from the remainder of the amplitude data in the pulses. The frequencies correspond to subterranean depths over a range of interest. Differential impedances ΔZ of the pulses at each frequency at each location are then statistically analyzed to determine a value correlated to the resistance of the earth at each frequency. The resistance values are indicative of the presence or absence of deposits at the corresponding subterranean depth at the location.
US08055445B2

An improved probabilistic lane assignment method for detected objects in the scene forward of a host vehicle. Road/lane model parameters, preferably including an angular orientation of the host vehicle in its lane, are estimated from host vehicle sensor systems, taking into account measurement uncertainty in each of the constituent parameters. A probabilistic assignment of the object's lane is then assessed based on the road/lane model parameters and object measurements, again taking into account measurement uncertainty in both the road/lane model and object measurements. According to a first embodiment, the probabilistic assignment is discrete in nature, indicating a confidence or degree-of-belief that the detected object resides in each of a number of lanes. According to a second embodiment, the probabilistic assignment is continuous in nature, providing a lateral separation distance between the host vehicle and the object, and a confidence or degree-of-belief in the lateral separation distance.
US08055442B2

A method of determining a display position for road name data including selecting a link representing a road segment with an initial road name display position from stored map data. An angle of the selected link is calculated, and calculating an angle of the selected link, a display reference position is identified to display the road name. Updated road name display position information including the determined display reference position is stored relative to the link.
US08055439B2

A system for providing fuel-efficient driving information for a vehicle includes a fuel-efficient driving area calculation unit and a display unit. The fuel-efficient driving area calculation unit calculates a variable fuel-efficient driving area, which is divided into economical, semi-economical, and uneconomical regions, depending on the increase or decrease of the speed of the vehicle, calculates a current fuel efficiency of the vehicle, receives information about the type and condition of a road from a GPS, and adjusts the regions in the fuel-efficient driving area to prompt the driver to increase or decrease the vehicle speed in advance. The display unit displays the fuel-efficient driving area using information calculated by the fuel-efficient driving area calculation unit, and indicates the current fuel efficiency using the regions.
US08055438B2

An air-fuel ratio sensor early activation feedback system and method includes an air-fuel ratio sensor for measuring an air-fuel ratio in an exhaust gas generated by an internal combustion engine and a heater for heating the air-fuel ratio sensor. A controller activates the heater prior to startup of the engine based on prior startup times for the engine.
US08055437B2

A method and system for estimating CO2 produced by an internal combustion engine disposed in a vehicle and transmitting the CO2 produced to a display device within the vehicle are disclosed. Estimated CO2 produced is based on amount of fuel consumed and fuel composition, e.g., alcohol content in a gasoline-alcohol blend. The amount of fuel consumed is computed based on fuel pulse width commanded to fuel injectors disposed in the engine, the pressure drop across the fuel injectors, and fuel injector nozzle cross-section. Instantaneous CO2 produced and/or average CO2 produced can be computed and displayed. Instantaneous CO2 produced is averaged over a short interval with the display updated regularly. Average CO2 produced is averaged over a typically longer interval, being reset, in one embodiment, by an operator of the vehicle depressing a reset button.
US08055436B2

A method for controlling the wastegate in a turbocharged internal combustion engine including the steps of: determining, during a design phase, a control law which provides an objective opening of a controlling actuator of the wastegate according to the supercharging pressure; determining an objective supercharging pressure; measuring an actual supercharging pressure; determining a first open loop contribution of an objective position of a controlling actuator of the wastegate by means of the control law and according to the objective supercharging pressure; determining a second closed loop contribution of the objective position of the controlling actuator of the wastegate; and calculating the objective position of the controlling actuator of the wastegate by adding the two contributions.
US08055435B2

In a low load region where torque is lower than T1 but is not lower than T2, the present invention uses a lean single valve small operating angle mode to provide a lean burn in a single valve small operating angle state or uses an EGR single valve small operating angle mode to provide external EGR in a single valve small operating angle mode.
US08055433B2

A fuel injection control device includes a basic-injection-use map for deriving a basic injection amount and an additional-injection-use map for deriving an additional injection amount, each corresponding to the throttle opening. During operation of the engine, in each engine cycle, a first calculation stage for calculating the basic injection amount, and a second calculation stage provided after the first calculation stage are set. A first injection amount and a second injection amount obtained by applying the throttle opening measured in the first calculation stage and the second calculation stage, respectively, are compared. When the second injection amount is greater than the first injection amount, an additional injection amount is calculated by subtracting the first injection amount from the second injection amount; and when the first injection amount is greater than the second injection amount, the basic injection amount calculated in the first calculation stage is corrected.
US08055432B2

A HCCI engine with a model reference adaptive feedback control system maintains stable HCCI combustion during speed/load transitions by: (1) estimating the maximum rate of pressure rise (MRPR), for each cycle, from an extra-cylinder sensor metric, such as a crankshaft dynamics or knock sensor metric, via statistical vector-to-vector correlation; (2) periodically self-tuning the vector-to-vector correlation; (3) applying knowledge base models to guide cycle-to-cycle adjustments of fuel quantity and other engine parameters, to maintain a target MRPR value.
US08055430B2

A valve characteristic controller including an oil pump, a valve timing varying mechanism, and a valve timing control unit is disclosed. The valve timing varying mechanism varies the valve characteristic value of intake valves in an engine based on the hydraulic pressure of hydraulic oil supplied from the oil pump. The valve timing control unit includes a storage and a detector. The storage stores computation maps used to calculate a target value for the valve characteristic value based on a plurality of engine control values. The detector detects the temperature of the hydraulic oil. The computation maps include a first map and a second map. The varying amount of the valve characteristic amount corresponding to a change in the engine control value in a low speed range of the engine speed is set to be smaller in the second map than the first map. The valve timing control unit switches the computation maps from the first map to the second map when the detected temperature of the hydraulic oil is relatively high.
US08055429B2

An initial value θ0 of a vehicle deflection angle θ and an initial value L0 of a distance L are set, a normalized coefficient R is determined from the ratio of the vehicle deflection angle θ or the distance L to the initial value θ0 or the initial value L0 when vehicle stop control is started, and the target speed VREF of a body speed VL is determined by that coefficient R. Since the body speed V of the vehicle VL is very low when the vehicle VL arrives at a target parking position, the vehicle VL can be stopped precisely at the target parking position.
US08055428B2

A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a forward monitoring unit for monitoring an obstacle within a predetermined forward area extending in a direction forward of an own vehicle; one or more forward-lateral monitoring units for monitoring an obstacle within a predetermined forward-lateral area extending in a direction lateral of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward area; and a traveling environment detecting unit for detecting a traveling environment of the own vehicle, wherein the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on a predetermined road including a highway, and a level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring unit is eased when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including a junction, of the predetermined road.
US08055427B2

A method is provided for automatically transitioning a cruise control speed from a current speed zone to a next speed zone. A location at which the speed zone limit changes from the current speed limit to the next speed limit forward of a driven vehicle is determined. A speed profile is determined for changing the vehicle speed from the current speed limit to the next speed limit. The speed profile includes non-linear changes in the vehicle speed between the current speed zone and the next speed zone for eliminating abrupt changes in the vehicle speed. A relative location is determined for initiating the non-linear changes in the speed of the vehicle. The non-linear changes are actuated in the speed of the vehicle at the relative location for gradually changing the speed to the next speed limit.
US08055422B2

A method of controlling a deceleration rate of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) includes measuring an applied regenerative braking torque (RBT) during a threshold regenerative braking event (RBE), and automatically applying an offsetting friction braking torque (OFBT) from a hydraulic braking system during the threshold RBE to provide the vehicle with a substantially constant deceleration rate. An HEV having a regenerative braking capability includes a friction braking system adapted to selectively apply an OFBT to slow the HEV in one manner, an energy storage system (ESS), an electric motor/generator, and a controller having a braking control algorithm or method. The method anticipates an impending let up in the RBT based on a plurality of vehicle performance values including a threshold vehicle speed, and selectively activates the friction braking system to apply the OFBT when the impending let up in the RBT is greater than a threshold.
US08055403B2

A telematics method and system includes, and uses, a telematics device with a controller in communication with a diagnostic system configured to receive diagnostic information from a host vehicle; a position-locating system configured to determine location information of the host vehicle; a wireless transceiver configured to transmit and receive information through a wireless network to and from at least one Internet-accessible website; and, a communication interface including at least a short range wireless interface link. The telematics device may be embodied in an access device, which may include the position-locating system. The access device may be a smartphone, or similar device, that retrieves/transmits diagnostic data/information, and other data/information to/from the vehicle via the short range wireless link. The access device performs various telematics device functions; it uses a long range wireless interface to communicate diagnostic and related information to a central host computer, and to receive related information from same.
US08055392B2

An electronic device includes a deviation value calculation unit which calculates a deviation value from the normal boundary of the relationship between a power index associated with the driving power and the measured rotational speed of the fan, a clogging detection unit which detects, based on the deviation value, clogging in an air duct through which the fan takes in air outside the case and sends it to the radiator, and a deviation value correction unit which corrects the deviation value in accordance with aging of performance of the fan to compensate for deterioration of the clogging detection capability of the clogging detection unit caused by the aging.
US08055387B2

A building automation system (BAS) comprising a plurality of end devices, at least one communication network, and a protocol-independent server engine. The end devices are each associated with at least one of a space, a system, or a subsystem for at least a portion of a building or a campus. The communication network supports a plurality of communication protocols and communicatively couples at least a portion of the plurality of end devices. The server engine is communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network and includes means for selectively implementing a dynamic extensibility capability for the BAS that establishes communications with and control of the plurality of end devices over the plurality of communication protocols, and means for selectively implementing an automatic configuration capability for the BAS that supports addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices by determining at least one characteristic of each end device. Methods of establishing communications with unknown end devices in a building automation system (BAS) based upon metadata descriptors provided by known and unknown end devices are also disclosed.
US08055386B2

A building automation system (BAS) comprising a plurality of end devices, at least one communication network, and a protocol-independent server engine. In one embodiment, the BAS comprises real and non-real end devices. In another embodiment, the BAS comprises real and virtual end devices. The BAS may also comprise a user interface.
US08055383B2

A path generating device 1 has a constraint mid-configuration generator 10. The constraint mid-configuration generator 10 defines a constraint surface in a joint angle space. The path generating device 1 probabilistically generates a mid-configuration in the joint angle space. The constraint mid-configuration generator 10 projects the probabilistically generated mid-configuration onto the constraint surface to generate a projected mid-configuration. Projected mid-configurations generated in this manner are joined to generate a path that does not interfere with any obstacle (environmental object) in a work space.
US08055375B2

A guidance system of an industrial process captures process parameter data that is correlated with a human-machine interface (HMI) in order to learn how an experienced operator selects visualizations of key performance indicators (KPI) in order to take a corrective action to address an abnormal or non-optimal performance condition. Such solution learning can be invoked to recognize onset of another similar occurrence and responding by suggesting visualizations utilized by the experienced operator to diagnose the problem. Analytics can further determine which visualizations provided useful information relative to the problem. In addition, the corrective action can be suggested or automatically implemented.
US08055374B2

A machining quality judging method for a wafer grinding machine and wafer grinding machine are disclosed. The thickness of a wafer 2 is acquired from the feed amount of a grinding unit 3 while at the same time actually measuring the thickness of the wafer 2 appropriately. The wafer grinding machine includes a machining quality judging unit 20 for comparing the thickness of the wafer 2 based on the feed amount of the grinding unit 3 with the actually measured thickness of the wafer 2 and judges the machining quality of the ground surface of the wafer 2. Upon judgment of a machining failure, a command is issued to stop the back surface grinding operation.
US08055362B2

A software program of a flash memory loaded into an IC recorder is read and executed by a PC connected to the IC recorder via an external interface and an input-and-output end, so that an information signal, such as audio data held by the PC, is transferred from the PC to the flash memory. Management information about the information signal that is transferred and stored in the flash memory is, generated by the software program executed by the PC and stored in the flash memory, so that the IC recorder can use the management information.
US08055357B2

Surgical systems, devices and methods including one or more tissue stimulation elements that, in some instances, may also be used for sensing purposes. Some of the surgical devices also include a tissue coagulation element.
US08055354B2

An implantable lead comprises a lead body extending from a lead proximal end portion to a lead distal end portion. The lead body includes one or more longitudinally extending lumens. A conductor is received in, and extends along, a lumen. In varying examples, the implantable lead further comprises a tubular electrode co-axial with, and overlying portions of, the lead body. In one example, a lumen wall is sized and shaped to urge an electrically conductive interposer coupled with the conductor toward an inner surface of the electrode. In another example, a ring member is disposed within a lumen and the conductor is drawn and coupled thereto. In yet another example, an electrically conductive connector couples a first and a second conductor via grooves or threads. In a further example, an axial support member couples a distal end electrode and the lead body. Methods associated with the foregoing are also discussed.
US08055350B2

A method is presented for enabling radio-frequency (RF) communications between an implantable medical device and an external device in a manner which reduces the power requirements of the implantable device by duty cycling its RF circuitry. A wakeup scheme for the implantable device is provided in which the external device transmits a data segment containing a repeating sequence of special wakeup characters and a device ID in order to establish a communications session with the implantable device. The wakeup scheme may be designed to operate using multiple communications channels.
US08055344B2

A system and method of enabling detection enhancements selected from a plurality of detection enhancements. In a system having a plurality of clinical rhythms, including a first clinical rhythm, where each of the detection enhancements is associated with the clinical rhythms, the first clinical rhythm is selected. The first clinical rhythm is associated with first and second detection enhancements. When the first clinical rhythm is selected, parameters of the first and second detection enhancements are set automatically. A determination is made as to whether changes are to be made to the parameters. If so, one or more of the parameters are modified under user control.
US08055340B2

A method and apparatus for delivering therapy to treat ventricular tachyarrhythmias is described. In one embodiment, neural stimulation, anti-tachycardia pacing, and shock therapy are employed in a progressive sequence upon detection of a ventricular tachycardia.
US08055335B2

Adaptations to an intra-thoracic fluid-status-trend indication and/or alert algorithm are disclosed. Some embodiments monitor fluid levels in heart failure patients and others suffering from pulmonary edema and the like. Some embodiments reset a cumulative fluid index when a short-term intra-thoracic impedance value exceeds a baseline impedance value minus a predetermined positive hysteresis value. Many device, system, and method embodiments hereof serve to reduce the number of false positive alerts while retaining the desired sensitivity.
US08055334B2

Portable electroviscerography systems are provided. Aspects of the systems include a body-associated receiver and an ingestible identifier unit, both of which are configured to detect visceral electrical signals. The system communicates with an extra-corporeal data processor configured to receive data from the body-associated receiver and generate and electroviscerogram from the received data. Also provided are methods of producing electroviscerograms using systems of the present invention.
US08055321B2

An apparatus and method for determining tissue oxygenation such as arterial and venous oxygenation and cerebral oxygenation. In one embodiment, the optical properties of tissue are determined using measured light attenuations at a set of wavelengths. By choosing distinct wavelengths and using light attenuation information, the influence of variables such as light scattering, absorption and other optical tissue properties can be minimized.
US08055320B2

A vital information measuring device includes: a measuring unit for measuring certain vital information concerning a living body; a storage for storing therein a signal outputted from the measuring unit as measurement data; a vital information acquirer for acquiring a sleep apnea index based on the measurement data stored in the storage; a display section for displaying the sleep apnea index acquired by the vital information acquirer; and a device body for integrally mounting the measuring unit, the storage, the vital information acquirer, and the display section.
US08055317B2

A sliding mechanism includes a first plate (32) having a sliding slot (322) and a control slot (325) defined therein. The sliding slot and the control slot having a certain angle therebetween and communicating with each other. A second plate (38) is longitudinally slidably connected to the first plate. The second plate including a sliding member (381) formed on a surface thereof facing the first plate. The sliding member engages with the sliding slot and includes an elastic positioning assembly (389). A control assembly (34) is slidably received in the control slot. A main elastic member (36) has one end thereof being fixed to one end of the sliding slot, the other end thereof being fixed with the sliding member. A portable electronic device (100) using the sliding mechanism is also disclosed.
US08055311B2

A mobile phone includes an external power supply terminal receiving power from the external power supply, a secondary battery charging at least part of the received power and supplying the charged power to a load, a radio circuit receiving power from the secondary battery and allowing transmission power to be varied, and a control portion detecting the transmission power level of the radio circuit and switching to any of a plurality of charge modes having different time periods for charging the secondary battery, based on the detected transmission power level.
US08055307B2

Embodiments include method for providing a handsfree service to a user of a wireless, handsfree headset. In an embodiment the method comprises the headset performing service discovery on the audio gateway to determine a method of transferring an application to the audio gateway, wherein the application provides the service, the headset causing the application to be transferred to the audio gateway using a method based on the service discovery; and the audio gateway executing the application, wherein this user issues voice commands that are executed by the audio gateway to provide the service.
US08055306B2

A mobile phone alert system sets one or more alert conditions of a mobile phone, and sets a response message corresponding to each of the alert conditions. The system further monitors communication status of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is communicating with a contact mobile phone, determines if an alert condition occurs by determining if the communication status meets the one or more alert conditions, retrieves and sending a corresponding response message to the contact mobile phone number via a first network, in response to a determination that the alert condition occurs to the mobile phone. Additionally, the system may further search a second available network, sends the response message and a request of sending the response message to the contact mobile phone number to a service center via the second network, in response to the response message has not been sent successfully via the first network.
US08055303B2

The invention concerns a melhod and a base station for controlling beam forming in a mobile cellular network: Antenna units apply a respective beam pattern sequence on each sector of a cell served by the respective base station. A base station acts as trigger base station informing all neighbored base stations of the cluster not to change their beam pattern sequences. The trigger base station changes the beam pattern sequence applied on the sectors of its cell. The trigger base station triggers one or more mobile units to calculate signal quality parameters for currently applied beam pattern sequence. The trigger base station selects an optimal beam pattern sequence from the set based on the calculated signal quality parameters and applies as a new beam pattern sequence on the respective sector.
US08055298B1

The communication device which includes a voice communicating implementer, an automobile controlling implementer, a caller ID implementer, an auto time adjusting implementer, a calculating implementer, a word processing implementer, a startup software implementer, a stereo audio data output implementer, a digital camera implementer, a multiple language displaying implementer, a caller's information displaying implementer, a communication device remote controlling implementer, a shortcut icon displaying implementer, an audio playback implementer, and a multiple channel processing implementer.
US08055295B1

A wireless communication system provides a wireless communication service over a first frequency band class and a second frequency band class. The system monitors first and second communication loads on the first and second frequency band classes. The system receives a request for the communication service from a wireless communication device, and in response, determines if the wireless communication device can receive the wireless communication service over either one of the frequency band classes. If the wireless communication device can receive the wireless communication service over either one of the frequency band classes, then the system selects one of the frequency band classes based on the first and second communication loads. The system provides the wireless communication service to the wireless communication device over the selected frequency band class.
US08055274B2

Disclosed is a portable terminal capable of enhancing compatibility with a hearing aid. The portable terminal comprises a terminal case having a sound hole thereon; a receiver installed inside the sound hole; and a reflection unit disposed between the terminal case and the receiver, for reflecting an electromagnetic wave radiated from an interior or a surface of the terminal case so as to minimize leakage of the electromagnetic wave to outside of the terminal case.
US08055246B2

There is provided an information delivery apparatus including a receiving portion to receive location information of a mobile communication terminal at a given time and acquired date and time of the location information from the terminal, an event information storage portion to store event information including an event place, date and time, a delivery terminal selecting portion to select the mobile communication terminal to which the event information is to be delivered based on the location information and the acquired date and time of the location information and on the event place, date and time, and an event information delivery portion to deliver the event information to the selected mobile communication terminal. The delivery terminal selecting portion selects the mobile communication terminal whose location indicated by location information is within a predetermined range and whose acquired date and time of the location information are before the event date and time.
US08055245B2

A mobile wireless device and technology operable to provide a fake calling function is disclosed. A fake communication mode allows a user to simulate communicating with another party in order to deter unwanted interruption by another person. When a real call occurs during the fake communication mode, the real call is handled so that the ring volume is not too loud for the user, while not breaking the illusion of the fake call.
US08055244B2

A method of allocating a mobile station unique number and method of configuring a public long code mask (PLCM) using the same are disclosed, which are suitable for a normal operation between the mobile station and the system. The present invention includes the steps of re-allocating a manufacturer code of the mobile station unique number to a mobile station and transmitting to the mobile station re-allocation type (RECYCLED_TYPE) information indicating how many times the re-allocating step is carried out. Accordingly, the present invention enables allocation of additional ESN without collision with PLCM even if ESN is exhausted.
US08055240B2

There is provided a method of notifying a caller of confirmation of a voice or text message in a wireless communication system. A calling mobile station transmits a voice or text message to a called mobile station. If the called mobile station senses confirmation of the received voice or text message, it notifies a calling mobile station of the message confirmation via a confirmation message. Upon receipt of the confirmation message, the calling mobile station alerts a caller to receipt of the confirmation message.
US08055237B2

In a network subscriber system, a method of determining how to monitor whether a subscriber's network usage exceeds a quota for the current billing period. The frequency at which the subscriber's usage data is collected and analyzed during the billing period is based upon the probability the subscriber's network usage exceeds the quota at a given point in time during the billing cycle. Usage data is collected more frequently as the probability increases. Usage analysis is performed if the probability exceeds a threshold.
US08055235B1

A system and method for receiving a signal, comprising an input adapted to receive a radio frequency signal having a strong interferer; a signal generator, adapted to produce a representation of the interferer as an analog signal generated based on an oversampled digital representation thereof; and a component adapted to cancel the strong interferer from radio frequency signal based on the generated analog signal to produce a modified radio frequency signal substantially absent the interferer. The system typically has a nonlinear component that either saturates or produces distortion from the strong interferer, which is thereby reduced. The system preferably employs high speed circuits which digitize and process radio frequency signals without analog mixers.
US08055232B2

A receiving apparatus may achieve optimal RF and IF gain control while suppressing saturated amplification due to interference. The receiving apparatus includes an RF variable gain Amp that amplifies a received RF signal, a mixer that converts an output signal of the RF variable gain Amp into an IF signal, an IF variable gain Amp that amplifies the IF signal, a demodulator that demodulates an output signal of the IF variable gain Amp, and an AGC circuit. The AGC circuit sets a period of gain control for the RF variable gain Amp to be shorter than a period of gain control for the IF variable gain Amp when gains of the RF variable gain Amp and the IF variable gain Amp are controlled based on the output signal of the IF variable gain Amp.
US08055229B2

The invention provides a signal amplifying stage, used in a signal receiver. The signal amplifying stage has: a fixed-gain low noise amplifier (LNA), amplifying an input signal; a variable-gain LNA (VG-LNA) array, amplifying the input signal, including a plurality of parallel VG-LNAs, the VG-LNA array being parallel with the fixed-gain LNA; a variable-gain amplifier (VGA), being in series with the fixed-gain LNA and the VG-LNA array, for amplifying output signals from the fixed-gain LNA and the VG-LNA array to generate an output signal; an attenuator, being in parallel with a combination of the fixed-gain LNA, the VG-LNA array and the VGA, for attenuating the input signal to generate the output signal; and a control loop, coupled to the VGA and the attenuator, for detecting power levels of the output signal to enable and control the fixed-gain LNA, the VG-LNA array, the VGA and the attenuator.
US08055227B2

Methods of operating a mobile television receiver. The methods comprise the steps of gathering data concerning parameters of an input signal, determining whether the signal is at a level, and performing additional functions if it is determined that the signal is at the level. Determining the signal level includes determining one of signal-to-noise ratio, bit error rate, signal strength and uncorrected packet count. Performing additional functions comprises scanning a frequency space of the signal.
US08055222B2

A Multiple Protocol Signal Detector, MPSD (320, 500) has a mixer (406) that receives signal energy from a multi-band antenna system (324) via a low noise amplifier (402) and from a variable frequency synthesizer (408) via a first variable band pass filter (410). The output of the mixer (406) passes through a second variable band pass filter (416) to an envelope detector (418) a power detector (419) and a low resolution A/D (420) that inputs digitized samples to a binary modulation detector, BMD (422). A controller (424) configures the aforementioned devices of the MPSD (320) to detect communications using different protocols based on a scan Look Up Table (426).
US08055219B2

A first value of an operational center frequency of a signal to transmit is determined according to received user input. The operational center frequency is centered within a first band of frequencies and the first band of frequencies has a first bandwidth. A single loop antenna is tuned to match the first value of the center frequency and the single loop antenna is arranged and configured to operate across a second band of frequencies having a second bandwidth. The first bandwidth is less than the second bandwidth. The signal is transmitted from the single loop antenna according to the first value of the operational center frequency to provide a transmitted signal.
US08055209B1

A man-pack portable, multi-band ultra-high frequency turnstile-type SATCOM radio antenna for transmitting and receiving radio signals between terrestrial locations and an orbiting earth satellite includes a cylindrically shaped antenna superstructure base which has an elongated mast extending forward from a front transverse end wall of the base, and circumferentially spaced apart pairs of radiating elements which extend radially outwards from the mast, each opposed pair comprising in combination an electric dipole antenna which is electrically connected via coaxial cables disposed longitudinally through the mast to zero and ninety degree ports of a hybrid antenna matching network located in the base and having an input port electrically connected to a coaxial antenna base connector located in a rear transverse end wall of the base. A diplexer which includes a cylindrical housing longitudinally alignable with the base contains a low-frequency band-pass filter and a high-frequency band-pass filter having low and high center frequencies, respectively, the filters having a common output node electrically connected to coaxial diplexer output connector located on a front transverse end wall of the diplexer housing and longitudinally engageable with the antenna base connector. The diplexer has on a rear transverse end wall thereof two coaxial transceiver connectors connected to separate nodes of the high and low frequency filters, the transceiver connectors being connectable via coaxial cables to one or more radio transceivers, which are thus enabled to operate simultaneously in different frequency bands, without requiring any external diplexer.
US08055208B2

The present invention relates to a data communication circuit and system for use in hazardous or nonhazardous environments. In the preferred embodiment, the system is a bi-directional, low energy, current loop data communication circuit primarily for high speed data communications via parallel or twisted pair conductors. The system of the present invention can safely transmit data across long distances (e.g., up to 1000 feet (300 meters)) in an explosive atmosphere.
US08055206B1

A system and method of detecting, processing, and selectively responding to radio frequency transmissions detected by at least one electronic signal observation device deployed above a geographic area.
US08055204B2

A method for classifying a signal is disclosed. The method can be used by a station or stations within a network to classify the signal as non-cooperative (NC) or a target signal. The method performs classification over channels within a frequency spectrum. The percentage of power above a first threshold is computed for a channel. Based on the percentage, a signal is classified as a narrowband signal. If the percentage indicates the absence of a narrowband signal, then a lower second threshold is applied to confirm the absence according to the percentage of power above the second threshold. The signal is classified as a narrowband signal or pre-classified as a wideband signal based on the percentage. Pre-classified wideband signals are classified as a wideband NC signal or target signal using spectrum masks.
US08055201B1

A system and method for providing integrated voice quality measurements for wireless networks, based on actual calls made by end devices, are provided. The system includes a plurality of end devices, each of which includes an algorithm for determining voice quality data; an over-the-air server configured to enable voice quality reporting in the end devices; a messaging server configured to receive voice quality reports from the end devices; a voice quality server configured to receive the voice quality reports from the messaging server and consolidate the voice quality reports; and a call data record server configured to combine call records and the consolidated voice quality reports.
US08055199B2

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for mitigating interference of signals transmitted to a mobile station (MS) from a plurality of neighboring base stations. By applying a proposed spatio-frequency modulation (SFM) technique at a serving base station (BS) and at each interfering BS, a co-channel interference (CCI) from interfering base stations can be efficiently mitigated at the MS and signal transmitted from the serving BS can be more accurately decoded.
US08055195B2

A wireless communications device comprising a communications section adapted to communicate with a remote device using at least two wireless carriers, a signal detection section for detecting a control signal in a communications path between the wireless communications device and the at least two wireless carriers, said signal detection section generating a detection result, and a control section for evaluating the detection result and setting one of the at least two carriers as a primary communications path for communication with the remote device and one of the at least two carriers as a secondary communications path for communication with the remote device based upon the evaluation.
US08055189B2

A wireless communication system, a method, and a tangible machine-readable medium thereof for transmitting data based on a frame structure of a multi-hop relay standard are provided. The wireless communication system comprises a base station (BS), a relay station (RS), and a mobile station (MS). The frame structure comprises a relay station map (RS-MAP) frame and an MS sub-frame. The RS-MAP frame describes the frame structure. The MS sub-frame is used for transmitting the first data between the BS and the MS and is used for transmitting a second data between the RS and the MS according to the content of the RS-MAP frame. A part of the second data is the same as the first data.
US08055182B2

A reverse conveying apparatus which again conveys a sheet formed an image by an image forming portion to the image forming portion includes a plurality of roller grippers which supports a sheet formed an image, and a belt which moves the roller grippers to a receiving position where a sheet is received and a carry-out position where a supported sheet is conveyed out. When a sheet is conveyed out in the carry-out position, the sheet is conveyed out such that a rear end thereof when it is received at the receiving position is a leading end.
US08055175B2

An image heating apparatus includes a coil for generating magnetic flux, a belt including an electroconductive layer for generating heat by the magnetic flux generated from the coil, for heating an image on a recording material by the heat generated by the electroconductive layer, a first pressing member contactable to an inner surface of the belt member, a second pressing member for pressing the belt member against the first pressing member to nip and convey the recording material, a coil unit, including the coil, provided oppositely to an outer surface of the belt member, a mover moving the coil unit between a first position in which the image on the recording material is to be heated and a second position in which the coil unit is moved away from the belt member, and a pressure changer changing the pressure between the first and second pressing members.
US08055174B2

In a fixing device for fixing a toner image on a recording medium, a fixing roller and a heating roller support a fixing belt. A pressing roller presses against the fixing roller via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressing roller. A tension roller presses against the fixing belt to apply tension to the fixing belt. A primary heat source heats the fixing belt, and is disposed along an outer face of the fixing belt opposite the heating roller. A secondary heat source is provided inside the tension roller to supply deficient heat not provided by the primary heat source.
US08055162B2

A toner bottle for containing toner has a cylindrical body and a scraper. The bottle body can be rotated on its axis by a driving source. The scraper is supported movably in the bottle body. The bottle body has an opening and ribs. The toner in the toner bottle is supplied through the opening to a developing unit. When the bottle body rotates, the ribs convey the toner toward the opening. The scraper includes a shaft and a scraping part. The shaft extends over the whole length of the bottle body and supports the scraping part. A portion of the scraping part is in contact with the inner cylindrical surface of the bottle body. When the bottle body rotates, the scraper moves perpendicularly to the axis of the body.
US08055157B2

