US08087246B2

A temperature fluctuation suppressing device for a heating medium is provided which is capable of sufficiently suppressing temperature fluctuations of the heating medium at the time of supplying collected solar heat for steam generation. The temperature fluctuation suppressing device includes a heating medium mixer provided on a heating medium supply passage configured to supply a liquid heating medium to a heat exchanging device, the heating medium mixer including: a heating medium passage forming member having plural heating medium passages; an inlet member and an outlet member provided separately from the inlet member, whereby the heating medium continuously flowing into the heating medium passage forming member through the inlet member passes through the plural heating medium passages with time-lags to form respective streams, which are then joined together before flowing out through the outlet member.
US08087239B2

A reductant delivery unit (16) is provided unit for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) after-treatment for vehicles. The unit includes a solenoid fluid injector (18) associated with an exhaust gas flow path (13). The injector has a fluid inlet (28) and a fluid outlet (30) with the fluid inlet receiving a source of urea solution and the fluid outlet communicating directly with the exhaust flow path so as to control injection of urea solution into the exhaust gas flow path. Supply structure (32) defines the fluid inlet and includes a cup (37) coupled to a body (18) of the injector and a supply tube (29) integral with the cup to define a single member. The supply tube is coupled with the source (27) of urea solution to deliver urea solution to the fluid inlet. The supply tube is heated by a heat source (33) so that an entire volume of the urea solution delivered to the fluid inlet is heated.
US08087229B2

A supersonic combustion apparatus including a fixed geometric nozzle having a converging area, throat, and a diverging area, at least one movable combination of a fuel injector and an oxygen injector where the combined fuel injector and the oxygen injector is located within the divergent area of the fixed geometric nozzle, and an exit plane adjacent and downstream to the diverging area. The exit plane Mach speed is varied by heat addition in the diverging area by introduction of a combustible fuel through the fuel injector and oxygen through the oxygen injector and then axially aligning and positioning the combination of the fuel injector and the oxygen injector along the length of the diverging area to obtain a stabilized flame at the exit plane.
US08087223B2

A chopping assembly for a harvesting implement having a blade assembly, a housing, and a guide. The blade assembly is disposed within the housing and the guide directs cornstalks toward an input port on the housing. The blade assembly not only cuts the cornstalk from its root but also chops the stalk into stover. A fluid dynamic force is created by the blade assembly to direct the stover with the aid of the housing to an output port.
US08087219B2

A vacuum packaging system for packaging a vacuum apparatus includes a first accommodating room, a second container, a vacuum room, a first hatch, a second hatch, a delivery apparatus, a discharge device, and a heating apparatus. The delivery apparatus transports the vacuum apparatus from the first accommodating room to the vacuum room to the second accommodating room. The discharge device discharges a sealing element to seal an exhaust through hole of the vacuum apparatus. The heating apparatus is mounted on the inner wall of the vacuum room between the second hatch and the transport pipeline to heat and soften the sealing element.
US08087209B2

An edging rail for a flooring (2) has a base member (3) and a covering member (4). These are integrally joined together. In order to fix the edging rail effectively to the flooring (2), at least one drive channel (10) is supported on the base member (3). Engaging in this drive channel (10) is at least one screw (11), which passes through a bore (12) in the covering member (4).
US08087205B2

The present application is directed toward fire-rated wall construction components and wall systems for use in building construction. Embodiments can include tracks for holding studs which incorporate various geometries capable of receiving fire-retardant material, flat straps for use between tracks and fluted wall components, fire sponges for use in fluted wall components, and tracks with protruding grooves or other structures which prevent unwanted air movement between a wallboard component and the track.
US08087200B1

A fishing lure weight includes a weight body, a hook tip opening extending through the weight body and a barb notch extending through the weight body and communicating with the hook tip opening.
US08087176B1

A two-dimension layout system identifies points and their coordinates, and transfers identified points on a solid surface to other surfaces in a vertical direction. Two leveling laser light transmitters are used with a remote unit to control certain functions. The laser transmitters rotate about the azimuth, and emit vertical (plumb) laser planes. After being set up using benchmark points, the projected lines of the laser planes will intersect on the floor of a jobsite at any point of interest in a virtual floor plan, under control of a user with the remote unit. The laser light planes also project lines that will intersect along the ceiling at a point that is truly plumb above the crossing point on the floor. The laser planes also provide an “implied” plumb line that is projected in space, which is visible along a solid vertical surface between the intersecting floor and ceiling points.
US08087172B2

A method of extending the life of a journal bearing assembly in a solid fuel pulverizer includes: removing a first lower journal bearing from a journal shaft and a lower bearing seat of a lower bearing housing; removing a first upper journal bearing from the shaft and an upper bearing seat of an upper bearing housing; modifying the lower and upper bearing seats; modifying lower and upper shoulders on the journal shaft; disposing the second lower and upper journal bearings on the modified lower and upper bearing seats; disposing a new journal bearing spacer between the second lower and upper journal bearings; disposing a new journal bearing collar between the upper shoulder and the second upper journal bearing; filling a cavity defined by the lower and upper journal housings with grease; and disposing a seal assembly between the shaft and one end of the upper journal housing opposite the lower journal housing to prevent the ingress of solid fuel into the cavity of the journal assembly.
US08087163B2

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a contact arrangement (10) between a microelectronic component (11) and a carrier substrate (12) and to an assembly unit (24) manufactured by this method, whereby thermal energy required in the connecting areas is achieved by exposing the back of the component to laser energy, a mechanical connecting contact (23) is formed between opposing connecting surfaces (17, 18) of the component and the carrier substrate, and at least one electrically conducting connecting contact (22) is formed between terminal faces (13, 15) of the carrier substrate and of the component arranged at an angle to one another by t least partially melting solder material, whereby the assembly unit manufactured by this method has at least one contact arrangement.
US08087156B2

In spindle motors journaled on fluid-dynamic-pressure bearings, especially in such spindle motors employed in recording-disk drives in implementations that subject the drives to vibration and shock, sealing performance of a capillary seal formed between motor rotor-side and stator-side bearing surfaces, cohesiveness of oil-repellant on rotor-side/stator-side dry-area surfaces adjoining the capillary seal section, and motor inter-component adhesive strength are improved. The capillary-seal-constituting rotor-side/stator-side surface(s) are exposed to a plasma or to ultraviolet rays under predetermined conditions to improve the wettability of the surface(s) for the bearing fluid. The dry-area surface(s) are similarly irradiated so as to improve their wettability for the oil-repellant. Adhesively bonded component surfaces are likewise irradiated so as to improve their wettability for the adhesive, enhancing adhesive strength. Exposed surfaces may be constituted of a synthetic resin to enhance their wettability further, or may be made of metal, to yield a cleaning efficacy from the plasma/UV exposure.
US08087155B2

A method of forming the integrated circuit. The method includes, in an integrated circuit package, forming each bond to or from an integrated circuit pad that is intended to be an antenna connection to be elongated compared to other bonds, and arranged in an approximately perpendicular direction to the plane of the integrated circuit; encapsulating the top of the integrated circuit package with a dielectric material at a height greater than a desired antenna length; and milling the dielectric encapsulation down to a pre-selected and calibrated height, such that the elongated bond wire to/from the integrated circuit pad that is intended to be an antenna connection is severed, such that the approximately vertical bond wire to/from the integrated circuit pad that is intended to be an antenna connection forms a quarter wave monopole.
US08087149B2

A rivet configured to provide a strengthened rivet joint capable of acting as a load-bearing joint, such as in a vehicle, is provided. A method of joining a multiple member work-piece utilizing the rivet is also provided. The rivet includes a head portion and an annular body portion extending from the head portion. The body portion has an open end opposite the head portion. The head portion and the annular body portion define an interior cavity that opens at the open end. The annular body portion has an inner surface at the interior cavity and an outer surface opposite the interior cavity. The body portion has passages extending through the body portion from the inner surface to the outer surface, and grooves running along the outer surface intersecting with the passages.
US08087144B2

A method and apparatus for capping and encapsulating a shaped wooden workpiece or substrate to protect against environmental elements and prevent splintering of the wooden substrate in the installed condition is disclosed. An inventive end cap having a melt ring integrally formed therewith is installed on a portion of the substrate, such as a terminus of the substrate. According to the invention, the wooden substrate is sheathed during a polymeric extrusion process with a substantially continuous, unbroken polyethylene or other polymeric layer extending from and continuous with the inventive end cap. During the extrusion process, the melt ring integrally formed along the annular walls of the end cap melt the encapsulant and form a substantially sealed configuration with the polymeric layer applied to the substrate. The melt ring is engineered to sealingly incorporate with the polymeric extrusion as the molten encapsulant is applied to the wooden substrate, to provide a substantially uniform sealed joint between the end cap and the polymeric layer while maintaining a substantially uniform cross-section along the length of the wooden substrate following completion of the encapsulation process.
US08087140B2

A processing speed of each mechanisms in a cutting section is controlled such that all polarizing films housed in a container in advance are used in a joining process and simultaneously a new container with polarizing films housed therein that are cut by a size of a liquid crystal panel is loaded from the cutting section. Here, a fracture included in the polarizing film is cut and removed in the cutting section while a delayed time due to this process is shortened by controlling at least a processing speed in a processing mechanism in a cutting mechanism among mechanisms provided in the cutting section and the joining section.
US08087139B2

A cleaner cover replacing method includes the steps of detaching a first cleaner cover from a cleaner case; placing an attachment into fitted engagement with claw hooking parts of the cleaner case, placing a second cleaner cover on the cleaner case, and causing a bolt to pass through a bolt hole of the second cleaner cover and to threadedly engage with a nut part of the attachment.
US08087137B2

A flat clamping hand tool structure includes a left clamping seat having one side with a left fixing portion facing a right fixing portion on one side of a right clamping seat. The first and second fixing members move up and down in left and right mounting slots of the left and right clamping seats by left and right swing plates which are pivotally connected with upper and lower holders. The left and right clamping seats are guided to move by guiding blocks of the upper and lower holders to slide along guiding grooves of the left and right clamping seats. Left and the right arms pivot together through a first pivot member. Left and right limit portions of the left and right swing plates mesh with each other so as to drive the left and right clamping seats to carry out a clamping motion.
US08087134B2

A process for making a heat exchanger comprising extruding a profile (1) composed of a number of parallel tubes (2) and web-like portions (3) interconnecting said tubes (2), removing part of the connection made by the web-like portions (3) and expanding the extruded product in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tubes (2) and providing connecting means for allowing a fluid to flow through said tubes.
US08087128B2

A hinge assembly includes a base, a joint member, a pintle, and a coiling spring. The joint member is rotatably connected to the base. The pintle runs through the base and the joint member. The coiling spring has a first end and a second end. The first end is fixed relative to the base, and the second end is fixed relative to the joint member.
US08087126B2

A bed leg with a caster, equipped with a braking mechanism that allows the bed to be immobilized is provided. The bed leg comprises a housing, which houses a caster, an actuating mechanism installed in the housing, a pedal joined to a lever and a braking pad mounted on the lower part of the actuating mechanism.
US08087121B1

A disposable liquid absorbing cleaning pad for a mop includes a layer of sponge material, a layer of flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin fixedly attached to the layer of sponge material and attachment structure fixedly secured to the layer of sponge material for removably attaching the cleaning pad to the mop. In one embodiment of the invention the mop is a squeeze mop which includes a mounting plate and the attachment structure includes a backing plate which is fixedly mounted onto the layer of sponge material and a pair of wing screw assemblies which are removably and slidably mounted on the backing plate for removably attaching the cleaning pad to the mounting plate. In using the cleaning pad the layer of flexible open cell foam material made from melamine resin is the layer that contacts the surface to be cleaned. In another embodiment of the invention, the cleaning pad has attachment structure for mounting the pad onto a butterfly mop and in another embodiment of the invention, the cleaning pad has attachment structure for mounting the pad onto a roller mop.
US08087116B2

The invention relates to a mechanism for driving the head of an electric toothbrush. The mechanism includes a cam 20 rotatably driven by a motor 10 and an elongate transfer mechanism 30 having a receiver 40 for receiving the cam at one end and a mechanism for transferring oscillatory motion to a toothbrush head 60 at the other end thereof. Cam 20 has a projecting head 23 which is received in a substantially rectangular aperture 41 of the receiver 40. The long side of the substantially rectangular aperture has a length equal to or greater than the diameter of the circular motion of the projecting head 23, the short side has a length less than the long side of the rectangular aperture. Thus, in use, circular motion of the projecting head of the cam is converted into oscillatory pivoting motion of the transfer member 30 by action of the projecting head 23 against the short sides of the substantially rectangular aperture 41. A tooth and gear arrangement for converting pivoting motion of the transfer member 30 into rotational motion of the toothbrush head 60 is also described.
US08087108B2

A sink protector is provided that includes a frame defining a frame opening, and a grate supported by the frame. The grate includes a first grate section and a second grate section, each having a perimeter and a plurality of wires extending across each grate section to provide structure for supporting various items to be deposited in a sink. The grate is sufficiently porous to allow the unobstructed passage of water and food particles therethrough. The grate sections are pivotally connected such that at least one of the grate sections pivots about the other grate section to allow unencumbered access to the sink drain.
US08087103B2

A toilet including a toilet bowl having a bowl flange with apertures and a toilet seat. The seat has a seat ring configured to rest on the bowl flange and a seat mounting means, the mounting means having at least one ring portion extending from the ring, two flange portions, each flange portion being aligned with one of said flange apertures, and an connecting means joining said ring portion and said flange portions, said connecting means permitting rotation of said ring portion between a generally horizontal use position and an over center storage position position. The mounting apparatus for the seat includes a post receptacle secured in each of the flange apertures, an elongate post secured to and extending downwardly from each of the seat flange portions and longitudinally extendable through and beyond the aligned receptacle to permit the seat to be elevated above the bowl flange to facilitate maintenance. Means are provided between the receptacles and the posts to guide the seat and to releasably support the post in the elevated position for cleaning and maintenance.
US08087095B2

Sports garment (10), especially a cyclist jersey, of the type comprising a vest (12) intended to be in contact with the sportsman's torso and equipped with at least one pocket (14), means (16) being provided for supporting said at least one pocket (14), extended between at least one part thereof and an area of the sports garment positioned substantially at the shoulders of the sportsman who is wearing said garment (10), thus substantially transforming said pocket (14) into a pack-saddle, i.e. into a shoulder bag associated with the said garment (10).
US08091143B2

A probe for atomic force microscopy (SM) comprising a micromechanical resonator (RMM) and a tip for atomic force microscopy (P1) projecting from said resonator, the probe being characterized in that: it also includes means (EL1) for selectively exciting a volume mode of oscillation of said resonator (RMM); and in that said tip for atomic force microscopy (P1, P1′) projects from said resonator substantially in correspondence with an antinode point (PV1) of said volume mode of oscillation. An atomic force microscope including such a probe (SM′). A method of atomic force microscopy including the use of such a probe.
US08091142B2

A flexible use licensing system for an application comprising a plurality of licensable products is provided comprising an application level product policy definition license, and a licensable product policy definition license corresponding to each licensable product. The flexible use license further comprises a rights account certificate for validating the use license against a variety of environmental conditions, and an external validation component for validating the use license at a licensing authority without the transmittal of the entire use license.
US08091137B2

A playable copy of the digital content object is stored at a first device. A data object associated with the digital content object is sent to a second device. The playable copy of the digital content object is disabled at the first device, such that only an authorized, playable copy of the digital content object is operable to be stored on the first and second device at any given time before, during and after sending the data object.
US08091131B2

Disclosed is a system and method for the sharing of intrusion-related information. The sharing of intrusion-related information occurs via a peering relationship between a first Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a second ISP. A first node associated with a first ISP transmits intrusion-related information to a second node associated with a second ISP. The first node identifies intrusion-related information meeting a first criteria. The first node then transmits the intrusion-related information to the second node. The intrusion-related information includes one or more of a list of attackers that previously probed the first node, the protocol used, the time of the probes, and the individual alarms raised.
US08091116B2

A method of authenticating a user terminal with an access node providing restricted access to a communication network is provided. The method comprises the user terminal transmitting a request for an authentication token to a trusted network node via an unrestricted channel on the access node, the request comprising a network identity for a user of the user terminal. The network node verifies the identity of the user using the network identity, generates an authentication token and transmits the authentication token to the user terminal via the unrestricted channel. The user terminal derives login information from the authentication token and provides the login information to the access node. The access node authenticates the login information and removes the restricted access such that the communication network can be accessed by the user terminal.
US08091113B2

A media reproducing apparatus includes a receiving unit for receiving primary content, memory for storing replay content from an identified portion of the primary content for time-shifted display of the primary content, and a control unit. The control unit is configured to cause a display to display at a first display rate the primary content on a first region of a display, and further cause the display to display the replay content at a second display rate, which is different than the first display rates on a second region of the display. The replay content being displayed simultaneously with the primary content. The control unit is further configured to terminate the display of the replay content upon an occurrence of a timing event. The terminating operation causes the primary content to be displayed on both the first region and the second region of the display.
US08091110B2

An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide provides users with an opportunity to select programs for recording on a remote media server. Programs may also be recorded on a local media server. The program guide provides users with VCR-like control over programs that are played back from the media servers and over real-time cached copies of the programs. The program guide also provides users with an opportunity to designate gift recipients for whom programs may be recorded.
US08091109B2

A method for redirecting video content includes receiving a video signal at the set-top box and decoding the video signal to produce unrendered video data. The unrendered video data is encoded and provided to the remote device via a wide area network. By encoding unrendered, rather than rendered, video data for transmission to the remote device, the need for an encoding device external to the set-top box is obviated.
US08091105B2

Provided are a method of and an apparatus for reproducing contents based on an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), the method including receiving a plurality of EPGs which are provided by a plurality of content providers, receiving a first EPG generated by a third party using the plurality of EPGs, generating a second EPG using at least one of a list of contents stored in an external storage device, a list of contents retrieved through the Internet, the plurality of EPGs, and the first EPG, and generating the contents based on the second EPG.
US08091104B2

A method and apparatus for storing a broadcast program are provided. The apparatus includes: a signal processing unit which generates an audio/video (A/V) file, an application file, and a first electronic program guide (EPG) file by appropriately processing a plurality of A/V signals, application information, and EPG information, respectively, which are included in an input broadcast program transport stream; a synchronization unit which receives the A/V file, the application file, and the first EPG file from the signal processing unit, generates storage information for the A/V file and storage information for the application file, and converts the first EPG file into a second EPG file comprising the storage information for the A/V file and the storage information for the application file; and a storage unit which stores the A/V file, the application file, and the second EPG file.
US08091102B2

Systems and methods are provided for motivating a user to watch a television channel for a predetermined period of time and enabling access to a media asset related to a program provided on the channel. A tuner is tuned to a transmission channel and a program is received concurrently with a portion of a media asset. The viewing behavior is monitored to determine whether the user tunes to a different transmission channel before a predetermined time period elapses. When the user tunes to a different transmission channel before the predetermined time period elapses, access to the media asset is prevented. When the user stays tuned to the particular transmission channel for the predetermined time period, access to the media asset is enabled. The media asset may be transmitted to a portable user device, such as a mobile phone.
US08091099B2

Provided is a spindle motor having a clamping device. The spindle motor includes a bearing housing disposed on a base, a rotation shall rotatably supported by a bearing in the bearing housing, a stator coupled to the bearing housing, a bush directly coupled to the rotation shaft exposed from an upper portion of the bearing housing, a rotor yoke directly coupled to the bush, a magnet fixed on an inner circumference of the rotor yoke, and a clamping device disposed on the rotor yoke. The clamping device includes a body, a stopper, a weight, and an elastic member. The stopper is coupled to the body. The weight is coupled to the stopper. The elastic member elastically supports the stopper.
US08091098B2

A disk drive includes an insert-and-eject device and a disk guide unit. The insert-and-eject device is used for inserting and ejecting a disk. The disk guide unit includes a rack and a slide member connected to the insert-and-eject device in such a manner that reciprocal movement of the disk guide unit along a first direction permits the slide member to drive the insert-and-eject device to insert and eject the optical disk from the disk drive. An emergency release device is mounted on the slide member, and includes a horizontal element movable along a second direction. The rack is formed with a retention groove such that the movement of the horizontal element along the second direction permits a the horizontal element to extend within or exit the retention groove so as to couple the slide member with the rack or to disengage the slide member from the rack.
US08091095B2

An electronics module with driver information electronically associated therein. The driver information may be in a memory on the electronics module. The memory may store drivers for multiple operating systems, including a virtual machine type operating system that can be used with any processor or operating system that can run the virtual machine. The memory may alternatively store website information, e.g., an address of the website and codes to use on the website to get the right driver and to validate the hardware.
US08091083B2

A communicator is adapted to perform communications with an external apparatus. A rewritable memory stores a control program configured to control an operation of the electronic apparatus, and a first communication program. An unrewritable memory stores a second communication program. A first inspector is operable to judge whether the control program is normal. A second inspector is operable to judge whether the first communication program is normal. A first downloader is operable to download the control program from the external apparatus by way of the communicator under the control of the first communication program, in a case where the first inspector judges the control program is not normal and the second inspector judges the first communication program is normal. A second downloader is operable to download at least one of the control program and the first communication program from the external apparatus by way of the communicator under the control of the second communication program, in a case where the first inspector judges the control program is not normal and the second inspector judges the first communication program is not normal.
US08091081B2

Techniques for identifying “relevant” objects for upgrading a repository of objects in a computer system. The relevant objects to be used for upgrading may include any combination of (1) “corresponding” objects in a prior and a new standard repository, (2) “ancestor” objects in the prior and new standard repositories, and (3) ancestor objects in a prior custom repository. A corresponding object typically has the same name as, and an ancestor object is referenced by, the object to be upgraded. In one scheme, objects in the prior custom repository are upgraded based on (1) their corresponding objects, if these exist, and (2) their ancestors in the prior and new standard repositories, otherwise. In another scheme, the objects are additionally upgraded based on their ancestors in the new standard repository. In yet another scheme, the objects are further upgraded based on their ancestors in the prior custom repository.
US08091079B2

A method for implementing shadow versioning to improve data dependence analysis for instruction scheduling in compiling code, and to identify loops within the code to be compiled, for each loop initializing a dependence a matrix, for each loop shadow identifying symbols that are accessed by the loop, examining dependencies, storing, comparing and classifying the dependence vectors, generating new shadow symbols, replacing the old shadow symbols with the new shadow symbols, generating alias relationships between the newly created shadow symbols, scheduling instructions and compiling the code.
US08091069B2

A language for the specification of object-oriented modules is disclosed. The specification language is processed by a computer-implemented parser to produce an object-oriented data structure. Expressions in the specification language may include specifications of modules, classes, and class members. Expressions in the specification language may include predicate expressions which permit general-purpose declarative specifications pertaining to modules, classes, and members.
US08091068B2

A code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement by determining a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement; parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position; generating a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement; applying a user-selected preference to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates; displaying the list of suggested candidates; allowing a user to select one of the list of suggested candidates; and inserting at the current cursor position the user-selected suggested candidate. User-selectable preferences may be selected such as a longer or shorter list of candidates; a longer or shorter representation keyword candidates; a full syntax or partial syntax representation of a candidate; and a character case representation of a candidate.
US08091067B2

A method for hosting a programming environment and processing user input includes the step of receiving, during a first session between a user and an interaction environment, via one of a plurality of media gateways, a definition of an expression type, the definition specifying an expression format and a response type. The definition is stored. During a second session between a second user and the interaction environment, an expression having a semantic structure is received, from a user, via one of a plurality of media gateways. The semantic structure of the expression is evaluated. An expression format of the received expression is identified as the expression format specified by the definition of the expression type, responsive to the evaluation. A response to the expression is generated responsive to an execution of a computer program associated with the response type specified by the definition of the expression type.
US08091062B2

A logic gate array for implementing logical expressions is provided. The array includes a dynamically configurable logic gate having a chaotic updater for causing the logic gate to alternately operate as one of a several different logic gate types, the dynamically configurable logic gate alternating from operating as one logic gate type to a different logic gate type in response to one or more reference signals. The array also includes one or more additional logic gates.
US08091058B2

A method of performing a pre-route repeater insertion methodology for at least part of a circuit design may include: partitioning at least part of a circuit design into a plurality of tiles; determining at least one attribute of one or more individual tiles of the plurality of tiles; and determining a repeater solution based at least in part on the determined attributes of the one or more individual tiles. A computer implemented tool for performing a pre-route repeater insertion methodology for at least part of a circuit design may include: a module configured to partition at least part of a circuit design into a plurality of tiles; a module configured to determine at least one attribute of one or more individual tiles of the plurality of tiles; and a module configured to determine a repeater solution based at least in part on the determined attributes of the one or more individual tiles.
US08091057B1

Methods are provided for implementing a design of an integrated circuit meeting a performance objective. A timing analysis for the design specifies critical timing paths that do not meet the performance objective. Reasons are determined for the critical timing paths failing to meet the performance objective. A specification of the design is synthesized into a netlist specifying interconnections of primitive elements. The synthesis includes controlling a fanout of a primitive element on each critical timing path failing from excessive fanout. The primitive elements are placed at respective positions, including priority placement of a primitive element on each critical timing path failing from bad placement. The interconnections are routed between the primitive elements at the respective positions. The routing includes priority routing of an interconnection on each critical timing path failing from long routing. A specification of the placed and routed primitive elements is stored.
US08091055B2

Some embodiments provide a system for managing violations during physical verification. The system may identify a design-rule-check (DRC) violation by applying a set of DRC rules to a layout. The system can then receive an error classification from the user which specifies how the DRC violation is to be handled. Next, the system can store the DRC violation, the user-selected error classification, and a user identifier associated with the user in a database. If the user is not authorized to approve the error classification, the database can indicate that the error classification has not been approved. Later, a user who is authorized to approve the error classification can approve the error classification. The system can determine if a cell is known, and if so, the system can use the violations and error classifications stored in the database to speed up the verification process.
US08091053B2

An aspect of the invention provides a circuit generation system that can automatically generate a power control circuit. In the circuit generation system according to the aspect of the invention includes a behavioral synthesis unit that generates synthesis-attached information and RT-level circuit information based on behavioral-level description information in which information on a circuit is described by a program language; and a power control circuit generation unit that generates a power control circuit based on the synthesis-attached information, and connects the generated power control circuit to an RT-level circuit of the RT-level circuit information.
US08091052B2

A method for optimizing post-layout array for accelerated transistor level simulation is provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, a post-layout array of cells having a plurality array lines is optimized by forming array line models for the array lines of the post-layout array of cells. Ideal sub-arrays are formed with the cells of the post-layout array. The ideal sub-array can be simulated using conventional techniques such as HAR or SOFA. Furthermore, some embodiments of the present invention also detect and optimize parasitic capacitors to facilitate formation of the ideal sub-arrays.
US08091049B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides systems and techniques for generating a transistor-level description of a subcircuit. A user may want to simulate a subcircuit in a circuit using a transistor-level simulator, and one or more cells in the subcircuit may need to be sensitized so that the cells are in a desired state when the subcircuit is simulated. An embodiment modifies the subcircuit by inserting analog switches in front of the cells that need to be sensitized, so that the analog switches can be used to apply a sensitization sequence to the cells during the transistor-level simulation. The embodiment can then generate a transistor-level description of the modified subcircuit. Next, the transistor-level description of the subcircuit can be stored, thereby enabling the transistor-level simulator to simulate the subcircuit.
US08091042B2

A user interface display provides selectable icons and a control symbol in a toolbar. The control symbol can be selected by a user to display additional selectable icons within the toolbar. The additional icons can be inserted adjacent the control symbol or in another location on the toolbar. A user can associate a set of one or more selectable icons with a control symbol. In one implementation, reselecting the control symbol removes the additional icons from the toolbar. In another implementation, the additional icons are removed when one of the additional icons is selected. If the icons are positioned adjacent to their corresponding control symbol, the display position of other icons on the toolbar is adjusted to allow room for the additional icons. When a set of the additional icons is removed from the display, the position of the other icons on the toolbar is re-adjusted.
US08091039B2

Techniques are described for providing a display of visual elements representing various media elements on a composite media presentation, wherein the display may be altered such that the visual elements transition from an overlapping arrangement to an arrangement where the overlap is minimized or eliminated. Once in the non-overlapping arrangement, a particular element may be selected or manipulated, for example applying an effect to the underlying media element, and the display returns to the original overlapping arrangement of visual elements, in some embodiments ending with the selected visual element at the top of the overlapping arrangement where before the visual elements may have been partially or completely obstructed from view.
US08091031B2