An ion generating element of the present invention includes a discharge electrode and an inductive electrode, both of which are provided so as to face each other with a dielectric body sandwiched therebetween, and a heater electrode which warms the ion generating element by Joule heat produced because of a passage of an electrical current. A distance between the discharge electrode and the heater electrode is larger than that between the discharge electrode and the inductive electrode, and further a shield electrode having a connection for ground is provided between the heater electrode and the inductive electrode on a surface of the dielectric body at a side on which the inductive electrode is provided. Hence, it is possible to prevent a leak to the heater electrode at low cost, while giving consideration towards safety.
US08055153B2

An image forming apparatus includes: an electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive support and a photosensitive layer including an outermost surface layer capable of transporting a charge, the layer being farthest from the conductive support and containing a resin having a crosslinking structure; a charging unit that charges the electrophotographic photoreceptor; a first exposure unit that exposes the electrophotographic photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image on the electrophotographic photoreceptor charged; a developing unit that develop the electrostatic latent image with a toner to form a toner image; a transfer unit that transfer the toner image from the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a medium to be transferred; and a second exposure unit that uniformly expose the electrophotographic photoreceptor, the outermost surface layer absorbing exposure light of the second exposure unit and having a maximum absorbance of about 0.05 or less in the entire wavelength range of the exposure light.
US08055144B2

A printing speed is adaptively set using Fuzzy inference, based on various printing environments including a printing medium width and the average amount of printing, so that the internal temperature of an apparatus can be stably maintained, and the use convenience can be enhanced.
US08055142B2

An image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the same are provided. The image forming apparatus includes a device information storage unit, a determiner and a controller. The device information storage unit is included in a replaceable device of the image forming apparatus and stores device-related information. The determiner determines whether the replaceable deice is a licensed or recycled product by analyzing the information stored in the device information storage unit, and outputs the determination result. The controller controls an operation of the image forming apparatus in response to the determination result output from the determiner. Since an operation of the image forming apparatus can be controlled according to characteristics of the replaceable device installed in the image forming apparatus, printing quality can be prevented from being deteriorated, durability of the image forming apparatus can be lengthened, and a user can safely use the image forming apparatus.
US08055138B2

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to determining a photosensor operating point.
US08055135B2

A dispersion compensator (10) that compensates dispersion occurring in an optical pulse includes a spatial filter (100) from which a pulsed light having a single peak is emitted as an autocorrelation light when a light having a strong correlation with an optical pulse to be dispersion-compensated is introduced into the spatial filter, and from which a scattered light is emitted as a cross-correlation light when a light having a weak correlation with an optical pulse to be dispersion-compensated is introduced into the spatial filter, wherein the dispersion compensator compensates dispersion occurring in the optical pulse having the strong correlation with the optical pulse to be dispersion-compensated, with the autocorrelation light treated as a dispersion-compensated optical pulse.
US08055117B2

The data structure includes a navigation area of the recording medium storing at least one playlist, a first entry point map and a second entry point map. The playlist includes at least one playitem and at least one sub-playitem. The playitem provides navigation information for reproducing at least one still picture from a first file, and the sub-playitem providing navigation information for reproducing audio data from a second file. The first entry point map includes at least one entry point pointing to the still picture, and the second entry point map includes at least one entry point pointing to the audio data.
US08055111B2

A dispersion-shifted optical fiber (NZDSF) includes a central core (r1, Dn1), an inner cladding having at least three zones with a first intermediate cladding zone (r2, Dn2), a second ring zone (r3, Dn3) and a third buried trench zone (Wtr, Dnt). The buried trench zone has an index difference (Dnt) with the optical cladding between −5·10−3 and −15·10−3 and has a width (Wtr) between 2.5 μm and 5.5 μm. The present optical fiber, at a wavelength of 1550 nm, has reduced Rayleigh scattering losses of less than 0.164 dB/km, with limited bending losses.
US08055110B2

Microstructured optical fiber for single-moded transmission of optical signals, the optical fiber including a core region and a cladding region, the cladding region including an annular hole-containing region that contains non-periodically disposed holes. The annular hole containing region is doped with at least one dopant selected from fluorine and chlorine. The optical fiber provides low bend loss as well as low heat-induced splice loss.
US08055109B2

Various embodiments include large cores fibers that can propagate few modes or a single mode while introducing loss to higher order modes. Some of these fibers are holey fibers that comprising cladding features such as air-holes. Additional embodiments described herein include holey rods. The rods and fibers may be used in many optical systems including optical amplification systems, lasers, short pulse generators, Q-switched lasers, etc. and may be used for example for micromachining.
US08055097B2

An image pick-up apparatus is disclosed which allows a reduction in degradation of images associated with a changed image magnification due to movements in a focus direction during image pick-up operation. The image pick-up apparatus has an image pick-up controller which performs a plurality of image pick-up operations for producing a single image and performs focus adjustment operation before each of the image pick-up operations to produce a first plurality of images, and an information producer which produces information on an image magnification of each of the first plurality of images. The image-pickup apparatus also has an image producer which produces a second plurality of images based on the first plurality of images and the information on the image magnification, and an image combiner which combines the second plurality of images to produce a single image.
US08055081B2

Classification of a group of temporally related images is disclosed, wherein a capture-location sequence is identified from the group of temporally related images. The capture-location-sequence information, which is associated collectively with the capture-location sequence, is compared with each of a plurality of sets of predetermined capture-location-sequence characteristics. Each set is associated with a predetermined classification. An identified classification associated with the group of temporally related images is identified based at least upon results from the comparing step; and the identified classification is stored in a processor-accessible memory system.
US08055070B2

Systems and methods for correcting color and geometry in an image are disclosed. In one example, image data are received in one format and are then converted to another format to perform color correction. In another example, geometric corrections are first applied to each color component of an image data to correct for different distortions including lateral chromatic aberrations. Next, color distortion corrections are performed to correct for each color component of the image data independently. In one particular exemplary embodiment, color distortion corrections are applied using surface function representation of a grid data transformation relating uncorrected values to corrected values.
US08055058B2

An apparatus and method for detecting defects in a wafer are provided. An optical part is disposed under an inspection stage and radiates infrared light. An image obtaining part detects the infrared light transmitted through the wafer to output an image signal. A conveying part conveys the image obtaining part or the inspection stage in a short side direction of a photographing region of a line sensor included in the image obtaining part, and outputs a pulse signal. A controller counts the pulse signal and outputs a photographing instruction signal controlling the image obtaining part to photograph the wafer whenever the wafer is conveyed in the short side direction of the photographing region of the line sensor toward the image obtaining part by a distance corresponding to the length of short sides of the photographing region. A defect detection part combines each image signal to generate an inspection image.
US08055052B2

A method of reducing artifacts in a digital radiographic image identifies either a row or column direction for the artifacts in the image data as a predominant direction and obtains a measurement of the image data frequency content that is subject to artifacts from the image content according to the predominant direction. The measurement of image data frequency content subject to the artifacts is tested according to a predetermined threshold. Artifacts are reduced when the predetermined threshold is exceeded by generating one or more suppression factors according to the testing results, decomposing the image content into at least two frequency bands in each row and column direction, applying the one or more suppression factors to modify at least one of the frequency bands, and recomposing the image content by recombining the at least one modified frequency band with one or more other bands into which the image had been decomposed.
US08055047B2

Improved surface feature recognition in CT images is provided by extracting a triangulated mesh representation of the surface of interest. Shape operators are computed at each vertex of the mesh from finite differences of vertex normals. The shape operators at each vertex are smoothed according to an iterative weighted averaging procedure. Principal curvatures at each vertex are computed from the smoothed shape operators. Vertices are marked as maxima and/or minima according to the signs of the principal curvatures. Vertices marked as having the same feature type are clustered together by adjacency on the mesh to provide candidate patches. Feature scores are computed for each candidate patch and the scores are provided as output to a user or for further processing.
US08055044B2

One of two data sets, originating from two different radiological methods is processed to generate interim results, yielded by an operation on one of the data sets. The interim results are used to modify the other data set. Different imaging capabilities of the employed radiological methods promote a particular task, e.g. the segmentation of a given type of tissue. When the combined data of both methods is displayed, clinical users benefit from the complementary information. Care is taken, that only relevant information is presented to the user, as to avoid irrelevant data obscuring any data of interest. Therefore, the data to be displayed is filtered based on content, e.g. the type of tissue, and on location. Three-dimensional computer tomography and three-dimensional rotational angiography are particularly applicable radiological methods.
US08055043B2

An imaging processor includes an amplifier that increases luminance indicated by green and blue image data on the basis of luminance indicated by red image data out of a plurality of pieces of image data in respective wavelength components, which are pieces of image data representing the same area.
US08055036B2

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus preferable for creating a sharper image from the signal originating from contrast medium and the signal originating from biological tissues and an ultrasonic image display method are provided.The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprises an ultrasonic probe 10 for transmitting/receiving ultrasonic waves to/from an object to be examined, transmission means 12 for providing drive signals to ultrasonic probe 10, reception means for receiving the received signals outputted from ultrasonic probe 10, signal processing means 16 for processing the received signals outputted from the receiving means 14, image processing means 18 for constructing an ultrasonic image from the signals outputted from signal processing means 16, and display means for displaying the ultrasonic image.Signal processing means 16 has means for detecting the signal intensity and the amount of variation with time of the received signal outputted from reception means 14 for each frequency band.Image processing means 18 has means for distinguishing the signal of the ultrasonic image originating from the contrast medium and the signal originating from the biological tissues.The signal intensity and the amount of variation with time of the received signal obtained by transmitting/receiving ultrasonic waves to/from the object are detected for each frequency band, the signals originating from the contrast medium and the biological tissues are distinguished on the basis of the signal intensity and the quantity of variation of time for each frequency band, and an ultrasonic image is displayed.
US08055033B2

There is provided a medical image processing apparatus including an image-extracting section extracting a frame image from in vivo motion picture data picked up by an in vivo image pickup device or a plurality of consecutively picked-up still image data, and an image analysis section analyzing the frame image extracted by the image-extracting section to output an image analysis result. The image analysis section includes a first biological-feature detection section detecting a first biological feature, a second biological-feature detection section detecting, based on a detection result obtained by the first biological feature detection section, a second biological feature in a frame image picked up temporally before or after the image used for detection by the first biological feature detection section; and a condition determination section making a determination for a biological condition based on a detection result obtained by the second biological feature detection section to output the determination.
US08055032B2

A digital camera includes a fingerprint input interface, a fingerprint sensor, a fingerprint information storage unit, and a fingerprint identification module. The fingerprint input interface is for a current user to input the current user's fingerprint. The fingerprint sensor is for reading the current user's fingerprint and getting characteristics of the current user's fingerprint. The fingerprint information storage unit is for storing predefined characteristics of authorized users' fingerprints and access privilege settings of different users. The fingerprint identification module is for an administrator of the digital camera to set access privileges of different users according to the users' fingerprints, and authorizing the current user to access operations of the digital camera, and restricting access to operations of the digital camera according to whether the characteristics of the current user's fingerprint match the predefined characteristics of the authorized users' fingerprints.
US08055028B2

An object pose normalization method and apparatus and an object recognition method are provided. The object pose normalization method includes: determining a pose of a non-frontal image of an object; performing smoothing transformation on the non-frontal image of the object, thereby generating a smoothed object image; and synthesizing a frontal image of the object by using the pose determination result and the smoothed object image. According to the method and apparatus, a front object image can be synthesized by using a non-frontal object image without causing an image distortion problem due to self-occlusion and non-rigid deformation.
US08055023B2

A plurality of lighting units are positioned forwardly of the driver seat in the cabin of a vehicle for applying infrared radiations in respective directions to the vehicle driver seated on the driver seat. The intensities of the emitted infrared radiations are controlled according to respective basic controlled variables depending on the illuminance in the vehicle cabin. The position and orientation of the face of the vehicle driver are recognized from an image captured of the vehicle driver by an imaging device, and the basic controlled variables are corrected according to the recognized position and orientation, thereby adjusting the intensities of the infrared radiations emitted from the lighting units and a balance of the infrared radiations emitted from the lighting units. Thereafter, the illuminance in the vehicle cabin and the recognized position and orientation change, then corrective coefficients for the basic controlled variables are updated depending on the changes.
US08055015B2

A method for detecting an incident on a traffic lane uses a video camera having a target constituting an optoelectronic converter of a real optical image, the target being monitored by a programmable processing member and the incident detection process being designed to be carried out by activating the programmable processing member only when the real landscape image focused on the target is stationary. The inventive method includes detecting the beginning of displacement of the real image of the landscape relative to the target, in deactivating the programmable processing member right at the beginning of the displacement of the real image of the landscape relative to the target, and reactivating the programmable processing member at the end of the displacement of the real image of the landscape relative to the target to carry out the incident detection process.
US08055002B2

A method and apparatus for a modular hearing aid for a user having a hearing canal, including a housing adapted to fit within at least a portion of the hearing canal, and having at least one access port, a cover adapted for at least partially covering the at least one access port, and signal processing electronics connected to a microphone and a power supply. In various examples, a microphone housing is adapted to mount to the housing and to fit within the at least one access port, and to connect to the microphone, the signal processing electronics and the power supply. In one variant, the apparatus includes a receiver connected to the signal processing electronics, and a fastener as a unitary connector of the cover and microphone housing to the housing. Other variations are presented herein.
US08054998B2

In a multichannel amplifier according to the present invention, in a case where a headphone is not connected to a headphone output terminal, a switch IC and first to third switches are on/off controlled by a control unit so that an audio signal path for outputting a front channel signal FL/FR to a front speaker and extending from a first input terminal 1 to a front speaker output terminal 6 via a buffer circuit 10a, a switch IC 9, a first volume control unit 3a, a buffer circuit 10b, and a first amplifying unit 4a is not electrically connected to another audio signal path.
US08054995B2

A system and method for modulating the sound pressure that is output from an audio transducer is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving an audio signal and placing the audio signal across a voice coil of the transducer. In addition, a voltage is applied across a field coil of the transducer, the field coil being separate from the voice coil. And the voltage that is applied across the field coil is adjusted so as to modulate the sound pressure output from the audio transducer.
US08054991B2

A sound pickup apparatus includes a plurality of microphones, and a controller that receives signals from the plurality of microphones. When the controller detects a failure in one of the plurality of microphones based on the signals received from the plurality of microphones, the controller restricts a signal from at least one remaining non-failure microphone.
US08054982B2

A sound signal generator testing apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a hermetic seal (2), a sound signal input unit (4), and at least a noise suppression unit (5). The sound signal input unit is for receiving sound signals transmitted from a sound signal generator (1) under testing. Each noise suppression unit includes a sound signal input unit, a low pass filter, an inverter, and an output. The sound signal input unit is for receiving sound signals. The low pass filter is for filtering the sound signals by passing the low frequencies of the sound signals that are below a predetermined value. The inverter is for inverting phases of the sound signals transmitted from the low pass filter and producing inverted sound signals. The output unit is placed behind the sound signal input unit for outputting the inverted sound signals.
US08054975B2

A method and a system for managing a key of a home device in a broadcast encryption system are provided. A hierarchical structure of a group set comprising a plurality of nodes corresponding to the home server and a plurality of nodes corresponding to the home device is formed. A key set to be allotted to the node set is generated. The node group is allowed to correspond to the key set to generate key-node corresponding information according to a request of the home server.
US08054969B2

A method is disclosed that enables the transmission of a digital message along with a corresponding media information signal, such as audio or video. A telecommunications device that is processing the information signal from its user, such as a speech signal, encodes the information signal by using a model-based compression coder. One such device is a telecommunications endpoint. Then, based on an evaluation of the perceptual significance of each encoded bit, or on some other meaningful characteristic of the signal, the endpoint's processor: (i) determines which encoded bits can be overwritten; and (ii) intersperses the digital message bits throughout the encoded signal in place of the overwritten bits. The endpoint then transmits those digital message bits as part of the encoded information signal. In this way, no additional bits are appended to the packet to be transmitted, thereby addressing the issue of compatibility with existing protocols and firewalls.
US08054963B2

A method and system for providing call forwarding in an IP telephone network is disclosed. First, when a telephone number for a first telephone from a second telephone is dialed, the call is routing to a call manager. Call setup procedures with a BRG responsible for the first telephone are then initiated. The BRG then checks stored call forwarding profiles to determine whether there is an active call forwarding profile for the first telephone. The call is connected to the first telephone if an active call forwarding profile is not found. However, if an active call forwarding profile is found, the call forwarding information is sent to the call manager. The call is routed to at least a third telephone based on the call forwarding information.
US08054961B2

In some embodiments, a future availability system may include one or more of the following features: (a) a memory having, (i) a future availability program that allows a caller to obtain future availability information about a call recipient if the caller has been designated by the recipient to have access to the future availability data, (ii) program that notifies the caller through a method chosen by the caller when the call recipient's availability changes (b) a processor coupled to the memory that executes the future availability program, (c) an inference engine located on the memory that stores information about the call recipient.
US08054954B1

The present invention provides a method, device, and system for taking voice memos during a communication session. More specifically, voice memos may be taken using the same communication device that is used in the communication session. This can be accomplished by automatically muting the communication device and establishing a communication channel with another endpoint, such as a recording endpoint, to record audio signals transmitted by the communication device.
US08054952B1

Embodiments of the invention provide a system for generating an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) database. The system comprises a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory comprises a list of telephone numbers associated with one or more destinations implementing IVR, wherein the destinations are grouped based on at least one category; instructions executable by the processor for automatically communicating with at least one user; and instructions executable by the processor for at least one personal record from the at least one user and for storing the at least one personal record in the IVR database.
US08054949B2

A system for identifying an originator based on an image and a method thereof are disclosed. The method includes: transmitting a session initiate protocol INVITE message by inserting predetermined image information in the session initiate protocol INVITE message at a transmitting terminal; and displaying an image by analyzing image information included in a received session initiate protocol INVITE message transmitted from the transmitting terminal at a receiving terminal.
US08054937B2

The present invention is directed toward an X-ray scanning system having a plurality of detectors and a controller, where a) the controller is configured to receive and identify a minimum X-ray transmission level detected by at least one detector, b) the controller compares the minimum X-ray transmission level to at least one predetermined threshold transmission level, and c) based on said comparison, the controller generates an adjustment signal. The present invention further comprises an X-ray source, where the X-ray source receives an adjustment signal and is configured to adjust an X-ray pulse duration based on the adjustment signal.
US08054924B2

A data transmission method with phase shift error correction comprising: transmitting through a network a transmission signal, wherein the transmission signal comprises a reference signal component having a predetermined frequency and a data signal component; receiving the transmission signal, wherein the received transmission signal includes a phase shift error caused by the network, wherein the phase shift error is in both the received reference signal component and the received data signal component; generating a multiplier signal at a receiver having the predetermined reference frequency; using the multiplier signal to determine the phase shift error in the received transmission signal; and correcting the received data signal component using the determined phase shift error.
US08054916B2

A method for using a wireless digital base station to receive, process and transmit a plurality of communications having independent data rates establishing a first communication channel having a first data communication rate to support a first communication; determining the data rate required to support the first communication; selecting one or more transmission channels, from a plurality of available transmission channels, required to support said required data rate; and transmitting the first communication using one or more selected transmission channels. The plurality of available transmission channels includes at least one B or D channel.
US08054913B2

Power switches of circuits at respective stages of a low noise amplifier, demodulators, low-pass filers, variable gain amplifiers, and analog-to-digital converters are controlled to be off by an operation control unit in a non-reception period of an impulse signal. An increase in power consumption due to the adoption of an active filter or a variable gain amplifier is compensated for by a reduction in power consumption through intermittent operations of the circuits at the respective stages according to on and off control of the power switches.
US08054907B2

A method and system for removing the effect of intersymbol interference (ISI) from a data record indicating times of logic level transitions exhibited by a data signal that has been distorted by ISI exhibited by a system having a particular step response may perform the following acts. The data record may be received, and a transition from within the data may be selected record for removal of ISI. Preceding transitions within the data record are then inspected. A time defect is obtained, based at least in part upon the inspected preceding transitions. Finally, the data record is adjusted, based upon the time defect, to indicate a new time of transition for the selected transition, thereby removing the effect of ISI for the selected transition.
US08054898B2

A method is provided for scheduling data transmission in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. The MIMO-OFDM system may comprise at least one MIMO-OFDM transmitter and at least one MIMO-OFDM receiver. Feedback from one or more receivers may be used by a transmitter to improve quality, capacity, and scheduling in MIMO-OFDM communication systems. The method may comprise generating or receiving information pertaining to a MIMO channel metric and information pertaining to a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) in respect of a transmitted signal; and sending a next transmission to a receiver using a MIMO mode selected in accordance with the information pertaining to the MIMO channel metric, and an adaptive coding and modulation selected in accordance with the information pertaining to the CQI.
US08054897B2

A method for demodulating an ultra-wide band (UWB) signal includes detecting a detecting a data rate of the UWB signal, selecting one from plurality of clock signals in response to the detected data rate, decoding the UWB signal in accordance with the selected clock signal, and outputting transmission data determined by a fast clock. The plurality of clock signals includes at least one frequency different from other frequencies. A receiver for an UWB signal includes an OFDM demodulating unit demodulating the UWB signal into an OFDM symbol, and a bit-level processing unit demodulating the OFDM symbol into bit-level data. The bit-level processing unit receives a scaled clock signal having a frequency corresponding to one of a plurality of data rates of the UWB signal. The method and apparatus may reduce static power consumption and improve performance of the receiver.
US08054894B2

In an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing communication system, a user equipment reports channel quality information that is sufficient to construct a fading profile of a frequency bandwidth and that does not consuming the overhead resulting from the reporting of CQI for every sub-band of the frequency bandwidth. In the communication system, the frequency bandwidth may be represented by multiple sub-band levels, wherein each sub-band level comprises a division of the frequency bandwidth into a number of sub-bands different from the number of sub-bands of the other sub-band levels. The user equipment measures a channel quality associated with each sub-band of a sub-band level of the multiple sub-band levels, selects a sub-band of the sub-band level based on the measured channel qualities, and reports channel quality information associated with the selected sub-band to a radio access network.
US08054891B2

A channel equalizer includes a first transformer, an estimator, an average calculator, a second transformer, a coefficient calculator, a compensator, and a third transformer. The first transformer converts normal data into frequency domain data, where a known data sequence is periodically repeated in the normal data. The estimator estimates channel impulse responses (CIR) during known data intervals adjacent to each normal data block. The average calculator calculates an average value of the CIRs. The second transformer converts the average value into frequency domain data. The coefficient calculator calculates equalization coefficients using the average value, and the compensator compensates channel distortion of each normal data block using the coefficients. The third transformer converts the compensated data block into time domain data.
US08054888B2

A system and method for converting a codec of image data is provided. The system includes a syntax converter for selectively converting first image data having a first syntax into second image data having a second syntax in response to a comparison of the first image data and the second image data, and a decoder for decoding a bit stream outputted from the syntax converter.
US08054885B2

A method of decoding a current layer using inter-layer prediction is disclosed. The present invention includes determining whether a position of a current block is included in a sampled reference layer, the current block included in the current layer, obtaining a plurality of prediction flags when the position of the current block is included in the sampled reference layer, and decoding the current layer using the plurality of the prediction flags.
US08054876B2

A delay line for deployment in an equalizer to insert a delay in a signal received by the delay line employs a plurality of cascaded delay stages where the delay per stage provided by an active unit-gain amplifier in each stage that provides sufficient impedance mismatch between the delay stages without substantial deterioration of the frequency response of the client signal undergoing deterioration of the frequency response of the client signal undergoing delay.
US08054875B2

Apparatus and methods provide a Tomlinson-Harashima precoder scheme in which a feedback filter may be constructed to match an approximated feedforward filter, where the feedforward filter is approximated using autoregressive moving average modeling.
US08054872B2

There is provided an apparatus for determining a carrier-to-noise power density ratio (CN0) of a spread spectrum signal. The apparatus includes a signal power calculation unit and a conversion unit. The signal power calculation unit determines a signal power indicator indicative of a signal to noise ratio of the spread spectrum signal. The conversion unit is coupled to the signal power calculation unit and stores a lookup table representing a relationship between the signal power indicator and the carrier-to-noise power density ratio. The conversion unit is operable for converting the signal power indicator to the carrier-to-noise power density ratio according to the lookup table.
US08054868B2

A UWB transmitting/receiving apparatus, a UWB transmitting/receiving terminal apparatus and a UWB transmitting/receiving system wherein a possibly reduced number of data retransmissions is achieved so as to raise the transmission efficiency. A UWB transmitting/receiving apparatus (100), which performs a UWB transmission, comprises a receiving part (400) that receives a propagation environment determination pulse transmitted from a UWB transmitting/receiving terminal apparatus (200), which also performs a UWB transmission, and a transmitting part (300) that transmits a data signal while the receiving part (400) is receiving the propagation environment determination pulse.
US08054865B1

A secure information transmission system includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers. The transmission waveform employed includes highly randomized, independent stochastic processes, and is secured as a separate entity from the information it carries. The signal, using novel modulation methodology reducing impulse responses, has a paucity of spectral information and may be detected, acquired and demodulated only by communicants generating the necessary receiving algorithm coefficients. The physical area of signal reception is restricted to that of each intended communicant, reception areas following movements of mobile communicants. A unique instant in time is used as basis for communications keys to the securing algorithms dynamically generated on a one-time basis and never exchanged or stored by communicants. Technology is applicable to both fixed and mobile communications and may be applied to communications systems using wireless, fiber-optic, copper, acoustic and any other man-made or naturally occurring transmission media.
US08054862B2

Optoelectronic devices are provided. In one embodiment, a device may include a first conductivity type cladding layer including a first barrier layer, an active layer formed on the first conductivity-type cladding layer, the active layer including a well layer made of a nitride semiconductor, and a second conductivity-type cladding layer formed on the active layer and including a second barrier layer. The active layer is positioned between and adjacent to the first barrier layer and the second barrier layer.
US08054861B2

A method of processing data comprises the receiving a frame of data having a predetermined number of time slots (502,504,506). Each time slot comprises a respective plurality of data symbols (520). The method further comprises a primary (508), a secondary (510) and a tertiary (512) synchronization code in each said predetermined number of time slots.
US08054858B2

A DTV transmitting system includes two pre-processors. The first pre-processor codes high-priority enhanced data for forward error correction (FEC) and expands the FEC-coded data. The second pre-processor codes low-priority enhanced data for FEC and expands the FEC-coded low-priority enhanced data. The DTV transmitting system further includes a data formatter generating enhanced data packets including the pre-processed data, a multiplexer multiplexing the enhanced data packets with main data packets, an RS encoder RS-coding the multiplexed data packets, a data interleaver interleaving the RS-coded data packets, and a block processor which codes each block of enhanced data in the interleaved enhanced data packets and bypasses the interleaved main data packets.
US08054851B2

Disclosed is a method for detecting a hidden station in a specific station constituting a wireless communication network that includes receiving a frame after a lapse of an idle state interval longer than a predetermined waiting time; determining that there is a hidden station, if a size of the received frame is equal to a size of an Acknowledge (ACK) frame; and determining that there is no hidden station, if the size of the received frame is not equal to the size of the ACK frame.
US08054837B2

System and methodologies are provided herein for multiuser scheduling in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. Various aspects described herein facilitate full feedback scheduling, wherein multiuser scheduling is performed based on an antenna selection and signal quality feedback, such as signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) feedback, from respective users. Based on information received from respective users, independent information streams can be transmitted from respective transmit antennas to respective users with the highest signal quality. Receive antenna selection can also be employed to allow respective users to select a single receive antenna on which information is to be received. Additional aspects described herein facilitate quantized feedback scheduling, wherein scheduling is performed based on signal quality feedback that is quantized into a finite number of bits by respective users.
US08054836B2

The present invention relates to maintaining an order of received data units during a handover procedure in a wireless communication system. The present invention includes receiving a plurality of data units from a source station according to a sequence prior to handover to a target base station, wherein each data unit includes a sequence number, receiving at least one data unit having a sequence number after handover from a target base station, and delivering to a higher layer all data units received from the source base station prior to handover and having sequence numbers smaller than a sequence number of the at least one data unit received from the target base station after handover.
US08054833B2

Network devices, systems, and methods are provided for packet processing. One network device includes a network chip including logic and a number of network ports for the device for receiving and transmitting packets therefrom. The logic is operable to mirror packets on a per port per virtual local area network (VLAN) membership basis.
US08054827B2

Methods, systems, and computer program products are described associated with publicly-switched telephone network (“PSTN”) signaling at a media gateway for a packet-based network. The described signaling involves receiving, at a media gateway in communication with a packet-based network, signaling information and content information associated with one or more calls. The signaling information is based on a PSTN standard. At least a portion of both the signaling information and the content information is processed at the media gateway using a common processor. At least a portion of the content information is transmitted to a destination based on at least a portion of the signaling information.
US08054817B2

The embodiments generate a new type of amble sequence for a wireless communication network with mixed nodes, by generating a first amble sequence invisible to a first node based upon an existing amble sequence for the first node and generating a second amble sequence having a low to zero cross-correlation with the first amble sequence, based upon the first amble sequence. The first and second amble sequences can be broadcast in alternating communication link frames.
US08054811B2

In a packet data transmission and reception system, a media access control (MAC) message is broadcast by a base station to a plurality of mobile stations. The MAC message contains packet data transmission scheduling information which allows the base station to preemptively control mobile station access to traffic channels in order to maximize the efficiency of packet data transmissions and allow scheduling consideration including priority access, quality of service and maximum bytes per transfer. The MAC message consists of a control frame structure, which comprises scheduling parameters including MAC IDs fields, activity fields, and a field representing the number of free traffic channels in a cell. These parameters enable multiple mobile stations to share, in a time multiplexed fashion, traffic channels for packet data transmission on CDMA based mobile communication systems.
US08054807B2

A Handover method in a mobile WiMAX network includes sending a list of target BSs for possible HO acquired by an MSS to a serving BS; providing, at the serving BS, a HO request to the target BSs in the list along with an unique identifier identifying the MSS to collect association responses from the target BSs; providing, at the serving BS, the association responses along with the unique identifier to the MSS so that the MSS performs scanning and ranging processes; performing resource reservation for possible HO at the target BSs; setting up service flows at a target BS selected among the target BSs; bi-casting data from the serving BS to the MS and the selected target BS before the connection break with the serving BS; and performing, at the MSS, an initializing procedure to connect with the selected target BS as a new serving BS.
US08054806B2

In a wireless network, for example, an LTE network, the context information relating to a mobile terminal UE is transmitted to a plurality of network nodes eNB 2, 3 and 4 from a source network node, eNB 1. One of the eNB 2 is a handover target node and also reserves resources for the UE in anticipation of receiving it after handover. The other eNBs 3 and 4 do not reserve resources. In the event of radio link failure, the UE may attach to one of the designated eNBs 3 and 4 that have not reserved resources, but that do recognize the UE because they have received its context. The method reduces the likelihood of the UE needing to go via the time consuming IDLE state while only reserving resources at a handover target eNB.
US08054805B2

A method, an apparatus and a system for obtaining a Media Independent Handover (MIH) service information. The method including: receiving an MIH service information request message from a mobile node; obtaining the MIH service information requested by the mobile node; and sending a response message to the mobile node, with the obtained MIH service information carried in the response message.
US08054802B2

A method for hand-off trigger at access technology borders may include triggering a mobile station in communication with a first carrier having a first technology type to acquire synchronization with a second carrier having a second technology type if the mobile station enters a border area, the border area including at least one sector covered by at least two carriers having different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) including the first technology type and the second technology type.
US08054800B2

A method of performing a handover to at least one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network is disclosed. More specifically, the method comprises establishing a heterogeneous network handover module for converging information from the at least one network interface module associated with the at least one of a homogeneous and heterogeneous network into a unified presentation. The method further comprises receiving a message for establishing connection by the at least one network interface module in a mobile terminal from the heterogeneous network handover module, performing link switch operation for establishing connection with an interface module in a network, and transmitting a confirmation message for indicating a link switch status to the heterogeneous network handover module.
US08054794B2

A method of scheduling uplink transmissions from a plurality of source user equipments to a base station is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining the amount of data in the data buffer of each of the user equipments, comparing the amount of data in the data buffers of the user equipments to obtain, for each user equipment, a relative indicator, the relative indicator indicating how full that user equipment's data buffer is in comparison to the data buffers of the other user equipments, and scheduling uplink transmissions in dependence on the relative indicators. In this way, each user equipment is given some knowledge of the state of the buffer in the other user equipments. The user equipments are therefore able to make more efficient scheduling decisions. This can improve the throughput and give lower packet delivery delays.
US08054790B2

Example embodiments are directed to frequency mapping for a wireless communication system. An example embodiment provides a method frequency reuse method. The frequency reuse method includes assigning frequencies for use and reuse to sectors of a cell of a wireless communication system; and communicating with a mobile station using the assigned frequency. Each of the sectors includes sub-sectors, and each of the sub-sectors have an assigned frequency for communicating with a mobile station within the sub-sector. The frequency assignments for each sector of the cell are different.
US08054789B2

A system and method include a base station configured to provide centralized data transmission scheduling for at least one relay operatively connected to the base station configured to provide centralized data transmission scheduling for at least one relay operatively connected to the base station in a point-to-point connection and configured to provide centralized data transmission scheduling for at least one mobile station operatively connected to the relay in a point-to-multipoint connection. The method efficiently reports ACKs/NAKs for a centralized scheduler wireless system that uses tunneling for data transmission and, in order to reduce a usage of bandwidth for reporting. The system and method also perform an aggregation via coding of ACK/NAK channels.
US08054783B2

A system and method for multiplexing subchannels in an OFDMA network is provided. The subchannels can be multiplexed by splitting the subchannels in the frequency domain. Alternatively, the subchannels can be code division multiplexed using N orthogonal spreading codes. The subchannel multiplexing increases system capacity for low-rate services, such as voice-based services.
US08054780B1

A method and system for aggregate registration and transparent data notification to services during IMS registration. A network entity, such as Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) may receive an aggregate registration request that includes a plurality of service identifiers and associated service-specific data sets. The aggregate registration request is sent by a user agent or other similar program on behalf of a user. The network entity then sends a notification to each particular service of the plurality of services, including in each notification the service-specific data set for the particular service. The user may thus supply service-specific data to each service during IMS registration, obviating the need for the user to directly and separately contact each service for the purpose of supplying service-specific data.
US08054777B2

A wireless communications system has a communications device, which has an RLC entity having a transmitting side and a receiving side. When re-establishing the receiving side, to handle control PDUs, only the receiving side in the RLC entity of the communications device is re-established, a first control PDU corresponding to the receiving side is discarded, and a second control PDU corresponding to the transmitting side is retained and not discarded.
US08054767B2

A method of transmitting scheduling information in time-division-duplex(TDD) system is provided. The method comprises configuring a radio frame, the radio frame comprising at least one downlink subframe and at least one uplink subframe, wherein a downlink subframe is reserved for downlink transmission and an uplink subframe is reserved for uplink transmission, and transmitting scheduling information on a downlink control channel in a downlink subframe, the scheduling information comprising an uplink indicator and uplink resource assignment, the uplink indicator indicating which at least one uplink subframe the uplink resource assignment is valid for. Data can be efficiently transmitted by using an uplink indicator which indicates a specific location of a subframe.
US08054763B2

A method, system and computer program product for migrating at least one switch in a storage area network is disclosed. The migration is done by analysing the I/O traffic to identify patterns in the I/O traffic of the switch; forecasting future I/O workload of the switch based on one or more identified patterns in the I/O traffic, determining appropriate timing for migration based on the identified patterns and administrator inputs; processing the storage area network configuration data to identify the storage network physical and logical access paths to the or each selected switch to create a first connectivity map; generating a second connectivity map based on the first connectivity map and administrator inputs; and migrating the or each switch migration based on the second connectivity map and the appropriate timing. The migration may comprise routing the I/O traffic from the switch to be migrated to the alternate switches in the storage area network. The migration may further comprising transforming zones on the switch to be migrated and deploying the transformed zones to the new switch.
US08054761B2

A first network element receives a message from a second network element. The message is modified by the first network element by inserting a certificate into the message, wherein the certificate includes an identity of the first network element and a digital signature produced by the first network element. The modified message is sent to a third network element.
US08054759B2

There is provided a method for enabling a user equipment (UE) to transition between a non-discontinuous reception (Non-DRX) level and at least one discontinuous reception (DRX) level. The UE in a DRX level wakes up periodically to monitor a scheduling channel. The method includes receiving a DRX indicator in a Non-DRX level with continuously monitoring the scheduling channel and transitioning from the Non-DRX level to a DRX level indicated by the DRX indicator. The UE can transition between multiple DRX levels by an explicit command/signaling.
US08054745B2

A method for managing a call admission controller in a multi-hop wireless backhaul network is illustrated. The method provides a call access control mechanism in a multi-hop wireless backhaul network system by calculating at least one service quality parameter in the network and determining if service data transmitted from relay nodes is allowed to enter a gateway of the network according to the at least one service quality parameter. In exemplary embodiments of present invention, the service quality parameter includes a throughput, an average delay of packets, a number of remote devices, a packet loss rate, a number of the relay nodes, and an amount of service data of a specific class traffic in the network. A topology of the network may be a ring, a chain, or a tree topology, and a ripple protocol is utilized as media access control protocol in the network.
US08054738B2

A touch panel includes a first conductive coating (23), a second conductive coating (24), a first wire (L1), a second wire (L2), a third wire (L3), a first switch element (233), and a second switch element (243). The first and second conductive coatings are opposite to each other. The first wire is electrically connected to a left edge of the first conductive coating. The second wire is electrically connected to a right edge of the first conductive coating via the first switch element, and is connected to a lower edge of the second conductive coating via the second switch element. The third wire is electrically connected to an upper edge of the second conductive coating. A method of driving the touch panel and a display utilizing the touch panel are also provided.
US08054735B2

To provide an optical disc device 1, and similar, equipped with a new mechanism to reduce laser light noise due to optical feedback.In an optical disc device 1 in which a laser diode is driven by a high frequency modulation method, optical feedback is returned to the laser diode at a timing at which the phase of the injected carrier density is within one of the following ranges: (1) equal to or greater than the peak phase of the injected carrier density of the laser diode, and equal to or less than the peak phase of the injected carrier density of the laser diode plus 3π/8 (radians); or (2) equal to or greater than the peak phase of the injected carrier density of the laser diode plus 9π/8 (radians), and equal to or less than the peak phase of the injected carrier density of the laser diode plus 2π (radians).
US08054720B2

An optical disk apparatus according to the present invention generates a divided clock signal by dividing a recording clock signal, and based on the divided clock signal, determines a test emission pattern for test recording which is used for controlling the power of a light beam that is output from an emission section. When the linear velocity at recording changes, the division ratio is adjusted in a direction of reducing a change in frequency of the divided clock signal. In an optical disk apparatus which performs laser power control by conducting a test emission with multipulses in a test area, a good detection accuracy of a multi-pulse average value can be maintained even at high x-speeds.
US08054701B2

A semiconductor memory device is capable of controlling a delay locked loop appropriately based on operation modes, particularly in a fast power-down mode to reduce an amount of current maximumly. The semiconductor memory device includes a delay-locked clock signal generating unit, a mode signal generating unit, and a delay locking control unit. The delay-locked clock signal generating unit performs a delay locking operation on a clock signal, thereby generating a delay-locked clock signal. The mode signal generating unit enables a fast precharge power-down mode signal in a fast precharge power-down mode. The delay locking control unit controls the delay-locked clock signal generating unit to be activated in a predetermined cycle in response to the fast precharge power-down mode signal.
US08054700B2

A semiconductor memory device operates in synchronization with a system clock, without using a synchronous circuit such as a DLL or a PLL. The semiconductor memory device includes a synchronous circuit for generating output signals phase aligned with the system clock, a synchronous circuit selection circuit that performs switching between a synchronous circuit selection mode and a synchronous circuit non-selection mode, and a reference edge specifying register that specifies an edge of an internal clock which serves as a reference for outputting read data in the synchronous circuit non-selection mode. In the synchronous circuit selection mode, the read data is output by adjusting a phase deviation of the internal clock with respect to the system clock, using the synchronous circuit. In the synchronous circuit non-selection mode, the read data is output in synchronization with the internal clock, without using the synchronous circuit. For a delay of the internal clock with respect to the system clock, the edge of the internal clock used as the reference is adjusted by the reference edge specifying register. Then, even if the synchronous circuit is not used, a large timing deviation does not thereby occur.
US08054695B2

A reference voltage selecting unit selectively outputs a first external reference voltage and a second external reference voltage as a selection reference voltage in accordance with whether to perform a wafer test. An address buffer generates an internal address by buffering an external address in accordance with the selection reference voltage. A command buffer generates an internal command by buffering an external command in accordance with the selection reference voltage. A data buffer generates internal data by buffering an external data in accordance with the second external reference voltage.
US08054693B2

In example embodiments, the semiconductor memory device, and the method for operating the semiconductor memory device, includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells each formed of a transistor having a floating body. The transistors are coupled between a plurality of word lines, a plurality of source lines and a plurality of bit lines. Additionally, the memory cell array includes a controller configured to read data from at least one of the memory cells and restore data to the memory cell storing a first data state through a bit operation of the memory cell. The controller restores data to the memory cell by applying a first source-line control voltage to a selected source line and applying a first word-line control voltage to a selected word line in a first period of a read operation. Also, the controller is configured to restore data to the memory cell, which is storing a second data state, by applying a second source-line control voltage to the selected source line and applying a second word-line control voltage to the selected word line in a second period of the read operation.
US08054692B2

A flash memory device controls a common source line voltage and performs a program verify method. A plurality of memory cells is connected between a bit line and the common source line. A data input/output circuit is connected to the bit line and is configured to store data to be programmed in a selected memory cell of the plurality of memory cells. The data input/output circuit maintains data to be programmed within the data input/output circuit during a program verify operation, and decreases noise in the common source line by selectively precharging the bit line based on the data to be programmed.
US08054687B2

The present invention describes systems and methods to for providing stable and programmable voltage and current reference devices. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a voltage reference device having a first floating-gate transistor with a first source, a first drain, and a first gate. The first gate is provided coupled to a first programming capacitor and a first input capacitor. Furthermore, the voltage reference device includes a second floating-gate transistor having a second source, a second drain, and a second gate. The second gate is provided coupled to a second programming capacitor and a second input capacitor. Additionally, the charge difference between the first floating-gate transistor and the second floating-gate transistor is a reference voltage.
US08054676B2

A memory system (250) includes a plurality of memory devices (260) adapted to be coupled to an interface (140), an indicator (272) for indicating a type of the plurality of memory devices (260), and an override circuit (280) having a first terminal adapted to be coupled to the interface (140), a second terminal coupled to the plurality of the memory devices (260), and a control input for receiving a control signal. The override circuit (280) is responsive to the control signal to alter an operation of the memory system (250).
US08054674B2

Provided is a variable resistive element which performs high speed and low power consumption operation. The variable resistive element comprises a metal oxide layer between first and second electrodes wherein electrical resistance between the first and second electrodes reversibly changes in accordance with application of electrical stress across the first and second electrodes. The metal oxide layer has a filament, which is a current path where the density of a current flowing between the first and second electrodes locally increases. A portion including at least the vicinity of an interface between the certain electrode, which is one or both of the first and second electrodes, and the filament, on an interface between the certain electrode and the metal oxide layer is provided with an interface oxide which is an oxide of at least one element included in the certain electrode and different from the oxide of the metal oxide layer.
US08054670B2

[PROBLEMS] To provide a reconfiguration controller of an optically reconfigurable gate array for correctly and reliably writing various types of logical operation circuits of an optically reconfigurable gate array and performing high-speed logical operation by quickly starting up the circuits. [MEANS FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS] A reconfiguration controller comprises a laser array (1) for producing a laser beam (1a) to serve as a reproducing beam and applying the laser beam (1a), a hologram memory (2) for outputting an optical pattern (2a) when receiving the laser beam (1a) according to pre-stored recording information and outputting a control signal light (2b) relating to optical reconfiguration by the optical pattern (2a), an optically reconfigurable gate array (3) for reconfiguring arrayed logical operation cells into various logical operation circuits according to the outputted optical pattern (2a), and outputting an optical control signal (S3) from the control signal light (2b), and a reproduction light application control means (4) for controlling the application of the laser beam (1a) emitted from the laser array (1) according to the optical control signal. Therefore, optical pattern application can be performed according to the optical control signal at a reconfiguration time adapted to any of various logical operation circuits sequentially reconfigured by the optically reconfigurable gate array. Consequently, correct and reliable write of any one of various types of logical operation circuits can be performed without any write error, and such various types of logical operation circuits can perform logical operation sequentially at high speed.
US08054666B2

In an information storage device, a writing magnetic layer is formed on a substrate and has a magnetic domain wall. A connecting magnetic layer is formed on the writing magnetic layer, and an information storing magnetic layer is formed on an upper portion of side surfaces of the connecting magnetic layer. A reader reads information stored in the information storing magnetic layer.
US08054663B2

A multi-chip package memory includes an interface chip generating at least one reference signal defined in relation to a reference process variation, and a stacked plurality of memory chips electrically connected to the interface chip via a vertical connection path and receiving the reference clock signal via the vertical connection path, wherein each one of the stacked plurality of memory chips is characterized by a process variation and actively compensates for said process variation in relation to the reference signal.
US08054654B2

An electrically insulated switching element driver includes: a pulse transformer driving unit into which a switching element driving signal and a duty signal are input and which drives, in accordance with the duty signal, a first or second pulse transformer that is selected depending on a state of the switching element driving signal; a first edge detection unit that outputs an on-off signal according to an edge in a pre-rectification output of the first pulse transformer; a second edge detection unit that outputs an on-off signal according to an edge in a pre-rectification output of the second pulse transformer; and a control driving unit that drives a switching element to be driven, based on the output of the first and second edge detection units, wherein the first and second edge detection units and the control driving unit operate with power resulting from rectifying the output of the first and second pulse transformers.
US08054650B2

A switching power supply circuit includes a direct current (DC) power supply input, a first transistor, a capacitor, a first resistor, a second resistor, a switching circuit including a second transistor, and a first transformer including a first primary winding and a secondary winding. The DC power supply input is connected to a drain electrode of the first transistor via the capacitor. A gate electrode of the first transistor is connected to ground via the first resistor, and connected to the drain electrode of the first transistor via the second resistor. The DC power supply input is connected to a source electrode of the first transistor via the primary winding. The source electrode of the first transistor is grounded via the second transistor. The secondary winding is structured and arranged to drive a load circuit.
US08054642B2

An apparatus for retaining a computer card in a computer having a riser card has a bracket for receiving the computer card and a retaining member. The retaining member engages the computer card and provides a preload force on the computer card.
US08054637B2

A electronic device (100) includes a removable chip card (40) for carrying information, comprise a housing (10) and a ejecting mechanism (30). The housing (10) defines a chamber (12) and a base (14) formed adjacent to the chamber. The chamber (12) is used for accommodating a battery (20) therein. The base (14) is used for receiving the chip card (40) therewith. The ejecting mechanism (30) is mounted in the housing (10) and includes a sliding member (32) and an elastic member (36). When the battery (20) is accommodated in the chamber (12), the chip card (40) is secured between the sliding member (32) and the battery (20). When the battery (20) is removed from the chamber (12), the elastic member (36) biases the sliding member (32) to eject the chip card (40) outwardly from the base (14).
US08054625B2

Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to efficient cooling of data centers. Some embodiments of the invention allow encapsulation of cold rows through an enclosure and allow one or more fans to draw cold air from the cold row encapsulation structure to cool servers installed on the server racks. In other particular embodiments, the systems disclosed can be used to mix outside cool air into the cold row encapsulation structure to cool the servers. In some embodiments, the present invention involves fanless servers installed on the server racks and introduces fan units to draw cooling air from the cold row encapsulation structure through the fanless servers on the racks.
US08054623B2

An electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device may include a first side and a second side. The electronic device may also include a lid configured to cover an opening on the first side. The lid may include an interior side. The interior side may be invisible from outside of the electronic device when the lid covers the opening. The electronic device may also include a latching mechanism including a slider configured to slide along at least one of the lid and the first side for latching the lid at the interior side. The electronic device may also include a control unit disposed on the second side and configured to actuate movement of the slider.
US08054620B2

A blade assembly is disclosed. The blade assembly comprises a printed circuit (PC) board, and a disk drive drawer. The disk drive drawer is configured to move from a closed position into an open position, wherein the disk drive drawer is adjacent to the PC board when in the closed position and is positioned away from the PC board when in the open position. The blade assembly also comprises at least one stack of internal drives attached to the disk drive drawer. Each stack of internal drives comprise: a base bracket attached to the disk drive drawer, at least one drive cage pivotally mounted to the base bracket and configured to rotate between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position the drive cage is parallel with the disk drive drawer and in the open position the drive cage makes an angle a with the disk drive drawer. The drive cage is configured to hold a disk drive. Each stack of internal drives are located inside a blade enclosure when the blade assembly is mounted in the blade enclosure and the disk drive drawer is in the closed position. Each stack of internal drives are located outside the blade enclosure when the blade assembly is mounted in the blade enclosure and the disk drive drawer is in the open position.
US08054615B2

A pivot apparatus adapted to connect a host and a display includes a rotary base having a first part and a second part, a connecting plate, a pivot component, a first connecting rod and a hook. The first part is embedded at the host. The second part has a rotary shaft embedded at a first edge of the connecting plate. The pivot component is pivotally connected between a rear surface of the display and a second edge of the connecting plate. The first connecting rod is slidably disposed at the connecting plate and has at least a locking hole. The hook is disposed at the rear surface and passes through the connecting plate to be slidably disposed in the locking hole. The hook is used to interfere with the first connecting rod to restrict the rotation of the display by the pivot component relative to the connecting plate.
US08054611B2

A porous metal thin film formed from aluminum has a film structure in which domains having an average diameter of 200 nm or more, and 500 nm or less and being formed through aggregation of a plurality of grains having an average grain diameter of 50 nm or more, and 160 nm or less are distributed discretely at an average distance of 5 nm or more, and 40 nm or less, wherein the area occupied by the above-described domains is 60% or more, and 90% or less in a cross-section in any direction of the porous metal thin film.
US08054607B2

There are provided a multilayer chip capacitor and a circuit board device. The multilayer chip capacitor includes a capacitor body including a plurality of dielectric layers that are stacked, first and second outer electrodes formed on an outer surface of the capacitor body and having opposite polarity, first and second inner electrodes opposing each other, interleaved with the dielectric layers in the capacitor body, and each including an electrode plate forming capacitance and a lead extending from the electrode plate, the lead of the first inner electrode and the lead of the second electrode being respectively connected to the first and second outer electrodes, and third inner electrodes interposed between the first and second inner electrodes. At least one of the third inner electrodes adjacent to the first inner electrode includes a conductive pattern having the same shape as the lead of the first inner electrode and is connected to the first outer electrode. At least one of the third inner electrodes adjacent to the second inner electrode includes a conductive pattern having the same shape as the lead of the second inner electrode and is connected to the second outer electrode.
US08054606B2

A system and method are provided for remotely actuating a subunit disconnect in a motor control center subunit. A motor control center subunit includes a subunit housing configured to fit within a motor control center and a subunit disconnect configured to selectively control a supply power to motor control components of the subunit housing. A control mechanism is attached to the subunit housing to activate and deactivate the subunit disconnect and a remote control device communicates with the control mechanism and is configured to operate the control mechanism to activate and deactivate the subunit disconnect.
US08054605B2

A gate driver 28 performs a normal charging operation for a power MOSFET 14 by driving a charge pump 90 solely, when a low-level control signal S1 (ON signal) is received during a normal state. On the other hand, if a low-level control signal S1 (ON signal) is received during a load anomaly state, an urgent charge FET 92, as well as the charge pump 90, is turned on when a load current IL exceeds a second anomaly threshold current ILfc, so that a rapid charging operation is performed.
US08054591B2

An apparatus to perform series and parallel arc fault current interruption (AFCI). The apparatus includes a resistive element configured to sense a load from which a current signal is generated, a first detection unit configured to output a first signal based on the current signal, and a microcontroller configured to decompose at least the first signal via discrete wavelet transforms to thereby obtain discrete wavelet coefficients, and to generate a trip signal when the discrete wavelet coefficients indicate that a threshold condition for trip signal generation are satisfied.
US08054586B2

A perpendicular write head having a wrap around trailing shield for reducing stray field writing and adjacent track interference. A method for constructing such a write head allows for excellent control of side shield gap thickness and trailing shield gap thickness, and allows the ratio of side gap to trailing gap thicknesses to be maintained at about two to one as desired. The method includes depositing forming a write pole by constructing a mask which may include a bi-layer hard mask, and then ion milling to form the write pole. Once the write pole has been formed, a layer of alumina or some other non-magnetic material can be conformally deposited. A reactive ion mill (RIM) can be performed to open up the top of the write pole (remove the horizontally disposed portions of the alumina layer). Then, a second layer of alumina or some other non-magnetic material can be deposited, and the write pole can be plated. The thickness of the side shield gaps is defined by the sum of the final thicknesses of the first and second alumina layers, while the thickness of the first magnetic layer defines the thickness of the trailing shield gap.
US08054585B2

In a suspension in a hard disk drive, a gimbal with asymmetric dynamic properties, in which the two halves of the gimbal may have different stiffness distribution or inertia distribution. Structural difference between the two halves, or materials with different stiffness, may cause the different stiffness distribution or inertia distribution. When the suspension vibrates, the different stiffness and/or inertia distribution increase the friction between the gimbal and a load beam of the suspension, and increase the damping of the suspension.
US08054582B2

A tape head and bearing assembly comprises an air bearing structure having a tape bearing surface with a plurality of openings therein configured to provide a continuous air bearing of pressurized air to support a linear tape moving along a path, the air bearing being provided on only one side of the linear tape. A head slider assembly, such as an HDD-type assembly, is positioned at the opposite side of the linear tape from the tape bearing surface and is configured to be in contact with the linear tape.
US08054576B2

A servo detection system for detecting servo tracks of a longitudinal tape. In a read/write head, two servo read heads are spaced laterally on a first head module, and a servo read head is on a second head module spaced longitudinally from the first module. A method comprises initially sensing a tape servo track with one servo read head of the first module and the servo read head of the second module to determine skew misalignment of the servo track. A zero reference value is stored representing the determined skew misalignment. The detection system switches from the one servo read head of each module, to the two servo read heads of the first module, and employs the stored value to position the read/write head in the zero skew position. The two servo read heads are then employed to read two servo tracks to identify the data band and to control skew.
US08054561B2

An optical system is described for merging a first and a second partial image beam emanating from a specimen into a resultant image beam allowing modification of the areal proportion of the respective first or second partial image beam in the resultant image beam. A stop arrangement comprises at least a first and a second movable stop element each comprising at least one stop region adapted to be brought into a working position with the first or second partial image beam. Movably arranged connecting means for connecting the two stop elements are provided to modify the respective areal proportions of the partial image beams in the resultant image beam by movement of the connecting means.
US08054551B2

The present invention provides a display device and a method of fabricating the same. The display device includes a substrate, a transflective layer including first diffusive layers and second diffusive layers alternately arranged on the substrate, the first diffusive layers including a first diffusive material having a first refractive index, and the second diffusive layers including a second diffusive material having a second refractive index different from the first refractive index, a plurality of via holes formed in the transflective layer, and a light-emitting layer disposed on the substrate.
US08054546B2

The invention relates to glass facades to be used as media screens 9, including slat reflectors 30, 31, 38, 39, 60, 61, 79, 90 arranged horizontally, one above the other, in front of, or behind, or between glass panes 80, 81 as receivers for artificial, projected, and natural light. The slat reflectors 27, 30, 31, 38, 39, 60, 61, 79, 90-92 receive and radiate sun 62 on their upper side 65, 100, 101. On their white lower side 30, 31, 82, 112, 123 they receive projected light 76, 105, 111 from an exterior light source, projecting from below upwards. The projection axis is aligned at an angle γ. The slat reflectors for projected light are orientated in an angle β1 and form a scale shaped media screen. At least between the projection receiving parts of the slats a distance D is created.
US08054544B2

A far-optical device comprising a reversal system and an adjustable optical magnification means with more than fourfold magnification, wherein the far-optical device has an optical beam deflection means which at all magnifications ensures a subjective field of view of the far-optical device of at least 22° at least for light of a wavelength of about 550 nm.
US08054543B2

The invention relates to a microscopy system for representing an object that can be placed on an object plane (1) of the microscopy system, the latter comprising a representation system (26) containing several optical elements for providing at least one optical representation path (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d). According to one embodiment of the invention, the optical elements comprise a plurality of optical lenses (4-8, 11, 13, 14), through which the optical representation path(s) (2a-2d) pass(es) in sequence and which represent the object plane (1) in an intermediate image (P). The optical lenses (4-8, 11) are configured in such a way that the representation of the object plane (1) in the intermediate image (P) is reduced a maximum 0.9 times, preferably a maximum 0.8 times, preferably a maximum 0.6 times, with 0.5 times being the preferred maximum reduction.
US08054534B2

An electrophoretic paper device is provided. The electrophoretic paper device includes a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged on a lower substrate. The electrophoretic paper device also includes an upper substrate having a common electrode that covers an entire area corresponding to a display surface. The electrophoretic paper device further includes an electrophoretic ink layer, which includes a plurality of tubular cavities and each of the tubular cavities contains suspension fluid and a plurality of charged pigment particles dispersed in the suspension fluid.
US08054526B2

A color filter array comprises orange, lime and purple sub-pixels, optionally with the addition of white sub-pixels. The color filter array is useful in electro-optic displays, especially reflective electro-optic displays. A method is provided for converting RGB images for use with the new color filter array.
US08054519B2

The present invention discloses a wavelength-multiplex and space-multiplex holographic storage device, which comprises a storage medium, a plurality of signal light beams and at least one reference light beam. The signal light beams have different wavelengths and illuminate the storage medium. The reference light beam illuminates the storage medium and interferes with the signal light beams to form a plurality of interference patterns. The interference patterns are respectively stored on different-depth storage layers of the storage medium. The present invention not only has a high access rate but also has a large storage capacity.
US08054517B2

An image processing method and apparatus includes a color space conversion unit arranged to convert pixel data scanned by a line sensor of each color component into first chromaticity data and second chromaticity data, and an achromatic color determining unit arranged to determine whether or not the pixel data is achromatic. The achromatic color determining unit includes a comparison unit arranged to compare an achromatic color determination area with the pixel data in a color space defined by orthogonal coordinates having each chromaticity data as a coordinate axis. The achromatic color determination area is an elongated area that includes a coordinate origin of the color space, that is set based on a coordinate position of a false color acquired by using a size and position of displacement of the scanning position of each color component generated in accordance with the scanning speed, and that extends in an opposite direction from the coordinate origin.
US08054500B2

One embodiment relates to a method of acquiring three-dimensional structure of an object using a flatbed scanner. The object is placed with a surface to be scanned facing down on a scanner platen. At least three images are obtained under differing lighting directions. The images are processed to generate the three-dimensional structure. Other features and embodiments are also disclosed.
US08054495B2

A method is provided of associating in computer memory (i) a digital electronic version of printed human-discernible content of a printed document comprising a sheet having a machine-readable pattern adapted to enable the position of a digital pattern reading device to be determined and said human-discernible content with (ii) the identity of a sheet upon which the content is printed, the method comprising: printing the content onto a sheet using a printer, said sheet comprising a pre-patterned sheet that has been pre-printed with said pattern; transferring a machine-readable identity code between said printer and said sheet at around the time of printing said content; and storing a correlation between said identity code and said digital electronic version in computer memory.
US08054494B2

In order to implement and manage an optimal system in the printing business and POD market, in an image forming system which comprises a plurality of devices including at least one of an image forming device which can print data in a storage unit that can store data of a plurality of jobs including data of a first job and data of a second job which is input after the data of the first job, and a sheet processing device which can execute a sheet process for a sheet printed by the image forming device, a schedule associated with a plurality of work flows including a first work flow that includes a plurality of process steps using a plurality of devices of the image forming system required to complete the first job, and a second work flow that includes a plurality of process steps using a plurality of devices of the image forming system required to complete the second job can be set.
US08054493B2

Methods for processing print jobs in rendering devices include modifying a raster operation function to have fewer variables than originally specified by the print job. Processing may also include executing the modified function and determining how many variables the function originally includes and whether such is one or more. Preferably, the modifying of the function includes determining whether a variable of the function has a black or white identity, such as a black or white ink or a black or white image, stencil or character. It may also include determining whether a destination variable remains unaltered in a to-be-painted area. Printers having stored computer executable instructions for performing the steps are also disclosed as are host devices that may direct or control the printer to perform the same.
US08054492B2

An image sending system including a server and a plurality of image sending apparatuses. The server (i) receives sending method specification information specified by a receiver and indicating a sending method for image data addressed to the receiver, (ii) records the sending method specification information and an identifier of the receiver in association with each other, (iii) and receives updated sending method specification information and rewrites the recorded sending method specification information with the updated sending method specification information. Each image sending apparatus (i) receives a selection of an identifier of a receiver of image data to be sent, (ii) obtains from the server the recorded sending method specification information and identification of the receiver, and (iii) when the identifier of receiver in the received selection matches the obtained identifier of receiver, sends the image data 505 by the sending method indicated by the obtained sending method specification information.
US08054490B2