The invention relates to a computerized method for a user to create an advertisement by displaying a plurality of advertising formats for selection by a user; displaying a template corresponding to a selected advertising format; displaying a plurality of product references for selection by the user; displaying on the template a selected product reference to create a proposed advertisement; and creating a preview of the proposed advertisement, all of which may be implemented using the Internet. The invention further relates to a computerized system for creating an advertisement that comprises a template database for storing advertising formats; a product database for storing product references; and a computer to access the databases. Preferably, the user has a network interface such as Internet access that permits access via a remote location, software to permit a user to specify specifications such as quantity, printing information, ship date, paper type, pricing information, and payment information, and may be configured to receive images and text for new products.
US08091029B1

A collaborative electronic meeting environment is described that provides an additional presentation canvas to the active meeting canvas that is only accessible by meeting presenters. Using this presentation canvas, additional meeting objects may be established by the presenters or even created and staged by a presenter to be dragged onto the meeting canvas for use during the active meeting. The meeting participants who are not presenters may not view or interact with this presentation canvas or any of the objects located thereon.
US08091022B2

Content is transferred from one computer resource to another computer resource by receiving a user-selected first insertion point for placement of verbatim quoted information within a first UI to a destination electronic document file; receiving a user selection of text content to be transferred from a source UI to the first insertion point; copying the text content to a transfer buffer without requiring a user to return to the first UI; recording source reference data items corresponding to the selected text content without requiring the user to return to the first UI; producing in the destination electronic document file a footnote, endnote, or bibliographical entry comprising the reference data items; and generating a human-readable monitor report containing the source reference data items and an identity indicator of the user, wherein background execution prevents knowledge by the user of the monitor report.
US08091018B2

A computer-implemented method and system for creating and implementing dynamic clip art images in a software module. Clip art images are typically static in nature and cannot be modified by a user. This limitation with conventional clip art images makes them inflexible and inefficient. In contrast, a dynamic clip art image can be used to represent several similar static clip art images. Those elements of the similar static images that are distinct can be represented by dynamic properties that can be customized by a user. Dynamic clip art images can be modified by a user while inserted in an electronic document thereby eliminating the need to locate new static clip art images to replace existing static images in a document.
US08091016B2

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for visually manipulating instance collections. Items presenters present data collections along with custom designers for each data element in the data collections. The customer designers also permit data elements in the collection to be edited in situ. Items presenters maintain data elements in a position aware fashion. Thus, data elements can be inserted into (potentially at a specified location) and deleted from an items presenter to corresponding add and delete the data elements from a data collection. Data elements can be visually moved from an items presenter in one root user interface to an items presenter in another root user interface to corresponding move the data elements between corresponding data collections.
US08091014B2

In an electronic apparatus, a first microcomputer is monitored by a second microcomputer, which periodically transmits data relating to a main function to the first microcomputer to be processed. The first microcomputer periodically updates a variable value, performs a predetermined calculation operation whose final result should be a specific fixed value, adds that final result to the updated variable value to obtain a sum value, and transmits the sum value and updated variable value concurrently to the second microcomputer. The second microcomputer determines that the first microcomputer is operating abnormally if the difference between the received sum value and variable value is not equal to the specific fixed value.
US08091008B2

A data read-out circuit is provided with a sense amplifier circuit and a selector. The sense amplifier circuit senses a stored data stored in a memory cell array by using a plurality of reference levels to generate a plurality of read data, respectively. Thus, the sense amplifier circuit outputs the plurality of read data with regard to the stored data. The selector selects a data corresponding to any one of the plurality of read data based on a control signal and outputs the selected data as an output data.
US08091004B2

An integrated incremental redundancy symbol mapping diversity system for a communication device. The integrated incremental redundancy symbol mapping diversity system includes a transmitter. The transmitter packetizes a retransmission packet according to a modulation scheme in response to a retransmission request from the receiver. The transmitter includes an output packet processor and an inter-packet selective symbol mapper. The output packet processor determines a transmission iteration of a bit segment of the retransmission packet. The inter-packet selective symbol mapper applies a first symbol map pattern to the bit segment based on the transmission iteration of the bit segment and applies a second symbol map pattern to another bit segment of the retransmission packet based on the transmission iteration of the other bit segment. The first symbol map pattern is different from the second symbol map pattern.
US08091002B2

A method for providing ordered capture clocks to detect or locate faults within N clock domains and faults crossing any two clock domains in an integrated circuit or circuit assembly in scan-test or self-test mode, where N>1, each clock domain having one capture clock and a plurality of scan cells, each capture clock comprising a plurality of capture clock pulses; said method comprising: (a) generating and shifting-in N test stimuli to all said scan cells within said N clock domains in said integrated circuit or circuit assembly during a shift-in operation; (b) applying an ordered sequence of capture clocks to all said scan cells within said N clock domains, the ordered sequence of capture clocks comprising at least a plurality of capture clock pulses from two or more selected capture clocks placed in a sequential order such that all clock domains are never triggered simultaneously during a capture operation; and (c) analyzing output responses of all said scan cells to locate any faults therein.
US08090998B2

A disc defect management method and apparatus using a defect management area that can be updated, and a write once disc incorporating the method. A data area is disposed between a lead-in area and a lead-out area. The disc includes a defect management area (DMA) that is present in at least one of the lead-in area or the lead-out area, wherein defect information and defect management information are repeatedly recorded in the DMA according to a recording operation. Accordingly, the disc defect management method and apparatus enable effective use of the defect management area. The method is also applicable to a multi layer disc having a user data area on each layer. The defect information and the defect management information for an individual defect may include cumulative defect information and defect management information related to previously identified defects.
US08090996B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for determining a vulnerability level for an instruction executed in a processor, and re-executing the instruction if the vulnerability level is above a threshold. The vulnerability level may correspond to a soft error likelihood for the instruction while the instruction is in the processor. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08090987B2

An imaging apparatus having an automatic backup function and a method for controlling the same are disclosed which can more securely store particular data, considered to be important by the user, in a memory of the imaging apparatus, and can automatically read out the particular data. The imaging apparatus includes a tuner which receives data containing at least one of audio data and video data, a main storage unit which stores data containing at least one of audio data and video data, and a controller which determines backup data, to be stored in a backup storage unit, from the data stored in the main storage unit, copies data determined as the backup data, and stores the copied data in the backup storage unit, whereby the imaging apparatus has an automatic data backup function.
US08090983B2

A method and device for performing switchover operations in a computer system having at least two execution units are provided, in which switchover units are included which are configured in such a way that they switch over between at least two operating modes, a first operating mode corresponding to a compare mode, and a second operating mode corresponding to a performance mode. An interrupt controller is provided and, furthermore, at least three memory areas are provided, and the access to the memory areas is implemented in such a way that one first memory area is assigned to at least one first execution unit, and one second memory area is assigned to the at least one second execution unit, and at least one third memory area is assignable to the at least two execution units.
US08090977B2

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving an indication of a loss of redundancy with respect to a pair of mirrored memory regions of a partially redundant memory system, determining new mirrored memory regions, and dynamically migrating information stored in the original mirrored memory regions to the new mirrored memory regions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08090964B2

A multi-function peripheral device includes: a plurality of interfaces that communicate data with an external devices; a power source for supplying the interfaces with power required for the respective interfaces to operate; a monitoring unit that monitors operational statuses of the respective interfaces; a display unit that displays a parameter indicating the operational status of each of the interfaces monitored by the monitoring unit; an input unit that is capable of inputting a command indicating whether or not power is to be supplied from the power source to each of the interfaces; and a power control unit that controls to supply power to an interface for which a command indicating that power is to be supplied is inputted by the input unit, and controls to shut off power to an interface for which a command indicating that power is not to be supplied is inputted by the input unit.
US08090963B2

Based on bounds of a period of reduced operation for a base device, a base device generates a power management message for transmission to a peripheral device. In the power management message, the base device inserts bounds of a period of reduced operation for the peripheral device. As a result, the periods of reduced operation conserve battery power in both devices and the two devices may reestablish a communications channel upon reaching the end of the period of reduced operation and resuming normal operations.
US08090957B2

The present invention aims to provide an information security apparatus that counters a simple power analysis attack (SPA) on an information security apparatus such as an RSA cryptosystem. The information security apparatus uses a multiplication with 1 in a Montgomery domain. 1 in the Montgomery domain is determined depending on a modulus and an integer k, which is greater than a number of bits of a modulus p. Therefore, it is hard for attackers who do not know p or k to analyze. Also, even if an analyzer can predict the Hamming weight, it is possible to further improve the safety against the SPA by modifying k or the modulus at random.
US08090955B2

Embodiments are provided for protecting boot block space in a NAND memory device connected to a host device via an SPI interface. One such method includes programming a boot block password into the NAND memory device such that the host device is required to provide the boot block password in order to access the boot block space. A counter may be provided to track the number of times the host device provides an incorrect password, permanently locking the boot block space if the counter reaches a predetermined value. A further method includes associating each of various areas of the boot block space with at least one write lock bit, setting the write lock bit to a lock enable or lock disable value, and locking or unlocking an area of the boot block space depending on the value of its associated write lock bit. Areas of the boot block space may include a single boot block page, a single boot block, or a plurality of boot blocks.
US08090954B2

A forwarding signature comprises a modified digital signature, modified using a predetermined parameter between a sender and an intended recipient. An intended recipient of the forwarding signature can verify that the forwarding signature corresponds to the message, but, can neither derive the original digital signature nor generate a new forwarding signature for a different parameter. Generation and verification of the forwarding signature is accomplished with access to the public key of a public/private cryptographic key pair, the original signed message, and the predetermined parameter. Access to the private key is not needed.
US08090951B2

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing secure transmissions across a network comprising a transmitting device and a receiving device. At the transmitting device, a stream of watermark bits is generated. Next, a plurality of watermarks is generated, each of the plurality of watermarks comprising an index number and a portion of the stream of watermark bits. The watermarks are inserted into each header of a plurality of outgoing packets. At the receiving device, the plurality of outgoing packets are received and it is determined if a received packet is valid based on the watermark in the header of the received packet. The stream of watermark bits may be generated using a stream cipher such as RC4, a block cipher such as 3DES in CBC mode, or other equivalent pseudo-random stream generating techniques.
US08090949B2

A system and method for assigning certificates and reducing the size of the certificate revocation lists in a PKI based architecture for a vehicle wireless communications system that includes separating a country, or other area, into geographic regions and assigning region-specific certificates to the vehicles. Therefore, a vehicle need only process certificates and certificate revocation lists for the particular region that it is traveling in. Vehicles can be assigned multiple certificates corresponding to more than one region in the vehicles vicinity as advance preparation for possible travel or transmission into nearby regions. Further, the expiration time of certificates assigned to vehicles corresponding to a given geographic region can be tailored to be inversely proportional to the distance from a registered home region of the vehicle. A scalable design for a back-end certifying authority with region-based certificates can also be provided.
US08090933B2

The present invention relates to a method for the unification of PER branch and PER store operations within the same dataflow. The method comprises determining a PER range, the PER range comprising a storage area defined by a designated storage starting area and a designated storage ending area, wherein the storage starting area is designated by a value of the contents of a first control register and the storage ending area is designated by a value of the contents of a second control register. The method also comprises retrieving register field content values that are stored at a plurality of registers, wherein the retrieved content values comprises a length field content value, and setting the length field content value to zero for a PER branch instruction, thereby enabling a PER branch instruction to performed similarly to a PER storage instruction.
US08090929B2

A digital system and method of operating the same. The system comprises a processor chip including a first elastic interface domain, wherein the first elastic interface domain comprises a first processor X logic and a first processor Y logic, wherein the first processor X and Y logic comprise first X and Y latches, respectively; and a first ASIC chip electrically coupled to the processor chip, wherein the first processor X and Y logics are configured to be simultaneously in a functional mode, wherein the first processor X logic is configured to switch from the functional mode to a scanning mode while the first processor Y logic remains in the functional mode, and wherein in response to the first processor Y logic being in the functional mode, the first processor Y logic is configured to generate a first reference ASIC clock signal to the first ASIC chip.
US08090925B2

Data is stored in streams of varying size and an operating system transfers data between storage and a client application in the form of an application file. Instructions are received to write a stream of data to storage and the size of the stream of data is identified. The stream of data is written to storage as an operating system file if the identified size is larger than an upper threshold, in a first treated way if the identified size falls within a predetermined range, and in a second treated way if the identified size is smaller than a lower threshold.
US08090916B2

An architecture for an integrated circuit with in-circuit programming allows real-time modification of the in-circuit programming code and other code stored on the chip. The architecture utilizes a microprocessor and control logic on an integrated circuit having a single non-volatile memory that stores instructions and data, such as in-circuit programming and user code, and input/output ports and related structure for exchanging data with an external device. Using in-circuit programming code stored on the chip, the chip interactively establishes an in-circuit programming exchange with an external device to update data and instructions including the in-circuit programming code. Input/output conflicts during in-circuit programming can be avoided by employing a memory controller to handle at least part of the in-circuit programming operations. The memory controller allows the in-circuit programming code to be updated in real time.
US08090909B2

Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks.
US08090904B2

The present disclosure relates to a device for detecting accessible capacity in an external hard drive. The disclosed device may detect reduced accessible capacity in an external hard drive due to an modification or deletion of either the Host-Protected Area or the Device Configuration Overlay table.
US08090903B2

Embodiments that facilitate the fair and dynamic distribution of disk input/output (IO) bandwidth are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, the method includes organizing one or more disk IO time intervals into one or more queues. The method further includes allocating a disk IO time interval to each queue. The allocation of a disk IO time interval to each queue is accomplished by equally distributing a disk IO cycle based on the number of queues. The one or more disk IO requests are then processed during the corresponding disk IO time interval.
US08090892B2

A device receives a first request from a requesting device for first information that is stored at contiguous address locations beginning at a first address. A plurality of spawned requests are generated that each request a different portion of the first information. A table location is allocated to each one of the plurality of requests, wherein the relative location of each allocated table location is indicative of an order that the information from each spawned request is to be returned to the requesting device relative to the information from each other spawned request.
US08090891B2

Described is a method of providing the communication between two or more control units of a control apparatus that controls at least one electronic device which comprises two or more peripheral units. The method is characterized by comprising the steps of: providing a common bus; connecting said two or more control units by way of said common bus; controlling, through each control unit, at least one peripheral unit of the device to provide data necessary for the operation of the peripheral unit and to detect possible data variation of said peripheral unit; and providing for a master controller connected to the common bus, and further by the steps, carried out by each of said control units, of submitting to said master controller, information related to data consumed and to data provided by the peripheral units controlled by said control units; and sending a message over the bus whenever at least one of the data provided by the peripheral units controlled by said control units changes.
US08090889B2

A mother board is disclosed. The mother board includes a first processor and a controlling module. A second processor is electrically coupled to the mother board. The controlling module includes a utilization ratio comparing unit and a controlling unit. The utilization ratio comparing unit is configured for comparing a current utilization ratio of the first processor with a predetermined first utilization ratio, and comparing a current utilization ratio of the second processor with a predetermined second utilization ratio. The controlling unit is configured for controlling the first processor and the second processor to process data together when the current utilization ratio of the first processor is lower than the predetermined first utilization ratio and the current utilization ratio of the second processor is higher than the predetermined second utilization ratio.
US08090886B2

A device has a controller and a function module configured to be in communication with the controller as a result of the controller receiving a pass-through vendor specific command. In some embodiments the controller may configured to strip data intended for the function module from the vendor specific command and send the stripped data to the function module.
US08090883B2

The exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a storage buffer management scheme for I/O store buffers. Specifically, the storage buffer management system as described within the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is configured to comprise storage buffers that have the capability to efficiently support 128 byte or 256 byte I/O data transmission lines. The presently implemented storage buffer management scheme enables for a limited number of store buffers to be associated with a fixed number of storage state machines (i.e., queue positions) and thereafter the allowing for the matched pairs to be allocated in order to achieve maximum store throughput for varying combinations of store sizes of 128 and 256 bytes.
US08090879B2

A communication device includes an RF transceiver for communicating first data with a first remote communication device via a first protocol and a first frequency band in a first mode of operation. A millimeter wave transceiver communicates second data with a second remote communication devices via a second protocol and a 60 GHz frequency band in a second mode of operation. A communication control module coordinates the communication of the first data and the second data with the at least one of the plurality of remote communication devices. A graphical interface device selects the first remote communication device and the second remote communication device and selects at least one of the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation, based on actions of a user.
US08090873B1

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention provide a data processing system comprising a business application that receives data messages from a plurality of client data sources. The business application comprises a message pre-processor and a parsing processor. The message pre-processor classifies and identifies the data messages and sends the messages in a structured format to a message queue corresponding to its data type. The parsing processor receives the data messages from the message queues and selects a parser by applying a set of parsing rules. The parsing rules apply information about the data message and provide a decision as to the best parsing engine to use out of a plurality of paring engines. The parsing engines are also able to perform information refinement in accordance with selected components defined in a target output data model.
US08090862B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for streaming content over a network that enables communication between a first consumer node, a second consumer node, and a production node. In one embodiment, a method includes initiating, from the first consumer node, a first connection to the second consumer node, and receiving one or more data packages corresponding to part of the content. The method also includes initiating, from the first consumer node, a second connection over the network to a production node, and receiving one or more data packages corresponding to at least a part of the content. The method also includes making incoming content received from the second consumer node ready for processing and play-back at the first consumer node, so that part of the content is streamed to a stream target at the first consumer node, while another part of the content is being received from the production node.
US08090861B2

Managing content by influencing its distribution in the form of blocks or other units is crucial to the performance of a peer-to-peer content distribution system. We provide a content management module at each peer node to achieve this. The content management module implements a content request/response cycle in order to negotiate about blocks of content with other peer nodes. This cycle comprises an offer request, offer reply and a block request. These steps are preferably followed by data exchange and verification. The negotiation protocol used by our content management module provides a generic method that is advantageously used in conjunction with different encoding schemes such as full network coding and group network coding. In one embodiment we use group network coding and add information to the offer request and offer reply to facilitate efficient content distribution. Block request messages are selected to promote the use of on-the-fly decoding where possible.
US08090858B2

Provided are improved SIP communication systems and methods for traversing firewalls, NATs, and ALGs. An encapsulation protocol is used to preserve the original SIP message by encapsulating the original SIP message in visible encapsulation protocol of layers 4+. An encapsulated SIP message is decapsulated after transparently traversing a firewall, NAT, and/or ALG.
US08090854B2

The frequency of reading, by users, Web sites managed by Web masters is increased. A server computer of a service provider providing a variety of services can be accessed from one of the Web sites of registered Webmasters. The server computer registers a client who has accessed it through one of the Web sites. Only when the registered client accesses the service provider through the Web site, the client can receive any one of the services.
US08090851B2

A method, system and computer program are provided for problem determination in an enterprise computer system in a distributed environment. Information is obtained regarding the enterprise applications, and high-level information is presented to a user, with one or more prompts are provided to the user for more detailed information. In response to a request from a user for more detailed information about the application, more detailed information is provided to the user. Several levels of more detailed information about applications, including information as to individual threads, is available. The problem determination also includes receiving instructions from an administrator to establish an account for a user, associating one or more servers with the account, and providing access to the corresponding user only to the associated servers. Searches may be conducted for strings and requests, and identified strings and requests may be sorted by a variety of criteria.
US08090849B2

A method and electronic system for exchanging data between a handheld device and another computer system using universal resource locator (URL) strings. With respect to sending information from the handheld, an application may define a URL string that may indicate 1) a transport mechanism and 2) a destination for the information. Exemplary transport mechanism strings include: IRODEX:// (infrared); BTOBEX:// (radio frequency Bluetooth); SMS://; SMTP:// (email); SYNC:// (synchronization); HTTP:// (Internet); FTP:// (file transport protocol); etc. Information and the associated URL string is forwarded from the application to an exchange manager API. The exchange manager API is connected to a plurality of exchange library APIs, one for each supported transport mechanism. If no transport mechanism is defined, the user is asked to define one. If no destination is specified, the user is asked to define one. The exchange manager then provides the required communication using the specified URL string. On receiving information, the URL can define its source. If none is given, the exchange manager requests from the user a specific application and verifies the addition of the information to the database associated with the application. When URL strings are fully defined, the communication of information can be somewhat transparent to the user. The handheld device can be a palmtop computer system.
US08090841B2

The present invention is a method of doing business over a network that: receives a request for transmitting digital information after a start time and before an end time, determines the time required to transmit the digital information based on the number of packets in the information and the network speed, schedules a transmit time for the digital information, and accepts the digital information for transmission only if the time required to transmit is less than or equal to the difference between the transmit time and the end time. Pricing of the transmission can be determined by the priority of transmission, whether the information is transmitted the first time or rescheduled, and whether the user receives an acknowledgment.
US08090838B2

Embodiments described herein are based on the principle that shells execute commands as units of characters. Accordingly, embodiments herein provide also provide for some special cases of asynchronous control signals that change the shell operation flow. For example, signal messages may be used to terminate, pause, resume, or otherwise modify the execution of a command. In other words, if a user wishes to change the execution state of a command, a client can create a signal message and send such message to the shell processor, which can take the appropriate action as desired. Note that by modeling the control or signal commands as discrete messages (as well as other embodiments modeled and described herein), such commands are not mistakenly executed on a command as is the case for current protocols that use a character-by-character transmission.
US08090835B1

Systems and methods are provided in which performance is simulated for each of a plurality of traffic allocation models during each of a plurality of historical time segments to obtain a performance metric for each time segment. Thereafter, an allocation value is calculated for each model based on the performance metrics. Once the allocation value has been established for the models, allocations are auctioned among the plurality of models during a plurality of auction rounds. These auctioned allocations are used to determine traffic allocation probabilities among the plurality of model so that traffic can be served on at least one website according to models corresponding to the determined traffic allocation probabilities. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US08090827B2

A client computer hosts a virtual private network tool to establish a virtual private network connection with a remote network. Upon startup, the virtual private network tool collects critical network information for the client computer, and sends this critical network information to an address assignment server in the remote network. The address assignment server compares the critical network information with a pool of available addresses in the remote network, and assigns addresses for use by the client computer that do not conflict with the addresses for local resources. The address assignment server also provides routing information for resources in the remote network to the virtual private network tool. The virtual private network tool will postpone loading this routing information into the routing tables of the client computer until the client computer requests access to a specific resource in the remote network. When the client computer requests access to a specific resource in the remote network, the virtual private network tool will only provide the routing table with the routing information for that specific remote resource.
US08090813B2

Methods and apparatus for an efficient peer-to-peer (p2p) system generally includes a server selection mechanism connected to a p2p network. The server selection mechanism may be configured to maintain a list that describes the servers which are storing at least a portion of a specified file. The server selection mechanism may be configured to selectively distribute at least a portion of the file between servers, for example according to the description in the list.
US08090812B2

Progress management of analysis task is performed in CAE analysis. A system is provided in which a plurality of terminal apparatuses 10A, 10B and 10C storing an analysis procedure of CAE analysis as a program are connected to a management apparatus 20 managing a state of progress of CAE analysis via a communication network N. The management apparatus 20 generates progress management information in which an analysis task of CAE analysis is divided into a plurality of steps and transmits the progress management information to each of the terminal apparatuses 10A, 10B and 10C. Each of the terminal apparatuses 10A, 10B and 10C transmits to the management apparatus 20 progress state information of analysis task for one or a plurality of steps allocated to the terminal apparatus at a predetermined timing in accordance with the received progress management information. The management apparatus 20 uniformly manages a progress state of CAE analysis task performed by the terminal apparatuses 10A, 10B and 10C in association with each other by aggregating the progress state information transmitted from the terminal apparatuses 10A, 10B and 10C.
US08090806B1

A method and apparatus for modifying the configuration of a network device, such as a router, using a two-stage configuration model is provided. A first request for a change in configuration of a network device is received. Configuration data that describes the change in configuration of the network device is stored in a buffer. A second request to modify the current operational state of the network device to reflect the configuration data stored in the buffer is received. An exclusive lock on the network device is obtained. The current operational state of the network device is modified to reflect the configuration data stored in the buffer. Multiple users may modify the network device without interfering with one another because conflicts are avoided through use of an exclusive lock. Requests of different management operations may be contained within XML documents that are transmitted from the client to the network device.
US08090805B1

Cascading a lookup over multiple lookup tables when performing multicast forwarding involves accessing a first lookup table based on at least part of a multicast destination address included in a packet header. The first lookup table identifies the portion (e.g., one or more entries) of a second lookup table in response to a key generated from a first portion of the packet header. The portion of the second lookup table can be accessed based on a second portion of the packet header. The second lookup table identifies at least one output interface via which the packet should be output. Such systems and methods may, in some embodiments, allow existing hardware to be used to support a new addressing format that involves larger addresses than were previously supported by that hardware.
US08090803B2

A system and method for data communication connecting on-line networks with on-line and off-line computers. The present system provides for broadcast of up to the minute notification centric information thereby providing an instant call to action for users who are provided with the ability to instantaneously retrieve further detailed information. The notification centric portions of information is wirelessly broadcast to wireless receiving devices which are attached to computing devices. Upon receipt of the information at the personal computer, the user is notified through different multimedia alerts that there is an incoming message. Wirelessly broadcasted URL's, associated with the data, are embedded in data packets and provide an automated wired or wireless connection back to the information source for obtaining detailed data.
US08090801B1

A system, methods and apparatus perform remote access commands between nodes and allow preemption of context resources in an architecture such as Infiniband. The system detects an original request in a request queue for a data access task to access data from a first node to a second node and issues a first request from a first node to a second node. The first request requests the data access task be performed between the first node and the second node. The system receives, at the first node, a first response from the second node that partially completes the data access task. The system issues at least one subsidiary request from the first node to the second node to further complete the data access task between the first node and the second node. The subsidiary request(s) are based on an amount of partial completion of the data access task between the first node and the second node. The system receives, from the second node in response to the subsidiary request, at least one corresponding subsidiary response that further completes the data access task between the first node and the second node. Reponses are limited in size to a data allotment, such that a large data access request may be broken into several smaller subsidiary data access request response sequences, thus allowing preemption of context resources in between processing of request response pairs.
US08090799B2

A method, system, and computer program product that enables persistent display of advertising and other service provider content during access via a gateway access system to third party content on a separate network. A connection is enabled between a personal computing device (PCD) and the gateway access system. The gateway access system facilitates retrieval of a first content from the network to be displayed within a first window on the PCD. The gateway access system provides program code to the PCD that when executed enables persistent display of a second window on the PCD that does not overlap with the first window. A second content is transmitted for display within the second window on the PCD, where the second content is displayed within the persistent window on the PCD along with the display of the first content.
US08090795B2

Various embodiments of the present invention relate generally to methods and systems for distributing media resources used for worship services. In particular, various embodiments provide systems and methods that include a library of diverse types of media resources and an interface through which a user searches the library for diverse sets of media resources based on a theme, such as the topic of a particular worship service. In addition, various embodiments allow the user to select and purchase one or more media resources displayed in the diverse sets of media resources found during the search. Furthermore, various embodiments allow the user to distribute the purchased media resources to one or more individuals. In various embodiments, the distribution may be performed by e-mailing the resources, downloading the resources, providing a link to the resources, physically mailing a copy of the resources, or any combination thereof.
US08090791B1

Mass amounts of information, such as entire libraries of songs or movies, for example, may be stored locally near end-users, and this information may be accessed and reproduced in response to commands received from a transmitting station via a network. When a radio or television station desires to transmit a song or movie, for example, the radio or television station can, rather than transmitting the entire song or movie, merely transmit a command for reproducing the song or movie. An end-user's performance reproduction device, such as an enhanced radio or a television set, then accesses and reproduces the locally stored song or movie. Since the radio or television station need not transmit the entire performance, network traffic can be significantly reduced. The performance reproduction device may actively request information from the radio or television station when fresh or additional information is needed.
US08090790B2

Aspects of a system for splicing RDMA transactions in an RDMA system may include a main processor within a main server that may receive read requests from a client device. The main processor may translate a data reference contained in each read request to generate a physical buffer list (PBL). The processor 206 may communicate the PBL to a local processor within a NIC. The local processor may utilize the PBL perform RDMA operations to retrieve data stripes contained in one or more DDP segments received from a plurality of auxiliary servers. The local processor may enable the generation of TCP packets each containing the data stripes, which may then be sent to the client. The retrieval of DDP segments and generation of TCP packets may occur within the NIC without transferring retrieved data stripes via a system bus within the main server.
US08090784B2

A network system is provided with a plurality of terminals connected thereto, each of the terminals being configured to be connectable to a network and switchable between server mode and client mode. Each of the terminals includes a terminal information registration unit and a comparison information storage unit, and the terminal information registration unit stores information on each other terminal connected to the network as well as information on whether each other terminal is a server terminal or a client terminal. The comparison information storage unit stores comparison information used for server selection. In a server selection process, at least one of the terminals compares pieces of the comparison information stored in the comparison information storage units of the individual terminals through terminal-to-terminal communication and, depending on the result of comparison, one of the terminals to which priority is given is selected to work as the server terminal.
US08090783B1