A method for dispatching a job for printing an original document from an original document set to a printer. The method includes routing the job to a printer group based on the characteristics of the original document via a dispatcher. When exactly one printer group has all capabilities required by the job, the job is routed to the one printer group. When more than one printer group has all capabilities required by the job, the dispatcher routes the job to a printer group that requires the shortest estimated time to complete the job. When no printer group has all capabilities required by the job, the dispatcher notifies a user via the operating screen for manual treatment of the job.
US08054480B2

The present invention provides an image processing apparatus for allowing a user to easily understand a direction of setting a document intuitively, in which, when two single sided documents are printed on front and rear faces of a recording sheet, a display section is caused to display an image showing a direction of setting the documents and a message showing whether or not the setting direction of the documents is different between the first and second documents at the time of reading the two single sided documents, so that the user is able to understand the direction of setting the documents intuitively.
US08054478B2

Disclosed herein is an image forming apparatus, including: a language analysis unit for analyzing print data and generating data having an intermediate format between the print data and bitmap data generated based on the print data; an image processing unit for rasterizing the generated data having the intermediate format for each band by using the predetermined number of lines and generating the bitmap data; a memory for holding the data for which rasterizing processing is being performed by the image processing unit; a printing unit for performing printing based on the generated bitmap data; and a number-of-line switching unit for switching the number of lines of the band in the rasterizing processing of the image processing unit according to whether the print data is data that can include transparency processing data or not.
US08054472B2

While a wafer stage linearly moves in a Y-axis direction, a multipoint AF system detects surface position information of the wafer surface at a plurality of detection points that are set at a predetermined distance in an X-axis direction and also a plurality of alignment systems that are arrayed in a line along the X-axis direction detect each of marks at positions different from one another on the wafer. That is, detection of surface position information of the wafer surface at a plurality of detection points and detection of the marks at positions different from one another on the wafer are finished, only by the wafer stage (wafer) linearly passing through the array of the plurality of detection points of the multipoint AF system and the plurality of alignment systems, and therefore, the throughput can be improved, compared with the case where a detection operation of the marks and a detection operation of the surface position information (focus information) are independently performed.
US08054469B2

An optical tomographic image production apparatus includes an optical probe, in which a light-transmitting area that transmits measurement light and a light-blocking area that blocks the measurement light are formed. The light-blocking area is provided at a start position and an end position of the light-transmitting area. A tomographic image processing means detects an interference signal or tomographic information when the light-blocking area is irradiated with the measurement light. Further, the tomographic image processing means detects, based on the detected interference signal or tomographic information, interference signals or tomographic information obtained when the light-transmitting area is irradiated with the measurement light to produce a tomographic image in the light-transmitting area.
US08054461B2

Various embodiments of the present invention relate generally to systems for performing Raman spectroscopy. In one embodiment, a system for performing Raman spectroscopy comprises an analyte holder having a surface configured to retain an analyte and a light concentrator configured to receive an incident beam of light, split the incident beam into one or more beams, and direct the one or more beams to substantially intersect at the surface. The system may also include a collector configured to focus each of the one or more beams onto the surface, collect the Raman scattered light emitted from the analyte, and direct the Raman scattered light away from the surface.
US08054460B2

A system and method for identifying the start location of the lead thread and the thread profile and quality in a threaded bore in a part, where the system and method can be used for determining the location of the lead thread in a threaded bore in a cylinder head for a spark plug in one non-limiting embodiment. The system includes a moveable table on which the part is mounted. The system also includes a probe having an optical assembly that is inserted in the threaded bore. A camera uses the optical assembly to generate images of the thread bore, where the images are image slices as the probe moves through the threaded bore. The image slices are unwrapped and then joined together to form a planer image to determine a start location of the lead thread, thread count, defects in the threaded bore and thread profile parameters.
US08054458B2

The disclosure relates to a detection device for detecting movement of a live insect located within a seed or grain. The device may include a light source with a masking arrangement to block stray light. It may also include a detection region sized to contain at least one seed. Finally, the device may include a detection instrument able to detect changes in light from the light source caused by movement of an insect within the seed. The disclosure also relates to a method of detecting an insect in a seed. First, one may pass light through the seed. Then one may detect light passed through the seed and, based on the light passed through the seed, determine whether or not an insect within the seed is moving.
US08054453B2

A spectroscopy system is provided which is optimized for operation in the VUV region and capable of performing well in the DUV-NIR region. Additionally, the system incorporates an optical module which presents selectable sources and detectors optimized for use in the VUV and DUV-NIR. As well, the optical module provides common delivery and collection optics to enable measurements in both spectral regions to be collected using similar spot properties. The module also provides a means of quickly referencing measured data so as to ensure that highly repeatable results are achieved. The module further provides a controlled environment between the VUV source, sample chamber and VUV detector which acts to limit in a repeatable manner the absorption of VUV photons. The use of broad band data sets which encompass VUV wavelengths, in addition to the DUV-NIR wavelengths enables a greater variety of materials to be meaningfully characterized. Array based detection instrumentation may be exploited to permit the simultaneous collection of larger wavelength regions.
US08054451B2

A system that includes a laser designator configured to continuously designate a target with a pulsed laser spot. The system includes a sensor and associated processing system configured to receive a reflection of the laser spot, convert the received energy to plurality of signals, processing the signals for detecting true reflected signals and process the true reflected signals for generating target related action. The sensor and associated processor are configured to detect the true signals notwithstanding an inherent low Signal/Noise ratio of below 4 of the received signals from due to low pulse power of the laser designator and distance to target.
US08054443B2

A developing method is used for subjecting a light-exposed resist film disposed on a wafer W to a developing process by a developing solution and a rinsing process by a rinsing liquid. In a state where the resist film on the wafer W is wet with the developing solution or rinsing liquid before a drying process is performed on the wafer W, a chemical liquid (curing chemical liquid), which contains a resist curing aid contributory to curing of a resist film remaining on the wafer W, is supplied onto a surface of the wafer W. Then, ultraviolet rays are radiated onto a surface of the wafer to cure a resist film remaining on the wafer W by a synergistic effect of the resist curing aid and the ultraviolet rays thus radiated, so as to prevent pattern fall.
US08054442B2

A low color shift polarizer assembly is provided, comprising a cholesteric liquid crystal film with a plurality of very tiny grooves which are irregularly dispersed on a surface of the cholesteric liquid crystal film. The selective reflective wavelength range of the cholesteric liquid crystal film has a long wavelength boundary ≧700 nm and a short wavelength boundary ≦420 nm. A quarter wavelength retardation plate can be disposed on the cholesteric liquid crystal film to build up the final low color shift polarizer assembly. The polarizer assembly can be combined with a backlight unit and further with a liquid crystal display to provide low color shift at large viewing angles and high brightness.
US08054439B2

A method for fabricating a liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided. The method includes the steps stated below. At first, providing an LCD panel including a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer therebetween. The liquid crystal layer includes several photo-sensitive monomers and several liquid crystal molecules. The LCD panel has at least a first pixel and a second pixel. Afterwards, correspondingly driving the first pixel and the second pixel by the first voltage and the second voltage. At last, applying a ultra-violet source onto the LCD panel to enable several photo-sensitive monomers to polymerize several alignment polymers on the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08054437B2

A plurality of panels (40) are cut from a large substrate (mother substrate) including a lower large substrate (41A) and an upper large substrate (42A). For each panel (40), a frame-shaped seal (47) and a connection electrode forming section (C) are formed in the large substrate. Since the left side (47c) of the frame of a panel (40) is close to the right side (47b) of the frame of the left-adjacent panel, these sides of the seals are formed from a sealing material containing a lower density of spacers. Since the upper side (47a) of the frame of a panel (40) is separated from the lower side (47d) of the frame of the upper adjacent panel (40) by an extension (C′) for the connection electrodes, these seal members are formed from a sealing material containing a higher density of spacers.
US08054436B2

A substrate for display device is provided. As a wiring structure of the substrate, the scan line layer and the signal line layer are not connected directly by arranging through-holes between the scan line layer and the signal line layer, but are connected through an ITO layer by arranging through-holes between the scan line layer and the ITO layer and arranging through-holes between the signal line layer and the ITO layer, with an object to reduce the value of the connection resistance between the scan line layer and the signal line layer. Through-holes connecting the scan line layer and the ITO layer and through-holes connecting the signal line layer and the ITO layer are configured in a comb shape respectively and engaged with each other. Thus the length of the ITO connecting the scan line layer and the signal line layer becomes shorter and the value of the connection resistance is reduced.
US08054424B2

A transflective liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates facing each other, a gate line and a data line on the first substrate, the gate and data lines intersecting each other and defining a pixel region having a transmissive region and a reflective region, a thin film transistor at an intersection between the gate line and the data line, a pixel electrode in the pixel region connected to the thin film transistor, an organic insulating layer on the second substrate, the organic insulating layer including a through-hole in the transmissive region, a reflective electrode on the organic insulating layer in the reflective region, a black matrix on the second substrate, a color filter layer on the second substrate in the pixel region, and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates.
US08054419B2

A display device and a display panel and a color filter thereof are provided. The color filter includes a transparent substrate, at least a red filter film, at least a green filter film, at least a plurality of blue filter film and at least a white filter film. The red filter films, the green filter films, the blue filter films and the white filter films are disposed on the transparent substrate. The blue filter films have a first largest transmittance when a light with first wavelength transmits it. The green filter films have a second largest transmittance when a light with second wavelength transmits it. The white filter films have a third largest transmittance when a light with third wavelength transmits it. The third largest transmittance is larger than the first largest transmittance and the second largest transmittance. The third wavelength is between the first wavelength and the second wavelength. Therefore, the images displayed by the display device with the color filter may have accurate color-level and high brightness.
US08054408B2

A liquid crystal display is disclosed. The liquid crystal display includes a first backlight source, a second backlight source and a liquid crystal panel. The first backlight source provides magenta backlight and the second backlight source provides green backlight. The first and second backlight sources are alternatively driven periodically to provide backlight for illustrating images. The liquid crystal panel comprises a liquid crystal layer and a color filter. The liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer are controlled for adjusting the transmittance of the backlight provided by the first and second backlight sources. The color filter includes red pixel areas, transparent pixel areas and blue pixel areas for performing color filtering operations on the backlight penetrating through the liquid crystal layer.
US08054400B2

The present invention prevents the corrosion of a printed circuit board which is connected to a lower side of a display panel in a liquid crystal display panel. In a display device which includes a display panel and a frame member which supports an outer peripheral portion of a display screen of a display panel, a water absorbing member is adhered to a surface of the frame member which faces the display panel in an opposed manner.
US08054399B2

An object of the invention is to provide a liquid crystal display of which a reduction in thickness can be realized without increasing the thickness of a frame member configuring a backlight. Also, another object is to provide a liquid crystal display which secures a sufficient property of insulation from electrode fittings and lamp cables.A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel, and a backlight disposed at the back of the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the backlight includes a frame member DFR which is of a rectangular box shape, a plurality of fluorescent lamps FL, disposed inside the frame member, each of which includes an electrode at either end, a first lamp cable CB1 for supplying lighting power to one of the electrodes of each fluorescent lamp, a second lamp cable CB2 for supplying lighting power to the other electrode of each fluorescent lamp, and a cable guide CG which, being disposed along an inside long-side edge of the frame member, holds the first and second lamp cables, wherein the cable guide includes a first opening through which the first and second lamp cables are led out, and wherein the frame member includes a second opening through which the first and second lamp cables led out from the cable guide are led out to the exterior of the frame member.
US08054395B2

Disclosed is a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display (LCD) device in which a photosensitive film is selectively patterned using a half-tone mask, and then a portion of a passivation layer at a pixel area is selectively removed to secure an penetration path of a stripper. Additionally, a crack is generated on a conductive film formed on a photosensitive film pattern through a predetermined heat treatment to facilitate a lift-off process. Thus, the number of masks can be reduced to simplify the fabrication process of the LCD device and reduce fabrication costs.
US08054392B2

A transparent composite material is able to promote visibility in a transparent coordinate input device due to the reflection of display light while the generation of an interference fringe at an input operating time is restrained. Many ridge portions extending in one direction are formed on the surface of a first transparent resistance film. Such ridge portions are projected stripes formed in a triangular shape in section, and are constructed by alternately forming one set of slanting faces on the surface of the first transparent resistance film.
US08054378B2

A webcam module having a clamping device includes a body portion, a first sliding unit, a second sliding unit, a first torsion element and a second torsion element. The first sliding unit and the second sliding unit are provided on the body portion. The first sliding unit is able to slide by means of the cooperation between the sliding block and the guiding though-groove. The torsion elements are used to generate a force for clamping an article. Via the above arrangement, a user can turn a first turning portion of the first sliding unit and a second turning portion of the second sliding unit, thereby opening a first clip and a second clip to a predetermined angle. The torsion elements allow the first clip and the second clip to be clamped at a predetermined position.
US08054375B2

A physical quantity detecting device includes: a pixel array that has pixels two-dimensionally arranged in a matrix, each converting a physical quantity supplied from the outside into an electric signal; a driving circuit that scans, as read rows, N rows of pixels (N is an integer equal to or larger than 3) in the pixel array at the same time and reads out signals corresponding to the pixels in the read rows; and M signal processing circuit groups (1
US08054370B2

In one embodiment, a miniaturized solid-state imaging apparatus includes a body having a cavity for mounting a semiconductor chip therein. The body has an overhanging portion extending toward the cavity. Further, a lead is disposed within the body. The lead has one end exposed through a top surface of the body and the other end exposed through a bottom surface of the body for electrical connection thereof.
US08054368B2

There is provided an imaging system configured to include an imaging lens and an imaging device such that the maximum diameter of an effective region of a point image is a size covering three or more pixels of light receiving pixels, the point image being projected onto a light receiving surface through the imaging lens from an intended position. A signal processing unit executes restoration processing on first image data output from the imaging device that images an optical image of a subject through the imaging lens, the restoration processing being executed to generate second image data equivalent to the first image data output from the imaging device when the resolving power of the imaging lens is higher. The imaging lens includes a first lens group, which includes at least one lens and has a positive power, and a second lens group, which includes at least one lens and in which a lens positioned closest to the image side has a negative power, in order from the object side.
US08054366B2

An optical apparatus is disclosed, with which focus detection areas of different size and/or position can be stored. The optical apparatus includes a first operating member which is operated changing at least one of a size and a position of a focus detection area, a memory storing a plurality of focus detection areas which differ from each other in at least one of size and position, a second operating member which is operated for setting one of the plurality of stored focus detection areas as a to-be-used focus detection area for detection of the focus state of an image-taking optical system. The apparatus further includes a controller performing storage and setting processes of the focus detection areas and a focusing control of the image-taking optical system.
US08054350B2

An apparatus for performing shade correction for a lens in an image sensor includes a gain profile extractor, a common profile calculator, a gain controller calculator, and a memory device. The gain profile extractor generates a respective channel gain profile for each of a plurality of color channels from image data. The common profile calculator generates a common profile from the channel gain profiles. The gain controller calculator generates a respective gain controller for each of the plurality of color channels from the common profile and the channel gain profiles. A memory device stores the common profile and the gain controllers.
US08054348B2

The first array register stores neighboring pixels of the same color as the pixel of interest, which are sorted according to the size of the pixel value. The maximum signal comparison circuit compares the value obtained by adding the threshold ThB to the pixel value maxC, which is the (b1)th largest pixel value of the pixels in the first array register and the pixel value P22 of the pixel of interest. When the comparison shows that the pixel value of the pixel of interest P22 is larger, the pixel of interest P22 is determined to be noise, and the pixel value of the pixel of interest is replaced by maxC. The limit signal comparison circuit compares the pixel value P22 of the pixel of interest and the signal upper limit LB. When the comparison shows that P22 is larger than LB and is equal to or larger than maxC, only the pixel of interest is determined to be totally overexposed, and the pixel value of the pixel of interest is replaced by maxC.
US08054344B2

A system and method for zooming an image. In the illustrative embodiment, the system includes a memory for receiving first and second frames of image data; a motion detector for detecting motion in said first or said second frame of image data; and an intelligent zoom system for zooming said first or said second image using a first or a second zoom method based on a detection of motion by said motion detector on a pixel by pixel basis. In the illustrative embodiment, the invention is scene-based, it works on a pixel by pixel basis to determine if a pixel is in motion. It performs motion related zoom for pixels that are affected by motion and conducts cross-field zoom for steady pixels to reduce motion artifacts in zoom mode. Motion may be determined by comparing frame-to-frame pixel value variations to fixed motion threshold(s) or by other algorithms. Independent-field zoom refers to using information from one input field to form a zoomed picture in one associated output field. Cross-field zoom refers to using information from both input fields to form a picture in an output field. The invention may be used with or without zoom interpolation schemes.
US08054339B2

Automatic exposure adjusting device considers the image on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Each pixel is characterized according to its most significant bits. After the pixels are characterized, the number of pixels in any particular group is counted. That counting is compared with thresholds which set whether the image is over exposed, under exposed, and can optionally also determine if the image is seriously over exposed or seriously under exposed. Adjustment of the exposure is carried out to bring the image to a more desired state.
US08054335B2

An imaging device and methods of stabilizing video captured using a rolling shutter operation. Motion estimation is used to determine a row motion vector for individual rows of a current frame of a pixel array. The row motion vectors are used to map the location of pixels in the current frame to a mapped frame representing a single acquisition time for the current frame.
US08054334B2

An imaging apparatus and an imaging method supply an optimum amount of image data to another apparatus. When a PDA has a maximum transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps, a mobile phone determines that the maximum speed of communication with the PDA is low, reduces the amount of moving image data captured by a CCD of the mobile phone accordingly, and supplies the captured moving image data to the PDA. The PDA therefore displays a low-quality moving image on its display unit. When the PDA has a maximum transfer rate of 480 Mbps, the CPU of the mobile phone leaves unchanged the amount of moving picture data captured by the CCD and supplies the captured moving image data to the PDA. The PDA then displays a high-quality moving image on its display unit. The foregoing may be advantageously applied to digital cameras.
US08054325B2

An optical scanning apparatus capable of being applied to an image forming apparatus includes a light source which emits a light beam; a modulator which pulse-width modulates drive current supplied to the light source; and a current adding unit which adds a supplemental current to the pulse-width modulated drive current at the rising edge of a pulse thereof.
US08054324B2

An optical head includes a plurality of unit regions repeatedly arrayed in one direction. Each region is constituted by a light-emitting element which is driven by a current to emit light, a control transistor which is connected in parallel with the light-emitting element, and which receives gray-scale data that specifies a high gray-scale level for the light-emitting element so as to be turned off and which receives gray-scale data that specifies a low gray-scale level for the light-emitting element so as to be turned on, and a driving transistor which is connected in series with the light-emitting element to generate a current. In each of the plurality of unit regions, a thermal resistance between the light-emitting element formed in the unit region and the control transistor formed in the unit region is smaller than a thermal resistance between the light-emitting element and a control transistor formed in a unit region adjacent to the unit region.
US08054319B2

The present invention performs multiscreen configuration and multiscreen management by using a plurality of screens and a plurality of methods in order to represent a plurality of service contents. In accordance with a multiscreen configuration method of the present invention, by mutually assigning one or more broadcasting services, one or more logical screens, one or more display screens, and one or more output ports, ultimately outputting service contents which are executed on screens assigned by output ports, and setting, changing, and reporting configuration of a multiscreen, the configuration of the multiscreen may be set or reset so as to effectively output various service contents on the multiscreen by using a desired method.
US08054318B2

An image displaying device and a method for controlling color thereof. The image displaying device includes a lattice selection unit which selects a lattice of a look-up table (LUT) for reference of each pixel of an input image, a lattice control unit which determines whether the selected lattice requires to be changed for color adjustment and calculates a change degree of the lattice, an LUT conversion unit which converts the LUT by changing the lattice based on the calculated change degree, and a lattice reference/interpolation unit which refers to or interpolates the lattice based on the converted LUT. Accordingly, the LUT can be updated real time, thereby realizing more accurate adjustment of color.
US08054317B1

Methods and systems for comparing and organizing color themes and word tag associations. One embodiment comprises a method for determining associated color themes based on an identified color theme by determining the distance between the identified color theme and each color theme of the collection of color themes, wherein each distance includes a color-based distance and the determined subset of associated color themes from the collection is based at least in part on the calculated distances from the identified color theme. Another embodiment comprises a method that allows an application to suggest tags for an identified color theme based on its similarity to color themes and associated tags of the color theme collection. Another embodiment suggests color themes based on an identified tag, and yet another embodiment suggests tags based on an identified tag.
US08054298B2

An image displaying apparatus is configured to display a desired image on an image displaying section employed in the image displaying apparatus by making use of a signal-line driving circuit and a scan-line driving circuit to drive pixel circuits. Each of the pixel circuits employs at least a light emitting device, a signal-level holding capacitor, a driving transistor for driving the light emitting device and a signal writing transistor. The signal-line driving circuit and the scan-line driving circuit drive each of the pixel circuits so as to put the light emitting device employed in the pixel circuit in a no-light emission state of emitting no light in a no-light emission period and a light emission state of emitting light in a light emission period repeatedly.
US08054291B2

A pointing device is provided which can reduce its size and height, reduce leakage magnetic flux density to the outside. Magnetic sensors are disposed symmetrically two by two on X and Y axes on a printed circuit board. A silicone resin is placed on the printed circuit board, and an internally and externally unipolarly magnetized ring-like magnet is placed near the center of the magnetic sensors. The printed circuit board and silicone resin are not bonded. The silicone resin is easily deformed by applying external force, and returns to its initial state without the external force as soon as the external force is removed. The ring-like magnet is configured to move approximately in parallel to the surface of the printed circuit board. The variations in the ambient magnetic flux density produced by the movement of the ring-like magnet are detected by the magnetic sensors.
US08054281B2

A level shifter for a flat panel display device includes: first and second transistors that are different type transistors and serially coupled between first and second power supplies, the second power supply for supplying a lower voltage power than the first power supply; a first capacitor between gate electrodes of the first and second transistors; an input line for a first input signal coupled to the gate electrode of the first or second transistor; a third transistor between a second electrode of the first capacitor and a third power supply, the third transistor having a gate electrode coupled to an input line of a second input signal; and a fourth transistor between the second electrode of the first capacitor and the third transistor, the fourth transistor having first and gate electrodes that are coupled to the second electrode of the first capacitor, such that the fourth transistor is diode-connected.
US08054279B2

To suppress fluctuation in the threshold voltage of a transistor, to reduce the number of connections of a display panel and a driver IC, to achieve reduction in power consumption of a display device, and to achieve increase in size and high definition of the display device. A gate electrode of a transistor which easily deteriorates is connected to a wiring to which a high potential is supplied through a first switching transistor and a wiring to which a low potential is supplied through a second switching transistor; a clock signal is input to a gate electrode of the first switching transistor; and an inverted clock signal is input to a gate electrode of the second switching transistor. Thus, the high potential and the low potential are alternately applied to the gate electrode of the transistor which easily deteriorates.
US08054276B2

Disclosed is a display apparatus including: an X driver to drive signal lines; and a Y driver to drive scanning lines; wherein the X driver is provided with: a line buffer to latch the receive display data in a plurality of latch circuits; and a horizontal shift register to sequentially output latch signals to the latch circuits in accordance with an operation clock, wherein the horizontal shift register includes: a plurality of output lines; and a plurality of flip-flops to output the latch signals to each of the plurality of output lines, wherein the horizontal shift register is configured to output the latch signals from any of adjoining two output lines among the plurality of output lines by a same operation clock, and to output a latch signal from a subsequent stage output line following to the two output lines by the next operation clock.
US08054275B2

In one embodiment of the present application, a memory stores a lookup table storing, in accordance with a combination of a value of a video signal of a current frame and a value of a video signal of a previous frame, each of correction values, the correction values in each of which a temporal change of a video signal is enhanced. A correcting circuit carries out, with respect to a correction value selected from the lookup table, a predetermined correcting operation in accordance with a polarity of a voltage to be applied to each of data signal lines S1 through Sm, with the use of a correction coefficient which is set based on properties of liquid crystal. Thus found is a corrected video signal in accordance with a positive or negative polarity. This makes it possible to find, with less memory capacity, an optimum corrected video signal in accordance with a polarity of a voltage to be applied to a data signal line.
US08054271B2

The invention provides methods of driving a pixel and liquid crystal display panels implementing the methods. The invention generates an ideal data voltage corresponding to a gray level of the pixel, and generates a compensated data voltage corresponding to the gray level according to a polarity change of the pixel. The charging period of the pixel is divided into a first charging time segment and a second charging time segment. The invention charges the pixel by the compensated data voltage during the first charging time segment, and charges the pixel by the compensated data voltage during the second charging time segment.
US08054269B2

An electronic device for enhancing voltage driving efficiency for a source driver and a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor is disclosed. The electronic device includes a reference voltage generator, a plurality of first coupling lines, a second coupling line wider than the first coupling lines, a data statistical unit and a reference voltage modulating module. The reference voltage generator generates a plurality of grayscale reference voltages. Each first coupling line and the second coupling line are utilized for transmitting one of the grayscale reference voltages. The data statistic unit statistically calculates a plurality of grayscale data values to generate a statistical result indicating a grayscale reference voltage corresponding to the most of the grayscale data values among the grayscale reference voltages. The reference voltage modulating module adjusts transmission relationship between the grayscale reference voltages and the first coupling lines and the second coupling line according to the statistic result.
US08054268B2

An exemplary LCD includes a frame memory configured for receiving a plurality of first gradations of current frame and outputting a plurality of second gradations of preceding frame pre-stored therein; a comparator configured for receiving, comparing the first gradations with the second gradation to generate a comparison result; a luminance detector configured for detecting a luminance degree of each of pixel according to the gradations of current frame; a calculator configured for calculating a complication degree of a picture to be displayed in current frame; and a gradation processor configured for receiving the first gradations of current frame to be displayed on the LCD panel, generating a plurality of pairs of compensating gradations according to the gradation of each pixel, and selecting one pair of the compensating gradations to be outputted to the LCD panel according to a received comparison result, a received luminance degree, and a received complication degree.
US08054264B2

The present invention provides a display device which can achieve the high breakdown voltage proof property, the enhancement of reliability or the expansion of the designing/process tolerance of transistors by the improvement of a circuit. A display device includes a plurality of pixels and a drive circuit which drives the plurality of pixels. The drive circuit includes a p-type first transistor which has a first electrode thereof connected to a first power source line to which a reference voltage V1 is applied, a p-type second transistor which has a first electrode thereof connected to a second electrode of the first transistor and a second electrode thereof connected to an output terminal thereof, an n-type third transistor which has a first electrode thereof connected to a second power source line to which a reference voltage V2 is applied, and an n-type fourth transistor which has a first electrode thereof connected to a second electrode of the third transistor and a second electrode thereof connected to an output terminal thereof. A first bias voltage Vcp is applied to a control electrode of the second transistor and a second bias voltage Vcn is applied to a control electrode of the fourth transistor. Further, a relationship V2
US08054258B2

A pixel includes an organic light emitting diode, a first transistor coupled to a scan line and a data line, the first transistor being configured to receive a data signal via the data line when a scan signal is supplied to the scan line, a storage capacitor configured to store voltage corresponding to the data signal received by the first transistor, a second transistor configured to control an electric current from the first power source to the second power source via the organic light emitting diode with respect to the voltage stored in the storage capacitor, and compensation unit configured to adjust voltage at a gate electrode of the second transistor, the voltage adjustment being sufficient to compensate for a deterioration degree of the organic light emitting diode.
US08054257B2

An OLED display and a driving method of an inspection circuit are provided. The OLED display may include a data driver, a scan driver, a driving transistor, a switching transistor, an organic light emitting diode, and an inspection circuit. The data driver and scan driver may apply a data signal and a scan signal. The driving transistor may generate a current corresponding to a voltage supplied to a first electrode and a control electrode. The switching transistor may apply the data signal to the driving transistor. The organic light emitting diode may be electrically connected to the driving transistor. The inspection circuit may include a three-phase inverter circuit having an input and an output terminal. The input terminal may supply a first power voltage to the output terminal when the output terminal decides an output signal regardless of a signal input to the input terminal.
US08054237B2

A compact digital television antenna having a pair of high band VHF triangular shaped dipoles with VHF signal outputs connected to a pair of terminals. A UHF reflector mounted to a bracket. Each VHF dipole having an outer linear portion connected to the bracket. The outer linear portions of the VHF dipoles forming opposing outer unitary type reflector elements in the UHF reflector. A V-shaped UHF antenna having its UHF signal outputs connected to the terminals. The pair of triangular shaped VHF dipoles forming a pyramidal support holding the UHF antenna at a fixed depth from the UHF reflector.
US08054235B2

An active magnetic antenna with a ferrite core having a winding is provided, forming a frame magnetic antenna which is connected with a low-noise transistor, to amplify a signal of the frame magnetic antenna. A base of the transistor is connected directly to one contact of the winding, and a second contact of the winding is capable of shifting a voltage of the base of the transistor. The impedance of the frame magnetic antenna is adjusted as a complex conjugate with an impedance of the base of the transistor of the low-noise amplifier, and the winding eliminates its own resonances.
US08054234B2

A multiband satellite antenna is provided. The multiband satellite antenna includes a plurality of first band wave receivers and a second band wave receiver. The first band wave receiver includes a first band wave guide, and the second band wave receiver has a first receiving unit and a second receiving unit. The first receiving unit and the second receiving unit are disposed on opposite sides of an alignment line of the first band wave receivers. Each of the first receiving unit and the second receiving unit has a second band wave guide. Output ends of the first receiving unit and the second receiving unit are coupled together to combine signals received from both units into a single signal, and then the single signal is outputted as a second frequency signal. Through this design, in a high satellite density environment, dual-frequency signals from several satellites at similar elevation angles can be received by the antenna of the invention.
US08054233B2

According to the invention, a system for positioning an antenna is disclosed. The system may include an antenna, a first substantially circular track, a base, and a first plurality of rollers. The first substantially circular track may be coupled with the antenna. Each of the first plurality of rollers may be coupled with the base. Each of the first plurality of rollers may be in contact with the first substantially circular track. Each of the first plurality of rollers may rotate when the first substantially circular track rotates.
US08054221B1

A portable user device may provide Global Positioning System (GPS) services. The device may include a GPS receiver. The GPS receiver may provide accurate information about the current location of the device. A user may use the device to perform tasks. Certain tasks may generate excess heat or de-generate heat that causes the GPS receiver to perform unsatisfactorily. Methods are provided that can test GPS receiver performance during acquisition mode and during tracking mode. During testing, the GPS receiver may be given a predetermined amount of time to acquire a GPS fix. The GPS receiver may be tested repeatedly to acquire successive GPS fixes. After a desired number of tests are performed, a success rate may be calculated. If the success rate is satisfactory, the GPS receiver satisfies design criteria. If the success rate is not satisfactory, the GPS receiver may be reconfigured with new settings.
US08054215B2

A precision radar registration (PR2) system and method that employs highly accurate geo-referenced positional data as a basis for correcting registration bias present in radar data. In one embodiment, the PR2 method includes sample collection and bias computation function processes. The sample collection process includes ADS-B sample collection, radar sample collection, and time alignment sub-processes. The bias computation function process includes bias computation, quality monitoring and non-linear effects monitoring sub-processes. The bias computation sub-process results in a bias correction solution including range bias bρ, azimuth bias bθ, and time bias bT parameters. The quality monitoring sub-process results in an estimate of solution quality. The non-linear effects monitoring sub-process results in detection of the presence of non-linear bias, if any, in the bias correction solution.
US08054212B1

An apparatus comprises a transmitter system, a receiver system, and a processor unit. The transmitter system transmits first and second collimated beams having a first and second frequency. The receiver system monitors for a fundamental difference frequency signal having a difference frequency equal to a difference between the first and second frequency and a number of harmonics of the fundamental difference frequency signal. These signals are generated by an object having non-linear electrical characteristics in response to the collimated beams. The processor unit is connected to the transmitter system and the receiver system. The processor unit controls the transmitter and receiver systems to change at least one of the first and second frequencies through a range of frequencies and detect a range of fundamental difference frequency signals and the number of harmonics of the fundamental difference frequency signal in response to transmitting the collimated beams using the range of frequencies.
US08054205B2

An apparatus and method are provided for composing a data input key array with a plurality of keys wherein multiple character groups are assigned to respective ones of the plurality of keys, each of the multiple character groups comprising multiple characters. The multiple characters of each character group are arranged on the corresponding key in the same pattern as the multiple character groups on the data input key array. The data input key array may operate by selecting a particular key assigned with a desired character, and selecting a key disposed to correspond with the position of the desired character on the particular key, thereby displaying the desired character. The data input key array may also be operated by selecting a particular key assigned to a desired character by inputting one of the directional keys, the directional key being disposed to correspond with the position of the particular key.
US08054203B2

Vehicle including a first substructure and a second substructure arranged such that an interior space is defined by or between the first and second substructures, and an arrangement for determining whether an object is present in the interior space. The arrangement includes ultrasonic transducers arranged on the second substructure and to transmit ultrasonic waves toward the first substructure and receive any waves reflected by objects in the interior space and a processor coupled to the ultrasonic transducers and arranged to determine whether an object is present in the interior space based on reception of waves by the ultrasonic transducers. If the vehicle is an automobile and the interior space is the passenger compartment therein, the first substructure can be the passenger seat and the second substructure can be the A-pillar, in which case, the processor determines the presence or absence of a passenger in the passenger seat.
US08054197B1

An apparatus that indicates the speed of oncoming trains at train crossings comprises a large digital display attached to a drop gate or alternately on a side gate crossing sign for those crossings without a gate. The digital display is surrounded by a large sign indicating the speed of an oncoming train. A speed detection device aimed in either direction on the track to determine train speed. An interface converts the detected speed into a digital display. It is envisioned that motorists knowing the speed of an oncoming train will be less likely to try to beat the train through the crossing.
US08054195B2

A system for notifying and/or warning of fallen or downed insulated conductor generally includes a distribution system for distributing a utility, such as power, and a sensor system for sensing whether the distribution system is properly operating. The warning system can include a support structure; an arm carried by the support structure and extending outwardly therefrom; a distribution system providing a utility via at least one wire, the wire held aloft from a below surface via the arm; a communication cable transmitting a signal; a disruption assembly carrying the communication cable and in communication with the support structure. The disruption assembly is loaded with the potential of disrupting the signal transmitted by the communication cable; and a sensor system is adapted to monitor the distribution system based on the signal transmitted by the communication cable.
US08054192B2

A method for providing activity pattern based battery charging alerts for mobile devices, the method includes: monitoring usage patterns of a mobile device; determining periods of activity and inactivity for the mobile device's usage; creating an activity log detailing the determined periods of activity and inactivity; monitoring levels of available battery charge for the mobile device; correlating the levels of available battery charge with the activity log; and generating a charging advisory alert in response to at least one of: an available battery charge dropping below a threshold value prior to a period of device inactivity, or toward the end of a period of activity.
US08054190B2

An apparatus is disclosed for monitoring brushes, such as slipring or commutator brushes, on electrical machines. At least one electronic sensor is configured to be arranged in or on a brush apparatus of an electrical machine such that an electrical supply power can be locally drawn directly from an electromagnetic environment of the brush apparatus. The apparatus can transmit measurement data detected by it by electromagnetic radiation to an indication device.
US08054185B2

A magnetic detacher has a core magnet and a ring magnet. The core magnet has a body with a top and bottom surface, and produces a first magnetic field. The ring magnet defines a cavity. The ring magnet has a body with a top and bottom and produces a second magnetic field. The ring magnet is axially aligned with the core magnet such that the first magnetic field opposes the second magnetic field along the bodies and enhances it within the cavity. The top surface of the core magnet is separated from the bottom surface of the ring magnet by a predetermined distance thereby producing a resultant magnetic field having a first resultant field strength at a specific position greater than a second resultant field strength produced at the same position when the top surface of the core magnet abuts the bottom surface of the ring magnet.
US08054180B1

Disclosed are various embodiments employed to generate location and proximity based reminders. To this end, a device is configured to generate its geographical location using a positioning system. The device detects when it impinges upon at least one geographical trigger based upon its geographical location. A predefined reminder is generated in the device when the device impinges upon the geographical trigger.
US08054178B2

Systems and methods for correlating biometric trends with a related temporal event are disclosed. A preferred embodiment utilizes an implantable medical device comprising at least one sensor in electronic communication with a patient management system adapted to temporally analyze and correlate biometric data. Some embodiments of a system disclosed herein also can be configured as an Advanced Patient Management system that helps better monitor, predict and manage chronic diseases.
US08054175B2

A portable type information transmitting apparatus has a bionic information measuring section that outputs bionic information in accordance with a detected bionic signal. A standard radio wave receiving section receives a standard radio wave including current time information. A time counting section counts time. A time correcting section corrects the time counted by the time counting section based on the standard radio wave received by the standard radio wave section. A transmission data generating section generates transmission data including first time information corresponding to the time counted by the time counting section and the bionic information from the bionic information measuring section. A data transmission section transmits the transmission data generated by the transmission data generating section.
US08054169B2

A method for detecting a pressure loss of a tire in a vehicle equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system. The method includes the following steps carried out in the parked state of the vehicle: deactivate the tire pressure monitoring system, which contains at least one electronic wheel device disposed in a vehicle wheel, activate the tire pressure monitoring system after a first defined period of time or upon a vehicle-side request, determine tire-related information of the vehicle wheels associated with the electronic wheel devices by the respective electronic wheel device and generate status signals containing the tire-related information, communicate the status signals to an evaluation device, return to the first method step at the latest after a second period of time.
US08054160B2

Active multi-modal RFID tags, illuminator/tag/reader systems, circuit architecture and opera-tional algorithms for battery power conservation that extends tag battery life from a typical 6 months to >5 years. The inventive system is particularly useful in asset and person tracking/inventory systems where power conservation is critical. The tag is configured with a micro-processor operational instruction set algorithm, modifiable on the fly via RF or IR, to synchro-nize a periodic tag awaken/sense envelope that overlaps the illuminator trigger pulse cycle and put the tag into deep, power conservation sleep for N periods of illuminator cycles. When the tag sees an illuminator signal with a different ID, or no illuminator signal at all, it transmits that anomaly via RF to a reader. This means the object or person with which the tag is associated has been moved out of the original illuminator field of view, permitting near real time investigation and tracking.
US08054155B2

One aspect of the invention relates to a symmetrical transformer with a stacked coil structure comprising two coils each having at least two turns. The coils are located in two conductive planes. The structure includes four identical basic elements, each basic element providing a conductive path for part of the coils. The terminals of the transformer are located at opposite sites of the structure so that the structure can be easily connected in a chain. The invention also relates to a semiconductor device comprising such a structure.
US08054150B2

A magnetic element includes a conducting winding structure, first and second magnetic parts, and first and second side posts. The first and second magnetic parts have first and second central posts that are aligned with each other. The first side post is disposed on an edge of the first or second magnetic part. The second side post is disposed on another edge of the first or second magnetic part where no side post is disposed or the first side post is not aligned with. The conducting winding structure is sandwiched between the first and second magnetic parts. The first and second side posts are aligned with corresponding edges wherein no side post is disposed. Consequently, the overall height of the first and second central post is less than the height of the first or second side post and an air gap is defined between the first and second central post.
US08054137B2

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for integrating the various circuit components controlling a voltage-controlled oscillator (“VCO”) on an integrated circuit formed on a semiconductor device. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit includes a first digital-to-analog converter (“DAC”) for receiving and converting a digital representation of the frequency modulation for the VCO to an analog form. A filter removes any conversion error from the first analog signal. A second DAC receives and converts a digital representation of the center frequency for the VCO to a second analog signal. The first and second analog signals are combined at an adder and the resulting signal is used by a bridge circuit which controls the VCO.
US08054129B2

A class D amplifier includes: an amplifier that generates a digital signal for driving a load based on an input signal; an attenuator that attenuates the input signal according to an attenuation command signal; and a clip prevention controller that outputs the attenuation command signal to intermittently attenuate the input signal when the digital signal is brought into a clip state or a near-clip state.
US08054124B2

An electronic device with polarity reversal protected connections and irreversibly interruptible programming connections, wherein the interruption is performed through safety elements provided in the programming paths, behind which safety elements diodes are disposed which block towards ground in normal operation, so that an overload current can be passed through the safety elements and through the diodes to ground through intentional polarity reversal of the respective connections, whereby the safety elements are destroyed and the programming conductors are irreversibly interrupted.
US08054123B2

A boot strap driver including a fast differential level shifter are disclosed. The fast differential level shifter may include a first differential amplifier differentially amplifying a pulse width modulation signal and an inverted pulse width modulation signal and outputting a first differential amplification voltage and a second differential amplification voltage based on the amplified result. The fast differential level shifter may also include a second differential amplifier differentially amplifying the first differential amplification voltage and the second differential amplification voltage, and shifting the differential amplification voltages to voltages having an output range between a first voltage and a second voltage based on the amplified result.
US08054122B2

An analog switch includes a transistor whose source connected to a signal input and whose drain is connected to a signal output. An output of a gate control circuit is connected to the transistor gate. A first input of the gate control circuit is connected to the source of the transistor. The gate control circuit responds to a logic transition of an enable signal received at a second input by pre-charging a substantially constant gate-to-source voltage across the transistor. This voltage is stored by a gate-to-source connected capacitor. In one steady-state logic condition of the enable signal, the gate control circuit operates to turn off the transistor. In another steady-state logic condition of the enable signal, the gate control circuit permits the signal received at the signal input to drive the gate of the transistor with a voltage offset by the substantially constant gate-to-source voltage stored on the capacitor.
US08054119B2

The present invention provides for a method for characterization of pulse-width limiter outputs. A known clock signal is received. A pulse width of the received known clock signal is limited through a first pulse-width limiter to generate a first intermediate signal. The first intermediate signal is delayed by a known amount to generate a first delayed signal. The first intermediate signal is inverted to generate a first inverted signal. A pulse width of the first inverted signal is limited through a second pulse-width limiter to generate a second intermediate signal. The second intermediate signal is delayed by a known amount to generate a second delayed signal. A logic OR operation is performed on the first delayed signal and the second delayed signal to generate a clock out signal.
US08054115B2

Phase-locked loop (PLL) integrated circuits according to embodiments of the invention provide dual feedback control. The first feedback control utilizes a conventional phase locking scheme that passes a feedback clock signal to an input of a phase-frequency detector (PFD). The second feedback control utilizes an automatic frequency calibrator that evaluates a frequency of an output of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) relative to a locked frequency detected during calibration and provides separate calibration control to a charge pump.
US08054110B2

A driver circuit and integrated circuit implementation of a driver circuit for driving a GaN HFET device is disclosed. The driver circuit includes a resonant drive circuit having an LC circuit with an inductance and a capacitance. The capacitance of the LC circuit includes the gate-source capacitance of the GaN HFET device. The driver circuit further includes a level shifter circuit configured to receive a first signal and to amplify the first signal to a second signal suitable for driving a GaN HFET device. The resonant drive circuit is controlled based at least in part on the second signal such that the resonant drive circuit provides a first voltage to the GaN HFET device to control the GaN HFET device to operate in a conducting state and to provide a second voltage to the GaN HFET device to control the GaN HFET device to operate in a non-conducting state.
US08054105B2

A sample hold circuit and a method for sampling and holding a signal are provided. The sample hold circuit includes a sample unit, a direct current (DC) voltage elimination unit, and a hold unit. When the sample hold circuit is in a first state, the sample unit samples an input signal, and the DC voltage elimination unit lowers a predetermined percentage of the DC voltage in the input signal sampled by the sample unit. When the sample hold circuit is in a second state, the DC voltage elimination unit eliminates the residual percentage of the DC voltage, and the hold unit outputs the alternating current (AC) signal in the input signal sampled by the sample unit.
US08054099B2

The different advantageous embodiments provide an integrated circuit comprising a number of latches and a number of filters. Each latch in the number of latches has a plurality of inputs and a plurality of storage nodes. The plurality of storage nodes includes a number of pairs of circuit nodes that form a number of upsettable circuit node pairs. Each input of the plurality of inputs is connected to a corresponding storage node in the plurality of storage nodes. Each filter in the number of filters has an input and a plurality of outputs. Each of the plurality of outputs is connected to a corresponding input of the plurality of inputs of a latch in the number of latches. Each filter in the number of filters is located between two circuit nodes forming an upsettable circuit node pair of the latch in the number of latches to increase critical node spacing.
US08054096B2

A microelectronic device comprising one or several metallic levels provided with one or several superposed metallic interconnecting levels and at least one test structure: at least one metallic zone formed in at least one insulating zone, the metallic zone comprising: at least one first metallic portion through which a current will be injected and at least one second metallic portion through which said current will be extracted, at least one third metallic portion that will act as a first voltage measurement point, and at least one fourth metallic portion that will act as a second measurement point for said voltage, a plurality of insulating islands incorporated in said metallic zone, said structure also comprising: a plurality of metallic islands incorporated in the insulating zone and distributed around said metallic zone.
US08054088B2

A portable test apparatus for conducting a plurality of tests on a communications device is provided. The unit can include a control panel, which can include at least one display for displaying test information from the device under test. The apparatus can also include a frequency mixing assembly, an amplifier module, a voltage regulator module, and a frequency module. The apparatus can allow a user to measure a number of parameters including, but not limited to, power, return loss and passive intermodulation products.
US08054086B2

A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles includes: forcing an article through a dispensing channel and past a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the article includes one of the solid pharmaceutical articles; generating a detection signal using the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor; and determining whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles.
US08054084B2

Systems and methods are provided for identifying a fault condition in stator windings in an electric motor. A method comprises applying a first signal at a first electrical angle to the stator windings and measuring a second signal from the stator windings in response to the first signal. The method further comprises determining a measured response for the electric motor at the first electrical angle based on the second signal and obtaining a nominal response for the electric motor at the first electrical angle. A fault condition is identified when a magnitude of the difference between the measured response and the nominal response is greater than a threshold value.
US08054083B2

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has an algorithm for executing a method for diagnosing a high-voltage (HV) fault condition aboard the HEV. The HEV includes a high-voltage (HV) battery, an auxiliary power module (APM), a power inverter module (PIM), and a three-phase motor/generator unit (MGU). A controller executes the method to thereby measure a DC output current from the HV battery, a DC inlet current into the APM, and a pair of AC phase currents in the MGU. The method further includes calculating a DC inlet current into the PIM using the AC phase currents, diagnosing the HV fault condition using the DC output currents and the DC inlet currents, and executing a control action in response to the diagnosed condition. The method can include shutting off the APM to determine whether the APM is the root cause of the HV fault condition.
US08054077B2

A magnetic resonance imaging magnet includes a ferromagnetic frame. A pair of generally toroidal superconducting coil units overlie interfaces of side walls incorporated in the frame. Each coil unit may include a vessel having hollow support extensions extending into recesses in the side walls. The coil units may further include elongated, low-thermal conductance supports disposed within the support extensions. The frame may include pole stems projecting inwardly from the side walls, and the coils may be disposed in close proximity to the pole stems. Cryocoolers may be mounted to the frame so that the cryocoolers are substantially mechanically isolated from the coils of the coil units, but are in thermal communication therewith. The cryocooler mountings may be arranged for convenient servicing and installation of the cryocoolers.
US08054076B2

In a method and apparatus for generating a fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum of an examination subject, first measurement data are acquired to generate a spatially resolved spectroscopy measurement, second spatially resolved measurement data are generated that essentially have only fat signal contributions, and the second measurement data are subtracted from the first measurement data to generate the fat-reduced, spatially resolved magnetic resonance spectrum.
US08054072B2

A quantum computer includes a unit including thin films A, B and C each containing a physical-system group A, B and C formed of physical systems A, B and C, the films A, B and C being alternately stacked in an order of A, B, C, A, . . . , each of the systems A, B and C having three-different-energy states |0>x, |1>x , |e>x, a quantum bit being expressed by a quantum-mechanical-superposition state of |0>x and |1>x , a light source generating light beams having angular frequencies ωA(E), ye, g, ωA(E), ye, e, ωx, ye, gg, ωx, ye, ge, ωx, ye, eg and ωx, ye, ee, ωA(E), ye, g, a unit controlling frequencies and intensities of the beams, and a unit measuring intensity of light emitted from or transmitted through physical-system group A(E) contained in a lowest one of the thin films A to detect a quantum state of the group A(E).
US08054070B1

A field distributed array of a plurality of underwater sensors are used to detect, preferably using a nanomagnet, slight changes in magnetic fields caused by passing metallic structures, such as submarines. Each sensor is preferably configured to communicate with, e.g., an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), which then passes raw or aggregated information to a user (person or computing device). In one possible embodiment, an aircraft deploys hundreds of sensors on the “battlefield” (i.e., in the ocean). Some of the sensors are controlled to sink and anchor to the bottom, while others are controlled to float at a predetermined depth, from which they transmit data about their magnetic environs, such that a map of the geomagnetic field in the area can be generated. This type of distributed sensor system is particularly effective for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) operations across a wide area of a zone of operations.
US08054066B2

An assembly includes a magnetostrictive transducer that provides a transducer output. Amplifier circuitry receives the transducer output and generates a transducer output burst and a bias output burst. The transducer output burst and bias output burst overlap in time and differ by a phase difference. A burst processor receives the transducer output burst and the bias output burst. The burst processor provides a displacement output that is a function of a time when the transducer output burst and the bias output burst are at the same voltage level.
US08054061B2

The invention provides an electric potential sensor including, at least one detection electrode arranged for capacitive coupling with a sample under test and for generating a measurement signal, and a sensor amplifier adapted to receive the measurement signal as input and to supply an amplified detection signal as output. An input impedance enhancing element provides a high input impedance to the sensor amplifier for increasing the sensitivity of the electrode to reduced electric potentials, and a feedback element applies a coherent feedback signal to the input of the sensor amplifier for enhancing the signal to noise ratio of the sensor.
US08054058B2

The invention relates to a control method and a controller for a DC-DC converter, such as a synchronous Buck converter, which exploits the principle of capacitor charge balance to allow the converter to recover from a positive and/or negative load current step in the shortest achievable time, with the lowest possible voltage undershoot/overshoot. The control method may be implemented by either an analog or a digital circuit. The controller may be integrated with existing controller schemes (such as voltage-mode controllers) to provide superior dynamic performance during large-signal transient conditions while providing stable operation during steady state conditions. The invention also relates to a method and a modification of a DC-DC converter topology that comprises connecting a controlled current source between an input terminal and an output terminal of the DC-DC converter; detecting a load current step to a new load current; modifying a duty cycle of the DC-DC converter; and modifying current through a parallel output capacitor of the DC-DC converter by controlling current of the current source. The methods and circuits provided herein are applicable to Buck converters and Buck-derived converters such as forward, push-pull, half-bridge, and full-bridge converters.
US08054057B2

A device for testing low dropout (LDO) regulator is disclosed. In one embodiment, a device for testing LDO regulators includes an absolute value measurement module for measuring absolute output voltages of the LDO regulators including a resistor scaling array for generating candidate voltages based on a first output voltage of the LDO regulators, a multiplexer for forwarding one of the candidate voltages selected by a binary search algorithm, and a comparator for generating a first test output by comparing the candidate voltage with an external reference voltage, and a DC load regulation measurement module for measuring corresponding DC regulation voltages of the LDO regulators including a switch for applying an internal test load to a second output voltage of the LDO regulators, and the comparator for generating a second test output by comparing a reference voltage with the second output voltage modified by the internal test load.
US08054055B2

A low dropout voltage regulator (LDO) includes a bias voltage generator, a differential error amplifier, an output driver, a controlled active load, a Double Ended Cascode Miller compensation block. The bias voltage generator produces a plurality of bias voltages. The differential error amplifier produces a differential output voltage based on the difference between a reference voltage and a function of the output voltage. The input terminal of the output driver is coupled to one output of the differential error amplifier. The substrate terminal of the output driver is capacitively coupled to the output node and resistively coupled to the input supply node. The controlled active load is coupled to the output of the output driver, and its control terminal is coupled to a function of the second output of the differential error amplifier. The inputs of the Double Ended Cascode Miller compensation block are capacitively coupled to the output node and its output is coupled to the input terminal of the output driver.
US08054052B2

A constant voltage circuit converts a voltage input to an input terminal and outputs a predetermined constant voltage from an output terminal. The constant voltage circuit includes an output transistor that outputs an electrical current corresponding to a control signal input thereto to the output terminal, a differential amplifier circuit that outputs the control signal according to a difference between a comparative voltage proportional to the output voltage and a predetermined reference voltage, a current mirror circuit that serves as a load of a pair of input transistors included in the differential amplifier circuit, and a voltage comparator that compares a voltage at a control electrode of a transistor included in the current mirror circuit and a voltage of the control signal. The differential amplifier circuit controls a bias electrical current supplied to the pair of input transistors according to a comparison result of the voltage comparison.
US08054045B2

In a status detector for a power supply, a power supply, and an initial characteristic extracting device for use with the power supply, a measuring unit obtains measured values of at least current, voltage and temperature of the electricity accumulating unit. A processing unit executes status detection of the electricity accumulating unit by using the measured values and the characteristic information of the electricity accumulating unit which is stored in a memory unit. A discrepancy detecting unit detects the presence of a discrepancy away from a theoretical value when a result of the status detection is changed over a predetermined threshold or reversed with respect to the measured values. A modifying unit modifies the characteristic information depending on the detected discrepancy.
US08054044B2

An apparatus for balancing charge capacity of battery cell includes a voltage sensing/discharging circuit having a battery with cell group, a switching unit for selectively connecting both terminals of each battery cell to conductive lines, capacitor connected to the conductive lines, a voltage amplifying unit connected to both terminals of capacitor via a first switch, and a discharge resistance connected to both terminals of capacitor via a second switch; and a voltage balancing unit for controlling the switching unit in ON state of first switch to connect both terminals of each battery cell to the conductive lines and then sense voltage of each battery cell through the voltage amplifying unit, and controlling the switching unit in OFF state of first switch to charge voltage of balancing-requiring cell to the capacitor and then turning on the second switch to discharge charged voltage of capacitor through the discharge resistance.
US08054041B2

A battery module is provided. The battery module includes a battery body having a plurality of unit cells arranged in series and having a respective barrier disposed between adjacent unit cells. End plates are disposed on opposite outermost sides of the battery body. A fixing unit fixes together the end plates and the battery body by enclosing an outer circumference of an assembly of the end plates and the battery body.
US08054026B2

A vehicle drive apparatus includes a battery that is a direct current power source, a converter that increases the voltage of the battery, an inverter connected to a motor that drives the vehicle, an inverter connected to a motor generator that functions as a motor or generator, and a motor control device that controls the motor. The vehicle drive device is also provided with a voltmeter, non-energized state determination devices that determine a non-energized state of the inverters, and ammeters that detect currents applied to a motor from each phase arm of the inverters. Signals of these devices and a signal from the non-energized state determination device are sent to the motor control device.
US08054025B2

Commercial AC voltage applied to an input terminal (90) from a commercial power supply external to the vehicle is boosted by a transformer (86) to a voltage level higher than the voltage (VB) of an electricity storage device (B) to be applied to neutral points (N1, N2). In a charging mode of the electricity storage device (B) from a commercial power supply, all npn transistors of an inverter (20, 30) are turned off. The AC voltage applied to the neutral points (N1, N2) is rectified by an anti-parallel diode of the inverter (20, 30) to be supplied onto a power supply line (PL2). A boost converter (10) controls the charging current from the power supply line (PL2) towards the electricity storage device (B).
US08054024B2

A brushless motor driven by a sensorless driving circuit includes a rotating body capable of being rotated about a center axis; a rotor magnet arranged coaxially with the rotating body; a stator disposed opposite the rotor magnet; and at least one coil wound around the stator. The brushless motor is driven according to a signal containing a third harmonic component relative to a fundamental wave component in an induced electromotive force. Further, an amplitude ratio of the third harmonic component to the fundamental wave component in the induced electromotive force generated in the coil preferably is about 1% or higher.
US08054022B1

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk, a head actuated over the disk, and a spindle motor for rotating the disk, wherein the spindle motor comprises a plurality of windings. During a spin-up operation of the disk, a sinusoidal driving signal is applied to each winding of the spindle motor for a spin-up interval, wherein during at least eighty percent of the spin-up interval the sinusoidal driving signals are applied to the windings of the spindle motor open loop.
US08054020B2

An electric motor has a DC link circuit (30, 32), a permanent-magnet rotor (104), and a control circuit having a full bridge (114). A program-controlled calculation arrangement (80) is configured to supply the semiconductor switches of a first bridge half with a PWM signal (136, 136′) and to supply the semiconductor switches (118, 122) of the second bridge half with a commutation signal (O1, O2; 150, 150′). An energy storage device (170) is provided which, during normal operation of the motor (102), is chargeable from the DC link circuit (30, 32) and serves, upon cessation of the signals from the calculation arrangement (80), to make the semiconductor switches (118, 122) of the other bridge half conductive, and thereby to short-circuit the stator winding arrangement (106) through those semiconductor switches (118, 122) in order to decelerate the permanent-magnet rotor (104) and to thereby minimize risk of human injury.
US08054016B2

A cooling system for a retarding system of an electric drive machine (100) includes a direct current (DC) link having first and second rails. A first resistor grid (214) is selectively placed in circuit between the rails by an automatic switch (216) in response to a switch (216) signal. A second resistor grid (218) is selectively placed in circuit between the rails by a chopper circuit (220) connected in series with the second resistor grid (218). The chopper modulates a current passing therethrough based on a duty cycle. A motor (336) is in parallel electrical connection across a portion of the first resistor grid (214) and operates in response to a motor (336) signal. An electronic controller (400) calculates a net energy during operation and adjusts the switch (216) signal, the duty cycle, and the motor (336) signal to close the automatic electrical switch (216) and operate the motor (336) when the net energy exceeds a threshold value.
US08054005B2

A driving circuit, which drives a display panel in a voltage range between a high negative voltage and a high positive voltage, includes: an electric charge discharging circuit; and a test external terminal. The electric charge discharging circuit connects a first terminal supplied with the high negative voltage to a second terminal of a ground voltage in response to a drop of a power source voltage. The test external terminal is connected to the electric charge discharging circuit. The high negative voltage is supplied to the semiconductor substrate. The electric charge discharging circuit interrupts a connection between the first terminal and the second terminal based on a control signal from the test external terminal.
US08053999B2

A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing current to a load. The apparatus includes a full or half bridge switching circuit, including at least one switching element for supplying power to a load when switched on and means for switching a state of the switching element only at a time when a substantially zero voltage is applied across the switching element.
US08053998B2

An inverter for driving at least one light-emitting unit includes a switching circuit, an electric-isolated circuit and a transforming circuit. The switching circuit generates at least one switching signal according to a DC signal and at least one switching control signal. The electric-isolated circuit has an electric-isolated side and a non-electric-isolated side, which is electrically connected to the switching circuit electrically and generates a first power signal according to the switching signal. The transforming circuit is electrically connected to the electric-isolated side of the electric-isolated circuit, and generates a second power signal to drive the light-emitting unit according to the first power signal.
US08053997B2

A two-wire load control device, such as a dimmer, is operable to control the amount of power delivered to an electrical load, such as a magnetic low-voltage (MLV) load, and comprises a bidirectional semiconductor switch, a timing circuit, a trigger circuit having a variable voltage threshold, and a clamp circuit. When a timing voltage signal of the timing circuit exceeds an initial magnitude of the variable voltage threshold, the trigger circuit is operable to render the semiconductor switch conductive, reduce the timing voltage signal to a predetermined magnitude less than the initial magnitude, and to increase the variable voltage threshold to a second magnitude greater than the first magnitude. The clamp circuit limits the magnitude of the timing voltage signal to a clamp magnitude between the initial magnitude and the second magnitude, thereby preventing the timing voltage signal from exceeding the second magnitude. Accordingly, multiple attempted firings of the semiconductor switch are avoided, and the MLV dimmer is prevented from conducting asymmetric current when an MLV transformer of the MLV load is unloaded.
US08053991B2

Provided are an impedance matching method and a matching system performing the same. The method includes: measuring an electrical characteristic of the power transmission line including the matching system and the load; extracting a control parameter for impedance matching from the electrical characteristic of the power transmission line; and controlling the matching system by using the control parameter. The extracting of the control parameter comprises utilizing an analytic coordinate system that quantitatively relates the electrical characteristic of the matching system to the electrical characteristic of the power transmission line.
US08053989B2

A plasma display panel includes a front panel including a glass substrate, a display electrode formed thereon, a dielectric layer formed so as to cover the display electrode, and a protective layer formed on the dielectric layer; and a rear panel disposed facing the front panel so that discharge space is formed and including an address electrode formed in a direction intersecting the display electrode, and a barrier rib for partitioning the discharge space. The dielectric layer of the front panel contains bismuth oxide and calcium oxide without containing lead, and does not contain lead. The protective layer on the dielectric layer is formed by forming a base film on the second dielectric layer and attaching a plurality of crystal particles made of metal oxide to the base film so as to be distributed over an entire surface of the base film.
US08053988B2

A plasma display device including a plasma display panel (PDP) having electrodes between two substrates, a chassis base attached to and configured to support the PDP, printed circuit boards (PCBs) configured to drive the electrodes, and a plurality of flexible printed circuits (FPCs) connected to the plurality of PCBs and the electrodes, wherein at least one PCB configured to drive the electrodes is attached to the PDP.
US08053983B2