Software is executed on a wireless device for presenting a response aggregation drawn upon a message having at least two desired recipients. The software of presenting at least two message-structure item questions via the wireless device and receives input requesting response aggregation drawn upon the message having at least two desired recipients and transmits the message to at least one of the at least two desired recipients using the wireless device.
US08090779B2

Systems and methods for viewing media content in instant messaging are provided. In an embodiment, a first IM server that manages instant messaging of a first IM client receives a chat message having a media address from a second IM client whose instant messaging is managed by a second IM server. A first media recognizer associated with the first IM server recognizes the media address in the chat message. In response to the recognition, the first IM server provides the chat message and a media instruction to the first IM client. In another embodiment, the first IM server obtains media associated with the recognized media address and provides the chat message and the obtained media to the first IM client. In a further embodiment, a system for viewing media content based on presence information in instant messaging is provided.
US08090777B2

A method for managing instant messaging interruptions may include comparing at least one term in an instant message to a plurality of terms in a no-response-required (NRR) library. The method may also include representing the instant message as an instant message agent character (IMAC) in response to a match between at least one term in the instant message and at least one of the plurality of terms in the NRR library.
US08090776B2

A content page is configured by a user and located on a network. Changes made to the content page are automatically communicated with notifications to a group of contacts for the user. Only contacts with permission to view the content page, or the changed content, will receive the notification and have permission to view the changes. A visual indicator notifies contacts that a content page of one of their contacts has been changed. When the visual indicator or some other contact indicator is selected by the user, a summary module can be provided. The summary module is a portal to network content, including the content page.
US08090773B1

A system provides account statistics to a user of a network service. The system provides access, to a user, to the network service. The system determines one of an environmental attribute or context associated with the user's access of the network service. The system provides, contemporaneously with the access of the network service, a document to the user, where the document includes account statistics related to the one of the determined environmental attribute or content.
US08090767B2

A method is described that involves detecting the presence of a pairing partner. Prior to establishing a paired relationship with the pairing partner, a user is prompted to verify himself/herself. In response to the user properly verifying himself/herself, the paring partner is paired with. The pairing includes invoking a remote storage protocol that contemplates a network between the partners to establish on a first of the partners access to non volatile storage resources for general use. The non volatile storage resources are located on a second of the partners. The second of the partners is a handheld device that provides wireless cell phone service, wireless Internet service and music playback service.
US08090759B2

Order associated with messages is preserved in an environment wherein a message includes an associated order identifier; a receiver is operable to receive a first message associated with a first order identifier and a selection component is operable to select a first entity for processing the first message. The system includes a determination component for determining whether a notification associated with completion of processing of the first message has been received by the receiver; and a controller for controlling the selection component to select a second entity for processing the second message, in response to a combination of receipt of the notification and a second message associated with the first identifier being received by the receiver preceding the receipt of the notification.
US08090757B2

A multi-function modulo processor architecture is capable of performing multiple modulo mathematic operations. The modulo processor includes a pipeline processing portion that iteratively computes a running partial modulo product using the operands of a modulo mathematic argument to obtain one or more final partial modulo products. The final partial modulo product is post-processed to obtain the final result.
US08090754B2

Software for managing relationships between heterogeneous objects is operable to identify a target object. The software automatically determines related objects using at least one object type application programming interface (API) for an object type associated with the target object. The software is further operable to populate a relationship data structure based on the determined relationships. The software can then provide the relationship data structure to a requesting module.
US08090749B2

A safety management system for use in industry, such as the oil and gas industry, is disclosed. The system comprises a database component for storing safety information including project information comprising at least one project entry. Each project entry has a unique project identifier and project data. The database component further includes safety card information comprising at least one safety card entry, and a unique safety card identifier, a project identifier selected from the unique project identifiers of the at least one project entries and safety card data. The database component further comprising notification information comprising at least one notification entry. Each notification entry comprising a unique notification identifier, a project identifier selected from the unique project identifier of the at least one project entries and notification card data. The safety management system further comprises a control component for generating notifications and providing notification information to the database component.
US08090739B2

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for enhancing abstract queries by utilizing conditional modifiers with logical fields are provided. Conditional modifiers allow for the referencing of multiple physical fields via a single logical field. Further, conditional modifiers facilitate the ability to specify, on an instance by instance basis, which physical field or combination of physical fields a particular logical field should reference.
US08090738B2

A multi-modal search system (and corresponding methodology) that employs wildcards is provided. Wildcards can be employed in the search query either initiated by the user or inferred by the system. These wildcards can represent uncertainty conveyed by a user in a multi-modal search query input. In examples, the words “something” or “whatchamacallit” can be used to convey uncertainty and partial knowledge about portions of the query and to dynamically trigger wildcard generation.
US08090736B1

A system identifies user-defined organizational relationships between documents in a collection of documents. The system ranks the documents based on the identified relationships. In response to a user search query, a listing of matching documents is identified. The listing of matching document is presented to the user based on document ranks.
US08090735B2

Provided are techniques for generating a result set. A statement that includes at least one statement pattern is received, wherein each statement pattern is a template that indicates how a statement is to be modified for execution against a data store and wherein each statement pattern modifies program logic and control flow. Each statement pattern is expanded to generate one or more new statements, wherein each statement pattern is capable of being expanded to zero or more statement patterns. The one or more new statements are executed against a data store to obtain a result set. It is determined whether to modify the result set based on the at least one statement pattern. In response to determining that the result set is to be modified, modifying the result set.
US08090734B2

An improved data handling system is disclosed that facilitates the collection, storage and distribution of information for use by one or more recipient performing a process such as assessing the risk associated with a transaction. A system for handling information includes an administrator for facilitating communication with a subscriber and an information acquisition engine that is for facilitating communication with one or more provider of information and an information assimilator that is for facilitating communication with a database. The system is configured to facilitate receiving a request from the subscriber defining one or more set of information and one or more provider of information to be received by the information acquisition engine and combined by the information assimilator into an information suite to be stored in a database.
US08090729B2

As provided herein, a pairwise distance between nodes in a large graph can be determined efficiently. URL-sketches are generated for respective nodes in an index by extracting labels from respective nodes, which provide a reference to a link between the nodes, aggregating the labels into sets for respective nodes, and storing the sets of labels as URL-sketches. Neighborhood-sketches are generated for the respective nodes in the index using the URL-sketches, by determining a neighborhood for a node and generating a sketch using labels that are associated with the respective neighboring nodes. A distance between two nodes is determined by computing an approximate number of paths and an approximate path length between the two nodes, using the neighborhood sketches for the two nodes.
US08090727B2

Methods, for automatically generating natural-language news items from log files, including the steps of: gathering at least one data record; filtering at least one data record according to at least one rule to produce at least one filtered data set; aggregating at least one filtered data set; analyzing at least one filtered data set for at least one statistical trend; and automatically generating a news item based on at least one statistical trend. Preferably, the method further includes the step of: customizing the news item based on a relative importance of at least one statistical trend. Preferably, the method further includes the step of: performing a drill-down analysis on at least one statistical trend. Most preferably, the method further includes the step of: enriching the news item based on the drill-down analysis. Preferably, the method further includes the step of: embedding at least one graphical element into the news item.
US08090722B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with logically expanding a document and determining the relevance of the logically expanded document to a query are described. One method embodiment includes searching an index to locate a document identifier for a document in which a query term appears. The method includes determining whether the index entry includes an expansion identifier, and, if so, producing a logically expanded document. The logically expanded document may include both a document associated with the document identifier and a document associated with the expansion identifier. The method may then determine a relevance value of the logically expanded document with respect to the query and may provide a signal corresponding to the relevance value.
US08090720B2

A method for merging document clusters includes the following steps. An association graph among document clusters is established. The association graph is an oriented graph. Each document cluster is represented by one node in the association graph, and each node is searched in a pair-wise manner. An oriented edge is established between any two nodes having associated weights there-between reaching a preset value. An arrow of the oriented edge points to a node capable of serving as a descriptor for the other node. An associated weight is assigned to the oriented edge to represent an association degree between the two nodes. Any two document clusters that can serve as a descriptor for each other and have an association degree there-between reaching a preset threshold value are merged into a single document cluster.
US08090711B2

A method, storage medium, and electronic device that in an embodiment register a plurality of information suppliers and a plurality of areas of interest associated with the plurality of respective information suppliers. One of the plurality of areas of interest associated with one of the plurality of information suppliers is found that matches a field of interest requested by a client. A plurality of records is requested from the one of the plurality of information suppliers. A model norm is created based on a data dictionary, wherein a format of the data dictionary is standardized by an agreement among the plurality of information suppliers. A subset of a plurality of characteristics is selected from the plurality of records based on the model norm. A report is prepared with the subset.
US08090706B2

Ambiguities with respect to a user topic interest may be resolved so that useful topic-relevant ads can be presented. Such ambiguities may be resolved by monitoring user behavior, determining a user topic interest (e.g., from a plurality of different candidate topics) based on the monitored behavior, and serving ads relevant to the determined user topic interest.
US08090700B2

Techniques for batch-updating one or more structured query language (SQL) statements in a database are provided. The techniques include identifying a set of one or more data types, wherein the set comprises one or more columns that are each updated, respectively, by a SQL statement, identifying a set of one or more tables, wherein each of the one or more tables are updated, respectively, by a SQL statement, identifying a set of one or more columns used in a WHERE clause of each of one or more SQL statements, and batch-updating the one or more SQL statements, wherein batch-updating comprises creating a UNION ALL view comprising the set of one or more data types, the set of one or more tables and the set of one or more columns used in a WHERE clause, and wherein each SQL statement is mapped to each set of the UNION ALL view.
US08090697B2

Disclosed is a means and a method for executing a nested transaction in an execution environment supporting flat transactions only. To process a StartTransaction operation within a nested transaction it is suggested to check whether the StartTransaction operation is on the first nesting level of the nested transactions. An actual transaction within the execution environment by issuing a corresponding StartTransaction is started only in the affirmative case but not otherwise. To process a CommitTransaction operation within a nested transaction to successfully terminate a transaction it is suggested to check whether the CommitTransaction operation is on the first nesting level of the nested transaction. An actual transaction within the execution environment will be terminated only by issuing a corresponding CommitTransaction operation in the affirmative case but not otherwise. To process a RollbackTransaction operation within a nested transaction aborting a transaction as unsuccessful, it is suggested to issue a corresponding RollbackTransaction operation within the execution environment independent from the nesting level of said RollbackTransaction operation.
US08090691B2

A system for logging database transactions comprises a memory (comprising a direct access storage device) operable to store a database, a database log, and a plurality of log buffers associated with the database log. Each log buffer is operable to store at least one log record associated with a database transaction. The system further comprises a processor operable to log a first record of a first database transaction using the database log and write the database log to the storage device. The processor is further operable to log a second record of a second database transaction in a first of the plurality of log buffers substantially concurrently to the database log being written to the storage device.
US08090690B2

Systems and methods which provide a hybrid network based solution for digital data file backup are shown. Embodiments utilize a transport mass storage system to provide transmission of digital data files between user equipment and a network based mass storage system. A manifest may be used to manage transporting and/or storage of digital data files. User equipment may then access the digital data files stored to the network mass storage system for various purposes using a network link. Subsequent, incremental backups and other transfers of relatively small amounts of digital data files are preferably accomplished using a network link for the transfer.
US08090688B2

A content management system (CMS) monitors and logs review activity for elements in a document. A review activity policy includes one or more thresholds that define one or more ranges that define corresponding review activity levels. A schema or document type for the document is annotated based on the logged review activity to indicate one or more review activity levels for one or more elements in the schema or document type. When an author edits or creates a document based on the same schema or document type, the schema or document type for that document is read, and the elements in the document are displayed to the user to indicate past review activity according to the annotations in the document's schema or document type.
US08090668B2

A method for predicting cycle time comprises the steps of: collecting a plurality of known sets of data; using a clustering method to classify the known sets of data into a plurality of clusters; using a decision tree method to build a classification rule of the clusters; building a prediction model of each cluster; preparing data predicted set of data; using the classification rule to determine that to which clusters the predicted set of data belongs; and using the prediction model of the cluster to estimate the objective cycle time of the predicted set of data. Therefore, engineers can beforehand know the cycle time that one lot of wafers spend in the forward fabrication process, which helps engineers to properly arrange the following fabrication process of the lot of wafer.
US08090662B2

A method and apparatus for dynamically and transparently renewing licenses associated with downloaded content. Licensing associated with content can allow the provider to retain control over the content after it has been downloaded on to the user's computer. A license file or similar licensing parameter is the key to retaining control over access to the content after it has been downloaded. The license file may also control copying of the content on to computers other than the original computer used. The dynamic renewal method will transparently renew the license files on a user's computer to allow the associated content to be used without disruption as long as the user's account is in good standing.
US08090657B2

A system for authentication of financial transactions using a remote terminal includes apparatus for sampling a unique biological identifier of a system user. The system has particular relevance to credit card or other electronic funds transfer transactions whereby the user may complete a transaction over the Internet, or at a merchant's remote terminal by using a unique biological identifier in place of the credit card. The unique biological identifier is preferably a finger print which is read by a camera at the personal computer or remote terminal. The image is digitized and forwarded to a clearing house to identify the appropriate account for the required transaction to be processed.
US08090652B2

The present invention relates to a system and a method for charging in a communication network and to a communication network charging server. The system comprises a client (1) associated with the network for providing services to subscribers associated with the network. The charging server (2) is adapted to handle subscriber account information, and the said client (1) is adapted to send a first charging request message for a service, to the charging server (2) before the service is provided, using an on-line charging protocol (3). The charging server (2) is also adapted to perform pre-reservation of an amount of resources from the subscriber's account, wherein the amount depends on a requested amount included in the message about the service, and to return an answer message including information indicating whether an amount of resources is pre-reserved from said subscriber account for enabling usage of the service to the client (1) using the on-line charging protocol (3).
US08090651B2

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for facilitating the exchange of reciprocal deposits are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a system for facilitating the exchange of reciprocal deposits. The system includes a first bank for participating in an exchange of reciprocal deposits and a control center for implementing an exchange of reciprocal deposits between the first bank and a second bank for receiving deposits. The control center receives requests for placement of reciprocal deposits, determines requirements of depositing and receiving banks, and facilitates exchange of reciprocal deposits in accordance with the requirements.
US08090650B2

A secure payment method, system or computer readable medium for a merchant's interactive voice response system are disclosed. The merchant's interactive voice response system receives customer calls and requests a payment from the customer. The customer responds to the request by providing over a data network authentication information and payment amounts for a payment service. The payment service provides the customer with a token which is communicated to the merchant's interactive voice response system, and the merchant's interactive voice response system transmits the token back to the payment service. Upon validating the token, the payment service issues an electronic payment or payment information to the merchant. The merchant's interactive voice response system announces a successful payment to the customer.
US08090634B2

A system and method are provided for facilitating real-time pricing with volume discounting. The method includes receiving a request for a real-time price quote for a transaction from a first account. The request is received at a first instance in time during a billing cycle. The method also includes determining a first production service, where the first production service is a component of the transaction, and determining a count of first production service instances representing the first production service in the received transaction. The method further includes determining a billable entity for the transaction, where the billable entity includes one or more related accounts, and the related accounts includes the first account. The method additionally includes determining a total of the first production service instances purchased by the related accounts during the billing cycle up to the first instance in time, where the total includes the count of the first production service instances in the received transaction. The method also includes determining a price applicable to the total of the first production service instances based on a pricing method, and apportioning the price to the received transaction based on the count of the first production service instance in the received transaction. The system includes a computer-readable storage medium that has stored thereon computer instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to receive a request for a real-time price quote for a transaction. The request is received at a first instance in time during a billing cycle, and the transaction includes a number of first production service instances, where each instance represents a first production service. The computer instructions also cause the computer to determine a total count of production service instances consumed during the billing cycle up to the first instance in time based on a pricing relationship, and determine a billing service appropriate for the first production service. The computer instructions further cause the computer to calculate a price for the first production service from a price table based on a first attribute for the billing service and the total count of production service instances consumed, and apportion the price to the received transaction based on the number of first production service instances in the transaction.
US08090629B2

A system and method for a retailer to sell merchandise over the Internet in affiliation with an Internet service provider. The co-branded Internet site is accessible through the Internet service site of the Internet service provider. The co-branded Internet site includes designations of both the retailer and the Internet service provider. The co-branded Internet site including one or more links to the Internet shopping site of the retailer. Client software for accessing the co-branded Internet site is distributed at retailer locations. Members of the co-branded Internet site are provided with incentives to access and shop on the Internet shopping site of the retailer through the co-branded Internet site.
US08090619B1

Music is blanket transmitted (for example, via satellite downlink transmission) to each customer's user station where selected music files are recorded. Customers preselect from a list of available music in advance using an interactive screen selector, and pay only for music that they choose to playback for their enjoyment. An antipiracy “ID tag” is woven into the recorded music so that any illegal copies therefrom may be traced to the purchase transaction. Music is transmitted on a fixed schedule or through an active scheduling process that monitors music requests from all or a subset of satellite receivers and adjust scheduling according to demand for various CD's. Receivers store selections that are likely to be preferred by a specific customer. In those instances where weather conditions, motion of atmospheric layers or dish obstructions result in data loss, the system downloads the next transmission of the requested CD and uses both transmissions to produce a “good copy”. In conjunction with the blanket 20 transmission of more popular music, an automated CD manufacturing facility may be provided to manufacture CD's that are not frequently requested and distribute them by ground transportation.
US08090613B2

An improved method for managing advertising campaigns is provided. The method includes defining an advertising campaign, uploading a multi-media file of each member of the campaign; linking each of the multi-media files of the advertisements and associating the media files with a data capture template based on the media type; configuring the scheduling and promotion details for display of the media ad; associating survey questions with respondent incentives; calculating the present cost of the campaign; capturing consumer responses to individual members of the campaign; aggregating and analyzing the cumulative responses; making program adjustments to the type, location, and schedule for the campaign members based on these real-time results; and transmitting the revised campaign management instructions and adjusted media files to remote systems at the media channels thereby optimizing in real-time the overall ad campaign. A computer program product which incorporates this method increases effectiveness of managing advertising campaigns through all off-line media channels beyond conventional means.
US08090610B2

A user interface for building a componentized workflow model. Each step of the workflow is modeled as an activity that has metadata to describe design time aspects, compile time aspects, and runtime aspects of the workflow step. A user selects and arranges the activities to create the workflow via the user interface. The metadata associated with each of the activities in the workflow is collected to create a persistent representation of the workflow. Users extend the workflow model by authoring custom activities.
US08090609B2

An evaluating method for internal network performance by simulation of a flow network model with an acceptable threshold for the required flow of the internal network is applied to a computer system. The network model comprises plural nodes and document flow paths, wherein each said node corresponds to one employee of the internal network with a capacity, which is tested to get a testing result, and each said document flow path has a flow, which maps into a probability distribution data by a probability mapping function. According to the probability mapping function and operation relationship between the capacity and the flow together with the acceptable threshold and the probability distribution data, a system reliability value is calculated out and shown in a display screen.
US08090608B2

A method to identify technological solutions for user-centric product designs is disclosed. The method includes acquiring knowledge of a user-centric product goal and a user outcome, identifying actions that may achieve the desired user outcome, and identifying tasks pertaining to each action. Upon identifying actions that may be necessary to achieve the desired outcome and identifying tasks corresponding to each action, technology may then be considered and technological solutions for performing the tasks may be determined. A visual depiction of the technological solutions charted to the corresponding tasks may be provided to assist with designing a product best suited for product users. The identified technological solutions may be implemented into the product design to produce a user-centric product.
US08090603B2

A system is provided that enables customers to search for event tickets for purchase. A computer interacts with the user to allow the user to specify criteria for event tickets the user wishes to purchase. The system presents relevant event ticket results, and provides filters for the user to further refine those search results. The user selects an event, and then selects tickets for that event. Ticket availability is shown, with seat locations indicated directly on an interactive venue map. For purchase, the user is directed to the selling ticket provider.
US08090602B2

Leisure & entertainment attraction information is available from commercial attraction-provider servers. Users subscribe to a computerized service to facilitate making arrangements for visiting such attractions. Subscribers fill in wish-lists to specify their level of interest in specific attractions, in getting together with specific other subscribers, and in arranging their preferred schedules for outings. An encounter generator processes the subscriber wish-lists to identify matches of subscribers who are interested in the same attraction, who favor each other's company, and who are free at the same time. The system notifies the matched subscribers, optionally offering ticketing and/or reservation assistance. The system is adaptable for serving singles who wish to identify and get to know a prospective mate through mutual visits to attractions, as well as individuals, couples, and families who want to go out with their existing friends or make new friends.
US08090596B2

The disclosure herein provides methods, systems, and devices for managing, transferring, modifying, converting and/or tracking medical files and/or medical system messages. In certain embodiments, the foregoing may generally be based on requesting medical files at a first medical facility, identifying the requested medical files at a second medical facility, initiating a secure network connection between the first and second medical facility, modifying a header portion of the medical files based on patient identification information created by the first medical facility, and other processing steps.
US08090595B2

The invention describes a system and methods for analyzing and improving business operations. The system includes a plurality of business operations databases that contains a plurality of operational data obtained from a plurality of business organizations. The system provides for flexible user defined input and output of data and information flows that contribute to improving the operational effectiveness and productivity of a business entity. One method defines the process for identifying, analyzing and selecting the existing business process databases and information flows for performance, productivity, cost and organizational improvement. The other method includes the steps of gathering, storing and outputting a plurality of operational data obtained from a plurality of businesses in a flexible and confidential manner for each business entity. This method also includes the de-identifying of the database for a variety of secondary purposes, including research and development.
US08090590B2

Methods and apparatus for providing access to information associated with a patient are disclosed. Information associated with a patient may be stored electronically, enabling the information from an electronic health record (e.g., electronic personal health record controlled by a patient) or a portion thereof to be provided to an entity such as a healthcare provider. Patient records may be maintained and controlled by multiple entities, such as the healthcare providers, patients, payors, or other third parties. Information from these records may be transferred among these entities, thereby enabling updates to such records to be performed. These updates may occur automatically or upon acceptance by the receiving entity (e.g., patient or healthcare provider).
US08090580B2

Knowledge-based information can be captured and processed to create a library of such knowledge. A maintenance worker performing a task for an asset can record audio and/or video information during the performance, and can upload the recording to a maintenance system. The system processes the recording to produce a text file corresponding to any speech during the recording, and generates a search index allowing the text file to be searched by a user. If the task is performed in the context of a work order, for example, information from the work order can be associated with the text file so that a user can search by text search, keyword, task, or other such information. A user then can locate and access the text file and/or the corresponding recording for playback.
US08090576B2

A long term signal level of an audio signal is computed at a local device, wherein the audio signal was transmitted from a remote device and received by the local device. An automatic gain control (AGC) gain is computed at the local device based on the long term signal level. A noise factor indicative of a level of ambient noise at the local device is computed at the local device. A dynamic range compression (DRC) gain is computed at the local device based on the noise factor. An amplitude of the audio signal is adjusted at the local device based on the AGC gain and the DRC gain.
US08090569B2

A method for testing electronic apparatuses is provided. The method includes: reading an identification (ID) of an emulator adapter; searching for the script name in a test table according to the ID; fetching the script from a storage according to the determined script name and running the fetched script to pass each of input commands; and receiving and identifying each of the input commands to simulate a key input via an electrical conductive path, correspondingly to the input command, of the emulator adapter, such that an input key corresponding to the key input of the to-be-tested electronic apparatus is activated and the to-be-tested electronic apparatus performs a function associated with the input key correspondingly. A related test apparatus is also provided.
US08090568B2

A hardware emulator having a first primitive for evaluating functions having a first input width and a second primitive, coupled to the first primitive, for evaluating a function having a second input width, where the first input width is unequal to the second input width. The use of either the first primitive or the second primitive is selected depending upon the function to be evaluated.
US08090567B1

Approaches for managing a simulation model. A processor-implemented method includes simulating an electronic system using the simulation model and a simulator. The simulation model includes an assertion test that has an associated limit. The simulator counts a number of times the assertion test is evaluated during simulation, which is the evaluation count. When the simulator determines that the evaluation count has reached the limit, the simulation is stopped.
US08090566B2

Systems and methods are provided that estimate when to replace a medical device that is implanted in a patient due to battery depletion. These systems and methods significantly reduce the need for service calls made to medical device manufacturers that relate to battery longevity. In some examples, these systems and methods estimate a battery end of life based, at least in part, on an actual battery voltage received on an actual transmission date and a model transmission date determined based on the actual battery voltage. The estimated battery end of life is further based on a comparison of the model transmission date with the actual transmission date.
US08090562B2

Measurement of circulating ST2 and natriuretic peptide (e.g., NT-proBNP) concentrations is useful for the prognostic evaluation of subjects, in particular for the prediction of adverse clinical outcomes, e.g., mortality, transplantation, and heart failure.
US08090561B1

A system and method are provided for visually simulating physical installation of a virtual wheel portion on a wheeled vehicle. The system generally comprises a portable display unit, a controller unit, and a support unit. The portable display unit is operable to graphically render an image of a preselected virtual wheel. The controller unit is operably coupled to the display unit for generating the image selectively for one of a plurality of distinct virtual wheel types. The controller unit adaptively generates the preselected virtual wheel image responsive to a viewing factor. The support unit is coupled to the display unit for adjustably situating such display unit to substantially mask a wheel of the vehicle, whereby the image of the preselected virtual wheel is visually integrated with the vehicle in substantially seamless manner to visually simulate its physical installation on the vehicle.
US08090557B2

There is described a method for operating an industrial machine, the latter being e.g. a processing machine, a production machine or a manipulation robot. At least part of the operation of the industrial machine is simulated with the aid of a simulation model and the simulated results and real-time data from the operation of the industrial machine are stored. The simulation can be carried out in the industrial machine and if this is the case a parametric representation of the simulation model can be at least partly produced using a unit for this purpose. To produce the parametric representation, a data-systems connection can be created between the industrial machine and the unit, by means of an Intranet and/or an Internet connection. In addition, the simulation can be carried out in an external simulation unit, the latter having a data-systems connection to the industrial machine by means of an Intranet and/or an Internet connection.
US08090555B2

An appropriate rock physics model is chosen from well-log data and/or experience. The rock physics model is then used to generate a plurality of attribute values, including compression and shear velocities, at different porosities and gas hydrate saturations. Gas hydrates are classified into different ranges of porosity and hydrate saturation based on the population of multiple attributes, and probability density functions for each individual gas hydrate class are created. Probability density distribution functions for individual attributes and a joint conditional probability density functions are created using a Bayesian function. The conditional probability of the occurrences of gas hydrate classes given a set of values of the chosen attributes derived from seismic inversion and or well measurements is inverted. Finally, a maximum a-posteriori (MAP) rule is employed to obtain the optimal porosity and hydrate saturation estimation. This information may be used to make decisions regarding management of the well site and the subsurface hydrate resources.
US08090554B2

An exemplary torque testing system includes a first screwdriver, a second screwdriver, a height measuring device, and a processor. The first screwdriver turns the first structure into the second structure using a maximum torque until the depth of the first structure turned into the second structure equals a predetermined minimum depth or the first structure is unable to be turned by the maximum torque. The second screwdriver turns the first structure into the second structure using a minimum torque until the first structure is unable to be turned by the minimum torque. The height measuring device measures the height of the combined first structure and second structure. The processor determines that the engagement between the first structure and the second structure is satisfactory, if the height of the combined first structure and second structure is in a range from a minimum height to a maximum height thereof.
US08090553B2

A cable length detection apparatus is provided to detect the length of a cable having at least three pairs of wires for transmitting video signals. The cable length detection apparatus has a signal compressing circuit, a signal converting circuit and a length calculating circuit. The signal compressing circuit compresses an electrical signal into one pair of wires. The signal converting circuit converts the electrical signal transmitted by the pair of wires into a value. The length calculating circuit then calculates the length of the cable according to the value.
US08090552B2

A measurement processing system is disclosed for fusing measurement data from a set of independent self-validating (SEVA™) process sensors monitoring the same real-time measurand in order to generate a combined best estimate for the value, uncertainty and measurement status of the measurand. The system also provides consistency checking between the measurements. The measurement processing system includes a first process sensor and a second process sensor. Each of the first and second process sensors receive a measurement signal from a transducer and generate independent process metrics. A measurement fusion block is connected to the first and second process sensors, the measurement fusion block is operable to receive the independent process metrics and execute a measurement analysis process to analyze the independent process metrics and generate the combined best estimate of the independent process metrics.
US08090548B2