An organic EL display comprises an element substrate, an organic EL element formed on the element substrate, comprising an organic layer including a light emitting layer and a pair of electrode layers disposed on both sides of the organic layer. The organic layer comprises a first organic material. The organic EL display further comprises a capping layer comprising a second organic material having a glass transition point lower than one of the first organic material and a protective layer on the capping layer.
US08053981B2

An organic light-emitting device and methods of forming the same are provided. The organic light-emitting device includes: a substrate having a pixel area and a peripheral circuit area; a reflective layer on the substrate, the reflective layer having a first reflective part in the pixel area and a second reflective part in the peripheral circuit area; a first electrode layer having a first part on the first reflective part; a pixel definition layer on the substrate, the pixel definition layer forming a plurality of pixel openings to expose a portion of the first part of the first electrode layer and at least one electrode contact hole to expose the second reflective part; an organic light-emitting layer on the first electrode layer; and a second electrode layer on the organic light-emitting layer, the second electrode layer extending to the peripheral circuit area to electrically couple with the exposed area of the second reflective part.
US08053974B2

In a general formula (1), each of R1 and R2 represents any one of hydrogen, an alkyl group, a halogen group, —CF3, an alkoxy group, and an aryl group. M represents an element that belongs to Group 9 or Group 10. Here, an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms is preferable in the alkyl group. A fluoro group is particularly preferable in the halogen group. An alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms is preferable in the alkoxy group. A phenyl group is particularly preferable in the aryl group. Iridium is particularly preferable among the elements that belong to Group 9, and platinum is particularly preferable among the elements that belong to Group 10. The general formula (1) is inserted.
US08053957B2

To achieve small-sized formation by shortening a total length after ensuring a length of a base portion capable of sufficiently reducing vibration leakage, there is provided a piezoelectric vibrating piece 2 including a piezoelectric plate 10 including a pair of vibrating arm portions 11, 12 arranged in parallel with each other in a state of being extended in one direction from base ends to front ends, and a base portion 13 having connecting portions 13a respectively connected to the pair of vibrating arm portions at middle positions from the base ends to the front ends for integrally supporting the pair of vibrating arm portions by way of the connecting portions, exciting electrodes 20, 21 respectively formed on outer surfaces of the pair of vibrating arm portions for vibrating the pair of vibrating arm portions when a drive voltage is applied thereto, a pair of mount electrodes 22, 23 formed on an outer surface of the base portion and electrically connected respectively to the pair of exciting electrodes, in which at least a portion of the base portion is arranged to be interposed between the pair of vibrating arm portions.
US08053956B2

Microelectromechanical systems with structures having piezoelectric actuators are described. The structures each have a body that supports piezoelectric islands. The piezoelectric islands have a first surface and a second opposite surface. The piezoelectric islands can be formed, in part, by forming cuts into a thick layer of piezoelectric material, attaching the cut piezoelectric layer to a body having etched features and grinding the piezoelectric layer to a thickness that is less than the depths of the cuts. Conductive material can be formed on the piezoelectric layer to form electrodes.
US08053952B2

To provide a piezoelectric resonator in which a casing houses a tuning-fork piezoelectric resonator element and whose failure occurrence caused when shavings of adjustment films scatter and adhere to excitation electrodes is prevented. In a method of manufacturing a quartz-crystal resonator in which a casing 20 houses a quartz-crystal resonator element 10 including a tuning-fork quartz-crystal piece 11, excitation electrodes 6a, 6b, 6c, and adjustment films 8 for frequency adjustment, a wall surface 29 preventing shavings of the adjustment films 8 from scattering is formed between an atmosphere where the excitation electrodes 6a, 6b, 6c are located and an atmosphere where the adjustment films 8 are located inside the casing 20, and when the adjustment films 8 are shaved by a laser beam in order to adjust the frequency of the quartz-crystal resonator element 10, the wall surface 29 prevents the scattering shavings from adhering to the excitation electrodes 6a, 6b, 6c and causing a short circuit thereof, thereby reducing the occurrence of a failure.
US08053951B2

A MEMS device with a thin piezoelectric actuator is described. A substrate with a first surface has a crystalline orientation prompting layer on the first surface. A piezoelectric portion contacts the crystalline orientation prompting layer and has an orientation corresponding to the orientation of the crystalline orientation prompting layer. A dielectric material surrounds the piezoelectric portion. The dielectric material is formed of an inorganic material.
US08053950B2

An ultrasonic sensor with a cylinder-shaped housing whose base forms a diaphragm of the ultrasonic sensor. The diaphragm is manufactured as an independent component and directly mounted in the cylinder-shaped housing. A method for manufacturing the ultrasonic sensor includes the steps of manufacturing the diaphragm and the cylinder-shaped housing separately from each other, and mounting the diaphragm directly in the cylinder-shaped housing.
US08053947B2

A current source and method of producing the current source are provided. The current source includes a metal source, a buffer layer, a filter and a collector. An electrical connection is provided to the metal layer and semiconductor layer and a magnetic field applier may be also provided. The source metal has localized states at a bottom of the conduction band and probability amplification. The interaction of the various layers produces a spontaneous current. The movement of charge across the current source produces a voltage, which rises until a balancing reverse current appears. If a load is connected to the current source, current flows through the load and power is dissipated. The energy for this comes from the thermal energy in the current source, and the device gets cooler.
US08053943B2

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).
US08053918B2

A wind power installation is provided having a pylon, a pod mounted rotatably on the pylon, a generator arranged within the pod and having a rotor and a stator, and at least one fan in the region of the pod. In order to reduce the entry of moisture, sand and other foreign substances into the pod and also to reduce the fan noise which reaches the exterior, the fan may suck in outside air through a downwardly open first air gap, in particular between the pylon and the pod. The fan may be adapted to blow air out of a rear part of the pod, through an air gap between the stator and the rotor and into a front part of the pod. A seal structure may be positioned in the pod in such a way that an air flow that bypasses the air gap between the stator and the rotor is substantially prevented.
US08053913B2

A physical energy-converting rotor has a rotor body and multiple weights. When the rotor body is rotated, an inner virtual orbit and an outer virtual orbit are formed and the weights are rotated. The weights are moved back and forth between the inner and outer virtual orbits to form non-balances to keep the rotor body rotating. The physical energy-converting rotor may operate alone, or may cooperate with non-pollution generators such as wind generators and water generators to enhance power-generating effect.
US08053907B2

An integrated circuit system with one or more copper interconnects is provided. The one or more copper interconnects are in conductive contact with a substrate. The integrated circuit system includes a first dielectric layer, a copper material filling a first via through the first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer in contact with the first dielectric layer, and a diffusion barrier layer. The diffusion barrier layer at least partially fills a second via through the second dielectric layer. At least a first part of the diffusion barrier layer is in direct contact with the copper material, and at least a second part of the diffusion barrier layer is in direct contact with the second dielectric layer. The integrated circuit system further includes a gold material at least partially filling the second via. The gold material is conductively connected with the copper material through the diffusion barrier layer and conductively connected with a substrate. Additionally, a method for making such an integrated circuit system with one or more copper interconnects is provided.
US08053898B2

A method and apparatus for off-chip ESD protection, the apparatus includes an unprotected IC 22 stacked on an ESD protection chip 24 and employing combinations of edge wrap 32 and through-silicon via connectors 44 for electrical connection from an external connection lead 34 on a chip carrier 84 or system substrate 64, to an ESD protection circuit, and to an I/O trace 46 of the unprotected IC 22. In one embodiment the invention provides an ESD-protected stack 50 of unprotected IC chips 52, 54 that has reduced hazard of mechanical and ESD-damage in subsequent handling for assembly and packaging. The method includes a manufacturing method 170 for mass producing embedded edge wrap connectors 32, 38 during the chip manufacturing process.
US08053892B2

A method and system is provided for efficiently varying the composition of the metal interconnects for a semiconductor device. A metal interconnect according to the present disclosure has an intermediate layer on a dielectric material, the intermediate layer having a relatively higher concentration of an impurity metal along with a primary metal, the impurity metal having a lower reduction potential than the primary metal. The metal interconnect has a main layer of the metal alloy interconnect on top of the intermediate layer and surrounded by the intermediate layer, the main layer having a relatively higher concentration of the primary metal than the intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate and main layers of the metal alloy interconnect each maintains a material uniformity.
US08053889B2

A semiconductor module including a module body and a shock absorbing member on an exposed surface of the module body is provided. The module body may include at least one semiconductor package on a substrate and the exposed surface of the module body may include exposed surfaces of the substrate and the at least one semiconductor package. In accordance with example embodiments, the module body may also include a heat transfer member on the at least one semiconductor package and an exposed surface of the module body may include an exposed surface of the heat transfer member.
US08053878B2

A substrate including therein a plurality of conductor layers laminated via insulating layers, the substrate mounting at least one semiconductor integrated circuit, wherein the substrate includes a first electrode terminal connected to the semiconductor integrated circuit, a second electrode terminal connected to a terminal on an upper substrate arranged in a layer over the substrate, and on at least part of the perimeter of the first and second electrode terminals, a third electrode terminal located outside the outer edge of the upper substrate.
US08053869B2

A package (10) includes an integrated circuit device (12) having an electrically active surface (16) and an opposing backside surface (14). A dielectric molding resin (26) at least partially encapsulates the integrated circuit die and the plurality of electrically conductive leads (20) with the backside surface (14) and the plurality of electrical contacts (24) being exposed on opposing sides of the package (10). Features (30) are formed into electrically inactive portions of the integrated circuit die (12) to seal moisture paths and relieve packaging stress. The features (30) are formed by forming a trough (54) partially through the backside (56) of the wafer (40) in alignment with a saw street (48), the trough (54) having a first width; and forming a channel (62) extending from the trough (54) to the electrically active face (42) to thereby singulate the integrated circuit device member, the channel (62) having a second width that is less than the first width.
US08053852B2

The invention is directed to enhancement of performance of a back surface incident type semiconductor device having a light receiving element and a manufacturing method thereof without increasing a manufacturing cost. A supporting body is attached to a front surface of a semiconductor substrate formed with a light receiving element and its pad electrode. Then, the supporting body is etched to form a via hole penetrating the supporting body and exposing the pad electrode. Then, a wiring connected to the pad electrode and extending onto a front surface of the supporting body through the via hole is formed. Lastly, the semiconductor substrate is separated into a plurality of semiconductor dies by dicing. The semiconductor device is mounted so that the supporting body faces a circuit board.
US08053851B2

A spin transistor conducive to the miniaturization and large scale integration of devices, because a magnetization direction of a source and a drain is determined by a direction of the epitaxial growth of a ferromagnet. The spin transistor includes a semiconductor substrate having a channel layer formed thereinside; ferromagnetic source and drain epitaxially grown on the semiconductor substrate and magnetized in a longitudinal direction of the channel layer due to magnetocrystalline anisotropy—the source and drain being disposed spaced apart from each other in a channel direction and magnetized in the same direction—; and a gate disposed between the source and the drain to be insulated with the semiconductor substrate and formed on the semiconductor substrate to control the spin of electrons that are passed through the channel layer.
US08053846B2

A transistor includes: a semiconductor substrate; a channel region arranged on the semiconductor substrate; a source and a drain respectively arranged on either side of the channel region; and a conductive nano tube gate arranged on the semiconductor substrate to transverse the channel region between the source and the drain. Its method of manufacture includes: arranging a conductive nano tube on a surface of a semiconductor substrate; defining source and drain regions having predetermined sizes and traversing the nano tube; forming a metal layer on the source and drain regions; removing a portion of the metal layer formed on the nano tube to respectively form source and drain electrodes separated from the metal layer on either side of the nano tube; and doping a channel region below the nano tube arranged between the source and drain electrodes by ion-implanting.
US08053844B2

Embodiments herein present device, method, etc. for a hybrid orientation scheme for standard orthogonal circuits. An integrated circuit of embodiments of the invention comprises a hybrid orientation substrate, comprising first areas having a first crystalline orientation and second areas having a second crystalline orientation. The first crystalline orientation of the first areas is not parallel or perpendicular to the second crystalline orientation of the second areas. The integrated circuit further comprises first type devices on the first areas and second type devices on the second areas, wherein the first type devices are parallel or perpendicular to the second type devices. Specifically, the first type devices comprise p-type field effect transistors (PFETs) and the second type devices comprise n-type field effect transistors (NFETs).
US08053834B2

This invention discloses an inverted field-effect-transistor (iT-FET) semiconductor device that includes a source disposed on a bottom and a drain disposed on a top of a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor power device further comprises a trench-sidewall gate placed on sidewalls at a lower portion of a vertical trench surrounded by a body region encompassing a source region with a low resistivity body-source structure connected to a bottom source electrode and a drain link region disposed on top of said body regions thus constituting a drift region. The drift region is operated with a floating potential said iT-FET device achieving a self-termination.
US08053831B2

A memory cell of memory device, comprises an active region of a memory cell defined in a semiconductor substrate, and a conductive gate electrode in a trench of the active region. The gate electrode is isolated from the semiconductor substrate. An insulation layer is on the active region and on the conductive gate electrode. A conductive contact is in the insulation layer on the active region at a side of the gate electrode and isolated from the gate electrode. The contact has a first width at a top portion thereof and a second width at a bottom portion thereof, the first width being greater than the second width. The contact is formed of a single-crystal material.
US08053810B2

A semiconductor substrate containing a single crystalline group IV semiconductor is provided. A single crystalline lattice mismatched group IV semiconductor alloy layer is epitaxially grown on a portion of the semiconductor layer, while another portion of the semiconductor layer is masked. The composition of the lattice mismatched group IV semiconductor alloy layer is tuned to substantially match the lattice constant of a single crystalline compound semiconductor layer, which is subsequently epitaxially grown on the single crystalline lattice mismatched group IV semiconductor alloy layer. Thus, a structure having both the group IV semiconductor layer and the single crystalline compound semiconductor layer is provided on the same semiconductor substrate. Group IV semiconductor devices, such as silicon devices, and compound semiconductor devices, such as GaAs devices having a laser emitting capability, may be formed on the on the same lithographic level of the semiconductor substrate.
US08053803B2

A package for an optical semiconductor element is provided. The package includes: a stem body having a sealing hole therein; and a lead pin having a glass sealing portion which is sealed with sealing glass in the sealing hole. Characteristic impedance of the glass sealing portion is adjusted to a given value. The characteristic impedance Zo is given by: Zo=(138/Er1/2)×log(D/d), where a hole diameter of the sealing hole is D, a wire diameter of the lead pint is d, and a dielectric constant of the sealing glass is Er, and the dielectric constant Er of the sealing glass is set by controlling an amount of bubble contained in the sealing glass.
US08053802B2

A method of fabricating an LCD device includes forming a gate line, a gate electrode, a gate pad electrode at an end of the gate line, and a common line on a substrate; forming a gate insulating layer on the gate electrode; forming an active layer on the gate insulating layer; forming an etch stopper on the active layer; forming first and second ohmic contact layers spaced apart from each other on the active layer and an impurity-doped amorphous silicon pattern contacting the gate insulating layer therebelow, outer sides of the first and second ohmic contact layers being outside the active layer; forming a data line crossing the gate line to define a pixel region, a data pad electrode at an end of the data line, and source and drain electrodes on the first and second ohmic contact layers, respectively; forming a pixel electrode and a common electrode in the pixel region to induce an in-plane electric field; and forming a gate pad terminal electrode on the gate pad electrode. At least one of the data line, the pixel electrode and the common electrode contacts the impurity-doped amorphous silicon pattern therebelow.
US08053792B2

Provided is a semiconductor light emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same. The semiconductor light emitting device comprises: a first semiconductor layer; a light emitting structure on one sided portion of the first semiconductor layer; a protection device structure on the other sided portion of the first semiconductor layer; and a first electrode layer on the protection device structure.
US08053777B2

A detector including an electrode formed from a first layer of conductive material, a readout line formed from a second layer of conductive material, and a via electrically connecting the readout line and the electrode. In one embodiment, the detector includes a source electrode and a drain electrode formed from the first layer of conductive material, and a data line formed from the second layer of conductive material, such that the source and drain electrodes are vertically offset from the data line. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the detector includes a gate electrode formed from the first layer of conductive material, and a scan line formed from the second layer of conductive material, such that the gate electrode is vertically offset from the scan line.
US08053763B2

An organic semiconductor light emitting device wherein efficiency of injecting a carrier from an organic semiconductor active layer to an organic semiconductor light emitting part is improved. The organic semiconductor light emitting device includes the organic semiconductor active layer having a source area and a drain area set at an interval of a channel length, a source electrode joined to the source area, the organic semiconductor light emitting part joined to the drain area, a drain electrode joined to the organic semiconductor light emitting part, and a gate electrode arranged to face the organic semiconductor active layer with an insulating film interposed. The organic semiconductor light emitting part includes an organic semiconductor light emitting layer which receives electrons and holes from the drain electrode and holes from the drain electrode and the organic semiconductor active layer and generates light by recombination of the electrons and the holes.
US08053742B2

Substrates, systems and methods for analyzing materials that include waveguide arrays disposed upon or within the substrate such that evanescent fields emanating from the waveguides illuminate materials disposed upon or proximal to the surface of the substrate, permitting analysis of such materials. The substrates, systems and methods are used in a variety of analytical operations, including, inter alia, nucleic acid analysis, including hybridization and sequencing analyses, cellular analyses and other molecular analyses.
US08053739B2

A device to measure the beam spot of a particle beam, has a device that records the projections of the beam spot in many directions that are essentially perpendicular to the direction of the particle beam, and an analysis device that reconstructs a two-dimensional cross section profile of the particle beam from the recorded projections.
US08053738B2

A radiographic image detection device includes a radiation detector and a handle portion. The radiation detector detects radiation that has passed through a subject and has been irradiated thereon, and outputs image information expressing a radiographic image corresponding to a detected radiation amount. The handle portion is provided at a side surface of the radiation detector and configured to be grasped, and has a notification section that gives notice of an operating state of the radiation detector.
US08053732B2

Provided are a terahertz wave transmission and reception (Tx/Rx) module package and method of manufacturing the same. The complete and separate terahertz wave Tx/Rx module package is implemented by simply aligning a silicon ball lens, a photoconductive antenna and a focusing lens, and thus facilitates generation or measurement of a terahertz wave. The terahertz wave Tx/Rx module package and method can remarkably reduce time and cost required to build a terahertz wave generation and measurement system, and simplify and miniaturize the terahertz wave generation and measurement system. In addition, characteristics of a terahertz wave generated by the photoconductive antenna can be simply measured. Furthermore, the terahertz wave Tx/Rx module package can be stored and transported with a photoconductive antenna, a silicon ball lens and a focusing lens kept aligned as they are, and also it is possible to minimize pollution of terahertz wave devices caused by surroundings.
US08053727B2

A radiation conversion device is driven by an on-board battery, detects radiation that has passed through a subject, and converts the radiation into image information. A charging cradle to which the radiation conversion device is connected carries out a charging process on the battery. The radiation conversion device includes a signal transmitting unit for transmitting image information by wireless communications to an external apparatus, a transmission suspension unit for monitoring a transmission state of the image information by the signal transmitting unit and suspending transmission of the image information when a transmission error is generated, and a suspension release unit for releasing suspension of transmission of the image information when the radiation conversion device is connected to the charging cradle. The signal transmitting unit transmits the image information to the external apparatus when suspension of transmission of the image information has been released.
US08053720B2

Provided are a multi-frequency millimeter-wave very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) receiving system and a method of designing a quasi optical circuit for the multi-frequency millimeter-wave VLBI receiving system. The multi-frequency millimeter-wave VLBI receiving system includes a plurality of low pass filters, offset ellipsoidal mirrors, and flat mirrors for dividing a cosmic radio wave signal incident through the troposphere. A beam propagated from a celestial point is introduced into a receiver room via a 45-degree flat mirror and is divided into a plurality of beams by using a plurality of low pass filters having different bandwidths and mirrors, and the divided beams are transmitted to corresponding quasi-optical receivers having different bandwidths via a plurality of mirrors. Therefore, radio astronomic observations can be simultaneously performed in 22 GHz, 43 GHz, 86 GHz, and 129 GHz bands, and phase variations of electromagnetic waves in the bands can be compensated for.
US08053713B2

A light source device includes: a semiconductor light-emitting element that emits, according to an input value, light having first wavelength; a wavelength converting element that converts, with a nonlinear optical effect, the light having the first wavelength emitted by the semiconductor light-emitting element into light having second wavelength; a light-amount measuring unit that measures a light amount of the light having the second wavelength emitted from the wavelength converting element; an equivalent-light-amount calculating unit that calculates, on the basis of the measured light amount measured by the light-amount measuring unit, an equivalent light amount equivalent to a light amount of the light having the first wavelength; and a light-amount correcting unit that corrects an emitted light amount of the semiconductor light-emitting element using the input value and the equivalent light amount.
US08053709B2

A portable heating or lighting unit may comprise a housing, a handle, a shield or grid, a source of electric energy, a rectifier, an electrical device adapted to use electrical energy from the source of electric energy, and a control system comprising control hardware and embedded software, where the control system may be adapted to automatically control the electric heating element. A source of electric energy may comprise a battery adapted to store energy and to output stored energy as electrical energy, a fuel cell, a thermoelectric component, or a plug adapted to draw electrical energy from a wall outlet or other source of electrical energy. A battery may be at least partially enclosed by the housing. A thermoelectric component may comprise a thermoelectric material or a thermoelectric generator. An electrical device may comprise a resistive heating element adapted to emit thermal energy.
US08053702B2

A method for connecting pipe members for an endoscope includes the steps of arranging two pipe members each made of a corrosion-resistant alloy material by fitting one in another so that a passage is defined through the two pipe members, jetting inert gas toward an exterior of an area at which the two pipe members are to be connected, injecting inert gas through the passage defined through the two pipe members, and connecting the two pipes by laser welding such that a laser beam is irradiated toward the exterior of the area at which the two pipe members are to be connected with jetting the inert gas toward the exterior of the area at which the two pipe members are to be connected and injecting the inert gas through the passage defined by through the two pipe members.
US08053700B2

An improved plasma vessel (i.e., plasma applicator) that provides effective cooling includes a plurality of generally linear tubes having a dielectric interior fluidly connected together by dielectric connectors. The tubes and connectors are joined together to form a leak-tight plasma vessel. A cooling system surrounding the improved plasma vessel includes a rigid cooling plate and a deformable thermal transfer material disposed between the plasma vessel and the cooling plate. After use or at an operator's discretion, the plasma vessel can be removed from the cooling system and a new vessel may be inserted in its place. Alternatively, the used vessel may be refurbished and re-inserted into the cooling system. The new or refurbished vessel may or may not be of the same size or configuration as the used vessel. Thermal contact between the cooling system and the new or refurbished vessel, however is maintained through the deformable thermal transfer material.
US08053699B2

An electrical pulse circuit is disclosed. The electrical pulse circuit is in connection with a first pair of electrodes defining a first gap between ends thereof and a second pair of electrodes defining a second gap between ends thereof. The second gap is disposed proximate to the first gap. The circuit includes a controller, a first electrical pulse source in power connection with the first pair of electrodes, and a second electrical pulse source in power connection with the second pair of electrodes. The first electrical pulse source is productive of a high voltage low current arc across the first gap in response to the controller and the second electrical pulse source is productive of a low voltage high current arc across the second gap in response to the controller and the high voltage arc.
US08053696B1

An electric connector switch for connecting lighting fixtures to a power cable is disclosed to include an electrically insulative housing, a connector body mounted inside the housing to hold a grounding unit and a conducting unit, and a switching member for controlling on/off status between the conducting unit and the power cable. The conducting unit has two fixed electrodes respectively connected to the positive and negative poles of the power cable, and a movable electrode, which has one end constantly kept in contact with one fixed electrode and the other end movable by the switching member between the on position to contact the other fixed electrode and the off position to be disconnected from the other fixed electrode.
US08053689B2

A communication terminal including a housing having elastic key buttons integrally coupled thereto is provided. The housing is configured to define an external appearance of the communication terminal. Each of the key buttons may have one end thereof integrally coupled to the housing and a free end at an opposite end thereof. A plurality of key-input switches may be respectively positioned beneath each key button. Each of the key-input switches may detect a corresponding key-input when the free end of the key button is brought into contact with the key-input switch.
US08053684B2

An electronic component mounting structure includes a flexible circuit board having terminal connection patterns formed thereon and a light-emitting component provided with electrodes. The light-emitting component is placed on the flexible circuit board, and a synthetic resin casing is injection-molded to cover the light-emitting component and a portion of the flexible circuit board surrounding the light-emitting component placed thereon, whereby the electrodes of the light-emitting component and the terminal connection patterns of the flexible circuit board are connected in abutting contact with each other.
US08053683B2

An equipment container retention and bonding system including a dagger pin block assembly that includes a mounting dagger pin and a bonding member formed of a compressive electrically conductive material that is retained on a surface of the dagger pin block assembly wherein the bonding member is compressed between the contact surface on the equipment container and the dagger pin block assembly when the fastening mechanism secures the equipment container in the mounting tray to form an EMI/EMC bonding connection between the mounting tray and the equipment container having an electrical resistance of less than 2.5 milli-ohms under vibration and other loading conditions encountered during use of the system.
US08053682B2

There is provided a multilayer ceramic substrate including a conductive via of a dual-layer structure capable of preventing loss in electrical conductivity and signal. The multilayer ceramic substrate includes: a plurality of dielectric layers; and a circuit pattern part formed on at least a portion of the dielectric layers, the circuit pattern part including at least one conductive via and conductive pattern, wherein the at least one conductive via comprises an outer peripheral portion and an inner peripheral portion, the outer peripheral portion formed along an inner wall of a via hole extending through the dielectric layers and formed of a first conductive material containing a metal, and the inner peripheral portion filled in the outer peripheral portion and formed of a second conductive material having a shrinkage initiation temperature higher than a shrinkage initiation temperature of the first conductive material.
US08053678B2

An interconnection includes a bundle of conductive members, each of the conductive members being made of carbon nanotube having an end connected to a first conductive film, and another end connected to a second conductive film separated from the first conductive film; and carbon particles each having a diamond crystal structure, dispersed between the conductive members.
US08053672B2

A cable management unit having a base section and a top section, the base section and the top section defining a space therebetween, a plurality of distribution walls coupled between the base section and the top section and having a front surface facing the space and a back surface facing away from the space, an electronic device disposed within the space, and a plurality of ports disposed on the back surface of the contiguous section of the plurality of distribution walls and each having a port surface extending beyond the back surface of the contiguous section.
US08053670B2

An apparatus for an electrical equipment enclosure with tubular weatherproofing of electrical connections is disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, one or more weatherproofing tubes attached to the lid incorporating one or more conduits are configured to serve as passageways for one or more electrical lines which need to stay weatherproof, watertight, and/or splash-proof from external elements. Furthermore, in one embodiment of the invention, one or more clusters of electrical connectors inside the electrical equipment enclosure receive a portion of the one or more electrical lines passing through the one or more conduits and the one or more weatherproofing tubes. The apparatus as embodied by the present invention provides a reliable, durable and cost-effective weatherproof electrical equipment enclosure design.
US08053665B2

The present disclosure presents a partially-transparent (see-through) three-dimensional thin film solar cell (3-D TFSC) substrate. The substrate includes a plurality of unit cells. Each unit cell structure has the shape of a truncated pyramid, and its parameters may be varied to allow a desired portion of sunlight to pass through.
US08053660B2

The disclosure pertains to a scratch effect controller for use by a disk jockey, wherein at least one electromagnet creates the slippage tension or friction effect between the user manipulated disc, which includes a vinyl-like surface thereby simulating a vinyl record, and the rotatable or fixed platter. The strength of the electromagnet is variable so as to create a variable slippage tension or friction effect.
US08053657B2

An electronic image visualization system, such as a music stand system and display are presented. The electronic music stand system is comprised of a performer subsystem comprising a processing subsystem, librarian logic, performance logic, and communications management logic. The user input apparatus and the display apparatus can be integrated into a touch-screen input display. In a preferred embodiment, the librarian logic, the performance logic and the communications management logic are defined by program data stored in the data storage apparatus, and the processor is responsive to the program data for managing data formatting, displaying music, and management of communications of data with the external apparatus. In one embodiment, two Performer subsystems are operable alternatively as one of a single appliance as a linked set a linked mode and as two independent appliances a stand-alone mode, wherein in the linked mode each of the two Performer subsystems operate cooperatively with each other as a linked set to provide a two page display on the video presentation, and wherein in the stand alone mode each of the two Performer subsystems operates independently. The method is comprised of defining a page of music image data from the music database; defining ordered logical sections; storing the mapping in a memory for selective retrieval; and providing for the video display of the music responsive to the mapping and the storing.
US08053654B1

A novel maize variety designated 10167860 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing maize variety 10167860 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into 10167860 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety 10167860, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety 10167860. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety 10167860.
US08053649B1

A novel maize variety designated PHVPM and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHVPM with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHVPM 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 PHVPM or a locus conversion of PHVPM with another maize variety.
US08053648B2

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH353606. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH353606, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH353606 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH353606.
US08053633B1

The presently-disclosed subject matter provides isolated nucleic acid and amino acid sequences encoding mushroom desaturase polypeptides that are active with both palmitic and stearic acid, as well as vectors and transgenic plant cells comprising nucleic acids of the presently-disclosed subject matter. The presently-disclosed subject matter further provides methods of producing monounsaturated fatty acids, such as palmitoleic acid (16:1), and monounsaturated fatty acids prepared by the methods disclosed herein.
US08053629B2

The invention relates to plants and their progeny with improved morphogenesis in a variety of organs; to a method for producing the plants; and to a method for producing calli.
US08053627B2

This invention is in the field of neurology. Specifically, the invention relates to the discovery and characterization of molecular components that play a role in neuronal demyelination or remyelination. In addition, the invention relates to the generation of an animal model that exhibits hypomyelination. The compositions and methods embodied in the present invention are particularly useful for drug screening and/or treatment of demyelination disorders.
US08053625B2

Wetness indicators may include alarm devices that are designed to assist parents or attendants in identifying a wet diaper condition early on. These devices produce either a visual or an audible signal. Many of these devices rely on electronics, which may increase the expense of the absorbent article. Further, electronic devices rely on electrical sources and may be prone to failure if not utilized for an extended period of time.
US08053607B2

A method for producing a polyether-polyol having a narrow molecular weight distribution, which comprises carrying out selective fractional extraction of the low-molecular weight component from a polyether-polyol (A) having an average molecular weight of from 500 to 4500 represented by formula (1): HO—[(CH2)4O]n—[(CR1R2)pO]q—H  (1) wherein R1 and R2, which may be the same or different, each represents a hydrogen atom or a linear or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; n indicates a positive integer; p indicates an integer of from 1 to 8; and q indicates 0 or a positive integer, by the use of an aqueous solution (C) containing from 15 to 70 wt % sulfuric acid at a room temperature to 100° C., to thereby suitably determine the amount of the aqueous sulfuric acid solution to the overall organic layer and the sulfuric acid concentration in accordance with the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the intended polyether-polyol to be fractionally extracted.
US08053595B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a process that enables isocyanates to be stably produced over a long period of time at high yield without encountering various problems as found in the prior art when producing isocyanates without using phosgene. The present invention discloses a process for producing an isocyanate, comprising the steps of: reacting a carbamic acid ester and an aromatic hydroxy compound to obtain an aryl carbamate having a group derived from the aromatic hydroxy compound; and subjecting the aryl carbamate to a decomposition reaction, wherein the aromatic hydroxy compound is an aromatic hydroxy compound which is represented by the following formula (1) and which has a substituent R1 at least one ortho position of a hydroxyl group: (wherein ring A represents an aromatic hydrocarbon ring in a form of a single or multiple rings which may have a substitute and which have 6 to 20 carbon atoms; R1 represents a group other than a hydrogen atom in a form of an aliphatic alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, an aliphatic alkoxy group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, an aryl group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, an aryloxy group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, an aralkyl group having 7 to 20 carbon atoms or an aralkyloxy group having 7 to 20 carbon atoms, the group containing an atom selected from a carbon atom, an oxygen atom and a nitrogen atom; and R1 may bond with A to form a ring structure).
US08053591B2

This invention relates to the discovery of functionalized triclosan monomers and oligomers that, when incorporated into a substrate of, or applied as part of a coating to, medical devices and/or consumer products may extend the duration of antimicrobial properties to the medical devices and/or consumer products.
US08053569B2

The invention provides compositions, methods, and kits for increasing transport of agents across the blood brain barrier while allowing their activity once across the barrier to remain substantially intact. The agents are transported across the blood brain barrier via one or more endogenous receptor-mediated transport systems. In some embodiments the agents are therapeutic, diagnostic, or research agents.
US08053568B2

Bacterial packaging strains useful for generating recombinant double-stranded RNA nucleocapsids (rdsRNs) are provided. The packaging strains are useful for the production of RNA encoding vaccine antigens, bioactive proteins, immunoregulatory proteins, antisense RNAs, and catalytic RNAs in eukaryotic cells or tissues. Recombinant ssRNA is introduced into the strains and packaged to form rdsRNs de novo.
US08053565B2

In an affinity-type purification, ligands dissociated from a packed bed that would otherwise leach into the solution containing the species being purified are captured by a second ligand that resides in a porous barrier downstream from the packed bed, the second ligand exhibiting an affinity-type interaction with the dissociated first ligand with sufficient specificity to avoid the undesired retention by the second ligand of species from the liquid sample or source liquid other than the species sought to be purified in the affinity column.
US08053564B2

The present invention provides a compound consisting essentially of the following elements: one or more reactive groups; and two or more cross-linked antibodies or fragments thereof; characterised in that the or each reactive group is suitable for attaching an effector molecule but does not react with any of the antibodies or fragments thereof.
US08053550B2

Process for the purification of a vinyl chloride polymer (PVC) comprising at least one compound of a heavy metal, according to which: (a) the PVC is dissolved in a water-miscible polar organic solvent; (b) an aqueous solution comprising a reagent, which is either a base capable of reacting with the compound of the heavy metal (R1) or a dispersing agent capable of stabilizing the said compound (R2), is added to the organic solution, the water being introduced in an amount (Q) such that it brings about the formation of a two-phase medium, the continuous phase of which is the organic phase; (c) the two-phase medium is subjected to stirring for a time sufficient for the reagent to be able to interact with (exert its effect on) the compound of the heavy metal; (d) the precipitation of the PVC out of this two-phase medium is brought about.
US08053546B2

The use of 1,3-substituted imidazolium salts of the formula I in which R1 and R3 independently of one another are an organic radical having 1 to 20 C atoms, R2, R4, and R5 independently of one another are an H atom or an organic radical having 1 to 20 C atoms, it also being possible for R4 and R5 together to form an aliphatic or aromatic ring, X is an anion having a pKb of less than 13 (measured at 25° C., 1 bar in water or dimethyl sulfoxide), and n is 1, 2 or 3, with the exception as imidazolium salts of 1-ethyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium acetate and 1-ethyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium acetate-acetic acid complex, as latent catalysts for curing compositions comprising epoxy compounds.
US08053542B2

The invention provides a process for polymerizing a polymer comprising monomeric units derived from styrene and 1,3-butadiene, said process comprising: A) adding less than 60 weight percent of the total amount of the butadiene used in the polymerization, to a reactor comprising the total amount of styrene used in the polymerization and solvent; B) adding at least one initiator to the reactor, and allowing the reaction to proceed for a time t; C) adding the remaining amount of butadiene to the reactor in two or more separate additions; and wherein for each butadiene addition, the amount of subsequent butadiene added is less than, or equal to, the amount of butadiene added in the immediately prior addition; and wherein for each butadiene addition, the butadiene is added over a time, tnc, and after each addition, the reaction is allowed to proceed for a time, tnr, wherein n is the number of the butadiene addition, and for each addition, n is independently greater than, or equal to, 1.
US08053539B2

In one aspect, the invention relates to compositions comprising siloxanyl compounds comprising the structure: or residues thereof. Such compositions can be suitable for producing molded articles, can be excellent in transparency, hydrophilicity, and oxygen permeability, and can have a low modulus of elasticity and/or an excellent optical quality, so as to be suitable for ophthalmic lenses such as contact lenses and intraocular lenses. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.
US08053532B2

An emulsion aggregation polyester toner including a polyester resin having modified end groups, wherein the polyester resin includes at least one carboxylic end group. A process of making the toner by oxidation of a polyester resin including reacting the polyester with a hypohalite and a phase transfer catalyst results in a polyester resin endcapped with at least one acidic group. Stable xerographic charging in all ambient environments for all colors, and excellent resistivity and cohesion of the toner, may be achieved.
US08053529B2

A process for the polymerization of one or more addition polymerizable monomers and the resulting polymer products, said process comprising: 1) contacting an addition polymerizable monomer or mixture of monomers under addition polymerization conditions in a reactor or reactor zone with a composition comprising at least one olefin polymerization catalyst and a cocatalyst and characterized by the formation of polymer chains from said monomer or monomers; 2) transferring the reaction mixture to a second reactor or reactor zone and optionally adding one or more additional reactants, catalysts, monomers or other compounds prior to, commensurate with, or after said transfer; and 3) causing polymerization to occur in said second reactor or reactor zone to form polymer chains that are differentiated from the polymer chains formed in step 1); said process being characterized by addition of a chain shuttling agent to the reaction mixture prior to, during, or subsequent to step 1) such that at least some of the resulting polymer molecules from step 3) comprise two or more chemically or physically distinguishable blocks or segments.
US08053524B2

A golf ball material composed of (A) an olefin-containing thermoplastic polymer having an acid content of at least 0.5 wt % but less than 5.0 wt %, (B) a resin composition which includes one or more selected from the group consisting of diene polymers, thermoplastic polymers and thermoset polymers, and (C) an oxygen-containing inorganic metal compound has a good thermal stability, flow and processability, making it suitable for injection molding. The golf ball material is ideal for the production of high-performance golf balls endowed with durability, scuff resistance and optimal hardness without a loss of rebound in the molded article.
US08053518B2

This invention relates to a polyester urethane hybrid resin casting resin composition which comprises a mixture ABCD of an unsaturated polyester ABC which has moieties derived from at least one alcohol A, moieties derived from a mixture B of carboxylic acids, wherein at least 10% of the mass of at least one of the said carboxylic acids B or of the said alcohols A have at least one olefinic unsaturation in their molecules, and moieties derived from a monoepoxide C having at least four carbon atoms, which polyester ABC is dissolved in a compound D, and which has at least one olefinic unsaturation and which is radically copolymerizable with the unsaturated polyester oligomer ABC and a second liquid component EF comprising a polyfunctional isocyanate E and a radical initiator F, a process for its production, and a method of use thereof to form large moulded parts.
US08053515B2

A polymer includes a first type of repeat unit represented by Formula I: where X is selected from —CH2—, —CH2—CH2—, or —O—; m is an integer from 0 to about 5; and where for the first type of repeat unit one of R1, R2, R3, and R4 is one of a maleimide containing group and for the second type of repeat unit one of R1, R2, R3, and R4 is a hindered aromatic group, a C8 or greater alkyl group, a C4 or greater halohydrocarbyl or perhalocarbyl group, a C7 or greater aralkyl group, or a heteroatom hydrocarbyl or halohydrocarbyl group.
US08053512B2

A backbone modified polymer comprising the reaction product of an elastomeric polymer and a sulfide modifier represented by Formula 1: AS—Y-Zm (Formula 1), and wherein Y is (C12-C100) aralkyl, (C12-C100) aryl, (C12-C100) alkyl, or (C12-C100) dialkylether (alkyl-O-alkyl), and wherein each may be optionally substituted with (C1-C4alkyl, (C1-C4alkoxy, (C7-C16aryl, (C7-C16 aralkyl, nitrile, amine, NO2, alkoxy, or thioalkyl; S is sulfur; A is hydrogen, —(S)p—R1 or -MR2R3R4; Z is —SH, —S-MR5R6R7, —S—(S)p—R8, —NR9R10, —NR11COR12, —O—CO—R13, —NCO, or —COOR14; M is silicon or tin; N is nitrogen; O is oxygen; m is the number one, two or three; p is the number one, two, three, four or five; R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each independently selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl. The invention also provides related compositions, methods and articles.
US08053508B2

A painted polymer part containing a conductive polymer composition containing at least one polymer and 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, wherein the painted polymer part has been electrospray painted.
US08053507B2

The present invention relates to elastomeric compounds having a high filler content additionally containing 1 to 400% by weight of resin of microsilica as a modifier to improve the processability. Thereafter, the invention relates to a method for production of elastomeric compounds having a high filler content, wherein microsilica is added to the elastomeric compounds in an amount of 1 to 400% by weight of resin as a modifier to improve processability.
US08053497B2

The invention concerns the polymers obtained by the use of sulfur compounds in a process for controlled radical polymerization in water of acrylic acid and/or acrylic acid with hydrosoluble monomers. It concerns also their uses as dispersant agents or agents to aid grinding and/or co-grinding of mineral matters in aqueous suspensions, and as dispersant agents incorporated directly in aqueous formulations containing mineral matters. Finally, the invention concerns the formulations of mineral matters obtained in this manner.
US08053482B2

Process for reducing the methane selectivity in a Fischer-Tropsch conversion of syngas to hydrocarbons, by using a catalyst composition containing (i) cobalt, either as the elemental metal, oxide, or a compound thermally decomposable to the elemental metal or oxide, (ii) zinc, in the form of the oxide or a compound thermally decomposable to the oxide, and (iii) platinum, in the elemental metal form, or in the form of a compound wherein the amount of platinum metal present in the composition is in the range 0.0001 to 1.50% w/w.
US08053479B2

This invention provides a high-purity, high-concentrated silica sol with long-term stability and low viscosity by preventing viscosity-increase after production, and method for producing the same. In one embodiment, the silica sol produced by an alkoxide method comprises at least a dispersing agent and silica, wherein the concentration of said dispersing agent is 10-3000 ppm with respect to the silica, wherein said dispersing agent may be an inorganic acid, inorganic acid salt, organic acid or organic acid salt whose degradation temperature and boiling point are both 60° C. or higher, wherein said silica sol has a silica concentration of 20% weight or higher.
US08053475B2

A pharmaceutical composition comprising at least 0.1 μmol of formaurindicarboxylic acid or its derivatives in 1 kg of pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 wherein the composition is in the form of solution prepared using aqueous alcali or water.
US08053470B2

The invention discloses a process for preparing a polynuclear ferric hydroxide-saccharide complex, including: adding an aqueous solution of an alkaline substance drop-wise into an aqueous solution of iron salt at a temperature of 5-20° C. until pH 6-8, collecting the polynuclear ferric hydroxide from the reaction mixture by a conventional method; reacting the polynuclear ferric hydroxide with a saccharide in a solution of an alkaline substance for 10-40 hours at 106-125° C. under pH 10-12, resulting in a crude product having an isoelectric point of 4.4-5.3 and a weight average molecular weight of 20,000-100,000 Daltons, and then harvesting the polynuclear ferric hydroxide-saccharide complex from the crude product. The process can precisely control the molecular weight of the polynuclear ferric hydroxide-saccharide complex without an effect on the other characteristics of the product, for example its saccharide content or isoelectric point etc. Furthermore, it is very simple and readily applicable in industry.
US08053463B2

Compounds are described that are active on at least one of PPARα, PPARδ, and PPARγ, which are useful for therapeutic and/or prophylactic methods involving modulation of at least one of PPARα, PPARδ, and PPARγ, wherein the compounds have the formula: wherein: X2 and X3 are independently CH or N; and one of X1 and X4 is N or CR4 and the other of X1 and X4 is N or CH.
US08053460B2

Indole derivatives of Formula (I+A) having antitumor and chemosensitizing activity are described. Also described are pharmaceutical compositions containing the above-mentioned compounds, for the treatment of tumors.
US08053458B2

The present invention is directed to dipyrazole compounds of formula I and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, stereoisomers, tautomers, or solvates thereof. Novel compounds include those of formula I. The compounds of this invention modulate AMPA and NMDA receptor function, and therefore are useful as pharmaceutical agents, especially for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.
US08053457B2

The invention relates to 3-heterocyclyl indolyl compounds of formula I capable of inhibiting the interaction between p53, or variants thereof, and MDM2 and/or MDM4, or variants thereof, respectively: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, RA, Y and Y are as defined in the specification. Due to their activity, the compounds are useful in the treatment of various disorders and diseases mediated by the activity of MDM2 and/or MDM4, or variants thereof, such as inflammatory or proliferative diseases or in the protection of cells.
US08053449B2

Various methods of administering medication(s) that inhibit the nonenzymatic formation of glycation and dehydration condensation complexes known as advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) or modulate the advanced glycation end-product receptor (RAGE) are provided. Also, a medication releasing medical devices, wherein at least a portion of the medical device releasably includes at least one of these medication(s) are provided.
US08053446B2

Novel pyridyl cyanoguanidine compounds of general formula I (I) wherein R1, X, R2 and R3 are as defined herein, exhibit a high antiproliferative activity and may be used in the treatment of hyperproliferative and neo-plastic diseases.
US08053445B2

Compounds having an activity to enhance the expression of apoAI are provided. Compounds of formula (I): in which Ar1 and Ar2 are independently a phenyl, naphthyl, or monocyclic or bicyclic aromatic heterocyclic group, which may be optionally substituted; —X— is —N═CZ2—, —CY2═CZ2—, —CY2Y3—CHZ2—, —S—, —O—, or the like; Y1, Y2, Y3, Z1 and Z2 are independently a hydrogen, a halogen, a lower alkyl, a phenyl, or the like; Z1 and Z2 may be independently a linker group that may combine with Ar2 and Ar1 to form a condensed ring; m is 0 or 1, and n is 0 to 2; a prodrug thereof, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof; are disclosed.
US08053442B2

The invention relates to organic compounds which have interesting pharmaceutical properties. In particular, the compounds are useful in the treatment and/or prevention of infections such as those caused by Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, Trypanosoma cruzi and parasites of the Leishmania genus such as, for example, Leishmania donovani. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds, as well as processes for their preparation.
US08053436B1

The present invention is related to piperazine derivatives of carbazole of formula (I) notably for use as pharmaceutically active compounds, as well as to pharmaceutical formulations containing such piperazine derivatives of carbazole. Said piperazine derivatives of carbazole are efficient modulators, in particular efficient inhibitors, of the Bax function and/or activation. The present invention is furthermore related to novel piperazine derivatives of carbazole as well as methods of their preparation.
US08053433B2

The present invention provides pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine-4-yl amines pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyrimidin-4-yl amines that modulate the activity of Janus kinases and are useful in the treatment of diseases related to activity of Janus kinases including, for example, immune-related diseases and cancer.
US08053432B2

A compound of formula (I): in which X represents O or CH2; R3 and R4 each independently represent hydrogen or C1-6 alkyl; p represent 0 or 1; and R represents a five- or six-membered saturated or unsaturated ring selected from: formula (II), (III) and (IV); or R represents a five- or six-membered oxo-substituted unsaturated ring selected from: (V) and (VI); wherein R1 and R2 together represent an oxo group, or R1 and R2 each represent hydrogen, methoxy or ethoxy, or R1 and R2 together with the interjacent carbon atom represent a 1,3-dioxolane or 1,3-dioxane ring, attached via the 2 position and optionally bearing one or more methyl or ethyl groups; or a salt thereof, is suitable for the treatment of anxiety and depression.
US08053425B2

The subject invention provides a method of treating burn-induced weight loss in a burn patient which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of an oxandrolone to the patient. The invention also provides a method of treating a wound in a patient suffering from a wound which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of an oxandrolone to the patient. The subject invention further provides a method of treating burn-induced weight loss in a burn patient which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of an oxandrolone in conjunction with a protein supplement to the patient.
US08053422B2

It is disclosed herein that suppressive ODNs are of use for preventing or delaying the formation of a tumor, reducing the risk of developing a tumor, treating a tumor, preventing conversion of a benign to a malignant lesion, or preventing metastasis. In some embodiments, methods are disclosed herein for treating, preventing or reducing the risk of developing a tumor, such as esophageal, gastrointestinal, liver, lung, skin and colon tumors or a mesothelioma. Generally, the methods disclosed herein include selecting a subject for treatment and administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of one or more suppressive ODN. In some examples, additional agents can also be administered to the subject of interest.
US08053419B2

The present invention relates generally to synthetic genes for modifying endogenous gene expression in a cell, tissue or organ of a transgenic organism, in particular a transgenic animal or plant. More particularly, the present invention provides novel synthetic genes and genetic constructs which are capable of repressing delaying or otherwise reducing the expression of an endogenous gene or a target gene in an organism when introduced thereto.
US08053416B2

Described herein are novel cerebroside compounds, designated as Turbostatin 1, Turbostatin 2, Turbostatin 3, and Turbostatin 4. These compounds were extracted and isolated from the marine mollusk Turbo stenogyrus, and their structures elucidated. The new compounds exhibit significant cancer cell growth inhibition activity against a variety of murine and human cancer cell lines, and as such appear will be useful in the treatment of various forms of neoplastic disease.
US08053415B2

The present invention provides compounds that have motifs that target the compounds to cells that express integrins. In particular, the compounds have peptides with one or more RD motifs conjugated to an agent selected from an imaging agent and a targeting agent. The compounds may be used to detect, monitor and treat a variety of disorders mediated by integrins.
US08053410B2

The invention concerns a preparation comprising a plurality of Factor VII polypeptides or Factor VII-related polypeptides, wherein the polypeptides comprise asparagine-linked and/or serine-linked oligosaccharide chains, and wherein at least one oligosaccharide group is covalently attached to at least one polymeric group.
US08053404B2

Disclosed are compositions useful in a wide variety of applications, including heat transfer fluids which possess a highly desirable and unexpectedly superior combination of properties, and heat transfer systems and methods based on these fluids. The preferred heat transfer fluid comprises from about 1 to about 40 percent, on a weight basis, of carbon dioxide (CO2) and from about 99 to about 60 percent, on a weight basis, of a compound having the Formula I XCFzR3-z (I), where X is a C2 or a C3 unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted, alkyl radical, each R is independently Cl, F, Br, I or H, and z is 1 to 3. A preferred compound of Formula I is tetrafluoropropene, particularly 1,1,1,3-tetrafluoropropene and/or 1,1,1,3-tetrafluoropropene.
US08053403B2

The subject of the invention is a composition comprising (i) from 10% to 25% by weight of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane, preferably 16% to 24% by weight of 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane; (ii) from 62% to 70% by weight of trans-dichloroethylene, preferably from 63% to 68% by weight of trans-dichloroethylene, (iii) from 10% to 21% by weight of nonafluoromethoxybutane, preferably from 11% to 17% by weight of nonafluoromethoxybutane; and; (iv) from 1% to 4% by weight of nonafluoroethoxybutane, preferably from 2% to 4% by weight of nonafluoroethoxybutane. The subject matter of the invention is also to the use of said composition as a cleaning, solvent, degreasing, defluxing or drying agent.
US08053401B2

A detergent and disinfectant in which water-soluble permanganates are used in an alkaline solution in order to initiate the oxidation of organic substances and simultaneously a chemical oxidant, preferably a peroxodisulfate, is used which is capable of producing radical reactions with catalytic support by manganates originating from the supplied permanganate, which reactions produce the oxidation of organic substances. All components are present in powder form and a respective powder mixture can be dissolved rapidly and free from residues in water. It thus represents a universally applicable, highly effective detergent and disinfectant.
US08053393B2

The present invention relates to an aqueous herbicidal composition based on a suspension concentrate comprising a herbicidally active compound of the formula (I), a safener of the formula (II) and optionally a herbicidally active compound of the formula (III) In these formulae, R1, R2, R3 and R4 independently of one another are methyl or ethyl; R5 is isopropyl or cyclopropyl; R6 is hydrogen or chlorine; Q is cyclohexane-1,3-dion-2-yl, isoxazol-4-yl or pyrazol-4yl; and R7, R8 and R9 are hydrogen, halogen or various organic radicals.
US08053385B2

The dielectric ceramic composition comprising a main component including a compound satisfying a compositional formula of (SrxBa1-x)mTiO3 (“x” in said compositional formula is 0.159≦“x”≦0.238, and “m” is 0.997≦“m”≦1.011), and a subcomponent comprising 11 to 25 weight % of CaTiO3, 0.10 to 0.50 weight % of at least one oxide of element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn in terms of FeO3/2, CoO4/3, NiO, CuO, and ZnO, 0.590 to 1.940 mol % of an oxide of element “A” (A is Mn and/or Cr), and an oxide of element “D” where “D” is at least one element selected from a group consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Y; wherein a ratio (A/D) of the element “A” with respect to element “D” is 2.250 to 7.450. According to the present invention, the dielectric loss (tan δ) at the wide frequency range can be lowered while maintaining a good capacitance temperature characteristic and the specific permittivity, without including Pb and bismuth Bi.
US08053383B2

To provide a light-amplifying glass capable of increasing absorption of Yb3+. A light-amplifying glass to be used for amplifying light having a wavelength of 1.0 to 1.2 μm, which comprises, as represented by mol % based on the following oxides, from 30 to 55% of Bi2O3, from 25 to 50% of either one, or both in total, of SiO2 and B2O3, from 12 to 27% of either one, or both in total, of Al2O3 and Ga2O3, from 0 to 4% of La2O3 and from 0.1 to 4% of Yb2O3 and which contains substantially no Er2O3. An optical waveguide having such a light-amplifying glass as a core.
US08053377B2

System and method for forming a structure including a MEMS device structure. In order to prevent warpage of a substrate arising from curing process for a sacrificial material (such as a photoresist), and from subsequent high temperature process steps, an improved sacrificial material comprises (i) a polymer and (ii) a foaming agent or special function group. The structure can be formed by forming a trench in a substrate and filling the trench with a sacrificial material. The sacrificial material includes (i) a polymer and (ii) a foaming agent or special function group. After further process steps are completed, the sacrificial material is removed from the trench.
US08053369B2

A manufacturing method for a semiconductor device, including: forming a metallic layer and an interlayer insulation film on a semiconductor substrate sequentially; etching on the interlayer insulation film using fluorine-based etching gas to form an opening portion of a predetermined pattern, reaching the metallic layer; and supplying chlorine-based silane gas and discharging, thus forming a Si film at least on an internal surface of the opening portion without exposure to the atmosphere after the etching.
US08053365B2

Novel low-resistivity tungsten film stack schemes and methods for depositing them are provided. The film stacks include a mixed tungsten/tungsten-containing compound (e.g., WC) layer as a base for deposition of tungsten nucleation and/or bulk layers. According to various embodiments, these tungsten rich layers may be used as barrier and/or adhesion layers in tungsten contact metallization and bitlines. Deposition of the tungsten-rich layers involves exposing the substrate to a halogen-free organometallic tungsten precursor. The mixed tungsten/tungsten carbide layer is a thin, low resistivity film with excellent adhesion and a good base for subsequent tungsten plug or line formation.
US08053358B2

Methods of forming integrated circuit devices include upper sidewall spacers in contact holes to provide enhanced electrical isolation to contact plugs therein while maintaining relatively low contact resistance. These methods include forming an interlayer insulating layer on a semiconductor substrate. The interlayer insulating layer includes at least a first electrically insulating layer of a first material on the semiconductor substrate and a second electrically insulating layer of a second material on the first electrically insulating layer. A contact hole is formed that extends through the interlayer insulating layer and exposes a primary surface of the semiconductor substrate. This contact hole may be formed by selectively etching the second electrically insulating layer and the first electrically insulating layer in sequence and at a faster etch rate of the first material relative to the second material. This sequential etching of the first material at a faster rate than the second material may yield a contact hole having a recessed sidewall.
US08053355B2

The present invention relates to methods and systems for the metallization of semiconductor devices. One aspect of the present invention is a method of depositing a copper layer onto a barrier layer so as to produce a substantially oxygen free interface therebetween. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a substantially oxide free surface of the barrier layer. The method also includes depositing an amount of atomic layer deposition (ALD) copper on the oxide free surface of the barrier layer effective to prevent oxidation of the barrier layer. The method further includes depositing a gapfill copper layer over the ALD copper. Another aspect of the present invention is a system for depositing a copper layer onto barrier layer so as to produce a substantially oxygen-free interface therebetween. In one embodiment, the integrated system includes at least one barrier deposition module. The system also includes an ALD copper deposition module configured to deposit copper by atomic layer deposition. The system further includes a copper gapfill module and at least one transfer module coupled to the at least one barrier deposition module and to the ALD copper deposition module. The transfer module is configured so that the substrate can be transferred between the modules substantially without exposure to an oxide-forming environment.
US08053352B2

A method and mesh reference applications are provided for implementing Z-axis cross-talk reduction. A mesh reference plane including a grid of mesh traces is formed with the mesh traces having selected thickness and width dimensions effective for reference current-flow distribution. An electrically conductive coating is deposited to fill the mesh electrical holes in the mesh reference plane to reduce cross-talk, substantially without affecting mechanical flexibility.
US08053351B2

A method of forming at least one bonding structure may be provided. A ball may be formed on the front end of a wire outside a capillary. The capillary may be moved downwardly to form a preliminary compressed ball on a first pad using the ball. The capillary may be moved upwardly to form a neck portion on the preliminary compressed ball using the preliminary compressed ball and the wire. The capillary may be moved obliquely and downwardly to form a compressed ball. The capillary may extend the wire from the compressed ball to a second pad.
US08053343B2

A method for forming a selective emitter of a solar cell and a diffusion apparatus for forming the same are provided. The method includes texturing a surface of a silicon substrate by etching the silicon substrate, coating an impurity solution on the surface of the silicon substrate, injecting a first thermal energy into the whole surface of the silicon substrate, and, while the first thermal energy is injected into the whole surface of the silicon substrate, injecting a second thermal energy by irradiating a laser beam into a partial region of the surface of the silicon substrate.
US08053341B2

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming junction area for a bit line contact (BLC) and a junction area for a storage node contact (SNC) by performing ion implantation in a substrate having a buried gate; forming a first insulation pattern having an opening to expose the junction areas; forming a buffer layer to fill the openings; forming a second insulation pattern over the first insulation pattern after filling the openings, wherein the second insulation pattern has openings to expose the buffer layer in an area of the buffer layer that lies over the junction area for the SNC; and forming an SNC to fill the opening of the second insulation patterns.
US08053337B2

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a first groove and a second groove each having a width less than that of a scribe line are formed along the scribe line in a first protective film provided below a second protective film which protects element forming regions when a wafer is divided into parts by a laser dicing, and the first groove and the second groove are filled with the second protective film. Then, the laser dicing is performed on a region between the first groove and the second groove along the scribe line from the surface where the second protective film is formed to form a cutting groove that reaches at least a predetermined depth of the multi-layer interconnect.
US08053335B2

A method includes forming a first layer containing silicon oxide on a first substrate, partially removing the first layer to form an exposure portion on the first substrate, depositing amorphous gallium nitride system compound semiconductor on the first substrate with the exposure portion, evaporating the semiconductor on the first layer to form cores of the semiconductor on the exposure portion of the first substrate, forming an epitaxial layer of the semiconductor on the first substrate, and removing the epitaxial layer of the semiconductor on the exposure portion on the first substrate to form a separating groove.
US08053332B2

To provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor substrate provided with a single crystal semiconductor layer which can be used practically even when a substrate with a low upper temperature limit, such as a glass substrate, is used. An oxide film is formed on a single crystal semiconductor substrate; accelerated ions are introduced into the single crystal semiconductor substrate through the oxide film to form an embrittled region in the single crystal semiconductor substrate; a supporting substrate is bonded such that the supporting substrate and the single crystal semiconductor substrate face each other with the oxide film interposed therebetween; separation is performed at the embrittled region into the supporting substrate to which a single crystal semiconductor layer is bonded and part of the single crystal semiconductor substrate by heating of the single crystal semiconductor substrate; first etching is performed on a surface of the single crystal semiconductor layer bonded to the supporting substrate with a substrate bias applied; the single crystal semiconductor layer is irradiated with a laser beam and at least part of the surface of the single crystal semiconductor layer is melted and solidified; and second etching is performed on the surface of the single crystal semiconductor layer with no substrate bias applied.
US08053324B2

In one aspect provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having improved transistor performance. In one aspect, this improvement is achieved by conducting a pre-deposition spacer deposition process wherein a temperature of a bottom region of a furnace is higher than a temperature of in the top region and is maintained for a predetermined period. The pre-deposition temperature is changed to a deposition temperature, wherein a temperature of the bottom region is lower than a temperature of the top region.
US08053318B2

A MUGFET and method of manufacturing a MUGFET is shown. The method of manufacturing the MUGFET includes forming temporary spacer gates about a plurality of active regions and depositing a dielectric material over the temporary spacer gates, including between the plurality of active regions. The method further includes etching portions of the dielectric material to expose the temporary spacer gates and removing the temporary spacer gates, leaving a space between the active regions and a remaining portion of the dielectric material. The method additionally includes filling the space between the active regions and above the remaining portion of the dielectric material with a gate material.
US08053317B2

Method of forming a semiconductor device which includes the steps of obtaining a semiconductor substrate having a logic region and an STI region; sequentially depositing layers of high K material, metal gate, first silicon and hardmask; removing the hardmask and first silicon layers from the logic region; applying a second layer of silicon on the semiconductor substrate such that the logic region has layers of high K material, metal gate and second silicon and the STI region has layers of high K material, metal gate, first silicon, hardmask and second silicon. There may also be a second hardmask layer between the metal gate layer and the first silicon layer in the STI region. There may also be a hardmask layer between the metal gate layer and the first silicon layer in the STI region but no hardmask layer between the first and second layers of silicon in the STI region.
US08053308B2