A method and device for predicting defects of a capacitor, the method including determining the ripple voltage (Udc), the temperature (TP), and the current (Ic) of the capacitor, determining the value of an equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the capacitor, and the capacitance value (C) of the capacitor using a digital filter, determining information representative of the state of aging of the capacitor according to the temperature of the capacitor, and displaying that information and information representative of the value of the capacitance (C) and/or information representative of a cause associated with the state of aging according to the capacitance value. The device may include a converter and an uninterruptible power supply.
US08090526B2

The present invention relates to the definition, in a flight plan, of the horizontal profile of an air route with vertical flight and speed profile prescribed on departure and/or on arrival, by a stringing together of check-points and/or turn points associated with local flight constraints and called “D-Fix” because they are not listed in a published navigation database like those called “Waypoints”. It consists in charting, on curvilinear distance maps, a direct curvilinear path joining the departure point to the destination point of the air route while complying with vertical flight and speed profiles prescribed on departure and/or on arrival and while guaranteeing a circumnavigation of the surrounding reliefs and compliance with regulated overfly zones, then in approximating the series of points of the direct curvilinear path by a sequence of straight segments complying with an arbitrary maximum deviation threshold relative to the points of the series and an arbitrary minimum lateral deviation threshold relative to the set of obstacles to be circumnavigated and in adopting as “D-Fix” points the points of the intermediate intersections of the rectilinear segments.
US08090521B2

Methods and systems are provided for operating an engine including a first and a second bank of cylinders. One example method comprises, adjusting engine injection timing based on a first temperature of a first intake of the first bank and a second temperature of a second intake of the second bank.
US08090519B2

A control device that is used with an internal combustion engine to improve both the response and controllability of torque generated by the internal combustion engine. The control device calculates an operation amount of an intake actuator in accordance with a demanded air amount. The control device then calculates a torque that is generated when the intake actuator is operated by the calculated operation amount at a predetermined ignition timing setting, and calculates an ignition timing retard amount that is necessary to achieve a demanded torque in accordance with the difference between the calculated torque and the demanded torque. The control device ensures that the demanded torque and a demanded efficiency are both reflected in the demanded air amount.
US08090504B2

Methods, systems and apparatus for automatically ensuring passenger safety by identifying article(s) in need of securing in a vehicle and attaching at least one wireless signaling component to each article. Each wireless signaling component includes a wireless signaling device and a mechanical blocking device that controls a wireless signal emitted from the wireless signaling device. The emitted wireless signaling indicates a state of the article. State information relating to a state of each article is generated and received at a data network device, which generates state results based on this state information. The state results are output to an end user, whereby the state results identify those articles that are secured, unsecured, and/or improperly secured, for automatically ensuring passenger safety.
US08090492B2

The apparatus comprises a measured signal detector 11, a vehicle parameter obtainer 12, a sideslip angle temporary estimator 13, a sideslip angle differential corresponding value computer 14 and a sideslip angle real estimator 15. A sideslip angle temporary estimate value is computed from one or plural vehicle parameters including at least the mass. A sideslip angle differential corresponding value is computed from a measured signal and the vehicle parameters including no mass. A sideslip angle is derived from the sideslip angle temporary estimate value and the sideslip angle differential corresponding value. A sideslip can be detected without a steering angle detection mechanism.
US08090485B2

The Tail Load Monitoring System detects faulty low frequency (e.g. those in the range from 0.1 to 1 Hz) oscillatory conditions caused by Flight Control System malfunctions while the aircraft is in air by means of a continuous assessment of the estimated tail load behavior and data processing. Both estimation and data processing activities are provided by a dedicated architecture featuring a tail load estimation module, a band-pass filter and three independent paths that continuously monitor nuisance fault detection events avoidance, catastrophic events avoidance (addressing a limit load criterion), and structural damage avoidance (addressing fatigue life criteria).
US08090477B1

Thermostatic HVAC and other energy management controls that are connected to a computer network. For instance, remotely managed load switches incorporating thermostatic controllers inform an energy management system, to provide enhanced efficiency, and to verify demand response with plug-in air conditioners and heaters. At least one load control device at a first location comprises a temperature sensor and a microprocessor. The load control device is configured to connect or disconnect electrical power to the an attached air conditioner or heater, and the microprocessor is configured to communicate over a network. In addition, the load control device is physically separate from an air conditioner or heater but located inside the space conditioned by the air conditioner or heater.
US08090466B2

An embroidery data creation apparatus includes a thread color relation value storage device that stores a color relation value that corresponds to a color, for each embroidery thread which is used in an embroidery data, a preview image creation device that creates a preview image, a preview display device that displays the preview image created, a reference region specification device that specifies as a color modification reference region at least one region in the preview image, a thread color selection device that selects a thread color to be used for the reference region specified, an image data color modification device that modifies the color of the image data based on the color relation value corresponding to a color of a reference image region and the color relation values corresponding to the thread color selected, and an embroidery data creation device that creates the embroidery data from color-modified image data obtained.
US08090463B2

During the production of a product by means of a production machine, an evaluation device receives actual states of components of the production machine, detected by sensors at detection times, and/or operating states of a control device of the production machine at the defined detection times. The evaluation device compares the states of each detection time transmitted thereto with pre-defined state combinations and thus determines fulfilled state combinations. For each fulfilled state combination, the evaluation device selects relevant states from the states of the respective detection time transmitted thereto, and corresponding information and the respective detection time are stored with the relevant states such that they are available for other evaluations.
US08090459B2

A guiding-tour system and apparatus, including: at least one host, which adheres or near to an exhibition object, and sets an unique discriminate number corresponding to the exhibition object, has a memory slot and at least one wireless transceiver module, at least one memory card is inserted into the slot, a voice guiding-tour data digital file of the exhibition object is recorded in the memory card, and transmits the digital file in the memory card in a wireless manner via the wireless transceiver module; at least one slave handheld by a visitor, the slave being a portable guiding-tour handheld by the visitor, which at least has a wireless transceiver module, may start a download program in a wireless manner, and downloads the voice guiding-tour data digital file stored in the memory card of the host to the slave handheld by the visitor, and playbacks it according to an instruction from the visitor.
US08090455B2

A motion control servo loop apparatus, comprising: a feed-forward control module, and a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control loop and a compensation adder. The feed-forward control module is capable of generating a feed-forward compensation. The PID control loop further comprises: a proportional control module, an integral control module and a derivative control module. The proportional control module is capable of generating a proportional compensation. The derivative control module is capable of generating a derivative compensation. The integral control module uses a digital differential analyzer (DDA) algorithm to perform integration for accumulated errors with respect to each sampling clock at each DDA pulse and thus output an accumulated error, which is then processed to generate an integral compensation. Thereafter, the compensation adder receives the feed-forward compensation, the proportional compensation, the integral compensation and the derivative compensation to calculate a position error compensation for a motor driver.
US08090447B2

A visual restoration aiding device for restoring vision of a patient, comprises: a signal generation unit including a substrate to be placed on an outer side of a choroid of a patient's eye and a plurality of electrodes arranged on the substrate for applying electrical stimulation pulse signals to cells constituting a retina; a photographing unit which photographs an object to be recognized by the patient; and a processing unit which converts image data obtained by the photographing unit to data for electrical stimulation pulse signal and transmits the converted data to the signal generation unit: wherein, based on the data for electrical stimulation pulse signal transmitted from the processing unit, the signal generation unit forms a waveform of an electrical stimulation pulse signal to be outputted from each electrode into a biphasic rectangular wave including rectangular waves of opposite polarities, and sets a pulse width of the electrical stimulation pulse signal to 0.2 msec. or more and 2 msec. or less.
US08090446B2

Methods for providing electrical stimulation therapy to a cortex of a patient via a plurality of electrodes proximate to the cortex and a pulse generator implanted in the patient. One embodiment of a method in accordance with the invention comprises determining whether the current applied via the plurality of electrodes results in a sufficient current density in the cortex. The current density, for example, may need to be high enough to induce a response in the patient for determining the activation threshold of the specific stimulation site, or the current density may need to be high enough to perform a specific therapy. If the current density is not sufficient, the method continues by selecting a subset of the plurality of electrodes, and applying electrical current to the cortex via the subset of the electrodes. For example, if the current density is not sufficient when the current is applied to the full plurality of electrodes at approximately the maximum output of the pulse generator, then the current level from the pulse generator can be applied to only a subset of the electrodes to effectively increase the current density in the cortex at the active electrodes.
US08090444B2

An exemplary method includes delivering stimulation energy via a right ventricular site; sensing an evoked response caused by the delivered stimulation energy at the right ventricular site; calculating a paced propagation delay for the right ventricular site (PPDRV); delivering stimulation energy via a left ventricular site; sensing an evoked response caused by the delivered stimulation energy at the left ventricular site; calculating a paced propagation delay for the left ventricular site (PPDLV); and determining an interventricular delay time (VV) for delivery of a bi-ventricular pacing therapy based in part on the paced propagation delay for the right ventricular site (PPDRV) and the paced propagation delay for the left ventricular site (PPDLV). Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
US08090442B2

A cardiac electro-stimulatory device and method for operating same in which stimulation pulses are distributed among a plurality of electrodes fixed at different sites of the myocardium in order to reduce myocardial hypertrophy brought about by repeated pacing at a single site and/or increase myocardial contractility. In order to spatially and temporally distribute the stimulation, the pulses are delivered through a switchable pulse output configuration during a single cardiac cycle, with each configuration comprising one or more electrodes fixed to different sites in the myocardium.
US08090439B2

An external defibrillator is customized for at least one person, i.e., an anticipated patient, through creation of a profile for the anticipated patient that allows the defibrillator and users of the defibrillator to provide customized treatment to the patient. The profile may include treatment parameters for the anticipated patient, such as defibrillation therapy parameters selected for the patient. The profile may also include a baseline recording of a physiological parameter of the patient, and medical history and personal information regarding the patient. In some embodiments, the external defibrillator stores a profile for each of one or more anticipated patients within a memory. In other embodiments, a profile for an anticipated patient is stored within a medium associated with that anticipated patient. The medium may, for example, be a removable medium for external defibrillators.
US08090427B2

Methods for displaying a vessel with the aid of intravascular ultrasound images and current location and cycle information provided by detectors and sensors. A sequence of intravascular ultrasound images are stored and indexed-by location and by heartbeat and breathing phase. During a subsequent medical intervention, ultrasound images that correspond to the current phase and location of an object of interest such as a catheter can be selected and displayed on a monitor in real time along with an x-ray image of the vessel, the display showing the geometric position of the ultrasound images with reference to the x-ray image.
US08090417B2

An electronic device includes a printed circuit board and a casing. The printed circuit board is for storing an image. The casing secures the printed circuit board and displays the image all through its outer surface. The casing includes a touch panel and a display panel. The touch panel is transparent and is for sensing touch of users and generating control signals. The display panel is under the touch panel and is for displaying the image according to the control signals.
US08090400B2

In some embodiments, an automobile has a station that can support a portable electronic device (PED). The station includes a body, which could be integrated with the automobile. The body defines a PED seat, for supporting the PED. A movable member can exert tension so as to bias the supported PED, to prevent the PED from falling off. Detection means can detect when the PED is receiving a wireless signal. A human-perceptible indication can be generated in response to the detection means, above and beyond any ringing and/or vibrating from the PED itself. As such, a user can always keep the PED at the “Silent” annunciation mode even while in the automobile.
US08090397B2

A group communication method in which a communication terminal not participating in the group communication can newly participate in the group communication even while the group communication is being carried out is realized. The group communication method has a personal information management step of managing personal information, a participation request transmission step, a group communication control step, and an other party updating step, in a case where participation intention in the group communication is received from another communication terminal to which no participation request has been transmitted in a state of “party not participating” in which at least one party among the plurality of terminals of the parties sent the participation requests does not participate in the group communication, deleting the party not participating in the group communication from a member list and registering the other party of the other communication terminal in the member list as a party for engaging in the group communication to thereby allow the other communication terminal to participate in the group communication.
US08090396B2

A wireless communications terminal that communicates in a communications infrastructure and methods therefor including opening a push-to-talk (PTT) contact list application (220) on the terminal when the terminal is in a dormant state, for example, by depressing a PTT input, and transitioning the terminal from the dormant state to an active state when the PTT contact list application is opened. Other PTT features include among others indicating on the terminal whether PTT contacts in the contact list are available for a PTT session, and indicating which PTT participant is talking.
US08090392B2

A method and system for reporting short message (SM) capability over an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) using a session initiation protocol (SIP) are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) registers with a core network and sends a message indicating its SM capability via the IMS to the core network. The core network then updates the WTRU capabilities based on the message and routes an SM to the WTRU via the IMS.
US08090389B2

A wireless communications device includes a radiofrequency transceiver having a wireless voice channel for transmitting and receiving voice communications and a separate wireless data channel for concurrently transmitting and receiving other data. The wireless communications device also includes a memory operatively connected to a processor for processing current location data received over the data channel from another communications device with which the wireless communications device is simultaneously communicating on the voice channel. The wireless communications further includes a display for displaying a phone screen during a voice call, the phone screen presenting call-related information. A map is displayed on the phone screen during the voice call, the map presenting a location current of the other communications device based on the current location data received over the data channel. Optionally, the map can also show the current location of the wireless communications device.
US08090384B2

The location of a wireless mobile device may be estimated using, at least in part, one or more pre-existing Network Measurement Reports (“NMRs”) which include calibration data for a number of locations within a geographic region. The calibration data for these locations is gathered and analyzed so that particular grid points within the geographic region can be determined and associated with a particular set or sets of calibration data from, for example, one or more NMRs. Regions may be defined as a function of any number of parameters and respective predetermined ranges thereof in the NMRs. An intersection of these defined regions may be determined and the location of a mobile device may be estimated as a function of the intersection.
US08090382B2

Transmitting information using a preamble of a Random Access Channel (RACH) in an Evolved Universal mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) is provided. A preamble transmission is used to inform a base station of specific information when a terminal uses a RACH and the base station efficiently allocates radio resources for data transmission to the terminal according to the specific information. Delay time before the terminal transmits data is reduced and unnecessary consumption of radio resources is minimized.
US08090381B2

Fading is countered in a WLAN or similar system to maintain QoS by a fusion of switched diversity and protocol based redundancy using time spaced transmission bursts to improve the performance of radio receivers. This redundancy may be enhanced by an overlay of space-time coding of the transmission bursts.
US08090379B2

A communication system providing wireless communication among wireless users through a number of cellular base stations, each including at least transport management equipment and broadband equipment, at least one of which supports at least remote cellular station including RF equipment for communication with users of cellular devices. The system includes at lease one wireless narrow beam communication link operating at millimeter wave frequencies in excess of 60 GHz connecting a remote cellular station with a cellular base station equipped with broad band conversion electronic equipment and transport management equipment. In preferred embodiment the communication system includes a large number of remote cellular stations with each remote cellular station serving a separate communication cell. Each remote cellular station is equipped with a low frequency wireless transceiver for communicating with the wireless users within the cell at a radio frequency lower than 6 GHz and a narrow beam millimeter wave wireless transceiver operating at a millimeter wave frequency higher than 60 GHz for communicating with another millimeter wave transceiver at another remote cellular station or a millimeter wave transceiver at a base station.
US08090377B2

A method includes receiving destination information comprising a desired destination and receiving regional signal quality information comprising signal quality information associated with one or more regions of an area. The method also includes determining a first route to the desired destination based on the regional signal quality information.
US08090376B2

A method of selecting a cell for handover of a mobile station to another communication system. A command is sent to a mobile station from a first network element. The command includes a request to perform compressed mode measurements at the mobile station of a neighboring cell. The neighboring cell uses a different communication means than the first network element. Compressed mode measurement results are received from the mobile station at the first network element. The received compressed mode measurement results are weighted with indicators of a prioritized neighbor cell list to form a prioritized list. A second command is sent to the mobile station from the first network element. The second command includes a second request to decode identification codes at the mobile station based on the prioritized list. An indicator of a suitable cell from the prioritized list is received from the mobile station at the first network element. An instruction is sent to the mobile station from the first network element after receiving the indicator. The instruction stops decoding identification codes at the mobile station.
US08090367B2

A cellular phone accumulates input information, which is inputted by a user using the cellular phone located not only inside but also outside of a vehicle, as parent population data for interest extraction, and extracts interest information, which reflects a present interest of a user, from the parent population data for interest extraction. An in-vehicle information output apparatus internally or externally collects provision information, which matches the interest information extracted in the cellular phone, and provides the user with the collected provision information.
US08090366B2

Systems and methods are disclosed which relate to the sending and receiving of multimedia files between two devices while connected through a voice call. These devices are free to send any type of file through a direct connection without the need to hang up and call back just to see if the file was sent successfully. These methods work for a plurality of cellular and computer devices connected through a cellular network or other Internet Service Provider.
US08090345B2

An automatic refill system for pre-paid accounts provides enhanced funding flexibility for customers and additional revenue streams for a telecommunication service provider. The automatic refill system solves the technical challenges involved with implementing a scheduled refill channel co-existing with a triggered refill channel for funding a pre-paid account. The scheduled channel regularly refills the pre-paid account. The telecommunication service provider also coordinates funding through a triggered refill channel that refills the pre-paid account when specific conditions are met, such as account balance falling below a threshold.
US08090343B2

A method and system for streamlining the call processing for a prepaid call in a mobile telecommunications network is provided. A trigger detection point (TDP) for processing an originating call placed by a prepaid wireless subscriber, which may be called “O-Answer,” is defined in a mobile user's subscription information stored in the prepaid subscriber's home location register (HLR). An additional TDP for an incoming call to a prepaid subscriber as a terminating party, which may be called “T-Answer,” also is defined in the prepaid subscriber's subscription information stored in the HLR. If the prepaid mobile subscriber's account balance is above a threshold amount, the call can be processed using the O-Answer and T-Answer TDPs without the need to contact the prepaid platform for authorization, thus reducing the amount of signaling required to process a prepaid call.
US08090341B2

An ISUP/SIP gateway is implemented to encapsulate SS7 location requests from a switched telephone network into an Internet protocol SIP message including one or more location objects. The ISUP/SIP gateway is implemented between a mobile switching center (MSC) and a VoIP positioning center (VPC) to provide support of unlicensed mobile access (UMA) voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call routing, e.g., for E9-1-1, 4-1-1, 2-1-1, etc. The disclosed location objects that are encapsulated into a SIP message includes calling party number, called party number, CGI, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), mobility indicator, and/or access point MAC address. At the SIP/ISUP gateway, SS7 integrated services user part (ISUP) location request messages are encapsulated within SIP. The SIP encapsulated location request message is then routed over the Internet to a destination VoIP positioning center (VPC).
US08090340B2

A mixer and calibration method thereof are provided. A direct conversion receiver comprises a differential loading pair utilizing at least one binary weighted resistor. The binary weighted resistor is adjustable to provide a resistance linear to a digital code, comprising a fixed resistor and an adjustable resistor cascaded to the fixed resistor in parallel. Every increment of the digital code induces an equal increment of the resistance. The magnitude of every incremental resistance is below a negligible ratio of the fixed resistor.
US08090337B2

A wide band frequency domain canceller is used in cosite mitigation interference in which a signal tapped from a transmit antenna is coupled to a Chirp Fourier Transform to covert the signal into the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal is vector multiplied with a path transform function to add the path transfer function values to the sampled signal, after which the processed frequency domain signal is converted back into the time domain by an Inverse Chirp Fourier Transform, after which it is inverted and coupled into the receive path of a cosited receiver.
US08090336B2

A method of processing signals received and transmitted between a satellite and sub-arrays of an antenna array. The satellite emits an analog signal received by the sub-arrays, each sub-array in turn produces a corresponding output. The array's total output is approximated by designating one of the sub-array's output as a reference output, and digitally forming a series of beams that consist of the reference output and permutations of the other sub-array outputs with either no time delay or with a time delay applied. A high power beam from the series is selected for cross correlation with each sub-array output to determine the signal's relative arrival time at each sub-array. Each sub-array output is time delayed based on the signal arrival time at that sub-array. The time delayed outputs are combined to form a high gain beam.
US08090335B1

An open loop frequency calibration algorithm is employed whereby frequency counters are utilized to provide frequency information concerning the difference in frequency between a local oscillator and a reference signal prior to obtaining phase locked operation of a phase locked loop (PLL). The frequency difference is then used to adjust the local oscillator's frequency to be changed by a value that is proportional to the frequency difference measured. Through adaptive calibration of the local oscillator's frequency prior to closed loop PLL operations, a substantial reduction in the amount of time required to obtain phase/frequency coherent operation of the PLL is realized.
US08090334B1

A high accuracy programmable gain amplifier has reduced temperature dependency, reduced supply voltage dependency, and supports accurate amplifier gain and accurate amplifier gain steps. The high accuracy programmable gain amplifier allows requirements compliant electronic devices to be fabricated that are capable of providing improved operational performance with less power consumption, hence extended battery life and improved operational availability. Electronic devices that incorporate the high accuracy programmable gain amplifier described below, may experience reduced variations in operational performance resulting in a reduced need for post production calibration, reduced calibration data storage requirements, and reduced device control processor cycles for use in performing calibration operations, thereby allowing such devices to be produced at a lower cost and/or to provide users with increased operational performance and/or increased battery life and, hence, increased operational availability.
US08090330B2

A system having a filter is disclosed. One embodiment includes at least two polyphase filter branches, each of the polyphase filter branches including a respective recursive allpass filter, wherein the filter approximates a linear filter.
US08090326B1

A method, device, and system for communication signal transmission are provided, which relate to the field of communications, so as to improve reception performance of the network. The method includes: dividing, by a multi-frequency receiver, Radio Frequency (RF) signals by frequency bands received from an antenna to obtain RF signals of different frequency bands; sending a first group of RF signals of a predetermined frequency band to an RF unit so that the RF unit converts the received first group of the RF signals of the predetermined frequency band into first baseband digital signals and sends the first baseband digital signals to a baseband processing unit; and converting a second group of the RF signals of the predetermined frequency band into second baseband digital signals and sending the second baseband digital signals to the baseband processing unit by using a digital baseband interface.
US08090316B2

A digital FM transmitter has a digital controlled oscillator for generating a modulated RF carrier. A digital signal processor receives digital input samples and generates a modulating signal for input to the digital controlled oscillator. A bandpass filter for filters frequency components of the modulated carrier outside a predetermined frequency band and supplies the filtered modulated RF carrier to an antenna.
US08090307B2

A developer recovering unit is provided with a recovery vessel that contains a developer to be recovered, a transporting device that includes a transporting member that transports the developer through a tubular transport path connecting a portion where the developer is generated to the recovery vessel, and a detecting device that detects an amount of the developer contained in the recovery vessel, wherein the transporting member is formed as a conductive member and is grounded at least in a most downstream section of the transport path connected to the recovery vessel.
US08090302B2

A developer containing device includes: a developer container having an opening through which developer can be filled in; a closing member that is removably installed to the developer container to close the opening; a stirring and feeding member that is rotatably supported in the closing member and stirs and feeds the developer contained in the developer container by rotating in one direction; and a fitting part that fixes the closing member to the developer container by rotating the closing member in the same direction as the rotational direction of the stirring and feeding member.
US08090294B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing body and a developer apparatus with mutually opposing first and second side faces to supply a developer to the image bearing body. The developer apparatus is installed removably on a frame with first and second wall surfaces opposing the first and second side faces respectively. First and second fulcrum sections project respectively on the first and second side faces. First and second installation grooves are provided respectively on the first and second wall surfaces and have open upper ends that receive the first and second fulcrum sections respectively. First and second supporting structures support the first fulcrum and second fulcrum sections that are fit respectively into the first and second installation grooves.
US08090281B2

A tandem-type color image forming apparatus forms a toner pattern and toner markers on an intermediate transfer member. Tone levels in the toner pattern vary in a sub scanning direction, and the toner markers which are a same color with the tone pattern each oppose, in a main scanning direction, a different one of the tone level portions in the toner pattern, each tone level portion representing a different one of the tone levels. Positions of the toner markers in the sub scanning direction are determined to detect densities in the toner pattern corresponding to the determined positions. Tone of image data is corrected in an image formation based on a relationship between the densities and the tone levels corresponding to the determined positions.
US08090279B2

An image forming apparatus includes an image supporting member; a developer supporting member for attaching developer to the image supporting member to form a developer image; a transfer unit for transferring the developer image to a recording medium; a driving unit for driving at least one of the image supporting member, the developer supporting member, and the transfer unit; an external temperature detection unit for detecting an environmental temperature outside the image forming apparatus; and a control unit for setting a driving speed of the driving unit according to the environmental temperature.
US08090271B2

A differential delay detection system and method includes an optical splitter to split an incoming optical signal between a first path and a second path. The first path includes a cross-polarization interferometer configured to separately generate polarization independent outputs using split paths and to generate cross-polarization interference outputs, and a polarization demultiplexer configured to combine the polarization independent outputs and the cross-polarization interference outputs from the cross-polarization interferometer with updated coefficients received from the second path to remove the cross-polarization mixed signals. The second path includes a training signal receiver configured to compute the updated coefficients and output the updated coefficients to the polarization demultiplexer.
US08090269B2

A data transmission system comprising a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter comprises a phase encoder for partitioning consecutive bit data to be input in data in units of X bits; and converting a 2x value indicated by the data of X bits in unique association with an (N/2−1)Y value of a Y symbol, and for confining use of signal points, from among the signal points of N-ary phase, only to a signal point P1 (at a phase angle 0) and N/2−2 signal points P(2n+2) (where 1≦n
US08090266B2

An apparatus comprises one or more electro-optical coupling modules. An electro-optical coupling module comprises a diode, a flexible optical coupling element, a reflective surface, and an optical fiber. The diode performs an electro-optical conversion on a signal. The flexible optical coupling element communicates the signal between the diode and the reflective surface. The reflective surface reflects the signal between the flexible optical coupling element and the optical fiber.
US08090260B2

The present invention relates to a light source and detecting device thereof includes: a housing; a printed circuit board; an optical fiber connector; a laser diode; a laser driving module; a light coupling device; a light detecting module; an analog-to-digital converter; a micro controlling device; a stroke switch and a displaying device; when the stroke switch is pressed, the light detecting module is activated according to a determination made by the micro controlling device then a light signal coupled by the light coupling device is detected by the light detecting module, then the signal is displayed on the displaying device after being converted by the analog-to-digital converter or the laser diode is driven by the laser driving module and a laser source is therefore emitted.
US08090257B2

The optical communication system of the present invention is constructed with a data plane and a control plane, and includes a first monitor for monitoring a path alarm on the data plane, a second monitor for monitoring a path alarm on the control plane, and an alarm comparator for comparing alarm statuses of the optical paths that the first monitor and the second monitor preserve, wherein an optical communication apparatus, of which the first monitor and the second monitor both are in a status of having detected the alarm, operate so as to start an operation of avoiding a fault. Such a configuration makes it possible to make a detour only around an appropriate section including a fault location without performing an erroneous operation when a fault has occurred in an optical path, in which a plurality of detour sections, in an all-optical communication system.
US08090250B2

An imaging device comprises a lens barrel having a lens opening, and a lens positioned in the lens opening of the lens barrel, the lens having an optical center, a focal length F, an aperture diameter D, and an aperture number FN=F/D. An image sensor comprises an array of light sensing pixels that each have a dimension P, the sensor spaced apart a distance S from the optical center of the lens such that a focus offset gap X=F−S. The pixel dimension P and aperture number FN are selected such that 2·P·FN≧X.
US08090248B2

To provide an anti-vibration actuator with which a high drive force can be obtained without increasing size. The present invention is an anti-vibration actuator, including a fixed portion, a movable portion, movable portion support means, first drive means having a first drive magnet and coil; second drive means having a second drive magnet and coil; third drive means having a third drive magnet and coil; first, second, and third position detection elements for detecting the positions of each drive magnet; and a control portion for moving the movable portion to a specified position; wherein the first and second position detection elements are disposed within a region diagonally opposed to the region in which the third drive means is positioned, from among four regions partitioned by the lines of action of the drive forces of the first and second drive means.
US08090244B2

A volatile material dispenser includes an upper housing with an opening extending therethrough and a lower housing with an opening extending therethrough, wherein the upper housing is secured to the lower housing to define a cavity therebetween. Electrical circuitry is disposed within the cavity, wherein the electrical circuitry includes a heater and a USB interface that extends from the upper and lower housings. Further, a volatile material cartridge is disposed within the cavity. The dispenser is adapted to dispense volatile material from the volatile material cartridge through the openings in the upper and lower housings in a passive mode and an active mode, wherein the USB interface is coupled to a power source to energize the heater in the active mode.
US08090242B2

A method and apparatus for reproducing titles are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method includes determining if at least one title satisfies a criterion, using an average length information of a plurality of titles recorded on a recording medium; and reproducing the at least one title if the determining step determines that the at least one title satisfies the criterion.
US08090240B2