In a method of forming a pattern, a mold layer having an opening is formed on a substrate. A conductive layer is formed on the mold layer having the opening, the conductive layer having a substantially uniform thickness. A buffer layer pattern is formed in the opening having the conductive layer, the buffer layer pattern having a cross-linked structure of water-soluble copolymers including a repeating unit of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and a repeating unit of acrylate. An upper portion of the conductive layer exposed over the buffer layer pattern is etched. Accordingly, a conductive pattern for a semiconductor device is formed on the substrate. The method of forming a pattern may simplify manufacturing processes for a capacitor and a semiconductor device, and may improve their efficiencies.
US08053303B2

A semiconductor structure is disclosed. The semiconductor structure includes an active semiconductor layer, a semiconductor device having a gate disposed on top of the active semiconductor layer, and source and drain regions and a body/channel region disposed within the active semiconductor layer, an insulator layer having a first and second side, the first side being adjacent to the active semiconductor layer, a substrate disposed adjacent to the second side of the insulator layer, a body contact disposed under the body/channel region and in the insulator layer. The body contact electrically connects with and contacts with the body/channel region of the semiconductor device and the substrate, to thereby form an ohmic contact and to eliminate floating body effects.
US08053293B2

A display substrate includes a pixel, a signal transmission line, a first insulating layer and a test signal input part. The pixel is on an insulating substrate. The signal transmission line is on the insulating substrate to transmit an image signal. The first insulating layer is on the signal transmission line. The first insulating layer has a contact hole through which the signal transmission line is partially exposed. The test signal input part is on the first insulating layer, and includes an extended portion and a test signal pad. The extended portion is electrically connected to the signal transmission line through the contact hole, and is extended toward a side of the insulating substrate. The test signal pad is electrically connected to the extended portion. Therefore, the number of defects is decreased.
US08053290B2

Ni silicide is formed through simple steps. After forming a semiconductor film over a substrate, a Ni film is deposited over the semiconductor film while heating the substrate, thereby forming Ni silicide on the semiconductor film. Alternatively, after forming a semiconductor film over a substrate, a Ni film is deposited over the semiconductor film while heating the substrate up to 450° C. or higher, thereby forming Ni silicide on the semiconductor film. Alternatively, after forming a semiconductor film over a substrate, a Ni film is deposited with a thickness of 10 nm or more over the semiconductor film while heating the substrate to 450° C. or higher, thereby forming Ni silicide on the semiconductor film. Alternatively, after forming a semiconductor film over a substrate, and removing an oxide film on the semiconductor film, a Ni film is deposited over the semiconductor film while heating the substrate up to 450° C. or higher, thereby forming Ni silicide on the semiconductor film. Alternatively, after forming a semiconductor film over a substrate, and removing an oxide film on the semiconductor film, a Ni film is deposited with a thickness of 10 nm or more over the semiconductor film while heating the substrate up to 450° C. or higher, thereby forming Ni silicide on the semiconductor film.
US08053286B2

A method of forming a semiconductor device is provided, which may include, but is not limited to, the following processes. Grooves may be formed in an insulating region and in a semiconductor region, while forming burrs near the boundary between the insulating region and the semiconductor region. Protection films may be selectively formed on inside walls of the grooves except on bottom walls of the grooves. A selective thermal process may be carried out in the presence of the protection films, thereby removing the burrs.
US08053285B2

In a method and system for fabricating a thermally enhanced semiconductor device (200, 300) is packaged as a through hole single inline package (SIP). A leadframe (210, 310, 410) having a die pad (220, 320, 420) to attach an IC die (230, 330), a first plurality of conductive leads (240, 340, 430) formed from a first portion of metal sheet (432), and a second portion of metal sheet (440) disposed on an opposite side of the IC die (230, 330) as the first plurality of conductive leads is stamped from a metal sheet. The first plurality of conductive leads (240, 340, 430) are arranged in a single line and are capable of being through hole mounted in accordance with the SIP. The second portion of metal sheet (440) includes the die pad (420) to form a heat spreader (260, 360) in the form of the metal sheet. The heat spreader (260, 360) provides heat dissipating for the heat generated by the IC die (230, 330).
US08053274B2

According to an embodiment, the present invention provide a method for fabricating a copper indium diselenide semiconductor film using a self cleaning furnace. The method includes transferring a plurality of substrates into a furnace, the furnace comprising a processing region and at least one end cap region disengageably coupled to the processing region, each of the plurality of substrates provided in a vertical orientation with respect to a direction of gravity, the plurality of substrates being defined by a number N, where N is greater than 5, each of the substrates having a copper and indium composite structure. The method also includes introducing a gaseous species including a hydrogen species and a selenium species and a carrier gas into the furnace and transferring thermal energy into the furnace to increase a temperature from a first temperature to a second temperature, the second temperature ranging from about 350 Degrees Celsius to about 450 Degrees Celsius to at least initiate formation of a copper indium diselenide film from the copper and indium composite structure on each of the substrates. The method further includes decomposing residual selenide species from an inner region of the process region of the furnace. The method further includes depositing elemental selenium species within a vicinity of the end cap region operable at a third temperature. Also, the method includes maintaining the inner region substantially free from elemental selenium species by at least the decomposition of residual selenide species from the inner region of the process region.
US08053271B2

A device and method for managing terahertz and/or microwave radiation are provided. The device can comprise one or more field effect transistors (FETs) that each include at least one channel contact to a central region of the device channel of the FET. The frequency of the radiation managed by the device can be tuned/adjusted by applying a bias voltage to the FET. The radiation can be impinged on the device, and can be detected by measuring a voltage that is induced by the radiation. Further, the device can generate terahertz and/or microwave radiation by, for example, inducing a voltage between two edge contacts on either side of the device channel and applying the voltage to the channel contact.
US08053268B2

A semiconductor device has a semiconductor substrate including a light receiving element, a silicon oxide film formed on the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of wiring interlayer films formed on the silicon oxide film, and each including a wiring layer formed as the result of the fact that copper is buried, and a silicon nitride film formed on the wiring interlayer film of the uppermost layer wherein Si—H concentration is smaller than N—H concentration.
US08053266B2

A piezo thin-film diode (piezo-diode) cantilever microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and associated fabrication processes are provided. The method deposits thin-films overlying a substrate. The substrate can be made of glass, polymer, quartz, metal foil, Si, sapphire, ceramic, or compound semiconductor materials. Amorphous silicon (a-Si), polycrystalline Si (poly-Si), oxides, a-Site, poly-SiGe, metals, metal-containing compounds, nitrides, polymers, ceramic films, magnetic films, and compound semiconductor materials are some examples of thin-film materials. A cantilever beam is formed from the thin-films, and a diode is embedded with the cantilever beam. The diode is made from a thin-film shared in common with the cantilever beam. The shared thin-film may a film overlying a cantilever beam top surface, a thin-film overlying a cantilever beam bottom surface, or a thin-film embedded within the cantilever beam.
US08053263B2

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device may include forming an insulating layer on a substrate, forming a plurality of first holes in the insulating layer, forming a plurality of GaN rods in the plurality of first holes, and laterally growing an n-GaN layer on the plurality of GaN rods.
US08053262B2

A method for manufacturing a nitride semiconductor laser element having a nitride semiconductor layer including at least an active layer provided on a substrate, a pair of cavity planes formed on the nitride semiconductor layer, and a protruding part where part of the substrate protrudes from said cavity plane, said method comprises: a step of forming the nitride semiconductor layer on the substrate; a first etching step of forming a first groove by etching at least the nitride semiconductor layer; and a second etching step of forming the cavity plane, in the second etching step, the inner wall of the first groove and part of the nitride semiconductor layer surface adjacent to the first groove are etched to form a second groove, and form the upper face of the protruding part.
US08053260B2

Large-Area lighting systems and methods of making the same. More specifically, groups of organic light emitting modules, such as organic light emitting diode modules, coupled in series with respect to on another are provided. The modules cathode of each organic light emitting module is electrically coupled to the anode of an adjacent light emitting module in an interconnect region. A portion of the cathode of each module extends adjacent to an active area of an adjacent module at an interconnect region. Methods of fabricating series groups of organic light emitting modules employing continuous material layers is also provided.
US08053259B2

Disclosed is a manufacturing method of a light emitting diode. The manufacturing method comprises the steps of preparing a substrate and mounting light emitting chips on the substrate. An intermediate plate is positioned on the substrate. The intermediate plate has through-holes for receiving the light emitting chips and grooves for connecting the through-holes to one another on its upper surface. A transfer molding process is performed with a transparent molding material by using the grooves as runners to form first molding portions filling the through-holes. Thereafter, the intermediate plate is removed, and the substrate is separated into individual light emitting diodes. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a light emitting diode in which the first molding portion formed through a transfer molding process is positioned within a region encompassed by cut surfaces of the substrate. Since the first molding portion is positioned within the region encompassed by the cut surfaces of the substrate, second molding portions can be symmetrically formed on the side surfaces of the first molding portions in various manners.
US08053253B2

An object is to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device that has tolerance to external stress and electrostatic discharge. Another object is to prevent defective shapes and defective characteristics due to the external stress or an electrostatic discharge in the manufacturing process, and to manufacture a semiconductor device with high yield. Still another object is to manufacture a semiconductor device at low cost and with high productivity. With the use of a conductive shield covering a semiconductor integrated circuit, electrostatic breakdown due to electrostatic discharge of the semiconductor integrated circuit is prevented. The conductive shield is formed so that at least the conductive shields on the top and bottom surfaces are electrically connected by a plating method. In addition, a semiconductor device can be formed at low cost with high productivity because a plating method is used for the formation of the conductive shield.
US08053236B2

The invention provides stable feed media containing pyruvate and methods for stabilizing feed media by adding pyruvate. The invention further provides methods for producing proteins using such media and proteins produced through the use of such methods.
US08053235B2

The present invention provides methods for generating mammalian T cell populations comprising antigen-specific CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells from freshly isolated CD4+CD25− T cells. The method comprises selecting CD4+CD25− T cells from a sample obtained from a mammalian subject; determining the MHC Class II type of the subject; inducing the generation of antigen-specific regulatory T cells by contacting the isolated CD4+CD25− T cells in a culture vessel with an induction agent for a time period sufficient to generate antigen-specific CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells; and selecting the CD4+CD25+ antigen-specific regulatory T cells by sorting the cells in the induction culture with a selection agent comprising at least one artificial multimeric MHC Class II/peptide complex that corresponds to the MHC Class II type of the subject.
US08053234B2

A method of inducing dendritic cell (DC) development by administering Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor is provided. M-CSF induces DCs to differentiate into subtypes, for example plasmacytoid DCs and conventional DCs. Induction with M-CSF can be achieved in vitro from hematopoietic precursors, such as bone marrow cells, or in vivo. In vitro, M-CSF-derived DCs can be used to produce cytokines and to stimulate other immune response cells. M-CSF can also be used to induce precursor cells removed from an animal to develop into DCs. In addition, these isolated DCs can be exposed to antigens to stimulate a specific immune response when reintroduced into the animal. Treatments for cancers, such as Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and autoimmune diseases such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, are also provided in the invention.
US08053232B2

The present invention provides methods and compositions for generating novel nucleic acid molecules through targeted spliceosomal mediated RNA trans-splicing. The compositions of the invention include pre-trans-splicing molecules (PTMs) designed to interact with a SERPINA1 target precursor messenger RNA molecule (target pre-mRNA) and mediate a trans-splicing reaction resulting in the generation of a novel chimeric RNA molecule (chimeric RNA). In particular, the PTMs of the present invention include those genetically engineered to interact with SERPINA1 target pre-mRNA so as to result in correction of SERPINA1 genetic defects responsible for AAT deficiency. The PTMs of the invention may also comprise sequences that are processed out of the PTM to yield duplex siRNA molecules directed specifically to mutant SERPIN A1 mRNAs. Such duplexed siRNAs are designed to reduce the accumulation of toxic AAT protein in liver cells. The methods and compositions of the present invention can be used in gene therapy for correction of SERPINA1 disorders such as AAT deficiency.
US08053219B2

The present invention relates to a method of producing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using Bacillus sp. with succinate as a carbon source. The PHAs comprise more than 95% of poly(3-hydroxyvalerate-co-4-hydroxyvalerate) (P3HV-co-P4HV).
US08053208B2

The present invention provides clostridial toxin substrates useful in assaying for the protease activity of any clostridial toxin, including botulinum toxins of all serotypes as well as tetanus toxins. A clostridial toxin substrate of the invention contains a donor fluorophore; an acceptor having an absorbance spectrum overlapping the emission spectrum of the donor fluorophore; and a clostridial toxin recognition sequence that includes a cleavage site, where the cleavage site intervenes between the donor fluorophore and the acceptor and where, under the appropriate conditions, resonance energy transfer is exhibited between the donor fluorophore and the acceptor.
US08053205B2

Novel conjugates of doxorubicin and novel doxorubicin immunogens derived from the 13 and 14 positions of doxorubicin and antibodies generated by these doxorubicin linked immunogens all of which are useful in immunoassays for the quantification and monitoring of doxorubicin in biological fluids.
US08053202B2

The invention provides a method capable of readily discriminating pathologic conditions and judging selection of a therapeutic drug, the degree of the therapeutic effect, discontinuation of medication, etc., wherein stages quantitatively judged by digitizing substances contained in urine, which is different from conventional methods for judging stages of an interstitial pneumonitis which are performed by observation of mucous lesions with endoscopy requiring the skill or by analysis of histological samples collected from the living body. The method measures the value of main metabolites of prostaglandin E (PGE-MUM) concentration in urine and judges stages between the pre-remission phase of interstitial pneumonitis.
US08053200B2

An improved monocyte activation test is described that is better able to detect non-endotoxin pyrogens in medical products, in which a sample is incubated with a monocyte-containing reagent in an assay system comprising at least one surface comprising polypropylene. The invention also concerns assay systems for use in these tests that include at least one microtiter well having at least one interior surface comprising polypropylene and having a shape such that monocyte-containing reagent is concentrated in the well to provide greater cell to cell contact. The invention also relates to a diagnostic kit that can be used to test for the presence of non-endotoxin pyrogens in a sample.
US08053199B2

The present invention discloses a method for classifying individuals into those who have airway hyperreactvitiy and those with asthma based on cytokine expression patterns. It is contemplated that such a method will enable rapid identification of individuals requiring intensive treatment for asthma, thereby reducing morbidity and improving quality of life for those affected.
US08053198B2

The present invention relates to methods of diagnosing cancerous conditions in a patient, as well as methods of monitoring the progression of a cancerous condition and/or methods of monitoring a treatment protocol of a therapeutic agent or a chemotherapeutic regimen. The invention also relates to assay methods used in connection with the diagnostic methods described herein.
US08053185B2

Disclosed herein are apparatuses and methods for conducting multiple simultaneous micro-volume chemical and biochemical reactions in an array format. In one embodiment, the format comprises an array of microholes in a substrate. Besides serving as an ordered array of sample chambers allowing the performance of multiple parallel reactions, the arrays can be used for reagent storage and transfer, library display, reagent synthesis, assembly of multiple identical reactions, dilution and desalting. Use of the arrays facilitates optical analysis of reactions, and allows optical analysis to be conducted in real time. Included within the invention are kits comprising a microhole apparatus and a reaction component of the method(s) to be carried out in the apparatus.
US08053181B2

Methods for detecting an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in a subject are disclosed. The methods include detecting the presence of CD8+T cells that specifically recognize an Mtb polypeptide. The methods include in vitro assays for detecting the presence of CD8+T cells in a biological sample, and in vivo assays that detect a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction. The methods can also include detecting Mtb polypeptides and polynucleotides. Reagents for the detection of an Mtb infection are also disclosed.
US08053177B2

An exemplary light blocking plate includes a through hole defined at the center thereof and an opaque portion surrounding the through hole. The light blocking plate is comprised of a blackening agent and a PDMS.
US08053168B2

A printing plate has a substrate and a heat decomposable polymer layer arranged adjacent to the substrate, the decomposable polymer having defined regions within the polymer layer to form a printing pattern. The printing plate may be used in a printing system. The printing plate is formed in a process by providing a substrate, coating the substrate with a heat decomposable polymer to form a plate, and forming a printing pattern in the heat decomposable polymer by selectively decomposing regions of the heat decomposable polymer.
US08053161B2

A resist composition comprises: (A) a resin capable of increasing its solubility in an alkali developer by action of an acid; (B) a compound capable of generating an acid upon irradiation with actinic ray or radiation; (C) a resin having at least one of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom; and (D) a solvent, wherein the resin (C) has a degree of molecular weight dispersion of 1.3 or less and a weight average molecular weight of 1.0×104 or less.
US08053156B2

In a chart of molecular weight distribution measured of a toner, i) the toner has a main peak in the region of molecular weight of 16,000 to 60,000, and ii) where the molecular weight at the main peak is represented by M1, and where the height at the molecular weight M1 is represented by H(M1), the height at a molecular weight of 4,000 by H(4000) and the height at a molecular weight of 15,000 by H(15000), the H(4000), the H(15000) and the H(M1) satisfy a specific proportion. The toner has a weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of 15,000 to 80,000, and, in an endothermic chart, i) the toner has an endothermic main peak in the range of 40 to 130° C., and ii) the calorimetric integral value represented by the peak area of the endothermic main peak is 10 to 35 J per 1 g of the toner.
US08053143B2

A cathode catalyst for a fuel cell including a metal selected from the group consisting of In, Ga, and combinations thereof, and Ru—Ch supported on the metal, where Ch includes a material selected from the group consisting of S, Se, Te, and combinations thereof. In one embodiment, the Ru—Ch includes from about 70 to about 95 atom % of Ru, and from about 5 to about 30 atom % of Ch, and/or the Ru—Ch is supported in an amount from about 5 to about 80 wt % based on the Ru—Ch and the metal.
US08053137B2

An exemplary proton exchange membrane fuel cell includes a light-pervious first end plate, a second end plate, a light-pervious first bipolar plate, a second bipolar plate, and a membrane electrode assembly. The light-pervious first bipolar plate is arranged adjacent to the first end plate and capable of transmitting light having a given wavelength therethrough. The second bipolar plate is capable of having oxidant fed therein. The membrane electrode assembly includes a proton exchange membrane, and an anode and a cathode arranged at opposite sides of the proton exchange membrane. The anode is capable of having fuel fed therein, and includes a first catalyst layer containing photo-catalyst and noble metal such that the light is capable of activating the first catalyst layer to dissociate the fuel thereon.
US08053135B2

A microporous thin film, a method of forming the same and a fuel cell including the microporous thin film, are provided. The microporous thin film includes uniform nanoparticles and has a porosity of at least about 20%. Therefore, the microporous thin film can be efficiently used in various applications such as fuel cells, primary and secondary batteries, adsorbents, and hydrogen storage alloys. The microporous thin film is formed on a substrate, includes metal nanoparticles, and has a microporous structure with porosity of 20% or more.
US08053131B2

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for determining deterioration of a fuel cell, the method including measuring in real time fluoride ion concentration or pH value of outflow water from a fuel cell stack during operation in a fuel cell vehicle, calculating a fluoride emission rate from the measured value and, if the calculated fluoride emission rate is out of a predetermined normal range, determining deterioration of an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell stack.
US08053116B2

Disclosed is a lithium ion-conductive solid electrolyte exhibiting high lithium ion conductivity even at room temperature which is hardly oxidized and free from problems of toxicity and contains as components lithium (Li) element, boron (B) element, sulfur (S) element, and oxygen (O) element, and the ratio between sulfur element and oxygen element (O/S) is 0.01 to 1.43.
US08053115B2

It is an object of the present invention to provide an active material for lithium ion battery having an excellent discharge capacity in the potential flat part and a high-performance and long-life lithium ion battery, and particularly to provide a technology of improving voltage flatness. The present invention provides an active material for lithium ion battery represented by a composition formula: Li[Li(1-2x)/3MgxTi(5-x)/3]O4 (0
US08053107B1

The feedthrough assembly includes an insulating sleeve positioned between a ferrule and a pin such that the ferrule is electrically insulated from the pin. The feedthrough assembly also includes a compression collar compressing the ferrule and insulating sleeve against the pin. The compression can be sufficient to form a seal between the ferrule and the insulating sleeve and/or between the insulating sleeve and the pin.
US08053106B1

The battery includes a cover assembly on a battery case. The cover assembly includes a battery cover coupled with an electrically insulating flap of material. The battery can include a first electrical connector that provides electrical communication between a terminal in the cover and one or more first electrodes in the battery. The first connector is at least partially positioned between a first region of the flap and a second region of the flap. The battery can also includes a second electrical connector that provides electrical communication between the cover and one or more second electrodes in the battery. The second connector passes between the flap and the case such that a portion of the flap is between the first connector and the second connector.
US08053105B2

The present invention provides a lithium-ion secondary battery which can suppress internal resistance to a small value. The lithium-ion secondary battery includes a winding group obtained by winding a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate via a separator. An end portion of a positive electrode mixture non-application portion 1 projects at an upper portion of the winding group, while an end portion of a negative electrode mixture non-application portion projects at a lower portion of the winding group. Current collecting disks 7 are disposed on both end faces of the winding group so as to face them, respectively, and materials for the current collecting disks are the same materials as those for a positive electrode current collector and a negative electrode current collector. An end portion of the positive electrode mixture non-application portion 1 is joined to a face of the current collecting disk 7 positioned on the side of the winding group at a plurality of joint portions on the positive electrode side, while an end portion of the negative electrode mixture non-application portion is joined to a face of the current collecting disk 7 positioned on the side of the winding group at a plurality of joint portions on the negative electrode side. Some of the joint portions form joint portions taking on a width expansion shape gradually expanding from a joint end portion with the positive electrode mixture non-application portion 1 toward the current collecting disk 7. A volume of the joint portion 25 is increased.
US08053101B2

A lithium ion secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is easily impregnated with an electrolyte is provided. The lithium ion secondary battery includes an electrode assembly wrapped by a sealing tape, an upper insulating plate positioned on the top of the electrode assembly, a lower insulating plate positioned at the bottom of the electrode assembly, a case for accommodating the electrode assembly, and a cap assembly for sealing the case. In one embodiment, the upper insulating plate has holes which may include a form of a mesh. In another embodiment, the lower insulating plate has various shapes of recesses on the surface. The surface of the lower insulating plate may be coated with a material that has an affinity for the electrolyte. An inner surface of the case may have various shapes of recesses or grooves. The sealing tape may be coated with a material that has an affinity for an electrolyte. Therefore, according to the principles of the present invention, the electrode assembly is easily impregnated with the electrolyte, and overall performance of the lithium ion secondary battery is improved.
US08053100B2

A battery unit includes a module assembly, a housing that houses the module assembly, and a blower. The module assembly includes a stack of battery modules, and defines a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The blower is disposed at an end of the module assembly. A rotation shaft of the blower is located between a first plane that includes the first surface and a second plane that includes the second surface. The blower is configured to supply air toward the first surface of the module assembly in a direction perpendicular to a stacking direction of the battery modules. The air is supplied over a range that is substantially equal to a dimension of the module assembly in the stacking direction.
US08053095B2

Compounds of formula I may be used in optoelectronic devices wherein R1 is, independently at each occurrence, a C1-C20 aliphatic radical, a C3-C20 aromatic radical, or a C3-C20 cycloaliphatic radical; a is, independently at each occurrence, an integer ranging from 0-4; b is 0, 1 or 2; Ar1 is a direct bond or heteroaryl, aryl, or alkyl or cycloalkyl; Ar2 is heteroaryl, aryl, or alkyl or cycloalkyl; c is an integer ranging from 1-7; and n is an integer ranging from 2-4.
US08053092B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a host compound in an emission layer, which has a high excited triplet level and completely confines triplet excitons of an phosphorescence-emitting substance. The invention relates to a compound containing an m-carbazolylphenyl group, which is represented by the following general formula (1): wherein A represents a nitrogen atom, an amino group to which a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon group is bonded, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon group, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group, or a substituted or unsubstituted condensed polycyclic aromatic group; n represents an integer of 2 to 4; R1 and R2 may be the same or different and represent each an arbitrary substituent; and m and o represent each an integer of 0 to 4.
US08053091B2

Provided are a hyperbranched polymer represented by Formula 1 below, an organic light-emitting diode including an organic layer including the hyperbranched polymer, and a method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting diode: For a detailed description about Formula 1, the Detailed Description of the Invention may be referred to. The hyperbranched polymer is excellent in view of hole injection capability and/or electron blocking capability and adhesion with an electrode, and thus, the organic light-emitting diode including the organic layer including the hyperbranched polymer can have good electrical properties.
US08053090B2

Provided are a high-efficiency phosphorescent multinuclear copper complex and an organic electroluminescent device using the complex. The multinuclear copper complex can be used to form an organic layer of an organic electroluminescent device, and the organic electroluminescent device using the complex can emit light in the yellow to red wavelength region of 560 nm to 630 nm as a high-efficiency photoluminescent material, and provides a high brightness and a low turn-on voltage.
US08053089B2

A protective coating system for metal components includes a superalloy metal substrate, such as a component of a gas turbine. A single layer bond coat is applied to the superalloy metal substrate in a thermal spray process from a homogeneous powder composition having a particle size distribution wherein about 90% of the particles by volume are within a range of about 10 μm to about 100 μm. The percentage of particles within any 10 μm band within the range does not exceed about 20% by volume, and the percentage of particles within any two adjacent 10 μm bands within the range does not deviate by more than about 8% by volume.
US08053084B2

The present invention provides an aqueous coating composition that can form a coated film having excellent appearance, in which a change in the color of the coating composition during the storage of the coating composition is prevented or suppressed, excellent storage stability is provided, and the generation of popping is prevented or suppressed; and a method for forming a coated film. The aqueous coating composition contains (A1) a film-forming aqueous resin, (B) a dioxazine pigment, (C) a hydrophobic solvent and (D) a resin having an aromatic ring with a nitro group bonded thereto, and a method for forming a coated film using the composition.
US08053083B2

This invention is intended to provide a layered structure in which Al alloy is directly connected to transparent oxide conducting layer without increasing electrical contact resistance between the two, with wiring resistance held low and galvanic corrosion being less likely to occur in developing solution or other electrolyte fluids, and the manufacturing method of such layered structure. The manufacturing method intended to provide such layered structure composed of the Al alloy and the transparent oxide conducting layer directly connected to each other, includes a first process to form the above transparent oxide conducting layer on a substrate, a second process to form, on the transparent oxide conducting layer, an Al alloy layer containing alloy components having less ionization tendency than aluminum, and a third process to heat the above Al alloy layer at a temperature equal to or higher than the temperature at which interchemical compound between aluminum and the above alloy components can be separated out.
US08053082B2

An adhesion-enhanced polyimide film which includes a core layer composed of a polyimide (a) having high rigidity and a low linear expansion coefficient, at least one side of which has a thin-layer formed by heating a coated layer including a heat-resistant surface treatment agent and a polyimide precursor which yields a highly heat-resistant amorphous polyimide (B).
US08053066B2

A conductive paste contains metal powder, an inorganic binder, and an organic vehicle as main ingredients. The organic vehicle includes a solvent having a boiling point of 270° C. or higher, and the proportion of the solvent with respect to the entire solvent included in the organic vehicle is 3 to 100% by weight.
US08053064B2

The present invention relates to a coated cemented carbide insert (cutting tool), particularly useful for wet or dry milling of steels at high cutting speeds, milling of hardened steels, and high feed copy milling of tool steels. The cutting tool insert is characterised by a cemented carbide body comprising WC, NbC, and TaC, a W-alloyed Co binder phase, and a coating comprising an innermost layer of TiCxNyOz with equiaxed grains, a layer of TiCxNyOz with columnar grains and a layer of α-Al2O3.
US08053063B2

Coated cemented carbide inserts (cutting tool), particularly useful for wet or dry milling of steels, are disclosed. The cutting tool insert is characterized by a cemented carbide body comprising WC, NbC and TaC, a W-alloyed Co binder phase, and a coating comprising an innermost layer of TiCxNyOz with equiaxed grains, a layer of TiCxNyOz with columnar grains and a layer of α-Al2O3.
US08053061B2

This invention provides a decorative sheet having a high glossy impression, comprising a surface protective layer formed of an ionizing radiation curing resin, which is excellent in surface specularity and marker ink erasing capability and has suppressed slipperiness as a decorative sheet, and a decorative plate comprising the sheet and a substrate jointed to each other. In the decorative sheet, a silicone having a high lifting effect (the effect of lifting on the surface) and a silicone having high compatibility with the ionizing radiation curing resin are incorporated, either separately from each other or simultaneously, into an ionizing radiation curing resin for forming the surface protective layer. According to this constitution, properties, which are generally likely to be offset by each other, that is, excellent contamination resistance, marker ink erasing capability, and cellophane tape resistance, high leveling properties, surface smoothness, and transparency, and suppressed slipperiness, can be maintained on a high level.
US08053048B2

A polymer blend comprising a high density polyethylene and a surface enhancing polymer is provided. The surface enhancing polymer may be an elastomer such as an ethylene propylene diene monomer terpolymer. The polymer blend may be fabricated into articles such as a film or a flexible overpouch for storing, and transporting medical components. Overpouch films made from the blend advantageously do not wrinkle or deform medical components contained therein when the overpouch—medical component combination is autoclaved.
US08053047B2

Heat shrinkable, oxygen barrier, packaging films, methods of packaging and packages are provided having a myoglobin blooming agent to provide, promote, enhance or maintain a desirable coloration on the surface of a myoglobin-containing meat product.
US08053046B2

At least one of an ink for inkjet printing and an inkjet recording material contains a compound represented by formula (A): wherein R1, R2 and R3 each represents an alkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, and at least two of R1, R2 and R3 are mutually connected to form a cyclic structure; L represents a divalent connecting group; and at least one of R1, R2, R3 and L is a group having 8 or more carbon atoms.
US08053043B2

A recording sheet for ink jet printing is described, which consists of a support having coated onto said support at least two ink-receiving layers, wherein the ink-receiving layer situated next to the support contains nanoporous silicon dioxide with a positively charged surface and at least one binder and the ink-receiving layer situated further away from the support contains nanocrystalline, nanoporous aluminium oxide or aluminium oxide/hydroxide and at least one binder and, optionally, nanoporous silicon dioxide with a positively charged surface.
US08053034B1

The high performance tank systems relate to producing efficient, inexpensive, durable corrosion proof galvanized mild-steel tanks for transporting fluids on land transport vehicles. The tanks can be used to transport fluids of many types. Due too the annealing process used the tanks are stress relieved and less prone to fractures.
US08053031B2

A two-part epoxy composition is provided that comprises a first part having a mixture of an epoxy resin and an anhydride, and a second part having a curing agent. Also provided is a method for making a substantially bis-∝-glycol free epoxy resin for two-part epoxy compositions, and a method for applying a two-part epoxy composition to a system of water piping.
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