There is provided a video data editing apparatus for making video data edition to set a frame as a predetermined edit point in video data including a plurality of picture frame groups each including a plurality of picture frames. The apparatus includes an operation command input unit (40) to accept an operation command, a data storage unit (120) to store video data compressed at every picture frame groups each including a plurality of picture frames and an edit mode controller (102). The edit mode controller makes, based on a predetermined-operation command supplied via the operation command input unit, a selection between a group-unit edit point select mode in which a command for selection of a picture frame group of the video data stored in the storage unit is accepted via the operation command input unit to change the currently-selected picture frame group and a frame-unit edit point select mode in which a command for selection of one frame of a plurality of picture frame groups included in the currently-selected picture frame group is accepted via the operation command input unit to change the currently-selected picture frame, and sets, as an edit point, a picture frame corresponding to the result of selection in the group-unit edit point select mode or a picture frame corresponding to the results of selection in the group- and frame-unit edit point select modes in response to a set command supplied via the operation command input unit.
US08090232B2

The present disclosure relates to a telecommunications cable having a layer constructed to resist post-extrusion shrinkage. The layer includes a plurality of discrete shrinkage-reduction members embedded within a base material. The shrinkage-reduction members can be made of a liquid crystal polymer. The disclosure also relates to a method for manufacturing telecommunications cables having layers adapted to resist post-extrusion shrinkage.
US08090224B2

A swipe scanner comprising: (a) a printhead for printing a position-coding pattern onto a surface; (b) an ink supply containing an ink for printing the position-coding pattern; (c) a first image sensor positioned for imaging portions of the surface on which the printhead has printed during a swipe of the surface, each imaged portion containing part of the position-coding pattern printed by the printhead during the swipe; (c) a second image sensor for capturing, during the swipe, portions of a graphic image pre-printed on the surface; and (d) a processor. The processor is configured for: determining absolute positions of the swipe scanner using the parts of the position-coding pattern; using the absolute positions to control an output of the printhead during the swipe; and using the absolute positions to assemble the captured portions of the graphic image into a scanned graphic image.
US08090222B1

Implementations consistent with the principles described herein relate to ranking a set of images based on features of the images determine the most representative and/or highest quality images in the set. In one implementation, an initial set of images is obtained and ranked based on a comparison of each image in the set of images to other images in the set of images. The comparison is performed using at least one predetermined feature of the images.
US08090219B2

Systems and methods for socially-based correction of tilted images. In an embodiment, the present invention levels tilted images by (1) receiving an image; (2) rotating the image by a random angle; (3) requesting at least one user rotate the image to level the image; (4) determining a collective user-suggested angle based on the rotations of each user; and (5) transmitting, over a communication network, a correction angle, where the correction angle is based on the random angle and the collective user-suggested angle.
US08090213B2

An image processing device includes: a peaking filter for performing peaking processing on an input image signal to generate a peaking image signal; a selection circuit, coupled to the peaking filter, for selecting a plurality of pixels within the peaking image signal; and a median filter, coupled to the selection circuit, for filtering the plurality of pixels within the peaking image signal to generate a filtered image signal.
US08090210B2

An image processing system implements recursive 3D super precision for processing smoothly changing video image areas by performing temporal noise reduction and then 2D super precision. The temporal noise reduction is applied to two frames, one being the current input low precision frame, and the other being the previous higher precision frame from memory. The 2D super precision is applied to the noise reduced frame to output a high precision frame which is also saved into memory for processing the next incoming frame. The input frame has a limited bit depth while the output image has an increased bit depth.
US08090209B2

Coding processing performed by an image coding device (100) includes: processing (S133) of performing coding by leaving surplus bit(s), when the digit number B of binary data of the difference value between (a) a value of a to-be-coded pixel and (b) a prediction value is smaller than the predetermined bit number M; and processing (S133) of performing coding by using the surplus bit(s), when the digit number B is greater than M and there are the surplus bit(s). Pieces of coded data each having a predetermined coding amount are generated, by performing processing for each of consecutive T pixels so as to perform the coding processing for each of U pixels among the consecutive T pixels (S136).
US08090198B2

A maximum and minimum color information detector detects a maximum color-signal gradation level or a value equivalent to the maximum gradation level and a minimum color-signal gradation level or a value equivalent to the minimum gradation level as color information for an image signal input to the image processing apparatus, a correction parameter generator sets correction parameters according to the color information about the input image signal, and a gradation corrector corrects the gradation scale of each color component of the input image signal according to the correction parameters. Contrast can thereby be improved without excessive color collapse.
US08090196B2

To easily create an album with colors visually harmonized with images. An album creating apparatus includes: a main subject determining section for determining the main subject of an image; a color extraction section for extracting a plurality of colors included in an image region other than the main subject determined by the main subject determining section; an appearance frequency of color calculating section for calculating the appearance frequency of the plurality of colors extracted by the color extraction section; a characteristic color determining section for determining the characteristic color in the image region other then the main subject determined by the main subject determining section based on the appearance frequency of the plurality of colors calculated by the appearance frequency of color calculating section; and an album color selecting section for selecting a color used for the album which is used in the region other than the image in the album including images.
US08090188B2

A reticle pattern defect correcting apparatus comprises a lithographic emulation system including an optical emulation system and a micromachining defect correcting system including a reticle defect correcting mechanism with a cantilever. Since correction of a reticle pattern defect is carried out while the transferred image is being observed in real time by the optical emulation system, it is possible to achieve an efficient reticle pattern correction while avoiding overcorrection and other problems.
US08090179B2

Tomographically reconstructing a 3D image object corresponding to a data set includes reconstructing a first reconstructed object from the data set, receiving a smoothing map, smoothing the first reconstructed object based on the smoothing map thereby creating a first smoothed object, and outputting the first smoothed object as the 3D image object. Smoothing a first object thereby creating a smoothed object having a smoothed value associated to each object point in object space includes receiving the first object, determining, in a series of steps, single-kernel-smoothed objects, wherein each iteration step is associated with a kernel function and includes, determining a start object based on the first object, and smoothing the start object using the kernel function of the iteration step, thereby creating the single-kernel-smoothed object having single-kernel-smoothed values associated to each object point, and constructing the smoothed object from the single-kernel-smoothed values.
US08090175B2

Systems, methods and apparatus to detect a treatment target having motion in up to three translational directions using direct registration of the target and track the target to synchronize a treatment beam with the motion of the target.
US08090174B2

A virtual mirror device for visualizing virtual objects in angiographic applications, having an interactive virtual mirror, a 3D or 4D medical image of a patient's anatomy co-registered with a calibrated 2D X-ray image of the patient's anatomy, and a displaying device provided such that the 2D X-ray image of the patient's anatomy, the co-registered 3D or 4D medical image of the patient's anatomy and the interactive virtual mirror viewed from the viewpoint of the X-ray source of the X-ray imaging system, are presented in a common coordinate system, providing full integration and combined visualization of the reconstruction of 3D or 4D medical image of the patient's anatomy, the 2D X-ray image of the patient's anatomy and the virtual mirror onto the displaying device.
US08090171B2

An image data subtraction system suitable for use in Angiography or other medical procedure enhances vessel visualization. The system comprises an imaging system for acquiring, during a medical procedure, data representing multiple temporally sequential individual images of vessels of a portion of patient anatomy. The sequential individual images encompass introduction of a contrast agent. An image processor automatically processes the data representing the multiple temporally sequential individual images to identify a first image indicating presence of the contrast agent and a second image preceding the first image by comparing a difference between measures representative of luminance content of the first and second image, with a threshold. The second image is substantially exclusive of an indication of presence of the contrast agent. The image processor, in response to the difference exceeding the threshold, automatically selects the second image as a mask image and subtracts data representing the mask image from data representing images of the temporally sequential individual images to remove background image detail and emphasize vessel structure in providing processed image data for display. A user interface presents the processed image data for display while the patient is undergoing the medical procedure.
US08090169B2

A system and method for identifying an object based on its estimated mass. In one aspect, a method for estimating a mass of an object is provided. The method includes acquiring image data including a plurality of image elements, calculating a histogram based on the image data, calculating a computed tomography (CT) number of the object using an anisotropic erosion operator, and determining a perimeter of the object. The method also includes calculating an estimated mass of the object using the CT number and a first subset of image elements of the plurality of image elements, the first subset of image elements defined by the perimeter of the object, and outputting at least one of the estimated mass of the object and an image including the object.
US08090167B1

A neuronal measurement tool including: an input module, a grouping module, a metric selection module, a statistical test selection module, a raw measurement module, a clustering module and a statistical test module. The input module inputs digitally reconstructed neuronal morphologies. The grouping module groups the digitally reconstructed neuronal morphologies into groups. The metric selection module selects at least one metric of interest. The statistical test selection module selects a statistical test method. The raw measurement module gathers raw measurements associated with the metric(s) of interest on the digitally reconstructed neuronal morphologies. The clustering module clusters the raw measurements into groups and the statistical test module performs the statistical test method between the raw measurements clustered in the groups.
US08090152B2

A road lane boundary detection system includes a detection region setting unit that sets a certain region in a road image, as a target detection region to be searched for detection of a road lane boundary, and a detecting unit that processes image data in the target detection region set by the detection region setting unit, so as to detect the road lane boundary. The detection region setting unit sets a first detection region as the target detection region if no road lane boundary is detected, and sets a second detection region as the target detection region if the road lane boundary is detected, such that the first and second detection regions are different in size from each other.
US08090148B2

An image processor includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a camera image captured by a camera provided on a vehicle, a first image converter configured to project the camera image onto a flat surface to convert the camera image into a flat surface projection image, and a second image converter configured to project the camera image onto a curved surface to convert the camera image into a curved surface projection image. The first image converter converts a first image region having a predetermined width within the camera image into the flat surface projection image, and the second image converter converts a second image region outside the first image region in a width direction, within the camera image, into the curved surface projection image.
US08090146B2

Methods and systems for watermarking of digital images are presented. In one aspect, a method of embedding information in a digital image includes transforming the digital image to a set of coefficient blocks having coefficients in a frequency domain, embedding a watermark-indicator in one or more of the coefficient blocks, and embedding a watermark in one or more watermark blocks that have a predetermined number of coefficient blocks. The embedded watermark is substantially invisible in the output watermarked digital image. Another aspect is a method of extracting a watermark from a digital image that includes transforming a digital image to a coefficient matrix, determining if the digital image is watermarked based on a predetermined watermark-indicator, and retrieving a watermark from a projected watermark block of a projected watermark block distribution.
US08090145B2

A system and method for analyzing and marking a film image for providing a marked film with robust marks which have a high survival rate during, e.g., unauthorized duplication. The present invention provides the ability to facilitate the choosing of ideal locations of marks for marking a film image by recommending potential marking locations based on the survivability of the mark against different background colors. The system and method provides for selecting at least two potential marking areas in at least one frame of the film, saturating the at least two potential marking areas in a predetermined color of a mark, calculating a root mean square error (RMSE) of each of the at least two potential marking areas and an area surrounding each potential marking area, and determining which of the at least two potential marking areas has the lowest RMSE, i.e., the recommend marking location.
US08090144B2

A computer-based method for adjusting luminance of a light-emitting device on image measuring machine is provided. The method includes reading a model definition curve and model coordinates of an object and a charge couple device (CCD). The method further includes locating the object and the CCD to positions on the image measuring machine, and capturing a digital image of the object. Furthermore, the method includes adjusting a resistance of the light-emitting device to ensure an ordinate deviation corresponding to each abscissa value between a new definition curve and the model definition curve falls in an allowable deviation range. A related system is also provided.
US08090142B2

Methods for embedding data, such as digital watermarks, in video objects segmented from video frames. Watermarks are embedded such that they move with the object in the video frames. Interframe motion of video objects is estimated and used to modify the watermark accordingly. Methods for detecting embedded data from video objects are also disclosed.
US08090135B2

A communication headset includes a housing having an upper cover defining a pivot hole and a locating hole. An earpiece and an ear hook are disposed on the top of the upper cover. A microphone arm has a raised portion received in the pivot hole. The bottom center of the raised portion defines an aperture. A locating cavity is defined at the bottom of the microphone arm. A pivot frame fixed in the housing defines a receiving can to accept a spring shaft, around which a spring winds for providing a torsion force to the microphone arm. An end of the spring shaft forms a locking portion fixed in the aperture. And a limiting body having a buckling block is mounted in the housing for limiting rotation of the microphone arm which is driven by the torsion force when the buckling block is forced to withdraw from the locating cavity.
US08090132B2

A wireless communication headset having both wired and wireless modes is provided. The wireless headset can include a headset connector assembly that can be coupled to a cable connector of a cable, which can in turn be connected to a telephone. When the wireless headset is coupled to the telephone, it can advantageously be operable to exchange audio information with the telephone through the cable, receive electrical power from the telephone through the cable, or both. In addition, the cable connector can advantageously be coupled to the wireless headset without obstructing airflow to a microphone that is located in the headset connector assembly, through use of apparatus of the invention located on the cable connector, such as an acoustic tunnel, a microphone-speaker pair, or a microphone that is coupled to control circuitry operable to disable the microphone of the headset.
US08090129B2

An audio player plush includes a battery, digital memory, speaker in electrical communication with the digital memory, and a set of controls modulating speaker output associated with the digital memory. A cover bounds the digital memory and is formed of a plush fabric. A fill material within the plush fabric provides a soft surface to the audio player. A pocket is provided within the cover that is selectively closable and encompasses a digital connector for coupling the digital memory to a computer or other source of digital audio files for downloading of such files into the digital memory. When not in use, the digital connector is selectively closed within the pocket. An indicator light emitting light from the cover provides a user with a visual signal indicative of the activation state of the digital memory.
US08090127B2

A method for: Adjusting a hearing device in a computer-aided manner towards the needs of an individual, and storing a workflow data of the adjusting. The workflow data may include adjusting steps, fitting operations, timing of performing of the adjusting steps or fitting operations, or a time sequence of the adjusting steps or fitting operations. The adjusting can be performed in dependency of the workflow data of adjusting hearing devices, as performed and stored previously.
US08090124B2

A method of mounting a flat panel speaker is provided which is capable of reliably preventing entry of dust and of shortening assembling time. By bonding a gasket member to a diaphragm, by pasting a separator to a gasket member side opposite to the diaphragm and, by sandwiching the diaphragm and the gasket member from both sides, a gasket-attached diaphragm is fabricated. After peeling off a protecting sheet on a rear side of the gasket-attached diaphragm, the actuator module is bonded to the diaphragm. Then, after peeling the separator from the gasket-attached diaphragm, positioning is performed on the diaphragm and the gasket member is bonded to a putting-face of the front case. The entry of dust into a region corresponding to a liquid crystal display panel is blocked by a partitioning portion of the gasket member.
US08090117B2

A digital microphone array is configured in an open geometry such as a sphere with a large number of inexpensive microphone elements mounted in opposite-facing pairs. The microphone array with DSP is intended to be placed in a three-dimensional sound field, such as a concert hall or film location, and to completely isolate all sound sources from each other while maintaining their placement in a coherent sound field including reverberance.
US08090103B2

The present invention relates to a method of managing CPI (Copy Protection Information) for preventing unauthorized copy of encrypted content recorded on a high-density recording medium such as a BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc ROM). In the present method, when main content data is recorded in encrypted manner, CPI that is necessary to decrypt the encrypted main content data is written in a predetermined PIC area and is also copied at least once in an area other than the PIC area.
US08090075B2

In a high-voltage X-ray tube, which a cathode, which is held at negative high voltage during operating conditions, and an anode, which is held at positive high voltage during operating conditions, are disposed opposite each other in a vacuumized inner space, the anode being attached to an anode insulation element in such a way that the anode insulation element has a cylindrical shape or a shape tapering toward the anode and includes an opening to receive a high-voltage plug, and a pipe structure is provided by means of which a coolant is able to be supplied to the anode. This coolant can be in particular insulating oil or another electrically non-conducting liquid. The pipe structure can, for example, be integrated completely into the interior of the anode insulation element, but can also be integrated into the surface of the high-voltage plug. A solution is also possible in which the pipe structure is integrated into an intermediate element, which is situated between the anode insulation element and the high-voltage plug.
US08090063B2

Systems and methods are provided for decoding signal vectors in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where the receiver has received one or more signal vectors from the same transmitted vector. The symbols of the received signal vectors are combined, forming a combined received signal vector that may be treated as a single received signal vector. The combined signal vector is then decoded using a maximum-likelihood decoder. In some embodiments, the combined received signal vector may be processed prior to decoding. Systems and methods are also provided for computing soft information from a combined signal vector based on a decoding metric. Computationally intensive calculations can be extracted from the critical path and implemented in preprocessors and/or postprocessors.
US08090061B1

An AGC control unit coordinates AGC gain changes between individual receive chains included within a MIMO receiver block. Coordinated AGC gain changes reduce time periods of unaligned MIMO data produced by the receive chains. Reducing the unaligned data periods advantageously increases the time that the output data may be combined to improve overall performance of the receiver block. Coordinated AGC control also enables a faster response to saturated signals since the gain of multiple receive chains may be changed contemporaneously.
US08090059B1

A detector includes Viterbi detectors. A first Viterbi detector generates a preliminary decision signal. A second Viterbi detector generates a final decision signal based on an input data signal and the preliminary decision signal. The second Viterbi detector is arranged in series with the first Viterbi detector.
US08090055B2

A communications receiver receives a received continuous phase modulation (CPM) signal having an original modulation index of h and includes a filter, a continuous phase reconstructor using phase unwrapping, and a modulation index scaler for generating a reconstructed CPM signal having a scaled modulation index H from the received CPM signal having a small modulation index h, with the scaled modulation index H preferably being greater than the original modulation index h, so that, the transmitted CPM signal occupies a narrow bandwidth, yet, during reception, the reconstructed CPM signal with the high modulation index H can be reliably data demodulated for improved performance with reduced demodulation complexity.
US08090054B2

A signal receiving apparatus includes a frequency converting circuit, a computing circuit, and a control circuit. The frequency converting circuit is for converting a RF signal to respectively generate a first converted signal and a second converted signal according to a first converting frequency and a second converting frequency. The computing circuit is for computing signal quality parameters of the first converted signal and the second converted signal. The control circuit is for outputting a control signal according to the signal quality parameters of the first converted signal and the second converted signal, wherein the control signal corresponds to the converting frequency of the frequency converting circuit.
US08090052B2

Embodiments include systems and methods for fine control of beam steering for wide band wireless applications using a phased array of antenna elements. In one embodiment, a digitally controlled delay line delays the signal output from a modulator in each branch of multiple branches feeding multiple antennas in an array. An output of the digital delay line is input to a digital to analog converter. A second digital delay line also delays the signal within the digital to analog converter. The manner of implementation of the delays enables accurate production of a steered beam at a high data rate.
US08090051B2

A power amplifier module and corresponding system for linearizing the output from a power amplifier includes both a feedback system, containing a compensator and the power amplifier in a feedback loop, and a pre-distortion compensation system injecting pre-distortion signals into or before the feedback system are used to compensate for non-linearities in the overall system. The pre-distortion signals may be mixed with signals from the compensator or may be filtered to take into account the loop compensator transfer function of the feedback loop, mixed with baseband signals and then converted into analog signals that are provided to the feedback loop. In modules containing a tracking power supply, an envelope calculator calculates an RF envelope of the baseband signals, which the pre-distortion system uses in conjunction with the baseband signals to generate the pre-distortion signals mixed with the signals from the compensator.
US08090048B2

Aspects of a method and system for an alternating channel delta quantizer for MIMO pre-coders with finite rate channel state information feedback may include quantizing a change in channel state information in a MIMO pre-coding system onto a codebook using a cost function and selecting the codebook from a set of codebooks; and generating the set of codebooks from a plurality of codebooks, where each may comprise one or more unitary matrices. The channel state information may be a matrix V that may be generated using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and/or Geometric Mean Decomposition (GMD). The selecting of the codebooks may be enabled by alternating between the elements of the set of codebooks. The cost function f(A) may be defined by the following relationship: f ⁡ ( A ) = ( 1 N ⁢ ∑ j = 1 N ⁢  a jj  2 ) where A is a matrix of size N by N and aij is element (i,j) of matrix A.
US08090043B2

Apparatus, methods and systems for compensating for an I/Q imbalance may include compensating for an imbalance between a first component of a data signal and a second component of the data signal. The data signal may be modulated by a carrier signal having a frequency error. The first component may be characterized by at least one parameter. The method may include receiving the data and carrier signals; selecting a value for the parameter such that the frequency domain energy at negative frequencies is reduced; and modifying at least one of the components based on the value.
US08090041B2

Methods of forming a beam to a wireless terminal from a transmitter including an antenna having a plurality of antenna feed elements include generating channel estimates at the wireless terminal, obtaining channel phase information from the channel estimates, quantizing the channel phase information to obtain quantized channel phase values, and transmitting the quantized channel phase values to the transmitter. The methods may further include receiving the quantized channel phase values at the transmitter, obtaining channel gain estimates, constructing channel estimates using the quantized channel phase values and the channel gain estimates, and determining transmit beamforming weights in response to the channel estimates. Related transmitters, wireless terminals, and communications systems are also disclosed.
US08090035B2

An packet detection controller accepts an input from an AGC controller which indicates the presence of an increased signal energy and also completion of an AGC process and generates an output to suspend the AGC process. The packet detection controller also receives a plurality of IQ receiver streams and forms a single stream for use by a packet detector, which is controllable by an SNR_MODE indicating whether the signal to noise ratio is above or below a particular threshold, and a PD_RESET signal indicating that no packet detection should occur. The controller also receives a PACKET_DET signal indicating that packet detection is completed. The packet detection controller examines the incoming receiver streams and suspends AGC process if a packet detect is generated, or suspends the packet detector if an AGC process is required.
US08090030B2

A method, apparatus and system are provided for generating and facilitating Mobile High-Definition Multimedia Interface. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a transmitter configured to merge multiple channels of a high-definition interface into a single channel to generate a mobile high-definition interface, the mobile high-definition interface configured to facilitate carrying of high-definition media content in a mobile device. The apparatus further includes a receiver coupled with the transmitter, the receiver configured to receive the single channel, and to unmerge the single channel into the multiple channels.
US08090025B2

A residual picture is produced and encoded that is a residual picture that is a residual signal between a picture to be coded that is an input moving-picture video signal to be subjected to coding and a predictive picture produced from a reference picture that is a local decoded video signal for each of a plurality of rectangular zones, each composed of a specific number of pixels, into which a video area of the moving-picture video signal is divided. A boundary condition of each of a plurality of borders is obtained between the rectangular zones and another plurality of rectangular zones adjacent to the rectangular zones, and a border, of the reference picture, having a boundary condition that matches the boundary condition, is found by motion-vector search in the reference picture, and border motion-vector data is generated that is data on a motion vector from a border of the rectangular zone in the picture to be coded to the border of the reference picture thus found. A boundary condition of a border that corresponds to the border motion vector data is defined from the reference picture based on the border motion-vector data, and an estimated video signal is generated in each rectangular zone in the picture to be coded, that satisfies Poisson's Equation, thus producing a first predictive picture. The residual picture is then produced with the first predictive picture as the predictive picture and encodes the residual picture.
US08090024B2

The present invention provides a framework for the processing of blocks between two data frames and in particular application to motion estimation calculations in which a balance among the performance of a motion search algorithm, the size of on-chip memory to store the reference data, and the required data transfer bandwidth between on-chip and external memory can be optimized in a scalable manner, such that the total system cost with hierarchical embedded memory structure can be optimized in a flexible manner. The scope of the present invention is not limited to digital video encoding in which motion vector is part of information to be encoded, but is applicable to any other implementation in which difference between any two data frames are to be computed.
US08090022B2

A video coding system is provided including generating a motion vector for a macro block in a picture, the motion vectors indicative of displacement of an object in the macro block; grouping a cluster of the motion vectors; and adjusting a dynamic quantization parameter modulation of a subsequent picture based on the grouping for displaying the displacement of the object in the subsequent picture.
US08090021B2

A method for motion search between video frames with multiple blocks is disclosed. The present invention provides an effective edge detection-prediction hexagon search algorithm (EDPHS algorithm). The method uses edge values and the distribution characteristics of motion vector and further overcomes the drawback of the conventional hexagon-based search algorithm (HEXBS algorithm). In this way, the present invention has less search points during searching. Through experiments, the present invention, without affecting the compressed video quality, reduces the number of search points by about 80%˜98% in comparison with the diamond search algorithm (DS algorithm) and reduces the number of search points by about 75%˜97% in comparison with the HEXBS algorithm. The advantages make the present invention suitable for the realizing real-time image compression.
US08090012B2

An apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving Channel Quality Information (CQI) in a communication system. A Base Station (BS) transmits, to a Subscriber Station (SS), a request for CQI of a resource region corresponding to a frequency reuse factor K, which is designated by the BS. The BS then receives, from the SS, the CQI of the resource region corresponding to a channel quality measured by the SS. The channel quality is measured by the SS by measuring a boosted reference signal and compensating the boosted reference signal for a non-boosted signal.
US08090010B2

A digital circuit configured to spread a clock train spectrum includes a clock configured to generate the clock train, and a variable divider configured to divide the frequency of the clock train by a temporally-varying-divider value to modulate the clock train and generate a dithered clock train. The circuit further includes a first accumulator configured to accumulate the dithered clock train to generate a frequency modulation waveform, and a second accumulator configured accumulate the frequency modulated waveform to generate a phase modulation signal. The circuit further includes a phase-value calculator configured to calculate the temporally-varying divider value based on the phase modulation signal; and a closed-loop control circuit configured to track and filter the modulation of the dithered clock train to generate a second clock train that is the spread spectrum of the first mentioned clock train.
US08090009B2

A test apparatus includes a transmitting-side jitter measuring unit which measures a jitter of a transmission signal output from a transmitting circuit, a jitter applying unit which applies a jitter to the transmission signal and inputs the signal to a receiving circuit, a jitter range measuring unit which determines whether the logical value of the transmission signal detected by the receiving circuit is equal to a preset expectation value for each amplitude of the jitter applied to the transmission signal by the jitter applying unit, and measures the range of jitter amplitudes within which the logical value of the transmission signal is equal to the expectation value, and a jitter tolerance measuring unit which calculates jitter tolerance of the receiving circuit based on the jitter of the transmission signal measured by the transmitting-side jitter measuring unit and the range of jitter amplitudes measured by the jitter range measuring unit.
US08090007B1

The present invention is a position-based modulation system for communications devices. The device may comprise one or more of the following features: (a) a global positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of receiving positioning data from GPS satellites; (b) a radio frequency (RF) transceiver having at least a first channel and a second channel; (c) a geographical information system (GIS) database of topographical data; (d) a processor capable of optimizing transceiving parameters of the RF transceiver based on the positioning data and topographical data; and (e) a bus linking the GPS receiver, RF transceiver, GIS database, and processor.
US08090005B2

One embodiment of the invention provides a method of creating a set of secondary spreading codes for use in a satellite navigation system comprising a constellation of satellites. Each satellite in the constellation employs a tiered spreading code comprising at least a primary code and a secondary code. Each satellite in the constellation is allocated a different secondary spreading code from the set of secondary spreading codes. The method involves generating an initial set of bit patterns, where each bit pattern represents a potential secondary spreading code. The method further involves performing an optimization process on bit patterns within the initial set of bit patterns. As a result of the optimization, at least some of the bit patterns in the initial set are modified or replaced, to create a final set of bit patterns for use as the set of secondary spreading codes.
US08089998B2

An ultra-short pulse laser system comprising an amplifying laser medium for producing a laser emission, a laser resonator having at least one resonator mirror and a pump source has a gas-filled section with a filling gas, the latter consisting of a single gas or a filling gas mixture differing from the composition of air, whose nonlinear refractive index n2 substantially corresponds to that of air and which has a rotational Raman effect which is smaller in comparison with air.
US08089997B2

The laser device has a gain medium, first and second clads sandwiching the gain medium in the thickness direction, and a cavity structure for resonating the electromagnetic wave generated in the gain medium. The gain medium includes a plurality of active regions for generating an electromagnetic wave and at lease one connecting region sandwiched among the active regions. The first and second clads are each formed of a negative permittivity medium having a permittivity the real part of which is negative relative to the electromagnetic wave. A potential-adjusting portion is arranged between the connecting region and the first clad and between the connecting region and the second clad for adjusting the electric potential of the connecting region.
US08089995B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates adjusting the wavelengths of lasers via temperature control. This system includes a chip with an active face upon which active circuitry and signal pads reside. A thermal-control mechanism provides localized thermal control of two lasers mounted upon the active face of the chip. By individually controlling the temperature of the lasers, the thermal-control mechanism controls the wavelengths emitted by each respective laser. By creating a temperature gradient that causes a temperature difference between two or more lasers, the system can cause the lasers to emit different wavelengths.
US08089984B2

Aspects of a method and system for network communications via a configurable multi-use Ethernet PHY are provided. In this regard, an Ethernet PHY may be configured based on characteristics of a network link over which the Ethernet PHY communicates, and a rate at which data is conveyed from a MAC to the Ethernet PHY may be controlled via a carrier sense signal of the MII. The carrier sense signal may be controlled based on a rate at which the Ethernet PHY transmits data over the network link. The Ethernet PHY may be configured based on a length of the network link and/or on a grade of the network link, where exemplary grades may comprise Cat-1 through Cat-7a cable. The Ethernet PHY may be configured into one of a plurality of modes comprising an Ethernet over digital subscriber line (DSL) mode, an extended reach mode, and a standard Ethernet mode.
US08089978B2

A device having under-run management capabilities and to a method for managing under-runs. The method includes providing, to a memory unit, channel information from multiple channels; allocating time slots for communication channel transmissions; the method is characterized by including: sending, during a time slot allocated for a transmission of channel information from an enabled communication channel, to the shift register channel information of an enabled communication channel, serially outputting the received channel information from the shift register towards a communication line while serially replacing the outputted channel information by a predefined content such that the shift register stores a communication channel disable code when an under-run occurs; defining a communication channel as a disabled communication channel once the under-run occurs; and transmitting, during a time slot allocated to a disabled communication channel, idle signals to the communication line.
US08089976B2

A system for managing and documenting a local area communications network is provided which deploys power sourcing equipment and powered devices by the use of active electronic modules, having an Ethernet controller and Power over Ethernet forwarding capabilities, as integral, managed components within the cable plant, to enhance management, documentation, security and emergency 911 aspects of the network as well as extending the physical reach of the network.
US08089974B2

Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating location or containment of rogue or unauthorized access points on wireless computer network environments. Embodiments of the present invention support one to a plurality of rogue containment methodologies. A first rogue containment type involves identification of the physical connection of the rogue access point to the wired network infrastructure and, thus, allows for disabling of that physical connection to contain the rogue access point. Other rogue containment methods involve wireless techniques for containing the effect of rogue access points. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating network location of rogue access points to determine whether one or more rogue containment methodologies should be applied. As discussed below, the rogue location and containment functionality described herein can be applied to a wide variety of wireless network system architectures.
US08089972B2

Systems and methods for dynamically registering a communication device are disclosed. As one example, a communication network architecture is disclosed that includes multiple feature servers, multiple registration redirect servers (RRSs), and multiple communication devices. The feature servers provide services to the communication devices. The RRSs each service a shared virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address and perform load balancing of registration requests on behalf of multiple feature servers located geographically proximate to the RRS. The communication devices are configured to issue initial registration requests intended for any of the feature servers to the shared virtual IP address, whereby upon issuing an initial registration request, a communication device is directed to a particular feature server that is associated with a RRS that is closest to the communication device, and where the particular feature server is selected by a load balancing routine executing on the RRS.
US08089970B2

A method and a system control admission for voice transmission over a multi-hop network. The method takes multiple parameters into account in order to make a decision and ensures that the system remains stable. The parameters may include options (e.g., aggregation level, bursting level, and transmission rate) and constraints (e.g., the number of users, access points, or sensing range of each user). The method computes the load of the network given each set of options and constraints and compares it against the packetization interval of the voice codec to check whether or not the system is stable. An algorithm of the method finds the best trade-offs between overhead reduction (e.g., due to contention and to packet headers) and a solution robust to channel errors, if links are noisy. If several stable solutions corresponding to different options exist, additional criteria (e.g., the least number of hops, the highest transmission rate) may be used to determine the final “best” solution.
US08089967B2

Methods for modifying a switching table of an Internet Protocol (IP) switch. The methods include: receiving a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) option 43 request from a host of a LAN at an access port of the IP switch; transmitting the request to a DHCP server; intercepting a DHCP response for the request from the DHCP server; extracting an IP address from the intercepted DHCP response; and adding the extracted IP address to a corresponding entry (specific to the access port) of a switching table of the IP switch. The methods include: receiving an IP frame at an access port of the IP switch; reading an IP source address from the IP frame; and in the switching table either: creating a new entry including the IP source address and its associated port identifier or changing an existing entry based on the IP source address and the access port.
US08089958B2

The present invention describes a system and method for communicating voice and data over a packet-switched network that is adapted to coexist and communicate with a legacy PSTN. The system permits packet switching of voice calls and data calls through a data network from and to any of a LEC, a customer facility or a direct IP connection on the data network. The system includes soft switch sites, gateway sites, a data network, a provisioning component, a network event component and a network management component. The system interfaces with customer facilities (e.g., a PBX), carrier facilities (e.g., a LEC) and legacy signaling networks (e.g., SS7) to handle calls between any combination of on-network and off-network callers.The soft switch sites provide the core call processing for the voice network architecture. The soft switch sites manage the gateway sites in a preferred embodiment, using a protocol such as the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) protocol to request the set-up and tear-down of calls. The gateway sites originate and terminate calls between calling parties and called parties through the data network. The gateway sites include network access devices to provide access to network resources. The data network connects one or more of the soft switch sites to one or more of the gateway sites. The provisioning and network event component collects call events recorded at the soft switch sites. The network management component includes a network operations center (NOC) for centralized network management.
US08089955B2

A method of communicating digitized speech from a transmitting forum participant comprises the step of receiving a data structure that includes said digitized speech. The data structure is analyzed to determine whether the digitized speech is redundantly represented in a plurality of forms in the data structure. A portion of the data structure is forwarded to a receiving forum participant, thereby communicating the digitized speech from the transmitting forum participant. In this method, when the digitized speech is redundantly represented in the data structure in a plurality of forms, the forwarding step includes a step of selecting one or more forms, based on a function, from the plurality of forms in the data structure. Furthermore, the portion of the data structure that is forwarded to the receiving forum participant includes data in the data structure that corresponds to each of the selected one or more forms.
US08089952B2

A call routing decision for connecting a call between source and target devices is based on the traffic type (e.g., facsimile, modem, voice). In some implementations, the traffic type is determined and stored (e.g., in a billing record). The traffic type can be used to connect, block or reroute subsequent calls of the same traffic type.
US08089946B2

A modem that provides efficient use of wireless network bandwidth in the presence of multiuser interference and noise is disclosed. The modem design provides for compatibility with existing network hardware and protocols so that new efficient modems may be added to the network without removing installed hardware and software.
US08089942B2

A multi-mode user equipment is provided. The multi-mode user equipment includes a processor configured to promote measurement of a signal strength of a microtechnology-based network during a portion of a macrotechnology-based communication from a network component to the multi-mode user equipment. The signal strength of the microtechnology-based network is measured during a portion of the macrotechnology-based communication when no user data is being transmitted.
US08089927B2

A wireless communication device includes: an analyzing unit for analyzing an MAC header of a received frame; a storage unit for storing a source address when analyzed that the received frame is a suspension signal for suspending an occupancy of a radio channel; a determination unit for determining whether or not the source address of the received frame is stored in the storage unit when analyzed that a destination address of the received frame is for other device; and a power controlling unit for suspending a power supply to the demodulation unit and the analyzing unit for a remaining time of a period for occupying the radio channel which is described on the MAC header when determined that the source address is not stored.
US08089926B2

In a data communication network a first and second network site, communicate by sending a first data transmission from the first network site to a second network site and by sending a second data transmission from said second network site to said first network site. Data transmission characteristics of said first data transmission are determined and radio resources for said data transmission are allocated based on the determined first data transmission characteristics. Thus, the radio resources for the second data transmission are correlated with characteristics of the first data transmission and thus delays in the data transmission between the first and second network site can be avoided.
US08089925B1

In one embodiment, the present invention comprises transmitting a broadcast burst in a broadcast channel from a base station of a radio communications system. The invention further comprises receiving a request burst from a user terminal, and transmitting a message burst from the base station to the user terminal from which the request was received. The message burst includes a description of the channels available on the radio communications system for receiving messages from user terminals.
US08089918B2

A standard time and frequency signal receiver receives a time code in which a plurality of data pulses “1”, “0” and “P” which are identified by width are arranged one in a respective one of unit periods of the standard signal. An amplitude of a detected signal of the time code is sampled with respect to a seconds synchronization point in a unit period. Then, correlation values F1, F0 and FP for the data pulses “P”, “1” and “0”, respectively, are calculated based on the sampled values. These correlation values F1, F0 and FP are then compared to determine the data pulse received. Even when the time code contains a considerable noise, which of the “1”, “0” and “P” signals was received is determined accurately, thereby achieving the reception of the time code with a reduced error.
US08089910B2

A sensor node of a wireless sensor network includes a first sensor node module for generating and processing, when it is activated, a first sensing signal to detect occurrence of an event based on the first sensing signal; and a second sensor node module for generating and processing a second sensing signal, when it is activated, to monitor state transition of the event based on the second sensing signal. Further, when the occurrence of the event is detected, the first sensor node module is inactivated and the second sensor node module is activated.
US08089906B2

A circuit is disclosed with an external coupling port for coupling to an external antenna, for example. The circuit has an FDD receive path including a narrowband passband filter. The circuit has a TDD receive path bypassing the narrowband passband filter but relying on a same amplifier. The circuit also has an FDD transmit path including a narrowband passband filter. The circuit has a TDD transmit path bypassing the narrowband passband filter of the FDD transmit path but relying on a same transmit amplifier. A switching configuration allows the circuit to operate in TDD mode, alternating between the TDD receive path and the TDD transmit path and in the FDD mode wherein the FDD transmit and receive paths are simultaneously coupled to the external coupling port.
US08089905B2

Provided is a multicast distribution system which can perform a multicast distribution by selecting a communication path satisfying a communication feature required by a multicast group. A distribution source router (Rs) performs a multicast distribution to routers (R1 to R5) constituting a multicast group based on an application via a mesh virtual network connected to a plurality of routers. When the CPU load ratio and the multicast group communication feature exceed threshold values, the distribution source router updates the number of branches and the depth of the multicast tree which distributes a packet from the router and starts reconfiguration of the multicast tree. When reconfiguring the multicast tree, the distribution source router references a path feature of the mesh virtual network, selects a communication path having a sufficient path feature with a higher priority, and generates a routing table based on the multicast tree.
US08089903B2

A data storage system includes storage array and a switch that is configurable to create numerous network topologies within the system and to maintain separate communications paths between different computerized devices or networks and the storage array. For example, a user device and a service device, such as a system diagnosis device, can connect to the storage array through the switch. In order to isolate interaction or communication between the user and service devices, the switch can be logically partitioned into two distinct switches to form two distinct, isolated communications paths between the devices and the storage array. With isolated communications pathways established in the switch, in use, the service device is unable to access the user device coupled to the storage array.
US08089895B1

A network analyzer includes a hardware-based accounting engine that generates accurate statistics for traffic within a computer network. As the network analyzer receives packets, the accounting engine associates the network packets with respective routing prefixes, and updates flow statistics for the routing prefixes. In this manner, the accounting engine maintains accurate flow statistics for all packets received by network analyzer. The network analyzer includes a control unit that generates prefix data to control the granularity of the traffic analysis. The control unit analyzes the flow statistics maintained by the accounting engine, and adaptively updates the set of prefixes to control the granularity of the statistics. The control unit may generate the prefix data as a forwarding tree having resolution nodes. Each node may associate a network prefix with forwarding next hop data, as well as respective analysis control data to enable or disable flow analysis for the prefix.
US08089891B2

A system includes a collector module configured to collect route parameters from a selected node of a plurality of nodes in the network, wherein the route parameters from the selected node are indicative of a first route to a destination address and a second route to the destination address; and a route processor configured to determine a first intermediate node along the first route communicatively coupled to the destination address and a second intermediate node along the first route communicatively coupled to the destination address, based at least in part on the collected route parameters. A method includes collecting route parameters from a first intermediate node and a second intermediate node that can be configured to communicatively couple a source node to the destination node, determining at least a first route through the first intermediate node and a second route through the second intermediate node, and determining which route among the first route and the second route is optimal according to one or more criteria.
US08089888B2

Techniques to test performance of terminals and access points in CDMA data (e.g., cdma2000) systems. A framework of protocols and messages is provided to support systematic performance testing of terminals and to ensure interface compatibility. The framework comprises a Forward Test Application Protocol (FTAP) for testing forward channels and a Reverse Test Application Protocol (RTAP) for testing reverse channels. Techniques are also provided to (1) test different types of channels (e.g., traffic channels as well as auxiliary channels), (2) test bursty data transmissions, (3) support “persistence” testing (i.e., continued testing over connection and disconnection), (4) force the settings of certain auxiliary channels (e.g., so that the error rate of the channels may be determined), and (5) collect, log, and report various statistics that may be used to derive performance metrics such as throughput and packet error rate.
US08089882B2

Load-aware spanning tree reconfiguration includes determining volumes for information flows in an existing spanning tree in a network. The spanning tree is reconfigured based on the volumes to provide higher-volume information flows with shorter paths in the reconfigured spanning tree.
US08089878B2

Implementations and techniques for allocating bandwidth in a resilient packet ring network by a P-type controller are generally disclosed.
US08089877B2

A method for guaranteeing a service quality of a network service is disclosed that includes the steps of storing a historical record of a network service quality, inputting an acceptable maximal service delay of the network service, inputting a desired control level between the service quality of the network service and the number of users of the network service, determining the content of service quality guarantee, which can be provided to each service node, with respect to each pair of service nodes in accordance with the historical record, the maximal service delay, and the control level between the service quality and the number of users, monitoring the service quality between a corresponding pair of service nodes in accordance with the content of service quality guarantee, and regulating the network service between a pair of service nodes in a case where degradation of service quality occurs between the pair of service nodes.
US08089876B2

An aspect of the embodiments related to a packet transmission apparatus includes a user identification unit for identifying the user of an input user flow upon input of the user flow containing communication packets and maintenance packets, a maintenance packet extraction unit for extracting the maintenance packets from the user flow of the user identified by the user identification unit, a maintenance packet output control unit for controlling the transparent output of the maintenance packets extracted by the maintenance packet extraction unit based on the monitor rate setting, and a control unit for monitoring and controlling the user flow of the particular user based on the maintenance packets of the user transparently output by the maintenance packet output control unit.
US08089868B2

A wireless communication apparatus includes a transmission section and a control section. The transmission section transmits data using wireless communication. The control section controls a transmission rate for the transmission section. The control section limits data size of data to be transmitted to at most a prescribed value and requests a transmission acknowledgement, during a period from immediately after a change in the transmission rate until number of times that the transmission section transmits data reaches a prescribed number of times.
US08089866B2

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for a spanning tree topology used as a “flooding backbone” for control messages on a link state routed network. Specifically, control messages are only broadcast on the flooding backbone thereby significantly reducing message flooding. The present disclosure also provides systems and methods for correctly and efficiently reconfiguring/fixing the spanning tree topology in the event of any spanning tree link failures without re-running the spanning tree protocol.
US08089861B1

A system processes packets in a network device and includes a memory for buffering the packets. The memory may store the packets in memory in data cells. To expedite packet processing, portions of the packet are extracted and placed in a notification, which is then used for packet processing operations, such as route lookup, policing, and accounting. The notification may also include address elements, such as address offsets, that define the locations of the data cells in memory. The address elements can be used to read the data cells from the memory when packet processing is done. If the notification cannot hold all the address elements, additional cells, indirect cells, are created for holding the remaining address elements. The indirect cells are formed in a linked list. The notification contains an address element. To prevent reading incorrect indirect cells, each indirect cell is written with a signature that is created based on the notification. When an indirect cell is read out, the signature is checked to determine whether it belongs to that notification. If the signature is not correct, this may mean that the indirect cell has not yet been written to memory, or that the indirect cell was in some way corrupted during writing, storing, or reading.
US08089855B2

To transmit overhead information for broadcast and multicast services in a system that utilizes multiple radio technologies, time slots used for OFDM in a super-frame are initially ascertained. Overhead information for multiple streams to be sent in the time slots used for OFDM is generated. The overhead information conveys the time slots and the coding and modulation used for the streams and may be given in various forms. Multiple records may be formed for the overhead information for the streams. The overhead information for the streams is processed and time division multiplexed with the data for the streams in the super-frame. Information indicating the time slots used for OFDM in the super-frame may be sent separately or included in the overhead information. An indicator may also be appended to each stream to indicate whether there is any change in the overhead information for the stream in the next super-frame.
US08089854B2

This disclosure describes companded transmit path techniques that may be implemented in a wireless communication device to reduce power consumption and possibly simplify signal modulation. In accordance with this disclosure, in phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) components of a transmit waveform are compressed at baseband, and an emphasis envelope is generated to represent this compression. The compressed I and Q components are then converted to analog signals and processed. This analog processing may include the mixing process in which the compressed I and Q signals are modulated onto a carrier waveform. The emphasis envelope signal is then used to expand the modulated waveform.
US08089840B2

To limit the time capable of reproducing a plurality of contents as a whole recorded on a recording medium. Provided herein are a recording medium on which a plurality of contents and reproduction-enabled time which is a period of time for allowing a user to freely reproduce the plurality of contents as a whole are recorded, a reproduction device having an acquisition unit which acquires the reproduction-enabled time and a reproduction inhibit unit which inhibits the reproduction of each of the contents when the accumulated reproduction time of the plurality of contents as a whole exceeds the acquired reproduction-enabled time during the reproduction of each of the contents.
US08089839B2

Embodiments of methods and systems for controlling access to information stored on memory or data storage devices are disclosed. In various embodiments, fluid-mediated modification of information or access to information is utilized. According to various embodiments, data storage devices designed for rotating access are described which include rotation-activated fluid control mechanisms.
US08089832B2

A method and apparatus for recording digital information signals on a removable rewritable medium include recording control information on defect management. The recording medium includes predefined locations for enabling booting and/or file system read/write, where at least one of the predefined locations contains the control information.
US08089831B2

A plasmon generator has an outer surface including a surface plasmon exciting surface, and has a near-field light generating part located in a medium facing surface. The surface plasmon exciting surface is a flat surface that faces an evanescent light generating surface of a waveguide with a predetermined distance therebetween. The surface plasmon exciting surface includes a width changing portion. The width of the width changing portion in a direction parallel to the medium facing surface and the evanescent light generating surface decreases with decreasing distance to the medium facing surface. A magnetic pole is located at such a position that the plasmon generator is interposed between the magnetic pole and the waveguide. The outer surface of the plasmon generator includes a pole contact surface that is in contact with the magnetic pole.
US08089827B2

Localization of remote devices by: the emission of pulses from acoustic transmitters, whose wavefronts propagate in the space region occupied by the remote devices and finally reach them; the emission of radiofrequency pulses from each remote device at the time of detection of the wavefront by an on-board microphone; the acquisition, by a radio base, of the radiofrequency signals propagating from the remote devices, to evaluate the arrival time delays proportional to the distance between the i-th acoustic source and the j-th remote device; the formation of a reception vector for each emission by the i-th source, this vector having a maximum length M equal to the number of remote devices and consisting of the sequence of distances obtained as the product of the reception times and the estimated sound velocity. These steps are repeated for all acoustic sources, to form N+1 reception vectors, to calculate the position of the device by solving derived matrix equations.
US08089825B2

A merged particle velocity signal is generated by combining a recorded vertical particle velocity signal, scaled in an upper frequency range using a time-dependent arrival angle as determined by cross-ghosting analysis, with a simulated particle velocity signal, calculated in a lower frequency range from a recorded pressure signal using a time-varying filter based on the time-dependent arrival angle. Combined pressure and vertical particle velocity signals are generated from the recorded pressure and merged particle velocity signals.
US08089814B2

A method of reading data in a non-volatile memory device compensates for a change in a reading/verifying result in accordance with a change of temperature. The method includes sensing a temperature of memory cells, setting a first voltage and a second voltage of a bit line sensing signal in accordance with the sensed temperature, precharging a bit line in accordance with the set first voltage, evaluating a change of a voltage level of the bit line based on whether a memory cell for a read operation is programmed, and sensing data of the memory cell in accordance with the set second voltage. The method may read/verify data constantly even though a temperature is changed.
US08089807B1

A method and system for a Crash Protected Memory (CPM) system are provided. The system includes a Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory module including a first memory portion and a processor communicatively coupled to the MLC memory module. The processor is programmed to write in the first memory portion a first digital value into a first level of each data-storing cell in the first memory portion and to write a second digital value into a second level of each data-storing cell wherein the first and second digital values are the same. The processor is further programmed to read a digital value from each level of each data-storing cell in the first memory portion and determine a single digital cell value for each data-storing cell.
US08089806B2

A method for controlling a semiconductor storage device including memory cells each configured to hold data of 2 bits or more, the method includes starting first signal processing, and inputting lower bits into the semiconductor storage device in a ready state, writing the lower bits to the memory cells, changing the semiconductor storage device from the ready state into a busy state, changing the semiconductor storage device from the busy state into the ready state, and finishing the first signal processing, starting second signal processing, and inputting upper bits into the semiconductor storage device in the ready state, and writing the upper bits to the memory cells. A period for the writing the upper bits is longer than a period for the writing the lower bits. A period for performing the second signal processing is longer than a period for performing the first signal processing.
US08089804B2

A non-volatile semiconductor memory is configured to monitor for onset of a read disturbance (e.g., due to soft programming) and to carry out operations to protect data therein. A non-volatile semiconductor memory has a memory cell array that includes normal memory cells and a flag memory cell. The flag memory cell is configured to be more susceptible to electrical stress on its retention of data than the normal memory cells. The memory monitors data stored in the flag memory cell to monitor a data retention characteristic of the normal memory cells.
US08089785B2

A photovoltaic power conditioning unit for delivering power from a dc photovoltaic power source to an ac mains power supply is disclosed. The photovoltaic power conditioning unit may include a non-electrolytic energy storage capacitor, a dc-to-dc converter having an input connection coupled to an input and an output connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor. The photovoltaic power conditioning unit also may include a dc-to-ac converter having an input connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor and an output connection coupled to an output and a power injection control block configured to control an amount of power transferred from the dc-to-ac converter to the ac mains power supply based, at least in part, on an amplitude of a fluctuating sinusoidal component of a dc voltage on the non-electrolytic energy storage capacitor.
US08089776B2

A switch configured to contact an exposed contact on an edge of a multilayer circuit board when selectively activated. The switch is particularly useful for electronic equipment such as mobile phones, PDA's, etc. where space for key contacts on the circuit board is limited. By facilitating connection to terminals formed on edges of a circuit board and/or edges of layers of multilayer circuit boards, the switch provides additional options for button locations on the electronic device heretofore requiring routing of wiring.
US08089771B2

An electronic apparatus includes a circuit portion having a connector to which an interface cable is connected, a case for accommodating the circuit portion and having a wiring route for the interface cable leading from the connector to an external space and a connection opening for exposing the wiring route, and a cover for opening or closing the connection opening.
US08089770B2

A multi-stage mezzanine board mounting assembly within a computer chassis includes a mezzanine tray and mezzanine mounting brackets. The mezzanine tray includes a clamping mechanism. The mezzanine mounting brackets are disposed within the computer chassis and configured to engage with the mezzanine tray when the mezzanine tray is mounted thereon. The clamping mechanism is configured to clamp the mezzanine tray against the mezzanine mounting brackets such that the mezzanine tray is locked in place on the mezzanine mounting brackets. A method of installing a mezzanine board includes disposing mezzanine mounting brackets within a computer chassis; mounting a mezzanine tray onto the mezzanine mounting brackets such that insertion alignment members of the mezzanine tray engage with an engaging portion of the mezzanine mounting brackets; rotating rotatable clamping levers such that the mezzanine tray is locked in place on the mezzanine mounting brackets when the rotatable clamping levers are fully engaged.
US08089767B2

A cooling system comprising a heat sink having, a first contact zone and a second contact zone, which are configured to absorb, a first heat flow from a first component, a second heat flow from a second component, and a first transmission means for transmission of the first heat flow via the first contact zone into the heat sink. In addition, a first transmission means is arranged between the first component, and the heat sink and include a first plug means that is shaped such that the first plug means forms a first fit with a first bushing means that is arranged in the heat sink, where the first fit provides tolerance compensation between first and second contact zones.
US08089765B2

A liquid submersion cooled computer that includes a seamless, extruded main body used to form a liquid-tight case holding a cooling liquid that submerges components of the computer. By forming the main body as a seamless extrusion, the number of possible leakage paths from the resulting liquid-tight case is reduced. No seams are provided on the main body, and there are no openings through the walls of the main body, so liquid cannot leakage through the main body. Any leakage paths are limited to joints between the main body and end walls which are sealingly attached to the main body to form the liquid-tight case.
US08089758B2

An electronic device includes a body, a cover, a sliding apparatus, and a latch assembly. The body defines two sliding slots. The sliding apparatus is received in the slots and is slidable relative thereto. The cover is foldable on the body and is rotatably coupled to the sliding apparatus. The latch assembly is fixed to the sliding apparatus. When the latch assembly clasps the body, the sliding apparatus is unlatched from the electronic device, and the cover is slidable relative to the body and is unfolded while the cover slides away from the body.
US08089755B2

Electronic devices with surface features are disclosed. The electronic devices includes a processor and a display operatively coupled to the processor for presenting outputs to a user. The electronic devices also includes a housing having a first portion and a second portion coupled to the first portion to form an enclosure containing the processor and the display. The second portion includes a plurality of edges proximate to the first portion, an end surface spaced apart from the edges, and a plurality of side surfaces extending between the edges and the end surface. At least one of the side surfaces is canted relative to the end surface.
US08089752B2

A hard disk drive holder fixes hard disk drives in electronic equipment, and includes at least one handling assembly and a bracket for receiving the handling assemblies. Each of the handling assemblies is fixed to one of the hard disk drives to push or pull the hard disk drive into or out from the bracket for replacement or repair, and includes a handle and a pair of handle seats. The handle includes a holding portion and two extending portions including a convex block. Each of the handle seats includes a housing cavity and a spring clip. The spring clip includes a first stopper portion, a second stopper portion and a hook portion. The convex block is movable between the first stopper portion and the second stopper portion to limit movement range of the handle.
US08089749B2

A portable electronic device with a first panel and a second panel connected to the first panel. The connection allows the panels to pivot relative to one another between a folded position and an un-folded position. A lock automatically engages and locks the panels when the panels are brought in the folded position and disengages when the panels are displaced relative to one another sidewardly.
US08089745B2

An overvoltage protection element (1) includes a housing (2), two terminals (3, 4) for electrical connection of the overvoltage protection element (1) to current or signal paths to be protected, and an arrester (5, 6), including a varistor, located within the housing (2). In addition to providing a simple structure and installation, the overvoltage protection element (1) is especially well adapted to thermal and dynamic loads, so that no damage to the overvoltage protection element (1) occurs to the outside, wherein the housing (2) includes two metal shells (7, 8) electrically connected to a terminal region (9, 10) of the arrester (5, 6).
US08089734B2

An MR element includes an MR stack disposed between first and second main shield portions, and a pair of side shields disposed on opposite sides of the MR stack in the track width direction. The first main shield portion includes a first exchange coupling shield layer that is exchange-coupled to a first antiferromagnetic layer. The second main shield portion includes a second exchange coupling shield layer that is exchange-coupled to a second antiferromagnetic layer. The MR stack includes a spacer layer, and first and second free layers with the spacer layer therebetween. The direction of magnetization of the first free layer is controlled by the first exchange coupling shield layer. The direction of magnetization of the second free layer is controlled by the second exchange coupling shield layer. Each side shield includes at least one shield-coupling magnetic layer that is in contact with and magnetically coupled to one of the first and second exchange coupling shield layers.
US08089728B2

A HGA comprises a slider and a suspension with a flexure having a tongue region for supporting the slider. A read/write transducer and a piezoelectric element are formed oppositely. The connecting points of the curve beams and the inner tongue of the tongue region are in mirror positions to a center point of the inner tongue, and the connecting points of each curve beam are located at opposite sides of a center axis of the flexure. The slider has multiple electrical pads electrically connecting with the read/write transducer. The inner tongue has multiple electrical pads. The flexure has multiple inner leads electrically connected with the electrical pads of the inner tongue formed on the curve beams. The structure of the HGA prevents the read/write transducer from damaged and cause the manufacture of the HGA simpler. The present invention also discloses a suspension and a disk drive unit.
US08089723B2

A write head and a method for forming the write head. The method includes providing a first pole and a second pole for the write head. The first pole and the second pole are formed from a ferromagnetic material. Regions of the write head including at least a portion of at least one of the first pole and the second pole of the write head are volumetrically doped with a dopant material selected from one of a 4d transition metal, 5d transition metal, and 4f rare earth metal. The dopant material is predetermined to provide a magnetic damping in the doped regions which is greater than the magnetic damping in the ferromagnetic material.
US08089722B2

A read/write head for magnetic tapes configured with an in situ radio frequency (RF) shield is provided. The RF shield of the invention inhibits device elements reading data from reading RF radiation irradiated by other device elements writing data. The RF shield may be situated between the device elements of one module and the device elements of a second module. The dimensions and materials of the RF shield may be selected depending upon the operating frequencies of the head and skin depth of materials comprising the RF shield. The data cable may be bonded to device element pads of a module using ACF bonding. AFC bonding the cable to the module may allow a metal ground plane on the cable to be extended to provide additional RF shielding.
US08089716B2

Provided is a magnetic tape that includes a data band, including servo patterns, data, and a guard space. The servo patterns is formed along a longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape with an interval provided between each of the servo patterns, each of the servo patterns formed across a full width of the data band. The data is recorded between the servo patterns. The guard space is left between each of the servo patterns and the data.
US08089713B2

In a hard-disc drive, a defect region on the hard disc is detected by generating two statistical measures (e.g., β1(k) and β2(k)) based on signal values (e.g., x[n] or y[n]) and soft-decision values (e.g., L[n]) corresponding to the signal values. The measures are compared to detect the location of the defect region of the hard drive. Using the soft-decision values reduces fluctuations in a ratio of the statistical measures compared to a ratio formed from statistical measures that are not based on soft-decision values, resulting in a more-reliable test for detecting defect regions.
US08089694B2

A stabilizer for an optical device that forms part of an electronic device may include a platform that has an optical device mounted thereon. A gimbal mount may retain the platform so that the platform is pivotal about a first axis and the gimbal mount being further pivotal about a second axis so that the optical device is pivotal about both the first and second axes. A first actuator may be controlled to manage movement of the optical device about the first axis and a second actuator may be controlled to manage movement of the optical device about the second axis.
US08089693B2

A color separation and polarization device is provided, which comprises a lens module, having a first frame including a polarization material received therein, and configured with a first light-entrance surface and a first light-emitting surface having a lens structure disposed thereon respectively, and a triangle-shaped optical structures, configured with a second light-entrance surface and a second light-emitting surface having triangle-shaped microstructures disposed thereon respectively. When a white light beam enters the first light-entrance surface, it is polarized by the polarization material, converged by the lens structure of the first light-emitting surface, splitting into a red beam, a green beam, and a blue beam by the triangle-shaped microstructures of the second light-entrance surface, and finally the three color beam are collimated by the triangle-shaped microstructures of the second light-emitting surface. By means of the device, light energy usage efficiency and light collimation and convergence are capable of being enhanced and improved.
US08089691B2

A projection and detector device that attaches externally to the photo-port of a widefield microscope. The device includes a light source interface for receiving of illumination from a light source, the illumination defining an illumination path. A pattern mask is located within the illumination path for projecting one or a plurality of objects, structures, or patterns onto a sample located at the object plane of the optical microscope. The pattern mask may be used with structured illumination microscopy (SIM) to project a moving striped optical grid pattern or Ronchi Ruling onto the sample at the object plane in either fluorescence or reflected brightfield imaging. A mechanical or digital diaphragm may also be used, for techniques such as Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), fluorescence photoactivation, and targeted illumination. A computer linked with a charged coupled device (CCD) camera may be used to capture images for storage and further post-processing.
US08089690B2

The invention relates to a multistage fiber amplifier having a first amplifying fiber, at least one further amplifying fiber connected in series with the first amplifying fiber, a pump source, a first pump signal fed to the first amplifying fiber, and a further pump signal fed to the further amplifying fiber. The multistage fiber amplifier is distinguished by the fact that a further pump signal is fed to a further amplifying fiber via a power-dependent attenuation element. The attenuation element is formed in such a way that, as the pump power increases, small further pump signals are attenuated to a greater extent than large further pump signals. The power-dependent attenuation of the further pump signal that is fed to the further amplifying fiber and therefore the increased pump signal that is fed to the first amplifying fiber result in improvements in the noise figure of the multistage amplifier.
US08089682B2

Example embodiments provide an electrochromic device using polyphthalate as an electrochromic material and a process for preparing the same. The electrochromic device in accordance with example embodiments enables the production of a solid nanoscale electrochromic device having a bistability using polyphthalate as an electrochromic material, and easy formation of a red electrochromic layer which was not reported in a conventional art. Accordingly, the electrochromic device of example embodiments can be usefully employed for fabrication of RGB color electrochromic displays.
US08089681B2

An electrode is described. The electrode includes a substrate having a first and a second surface, a conductive layer, multilayer structure having alternating layers of at least one polymer layer and at least one electroactive chemical bound nanoparticle layer. The conductive layer is disposed on the second surface of the substrate, and the multilayer structure is disposed on the conductive layer.
US08089674B2

A first plastic lens and a second plastic lens constituting each imaging optical system are arranged on opposite sides of an optical deflector, so that main scanning directions of optical beams scanned by the single optical deflector become substantially parallel to each other, and the first plastic lens and the second plastic lens of at least one of the plurality of (four) imaging optical systems are formed such that secondary components at scanning positions on the (four) surfaces to be scanned are arranged in a same direction, and are molded by a same mold cavity.
US08089671B2

An optical scanning device includes a dot clock generator which generates a dot clock having a dot clock cycle corresponding to a scanning direction of an optical flux by dividing master clocks which constitute basic clocks with frequency-dividing-number corresponding to a scanning position. The dot clock generator changes, with respect to a group of dot clocks which is formed of plural sets of dot clocks in which a frequency-dividing-number sequence pattern of the set of dot clocks which is constituted of two or more continuous dot clocks is repeated plural times on one scanning line, the frequency-dividing-number sequence pattern of each set of dot clocks while maintaining a total value of frequency dividing numbers necessary for generating each set of dot clocks at a constant value.
US08089668B2

Systems and methods are described that facilitate improving error estimation for calibration error due to clipping of pixels, and compensation therefor, during calibration of a scanner or printer. Calibration patches are measured at a first maximum pixel value threshold and at a slightly lower threshold value. Pixel values for the patches at each threshold are averaged, and a linear model is constructed, which is employed to predict error due to pixel clipping. The error is then compensated for when calibrating the scanner or printer.
US08089663B2

A detachable transparent plate for a scan head assembly in a document scanning system that allows an operator to detach the transparent plate from the scan head assembly located above a media feed path to clean a top face of the transparent plate and easily reattach it to the scan head assembly. The scan head assembly has an optical system and a sealing member detachably mounted to a bottom end of the optical system. The transparent plate is received and supported by the sealing member and defines a portion of a bottom surface of the sealing member. The sealing member is detachable from the bottom end of the optical system to allow an operator access to the top face of the transparent plate of the sealing member for cleaning the top face of the transparent plate.
US08089656B2

An image processing apparatus includes an input control unit that receives an input of image data and a first image-processing unit that performs first image processing on image data received from an image reading unit thereby obtaining first-processed image data. A first output control unit selectively-outputs the first-processed image data to any of the input control unit and an external storage unit. A second image-processing unit receives the first-processed image data from the input control unit and performs second image processing on the first-processed image data thereby obtaining second-processed image data, and a second output control unit outputs the second-processed image data.
US08089654B2

An interactive application for execution on a handheld display device having an image sensor, a transceiver and a touch-sensitive screen. The interactive application is configured to operatively control the device so as to perform the steps of: determining interaction data using image data captured by the image sensor, the image data being captured by imaging a printed substrate containing printed content; sending the interaction data to a computer system, thereby causing the computer system to retrieve display data corresponding to the printed content; receiving the display data from the computer system; and displaying content based on the received display data. The touch-sensitive screen enables interaction with the displayed content.
US08089647B2

An information processing device to generate data pertaining to a document from electronic paper which has a display section to display and retain the document, and a memory to store document identification data, includes a document data storage unit which stores document electronic data, a communication unit which acquires document identification data from the electronic paper, a reading unit which scans the display section, a data extraction unit which extracts from the document data storage unit document electronic data corresponding to the document identification data, a difference processing unit which extracts a note image appended on a surface of the display section according to a difference between an image from the extracted document electronic data and an image of the scanned display section, and a data generation unit which associates data of the extracted appendix image and the extracted document electronic data, thereby generates data pertaining to the document.
US08089646B2

A user processes high resolution digital images at a user computer by converting the high resolution images into low and thumbnail resolution formats and by converting the high resolution images into a JPEG format. The user also enters image related data into the user computer and creates a user database. The processed image data and the image related data are stored in the same database, i.e., a user database, and are transmitted to the host site. At the host site, the processed image data and the image related data are stored in the same database, i.e., a host database. Alternatively, users store a plurality of images in high resolution, low resolution and thumbnail formats at the user computer and upload to the host site those images—in thumbnail and low resolution format—that the user selects. Customers view the selected images at the host site and order desired images. The host site sends an image order to the user computer, and the user computer transmits the ordered images to an image laboratory in high resolution format for printing.
US08089645B2

An image processing apparatus which receives print data transmitted from an information processing device, includes: a storage for storing the received print data when the data is confidential print data, together with its ID information; an input control portion for allowing for input of ID information; and a controller having the function that, when detecting input of ID information, outputs the confidential print data corresponding to the input ID information and the function of switching the image forming portion from normal power status to power saving status when no print request has been made for a fixed period of time. When the confidential print data has been stored in the storage, the controller gives notice that the image forming portion will transition to the power saving status to the information processing device before the image forming portion transitions to the power saving status, and the controller delays the transition by a predetermined period of time when the controller receives an extension request from the information processing device to postpone the transition of the image forming portion to the power saving status.
US08089640B2

On operation of a printer for a digital tachograph in a motor vehicle, the input of the specification for the desired print is regularly time-consuming and error-prone due to the deep menu structure of the user guide. A solution is provided whereby the print medium (3), in addition to the size format, comprises an additional layout (21) and the print unit (12) of the printer (2) outputs a particular content of the impression on the print medium (3) depending on the embodiment thereof. The user can thus specify the desired content of the impression with selection of a print medium (3) for an advantageous sectional introduction.
US08089639B2

An image forming apparatus has an image acquisition portion that acquires image data on an image including a character. A character-periphery detector detects the peripheral part of the character in the image data acquired by the image acquisition portion. An outline emphasis portion sets the density of the image data acquired by the image acquisition portion, so that the density of the peripheral part of the character detected by the character-periphery detector becomes higher than the density indicated by this image data. A density changer sets the density of the image data so that this density gradually becomes lower from the peripheral part of the character detected by the character-periphery detector toward the inside thereof. An image former forms an image on a sheet of recording paper on the basis of the image data whose density is set by the outline emphasis portion and the density changer.
US08089635B2

Described is a method and system for fast three-dimensional imaging using defocusing and feature recognition is disclosed. The method comprises acts of capturing a plurality of defocused images of an object on a sensor, identifying segments of interest in each of the plurality of images using a feature recognition algorithm, and matching the segments with three-dimensional coordinates according to the positions of the images of the segments on the sensor to produce a three-dimensional position of each segment of interest. The disclosed imaging method is “aware” in that it uses a priori knowledge of a small number of object features to reduce computation time as compared with “dumb” methods known in the art which exhaustively calculate positions of a large number of marker points.
US08089632B2

Systems and methods are provided for detecting contaminants associated with a target. In one embodiment, a system is provided that comprises a tunable laser configured to transmit an illuminator pulse at a target for a predetermined time duration and a laser Doppler vibrometer system configured to transmit a probe pulse at a surface of the target within the predetermined time duration. The laser Doppler vibrometer system is further configured to detect and analyze at least one return pulse of the probe pulse to determine a surface expansion velocity of contaminants associated with the target due to the illuminator pulse.
US08089630B2

A method and computer program product for imaging an object are disclosed. The object is illuminated with an electromagnetic wave, characterized by a spectrum of illuminating wavevectors. Electromagnetic waves scattered by the object are detected, and are characterized by a spectrum of detected wavevectors. An aperture equal to or smaller than an instantaneous characterizing wavelength of the illuminating electromagnetic wave is disposed between the source and the detector. At least one of the illuminating and detected wavevectors is varied in magnitude to provide information regarding a scattering characteristic of the object. By applying a forward model of the aperture to derive a three-dimensional scattering model, a three-dimensional reconstruction of the object may be obtained by inverting a detected data function in terms of the forward model.
US08089628B2

The present invention provides a technology called Pulse-Multiline Excitation or PME. This technology provides a novel approach to fluorescence detection with application for high-throughput identification of informative SNPs, which could lead to more accurate diagnosis of inherited disease, better prognosis of risk susceptibilities, or identification of sporadic mutations. The PME technology has two main advantages that significantly increase fluorescence sensitivity: (1) optimal excitation of all fluorophores in the genomic assay and (2) “color-blind” detection, which collects considerably more light than standard wavelength resolved detection. Successful implementation of the PME technology will have broad application for routine usage in clinical diagnostics, forensics, and general sequencing methodologies and will have the capability, flexibility, and portability of targeted sequence variation assays for a large majority of the population.
US08089625B2

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that characterizes a biological sample by analyzing light emissions from the biological sample in response to an excitation. The system first radiates the biological sample with a laser impulse to cause the biological sample to produce a responsive light emission. Next, the system uses a wavelength splitting device to split the responsive light emission into a set of spectral bands of different central wavelengths. The system applies temporal delays to the set of spectral bands so that each spectral band arrives at an optical detector at a different time, thereby allowing the optical detector to temporally resolve the responsive light emission for each spectral band separately. Next, the system captures the delayed spectral bands within a single detection window of the optical detector. The system then processes the captured spectral bands.
US08089623B2

Methods for normalizing output from an instrument employing a reference standard or non-fluorescing substance disposed within at least one of a plurality of reaction chambers. The method comprises collecting and analyzing a signal associated with the reference standard or non-fluorescing substance to determine a normalizing bias. The normalizing bias is then applied to the data signal collected from a remainder of the plurality of reaction chambers.
US08089620B2

A measurement method and an evaluating apparatus are provided which are capable of easily and accurately evaluating the light amount of a spot beam, the diffraction efficiency, and the intensity distribution in the optical axis direction by detecting even a weak diffracted beam in an arbitrary wavelength range converged by a diffraction optical element as an imaging lens.
US08089608B2

An exposure apparatus includes an immersion space forming member (70) which fills an optical path space (K1) for exposure light (EL) with a first liquid (LQ) to form an immersion space, and a temperature regulating mechanism (60) which suppresses a change in the temperature of the immersion space forming member (70) accompanying deactivation of formation of the immersion space.
US08089605B2

A liquid crystal display panel includes an inorganic thin film which constitutes at least transistors, electrodes and lines. A first substrate includes a first inner surface which faces a second substrate in an opposed manner and a first outer surface on a side thereof opposite to the second substrate. The second substrate includes a second inner surface which faces the first substrate in an opposed manner and a second outer surface on a side thereof opposite to the first substrate. The inorganic thin film is formed on the first or second inner surface in a close contact manner. The center of a thickness ranging from the first outer surface to the second outer surface is positioned inside the second substrate. The relationship of T1+D
US08089603B2

A method of fabricating an LCD panel includes the following steps. A patterned black matrix layer is formed on a first surface of the first substrate, wherein the patterned black matrix layer includes a plurality of black-matrix patterns disposed at boundaries of adjacent first and second sub-pixel regions. Then, a first color filter layer is formed and patterned such that the patterned first color filter layer is disposed in the first sub-pixel regions and covers surfaces of the black-matrix patterns at a side of first sub-pixel regions concurrently. After that, a second color filter layer is formed and patterned so that the patterned second color filter layer is disposed in the second sub-pixel regions. A plurality of spacers are disposed on the first surface, disposed on the surfaces of the black-matrix patterns and the surface of the first color filter layer covering the black-matrix patterns.
US08089596B2

A vertical alignment liquid crystal layer is sealed between a first substrate having a first electrode and a second substrate having a second electrode, each pixel region has a reflective region and a transmissive region, and a gap adjusting section is provided on one of sides of the first substrate and the second substrate which sets a thickness (gap) of the liquid crystal layer which controls a phase difference of incident light to the liquid crystal layer so that a gap in the reflective region is smaller than a gap in the transmissive region. An alignment controller which divides alignment of the liquid crystal within a pixel region is provided in the pixel region on at least one of the sides of the first substrate and the second substrate. It is also possible to optimize by changing the gap in red, green, and blue.
US08089590B2

A transflective display includes pixels each including a reflective (R) sub-pixel, a transmissive (T) sub-pixel, and electrodes having features to cause multiple domains to form in a liquid crystal layer of the R sub-pixel and the T sub-pixel. The electrodes in the R sub-pixels have features that are different from features of the electrodes in the T sub-pixel to cause the liquid crystal layer in the R sub-pixel to have an optical phase retardation that is between 20% to 80% of an optical phase retardation of the liquid crystal layer in the T sub-pixel. The R sub-pixel and the T sub-pixel have substantially the same cell gap and are driven by the same pixel voltage.
US08089583B2

One or more embodiments of the present invention provide apparatuses, methods and systems to form a thin LED backlight unit for a large-screen flat-panel display. The backlight unit is able to achieve improved color mixing within a shorter mixing distance than the conventional art, while maintaining desired brightness uniformity, thereby allowing for a shorter bezel of a display device. One or more embodiments of the present invention include one or more light guides, which, by operating together, provide thin backlight units. High system efficiency is provided by introducing a recycling enhancement component, and uniform color distribution is achieved by incorporating color shift compensation. Multiple light guides are arranged adjacent to one another can offer a progressive scan illumination feature.
US08089581B2

A display for illuminating a liquid crystal display panel with laser light of uniform light quantity distribution, and an illuminator for irradiating with laser light of uniform light quantity distribution. The display includes a liquid crystal display panel (204), laser light sources (205, 206, 207) emitting laser light having wavelengths of green, red, and blue colors, a waveguide plate (201) arranged at the back side of the liquid crystal display panel (204) and performing multiple reflection of laser light, and a diffusion plate (202) arranged at the back side of the waveguide plate (201), diffusing laser light propagating in the waveguide plate (201) and emitting the light toward the liquid crystal display panel (204).
US08089577B2

An object of the invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device having a so-called direct backlight where the interval between a number of rod light sources can be reduced, as well as a liquid crystal display device where the liquid crystal display panel and the backlight can be provided close to each other and the thickness of the module can be reduced. The liquid crystal display device is provided with a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight provided on the rear surface of this liquid crystal display panel, and the above described backlight is provided with a number of rod light sources aligned in a plane which faces said liquid crystal display panel and electrode supports for supporting the electrodes of the rod light sources on the same pole, which are provided on the same side of the rod light sources, together. The above-described electrode supporting the electrodes on the same pole together are formed of at least a separate first electrode support and second electrode support. The first electrode support and the second electrode support are respectively formed by press processing a metal plate and provided with electrode fixtures for sandwiching the electrodes of the number of rod light sources and en electrode linking body for linking these electrode fixtures together. The metal fixtures of the first electrode support and the metal fixtures of the second electrode support alternate in the direction in which said rod light sources are aligned.
US08089575B2

A display device includes a sequentially stacked body formed of a gate signal line, an insulation film, a semiconductor layer and a conductor layer on a substrate. The conductive layer forms a drain electrode and a source electrode of a thin film transistor which are arranged with a channel region of the semiconductor layer therebetween, and one of the drain and source electrode is formed in an approximately U shape having an open-ended one end side and a connecting portion on another end side so that the one electrode surrounds a distal end portion of another electrode as viewed in a plan view, and a projecting portion is formed on a side of the connecting portion opposite to the another electrode.
US08089569B2

A phase difference element, in which imbalance hardly occurs between right and left pictures during displaying a three-dimensional image, and a display device having the phase difference element are provided. A base film of the phase difference element includes, for example, a thin resin film having optical anisotropy. A slow axis of the base film points in a vertical or horizontal direction, and points in a direction intersecting with a slow axis of a right-eye region of the phase difference element and with a slow axis of a left-eye region thereof. Thus, influence due to optical anisotropy of the base film is exerted on each light being transmitted by the base film, so that the influence is not extremely greatly exerted on only one of light corresponding to a right eye and light corresponding to a left eye, the respective light being transmitted by the base film.
US08089568B1

A head up display (HUD) includes an image source, a first lens, a second lens, a focusing mirror, a polarizing beam splitter, a second beam splitter and a combiner. The first lens is disposed between the image source and polarizing beam splitter. The second lens is disposed between the polarizing beam splitter and the second beam splitter. The polarizing beam splitter is disposed between the first lens, the mirror, and the second lens. The optical system for the HUD forms an intermediate image between the second lens and the second beam splitter. The intermediate image is located at the focal point of the curved combiner, and therefore the curved combiner collimates the display light upon reflection. The HUD can be compact and have a wide field of view.
US08089557B2

A video signal processing apparatus, for achieving high resolution, with using a small number of frames, as an input videos signal, comprises: an input unit, into which a video frame is inputted; and a resolution converter unit for obtaining an output video frame by increasing a number of pixels building up the input video frame, wherein the resolution converter unit has a same-brightness direction estimation unit, which is configured to produce a sampling phase difference for each video data, by estimating a same-brightness direction for each video data on the input video frame, and the resolution converter unit conducts a high resolution process of video with using the sampling phase difference, which is produced by the same-brightness direction estimation unit.
US08089553B2

A lens drive device in at least one lens barrel holding a lens moveably includes a motor to drive the lens; an acceleration detection section to detect an acceleration; and an output control section to control an output of the motor corresponding to the acceleration detected by the acceleration detection section. The output control section determines whether the acceleration detected by the acceleration detection section falls within a predetermined acceleration range or not. When the acceleration is determined to be within the range, a further determination of whether the lens drive device is in a stationary state is performed. When it is determined not being in the stationary state, the motor is driven by a maximum drive voltage. When it is determined being in the stationary state, a further determination of whether the posture is horizontal or not is performed.
US08089550B2

An image sensing apparatus includes a display control unit which controls an image display unit to display an image sensed by an image input unit. The image sensing apparatus also includes a signal strength detection unit which detects, from a sensed image, a luminance area formed from pixels satisfying a predetermined luminance condition, and a special area detection unit which detects, from a sensed image, an object area having a predetermined feature. The display control unit controls the image display unit to display an assist image representing the luminance area, so as to be superimposed on a sensed image. The display control unit changes the assist image display method between a case in which the luminance area and object area overlap each other and a case in which they do not overlap each other.
US08089548B2

An image processing device appropriately extracts an entire object from an image even if the object is not completely included in an initial region designated by a user. The image processing device includes: a designation unit designating a position on the image; a setting unit setting a first combination consisting of a first object region candidate and a first background region candidate, and a second combination; a histogram generation unit generating a normalized color histogram of each of the regions; a similarity calculation unit calculating a similarity regarding each of the combinations; and a selection unit configured to select a combination from the first and second combinations so that the selected combination has the similarity lower than the similarity of the non-selected combination.
US08089534B2

Methods and systems for determining shading correction coefficients of an imaging device. An inversion surface is determined based on an image captured by the imaging device. The inversion surface is approximated using the captured image and eigenvectors associated with singular values of the inversion surface, to form multiple reconstruction weights. A polynomial fit is applied to: i) the multiple reconstruction weights to determine a first set of polynomial coefficients and ii) the eigenvectors to determine a second set of polynomial coefficients. The first and second sets of polynomial coefficients are used to form the shading correction coefficients.
US08089528B2

The color signal processing circuit includes a first calculation unit generating an R/G value, a second calculation unit generating a B/G value, and a position specifying unit specifying, based on the R/G and B/G values, a position expressed as a color temperature of the light of a light source in a color coordinate system defined by R/G and B/G coordinate axes as the position of the light source. The color signal processing circuit further includes a pull determining unit determining a displacement amount between the light source position specified and a position of a target point on a blackbody radiation curve defined in the color coordinate system, sets gain values for the R, G, B color signals for achieving a white balance based on the displacement amount, and supplies the gain values to white balance amps amplifying the R, G, B color signals, and carries out white balance processing.
US08089520B2

A remote monitoring method and system enables the moving picture data being captured at Place 1 to be monitored remotely at Place 2 real time, and more particularly for example to a method and a system, wherein the moving pictures are taken with a web camera installed on the computer (PC, in general) at Place 1 and, upon request for receiving the contents of the moving pictures through the Mobile Browser (WAP or WEB pages) on the mobile VOD (Video On Demand) terminal at Place 2, the moving picture data are remotely monitored at the VOD Terminal Client by way of the streaming server.
US08089517B2

In an image stabilization control circuit of an image-capturing device, a gyro-equalizer (24) is used to integrate an angular velocity signal corresponding to vibration, and determine a required magnitude of displacement of a lens. The gyro-equalizer (24) integrates the angular velocity signal from a gyro-sensor (12) using an integration circuit (46) (LPF), and converts the result into an angular signal. A direct-current component of the angular signal is removed using a centering circuit (52) (HPF). Excessive phase delay of the angular signal on a high-frequency side caused by a phase characteristic of the gyro-sensor (12) is compensated by a phase lead compensation circuit (50) composed of a high-boost filter, and the phase delay of the angular signal with respect to the angular velocity signal is brought nearer to 90° by an integration process.
US08089502B2

A videophone system providing high resolution video transmission between videophones utilizes compressed video signals and audio signals which may be transmitted through any communications network, with the system providing real time adaptive error recovery and synchronization between the audio and video signals to produce high quality video images and sound. The system is highly resilient, adapting in real time to changing conditions in a network or to network errors due to data corruption or loss that can be produced, for example, by noise or line losses, thereby substantially eliminating fitter, signal packet loss or delay, or other errors which produce signal degradation.
US08089481B2

An image processing system may perform various tasks in an effort to evenly distribute workload amongst workload managers. According to one embodiment of the invention, the image processing system may divide a frame of pixels into different regions and assign responsibility for the regions to different workload managers in order to evenly distribute workload. The workload managers may be responsible for performing operations relating to determining or maintaining the color of the pixel within the region or regions which they are responsible. According to another embodiment of the invention, the image processing system may re-divide the frame into new regions based on relative workloads experienced by the processing elements to evenly distribute workload. Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the invention, the image processing system may re-partition a spatial index based on relative workloads experienced by the processing elements to evenly distribute workload amongst workload managers.
US08089476B2

A liquid crystal device includes a plurality of selection lines, a plurality of signal lines, a plurality of pixel portions, a plurality of photosensor portions, a plurality of first power lines, and a plurality of sense lines. The plurality of selection lines are provided in a line direction. The plurality of signal lines are provided in a column direction. The plurality of pixel portions are provided at positions corresponding to intersections of the selection lines and the signal lines. The plurality of photosensor portions are provided in correspondence with a portion of the plurality of pixel portions. The plurality of first power lines are provided in the line direction. The plurality of sense lines are provided in the column direction. Each of the plurality of pixel portions includes a first switching element and a liquid crystal.
US08089472B2

A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for mapping a touch sensing device to two sets of output objects. In one embodiment, the method includes mapping a first set of output objects into a plurality of one dimensional positions of a touch sensing device when a presence of a conductive object is determined to be in a first region, among a plurality of regions, of the touch sensing device. The method further includes mapping a second set of output objects into the plurality of one dimensional positions of the touch sensing device when the presence of the conductive object is determined to be in a second region, distinct from the first region, of the touch sensing device.
US08089459B2

A control device comprises a base portion and a handle portion extending from the base portion. The handle portion is movable from side to side relative to the base portion in an X direction, and forward and backward relative to the base portion in a Y direction perpendicular to the X direction. The handle portion is also configured to twist relative to the base portion. A magnetoresistive sensor is located in the handle portion. The magnetoresistive sensor is configured to provide an output signal indicative of a twist angle of the handle portion relative to the base portion. At least one sensor is disposed in the base portion for detecting a position of the handle portion in the X and Y directions.
US08089452B2

An electrophoresis device includes a first substrate having a plurality of pixel electrodes formed on a surface thereof, a second substrate having a common electrode formed on a surface thereof and disposed to face the pixel electrodes, and an electrophoretic layer disposed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. The electrophoresis device makes electrophoretic particles migrate by keeping the potential of each pixel electrode constant and changing a voltage to be applied to the common electrode. The device also includes a voltage control means which supplies a voltage whose minimum voltage is not less than V3 and whose maximum voltage are not more than V4 to the common electrode, in a case where a potential which appears in each pixel electrode when a minimum voltage V1 is supplied to a voltage supply means to each pixel electrode is set to V3 and a potential which appears in each pixel electrode when a maximum voltage V2 is supplied to the voltage supply means is set to V4.
US08089447B2

A liquid crystal display and a method of driving the same are disclosed. The liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel, a data drive circuit, a gate drive circuit, and a timing controller. The data drive circuit generates a pre-charge data voltage during pre-charge time and generates a real-charge voltage to be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel during real-charge time. The gate drive circuit supplies a first gate pulse synchronized with the pre-charge data voltage to the gate lines during the pre-charge time while shifting a gate pulse in a downward direction and an upward direction depending on an up/down signal, and then supplies a second gate pulse synchronized with the real-charge data voltage to the gate lines from a falling edge of the first gate pulse at intervals equal to or longer than scanning time of 1 line during the real-charge time.
US08089430B2

A self-luminous display panel driving method for driving a self-luminous display panel of the active matrix driving type, includes the step of executing threshold value correction operation for a driving transistor divisionally in a plurality of periods within at least one of which, after a point of time of an end of a preceding correction period till a point of time of a start of a succeeding correction period, a potential to be applied to the drain electrode of the driving transistor is controlled to an intermediate potential between a first potential for lighting driving of the driving transistor and a second potential for initialization applied within a preparation period of the first one of the correction periods.
US08089426B2

A plurality of subfields of a field period includes a subfield for performing an every-cell initialization causing an initial discharge in every discharge cell in an initialization period, and includes a subfield for performing a selective initialization causing the initial discharge in a predetermined discharge cell in the initialization period. In a low-luminance subfield, the every-cell initialization is performed, and a low-luminance subfield is subsequently located (in the field period) to the subfield for the every-cell initialization. In a sustain period of the subfield for performing the every-cell initialization or a sustain period of the low-luminance subfield, a width of a first sustain pulse is set wider than a width of a second sustain pulse, and the width of the second sustain pulse is set wider than the width of a third sustain pulse and subsequent others.
US08089409B2

A patch antenna device and an antenna device that are miniaturized while avoiding degradation of radiation characteristics, such as gain and efficiency. A first electrode is formed on a front surface of a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped dielectric substrate. A second electrode is formed on a rear surface of the dielectric substrate. The first electrode is connected through a coaxial cable to a power supply unit. The width W of each of the first and second electrodes is smaller than or equal to a quarter of the length L thereof, and the thickness T of the dielectric substrate is larger than or equal to the above width W. Advantageously, the second electrode is set so as to be longer than the first electrode, and both end portions of the second electrode are bent and arranged on both end surfaces of the dielectric substrate.
US08089406B2

Techniques are disclosed for detecting, identifying, and/or geolocating RF communications devices, such as FRS radios, high-power cordless phones, cellular phones, and other wireless communications receiver devices. The techniques exploit a vulnerability present in such devices, and can be used to detect (e.g., up to 300 meters) and geolocate (e.g., within +/−3 meters) those devices. The vulnerability is that receiver circuitry of the target devices emanate RF mixing products when flooded with RF energy or suitable stimulus signal. Such a response to a stimulus signal is unexpected or otherwise unintentional, as receiver circuitry is generally not designed to transmit information. The RF frequency, phase, and amplitude of these sideband RF responses can be used to detect and location the devices. The techniques work in the presence of interference, and can be used on devices that are powered on or off.
US08089398B2

This disclosure describes methods and systems for stationary user detection in a hybrid location system. In some embodiments, the method for determining whether a satellite enabled device is stationary by measuring the Doppler frequency of received satellite signals can include acquiring satellite measurements from at least two satellites, wherein the satellite measurements include Doppler frequency measurements, acquiring a rough estimate of location of the satellite enabled device and calculating an internal frequency offset of satellite enabled device.
US08089395B2

A method and corresponding apparatus are provided for phase correction in a deployable antenna system, in particular a redeployable HF surface wave radar phased array antenna system, the antenna system including a master control unit and a plurality of separate antenna elements which are relatively moveable to desired spaced-apart locations, wherein each antenna element is provided with RF signal processing means, the method including the steps of: (i) determining the relative positions of the antenna elements and the master control unit; (ii) transmitting a phase reference signal; and (iii) determining, on receiving the phase reference signal and using the relative positions determined at step (i), phase correction signals for each of the plurality of antenna elements.
US08089389B2

The present invention relates to intuitive based control elements and interfaces and devices using said intuitive based control elements. In certain embodiments, machine interfaces such as remote control devices for operation of various devices are provided. More specifically, machine interfaces according to embodiments of the invention herein include one or more control elements in the form of shapes and/or positioned indicia to facilitate operation by users. Control elements provided herein having intuitive shapes and/or positions described above as associated with the man-machine interfaces may also be provided integral with various devices. For example, personal electronic devices, personal care devices, personal healthcare devices, communications devices and personal comfort devices may benefit from control elements having intuitive shapes and/or positions associated with the function as described herein.
US08089382B2

Provided are, among other things, systems, methods and techniques for converting a continuous-time, continuously variable signal into a sampled and quantized signal. According to one representative embodiment, an apparatus includes multiple quantization-noise-shaping continuous-time filters, each in a separate processing branch and having an adder that includes multiple inputs and an output; an input signal is coupled to one of the inputs of the adder; the output of the adder is coupled to one of the inputs of the adder through a first filter; and the output of a sampling/quantization circuit in the same processing branch is coupled to one of the inputs of the adder through a second filter, with the second filter having a different transfer function than the first filter.
US08089377B2

A method and apparatus are disclosed for performing sampling rate conversion of an audio signal from a first sampling rate to any of a plurality of higher sampling rates using a single set of low-pass filter coefficients. Sampling rate conversion is accomplished by effectively up-sampling, low-pass filtering, and down-sampling the audio signal to generate interpolated output samples of a second digital audio signal at any of a plurality of sampling rates. The sampling rate conversion process includes storing a fixed set of filter coefficients as a plurality of phased subsets of filter coefficients, applying samples of the audio signal to the phased subsets in a rotational manner to generate filtered samples of the audio signal, and selecting and linear interpolating between certain filtered samples to generate samples of the second digital audio signal.
US08089372B2

In a method for transmitting data in an HVDCT system to a control system for HVDCT systems, measured values are transmitted from measuring units of the HVDCT system to preprocessing units connected to one another in series. The preprocessing units use the received measured values to generate measured value data. The measured value data are transmitted as part of a data record composed of data words, and the data words are subdivided, during transmission, into a temporal sequence of individual bit groups. A first bit group contains identification data for the preprocessing unit and information on the number of further bit groups that are to be transmitted by the preprocessing unit. A downstream preprocessing unit uses the information on the number of bit groups to be transmitted by a preprocessing unit connected upstream of it to determine a time for transmitting the data word of the downstream preprocessing unit.
US08089371B2

An apparatus configured to acquire received signal strength intensities (RSSIs) for a wireless device from a plurality of access points (APs) located on a plurality logical floors. The apparatus is configured to determine which logical floor the wireless device is on by analyzing the RSSIs. The RSSIs for each floor are adjusted with an adjustment value and are selectively weighted with at least two different weight values, and the adjusted and weighted RSSIs for each floor are each summed. The floor with highest sum of adjusted or weighted RSSIs is determined to be the floor the wireless device is on. The logical floor is further determined by sorting the RSSIs for each floor and then weighting the sorted RSSIs with the different weight values. The sorted and weighted RSSIs for each floor are summed. The floor with highest sum of weighted sorted RSSIs is determined to be the floor the wireless device is on.
US08089357B2

A system and method for automatically advertising items put on display, as well as protecting those items against theft. The system and method include an event sensor associated with the item and connected to a monitoring and alarm transmitter for initiating an advertising experience on an associated and local graphic display whenever the item is manipulated or approached by a patron. Should the item be removed or taken from its display stand, a wireless alarm is automatically transmitted to a receiver of an authorized person. The system and method also perform a logging function when a patron approaches the item or removes it without taking it away. The system and method also include the ability to provide power to electronic items that are on display.
US08089355B2

An apparatus and method provide the automatic, self-configuration of a communication device to adjust to the user's environmental circumstances. Method includes creating a set of mode templates corresponding to a plurality of potential environmental circumstances and may be stored in a database in the computer readable memory of the communication device. At predetermined intervals, a suite of environmental sensors integral to the communication device may periodically sample the user's environment. The user's environmental circumstances may be derived by an analysis module based on the output of the suite of environmental sensors. The derived set of environmental circumstances may then be compared to the mode templates to determine a matching mode template. A change to a plurality of communication device operational settings may then be made based at least partially on the matching mode template.
US08089351B2

An instrument cluster for use in a passenger vehicle includes a translucent sheet. The sheet is located in front of at least one of an appliqué, a display face, and a pointer of the instrument cluster. Indicia are embedded in the translucent sheet. The indicia has a first visual state and a second visual state, the indicia being more noticeable in its second visual state than in its first visual state.
US08089348B2

An information service system for a vehicle includes: an information obtaining element for obtaining information, which includes classification information for defining an importance level and an urgency level; a plurality of information output elements having various sensory types so that the information output elements inform the information of an user with various sensory types; a user load detector for detecting a physical and mental load of the user; a selector for selecting one or more information output elements according to the classification information; and a controller for controlling to output the information with the one or more information output elements. The selector selects the one or more information output elements based on the physical and mental load and a priority order of the information.
US08089346B2

A system and method is provided to facilitate the owners of the restaurants in managing their restaurant business and facilitate customers of the restaurants in at least placing orders. The system comprises a local server, plurality of hand held devices and an internet based application. The local server is associated with a restaurant. The restaurant has a plurality of hand held devices, the hand held devices facilitating a customer of the restaurant to place an orders in the restaurant by comunicating with the local server. The internet based application is deployed on a sever; the internet based application sends data to the local server and recieves data from the local server.
US08089338B2

The invention discloses a variable attenuator, comprising two or more resistors each resistor having its own effective resistance value, and means for simultaneously short circuiting at least a portion of two or more of said resistors, whereby simultaneously changing the effective resistance values. The variable attenuator of the invention is suitable for use in various high frequency and microwave circuits and systems, and has the features of a wide frequency band, small size, easy fabrication, low cost, and so on.
US08089329B2

A semiconductor switch for switching a signal according to input power and maintaining performance of a receiver system with a simple configuration. The semiconductor switch comprises: a first FET connected between a first input/output terminal and a second input/output terminal; a first transmission line connected between the first input/output terminal and a third input/output terminal; a second transmission line parallel to the first transmission line; and a detector circuit connected to one end of the second transmission line, for outputting a DC voltage corresponding to power level of the high frequency signal, branched by the second transmission line. The first FET is controlled and switched according to an output from the detector circuit to switch between a route from the first input/output terminal to the second input/output terminal and a route from the first input/output terminal to the third input/output terminal.
US08089325B2

An object of the invention is to provide an oven controlled crystal oscillator that prevents a reduction in characteristics due to temperature rise in the crystal vibrator and circuit elements other than the oscillating stage, and that increases energy efficiency of a heater element, to thereby facilitate temperature control. The oven controlled crystal oscillator of the invention is an oven controlled multistage crystal oscillator provided with: a crystal vibrator; circuit elements of an oscillating stage, a buffering stage, and a temperature control circuit; and first, second, and third circuit substrates, wherein the configuration is such that: on the first circuit substrate or the second circuit substrate, there are arranged the heater element and the circuit element of the oscillating stage thermally bonded to the heater element; on the third circuit substrate, there are arranged the circuit element of the buffering stage, and at least the circuit elements of the temperature control circuit excluding the heater element and the temperature sensor element; and the third circuit substrate is distanced in the vertical direction and thermally isolated, with a clearance, from the first and second circuit substrates.
US08089318B2

Apparatuses, methods, systems, algorithms, and circuits for reference clock frequency determination are disclosed. In one embodiment, a circuit for detecting a reference clock frequency can include a clock counter configured to count a number of cycles of the reference clock over a predetermined portion of a sleep clock to provide a reference clock cycle count, where the sleep clock has a known frequency and a predetermined accuracy; a frequency estimator configured to estimate the reference clock frequency from the reference clock cycle count and the known frequency of the sleep clock; and a frequency selector configured to select a closest frequency to the estimated reference clock frequency from a plurality of allowed frequencies.
US08089314B2

A slew rate improved operational amplifier circuit is provided to improve the slew rates of an operational amplifier with minimal sacrifices in power dissipation and other operational amplifier parameters. To improve the slew rates of operational amplifiers, additional current sources are activated when a slewing operation is detected. The detection of slewing operations and the activation of current sources upon detection can be implemented using two comparator circuits—one for a positive slewing operation, and one for a negative slewing operation. A sub-45 nm FinFET implementation of this slew rate improvement concept was implemented and compared against slew rate optimized individual two-stage operational amplifiers. Simulations show that slew rates were significantly improved by the implementation of the comparator circuits (5590 V/μs vs. 273 V/μs), with minimal increases in power dissipation (78 μW vs. 46 μW).
US08089306B1

An intelligent voltage regulator circuit in accordance with one embodiment of the invention can include a variable voltage generator that is coupled to receive an input voltage. Additionally, the intelligent voltage regulator circuit can include a processing element that is coupled to the variable voltage generator. The processing element can be coupled to receive programming for controlling a characteristic of the intelligent voltage regulator circuit. The processing element can be for dynamically changing the characteristic during operation of the intelligent voltage regulator circuit.
US08089305B2

A power supply voltage reset circuit, provided in an apparatus having an internal circuit capable of adjusting an internal power supply voltage, for resetting the internal circuit when a power supply voltage of the apparatus rises, and includes: a unit that generates an internal power supply voltage reference signal and changes a signal level thereof; a unit that generates an internal reference voltage to be a reference level in generating a reset signal for the internal circuit at a time of rising of the power supply voltage; a unit that generates a power-on adjustment voltage which rises later than the internal reference voltage at the time of rising of the power supply voltage and becomes greater than the internal reference voltage after a predetermined time passes; and a unit that generates the reset signal by comparing the internal reference voltage with the power-on adjustment voltage.
US08089302B2

The present application relates to an apparatus comprising a first transistor element, with at least three terminals, and at least one switching unit. The present application relates also to a method, computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon and a track and hold circuit comprising the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a first transistor element with at least three terminals, wherein a first terminal is supplied with a first voltage, and wherein a second terminal is supplied with a second voltage. The apparatus comprises a first switching unit, wherein a third terminal is connected to ground potential via the first switching unit. The transistor element comprises a predefined threshold voltage. The first voltage and the second voltage are predefined alternating voltages. The transistor element is configured such that in case a differential voltage between the first predefined alternating voltage and the second predefined alternating voltage is higher than the predefined threshold voltage and the first switching unit is not conductive the third terminal is charged with the first predefined alternating voltage.
US08089296B2

A method, system, and computer usable program product for in an integrated circuit are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A signal to be measured is identified in the IC. The signal is provided as a first control voltage input to a first VCO in the IC. A first output frequency is generated from the first VCO, the first output frequency having a first frequency value corresponding to the signal. The signal is provided as a second control voltage input to a second VCO in the IC. A second output frequency is generated from the second VCO, the second output frequency having a second frequency value corresponding to the signal. The first and the second output frequency values are exported from the IC. A mean value and a standard deviation of the signal are computed using the output first and second frequency values.
US08089292B2

A system and method allow accurate calculation of probe float through optical free-hanging and electrical planarity measurement techniques. In accordance with an examplary embodiment, probe float may be determined by acquiring a free-hanging planarity measurement, obtaining a first electrical contact planarity measurement, and calculating probe float using results of the acquiring and the obtaining operations.
US08089287B2

Systems and methods that evaluate moisture content of the soil through change of capacitance and alternative current. A contact free inductive coupling can be provided between a sensor arrangement associated with the soil, and a reader arrangement (e.g., combination of inductor(s) and capacitor(s)) to determine frequency changes of resulting sinusoidal oscillator. Such frequency change can be correlated with moisture content of the soil.
US08089286B2

A system and method for characterizing noise in a quantum system includes determining pulse sequences for unitary twirling operations. Twirling processes are applied to a quantum system to calibrate errors and to determine channel parameters. Noise characteristics are determined from calibration data collected to calibrate the errors and to determine the channel parameters. The noise characteristics are characterized to determine if the noise is independent relaxation of qubits or collective relaxation of qubits.
US08089277B2

Embodiments of conductive polymers and instruments using the conductive polymers in geophysical exploration are provided. Methods for fabrication are included.
US08089270B2

Apparatus for detecting a passing magnetic article includes a peak detector providing a detector output signal that changes state when the magnetic field signal differs from a magnetic field tracking signal by more than a threshold offset amount. The threshold offset amount is dynamically variable in response to detection of a speed of rotation of the magnetic article and a peak-to-peak signal level of the magnetic field signal.
US08089269B2

An annular magnetic encoder capable of detecting an absolute position precisely by specifying the shape of a magnetization pattern. The annular magnetic encoder (A) is of such a type that the magnetic poles (2a) of N pole and S pole are formed alternately at an equal pitch by magnetization along the circumferential direction of an annular magnetic body (2), an unequal pitch region (20) is provided at least one place in the circumferential direction of the annular magnetic body (2) corresponding to a plurality of magnetic poles (2a).The unequal pitch region (20) consists of one specific pole portion (2b) in the center and different pole portions (2c) located on the periphery thereof whose polarity is different from that of the specific pole portion.Magnetization pattern by the specific pole portion (2b) and the different pole portions (2c) is characterized by being formed line symmetrical relative to the central traverse line of the unequal pitch region (20), and the area of the specific pole portion (2b) is formed so as to occupy 40 to 60% of that of the unequal pitch region (20).
US08089267B2

A system for operating a differential probe which includes a first metal extension and a second metal extension having the same structures is disclosed. Each of the metal extensions includes a rotatable arm, a rotatable base, and a contact end. The rotatable base and contact end of each of the metal extensions extend from two ends of the corresponding rotatable arm at an angle, the contact ends and the rotatable bases of the metal extensions are parallel to each other. The system controls a mechanical arm to adjust a horizontal distance between the contact ends to be equal to a required horizontal distance by rotating the first metal extension around the rotatable base of the second metal extension clockwise by a rotated angle, and rotating the second metal extension around the rotatable base of the first metal extension counterclockwise by the rotated angle.
US08089264B2

A voltage measuring circuit includes an under-voltage measuring circuit and an over-voltage measuring circuit. The under-voltage measuring circuit includes a first voltage comparator, a first zener diode, and a first light emitting diode. An inverting input of the first voltage comparator is connected to a cathode of the first zener diode. An output of the first voltage comparator is connected to a cathode of the first light emitting diode. The over-voltage measuring circuit includes a second voltage comparator, a second zener diode, and a second light emitting diode. A non-inverting input of the second voltage comparator is connected to the cathode of the second zener diode. An output of the second voltage comparator is connected to a cathode of the second light emitting diode.
US08089259B2

A system that has low power recovery capabilities, the system includes: a switch that is adapted to provide a gated power supply to a power gated circuit in response to a control current; and a control signal generator adapted to control an intensity of the control current in response to a reception of a low power period end indicator, a value of the continuous supply voltage at a port of the control signal generator, a value of the gated supply voltage and an output signal of a high switching point buffer that is inputted by the gated supply voltage.
US08089244B2

An electronic device includes a main body, at least two pins folded mounted to the main body, and at least two conductive assemblies received in the main body. Each of the conductive assemblies includes a locking member and a resilient member resisting the locking member, when the pins are pushed and substantially perpendicular to main body, each locking member is capable of locking with an end of one of the pins.
US08089241B2

When a target operation point of either a motor MG1 or a motor MG2 is included in a resonance range specified by operation points of the motor MG1 or the motor MG2 in the occurrence of resonance in a booster converter, a hybrid vehicle controls the booster converter to make the voltage on the side of inverters approach to a preset target boosted voltage that is higher than the voltage on the side of the battery, while controlling the inverters by sine-wave control.
US08089238B2

A monitor opening mechanism includes a first rotating shaft rotatably connected to a host and having a first toothed portion. A stepper motor is disposed in the host and includes a second rotating shaft having a second toothed portion engaging the first toothed portion. A fine-tuning control circuit board is electrically connected to the stepper motor. A first fine-tuning key is electrically connected to the fine-tuning control circuit board. When the first fine-tuning key is operated, the fine-tuning control circuit board drives the second rotating shaft to rotate, forcing the monitor to rotate with respect to the host in a first direction. A second fine-tuning key is electrically connected to the fine-tuning control circuit board. When the second fine-tuning key is operated, the fine-tuning control circuit board drives the second rotating shaft to rotate, forcing the monitor to rotate with respect to the host in a second direction.
US08089234B2

When a motor temperature exceeds a threshold value, a torque control unit reduces a torque control value for a motor generator. A torque limitation control unit determines from torque control value and vehicular speed whether limiting a torque by the torque control unit should be alleviated, and if so the torque limitation control unit activates a signal for a predetermined period of time. When the signal is activated, the torque control unit stops reducing the torque control value and fixes the torque control value to be constant.
US08089226B2

A torque control device controlling torque of first and second mechanical units connected coaxially to each other through connecting members includes a controller generating first and second references from a command from a host system, first and second motors respectively driving the first and second mechanical units, first and second motor control units respectively controlling the first and second motors on the basis of the first and second references. The first and second references synchronously accelerate the first and second motors to first rotational speed, then increase rotational speed of the second motor according to a speed profile to produce torsional torque in the connecting members, decelerate the second motor to the first rotational speed after the torsional torque reaches a predetermined value, and synchronously decelerate and stop the first and second motors after a predetermined time period elapses.
US08089225B2

Systems and methods for inertially controlling a hovering unmanned aerial vehicle (HUAV) are provided. One inertial controller includes a frame and a sensor for detecting a change in an orientation and/or motion of the frame with respect to a predetermined neutral position. The inertial controller also includes a processor for generating commands to the HUAV to modify its current orientation and/or motion in accordance with the change. A system includes the above inertial controller and a sensor for determining a second change for an orientation and/or motion for the HUAV based on the change, and a processor for generating a signal commanding an HUAV control system to orient and/or move the HUAV in accordance with the second change. One method includes detecting a change in an orientation and/or motion of an inertial controller frame and commanding the HUAV to modify its current orientation and/or motion in accordance with the change.
US08089224B2

Methods are described wherein the signals from various sensors that monitor parameters such as beam position, beam intensity at each turn, number of turns, extracted current, extracted beam profile in space and energy are used to determine the effect of the variation of different parameters that control the operation of an accelerator. The diagnostic measurements and adjustments may be based upon measuring and evaluating parameters as a function of turn, and are part of an automated feedback loop for achieving the proper automated operation. The methods can be used to establish proper operating values for the accelerator parameters for optimum beam operation. By the use of feedback the operation of the accelerator can be automatically controlled in real time.
US08089216B2

A flyback controller may generate a switching signal for controlling the delivery of input current into a primary winding of a transformer in a flyback converter that has a secondary winding in the transformer and that is driven by AC output from a dimmer control that is chopped at a phase angle based on a setting of the dimmer control. The flyback controller may include a tracking input configured to receive a dimmer output tracking signal that is representative of the instantaneous magnitude of the output from the dimmer control. The flyback controller may include an averaging circuit configured to average the dimmer output tracking signal so as to generate an average dimmer output signal that is representative of a time-averaged value of the dimmer output tracking signal. The flyback controller may be configured to cause the average output current in the secondary winding of the transformer to vary as a function of the average dimmer output signal when the phase angle exceeds a threshold. The flyback controller may be configured to generate the switching signal with a duty cycle that causes the luminance level of light produced by one or more LEDs to vary when the phase angle exceeds a threshold by what appears to the human eye to be a more linear function of the phase angle than if the luminance level actually varied as a linear function of the phase angle.
US08089215B2

A discharge lamp lighting device includes: a DC power source; an inverter for inverting the DC power at a predetermined inversion time interval to supply a square wave AC power to a discharge lamp; and a controller for controlling the output power. The controller performs a synchronous operation and controls the DC power source such that DC power outputted during a period other than the output temporarily increasing period in a power increasing period is greater than the DC output power outputted during the period other than the output temporarily increasing period in a rated power period. Further, the controller controls the DC power source such that at least one of an increment of the output power for the output temporarily increasing period and a length of the output temporarily increasing period is less in at least a part of the output increasing period than in the rated power period.
US08089212B2

An electrode assembly for a discharge lamp, particularly a ceramic metal halide (CMH) lamp, having a ceramic body defining a discharge chamber and at least one leg having an opening therethrough. An electrode assembly is received at least in part in the body, preferably including a niobium mandrel, a molybdenum mandrel, and a molybdenum overwind received over the mandrel. A tungsten portion is then joined to the molybdenum composite. Adjacent turns of the overwind are spaced by a gap to facilitate receipt of an associated seal material on the overwind and the molybdenum mandrel. The gap is approximately 10% to 50% of the dimension between adjacent turns of the overwind relative to a diameter of the overwind.
US08089208B2

A planar light source device is provided which has high light extraction efficiency and in which a change in color tone at different viewing angles is small. The planar light source device includes, on a light emitting surface, a concavo-convex structure layer made of a resin composition. In this planar light source device, the concavo-convex structure layer has a cone, pyramid, or prism shape, and the resin composition contains a transparent resin and particles. In particular, in the planar light source device, variations in any of x- and y-chromaticity coordinates in any directions in a hemisphere on the light emitting surface are within ±0.1, the diameter of the particle is 10 μm or less, and the amount of the particles is 1 to 40 wt % based on the total amount of the resin composition. In addition, the difference in refractive index between the particles and the transparent resin is 0.05 to 0.5.
US08089195B2

The present invention is directed to monolithic integrated circuits incorporating an oscillator element that is particularly suited for use in timing applications. The oscillator element includes a resonator element having a piezoelectric material disposed between a pair of electrodes. The oscillator element also includes an acoustic confinement structure that may be disposed on either side of the resonator element. The acoustic confinement element includes alternating sets of low and high acoustic impedance materials. A temperature compensation layer may be disposed between the piezoelectric material and at least one of the electrodes. The oscillator element is monolithically integrated with an integrated circuit element through an interconnection. The oscillator element and the integrated circuit element may be fabricated sequentially or concurrently.
US08089187B2

A high-efficiency motor is disclosed. The motor includes two sets of permanent magnets and further includes electromagnets incorporated to be energized by a control system to provide a variable-speed motor that produces high torque.
US08089175B2

The invention concerns a direct drive or directly driven generator for a wind turbine comprising a stator having at least one stator element for power generation and a rotor pivotable around a centre axis of the generator having at least one rotor element for power generation, the generator having an air gap between the stator element and rotor element, wherein the stator comprises a front and a rear ring-shaped supporting element and stator segments being attached to the front and rear ring-shaped supporting elements of the stator, wherein junctions between the front and rear ring-shaped supporting elements of the stator and stator segments are located substantially at a radius in relation to the centre axis of the generator which is smaller than the radius of the air gap between the stator element and rotor element. Furthermore the invention concerns a wind turbine comprising such a direct drive generator.
US08089172B2

A method for determining a rotor position of an electrical generator in a wind turbine is described comprising determining a voltage of the electrical generator, determining a rotor position angle estimate based on the voltage of the electrical generator, determining a subsequent rotor position angle estimate through a feedback loop, based on a combination of the voltage of the electrical generator and the rotor position angle estimate. Further, a method to real time track encoder health is described comprising determining the phase angle of a reference voltage, determining the angle difference between the rotor position and the reference voltage, and determining the differentiation of the angle difference.
US08089166B2

An integrated circuit package system includes a bottom pad with a bottom tie bar, attaching an integrated circuit die over the bottom pad, attaching a top pad with a top tie bar, over the integrated circuit die, and applying an encapsulant wherein the top tie bar integral to the top pad, is exposed on a side of the encapsulant.
US08089164B2

The present invention relates to a substrate having optional circuits and a structure of flip chip bonding. The substrate includes a substrate body, at least one substrate pad, a first conductive trace and a second conductive trace. The substrate body has a surface. The substrate pad is disposed on the surface of the substrate body. The first conductive trace is connected to a first circuit, and has a first breaking area so it forms a discontinuous line. The second conductive trace is connected to a second circuit, and has a second breaking area so tit forms a discontinuous line. The second conductive trace and the first conductive trace are connected to the same substrate pad. Thus, the substrate can choose to connect different circuits, so the substrate can be applied to different products by connecting the desired circuit, thus reducing the manufacturing cost.
US08089162B2

In a pad forming region electrically connecting an element forming region to the outside, in which a low dielectric constant insulating film is formed in association with in the element forming region, a Cu film serving as a via formed in the low dielectric constant insulating film in the pad forming region is disposed in higher density than that of a Cu film serving as a via in the element forming region. Hereby, when an internal stress occurs, the stress is prevented from disproportionately concentrating on the via, and deterioration of a function of a wiring caused thereby can be avoided.
US08089161B2

A semiconductor device has a substrate, an insulating interlayer, an interconnect as one example of an electro-conductive pattern, a through-electrode, and a bump as one example of a connection terminal, wherein the insulating interlayer is positioned up above the surface of the substrate, the interconnect is positioned on the surface of the insulating interlayer, the through-electrode extends through the substrate and the insulating interlayer, from the back surface of the former to the surface of the latter, one end of which is connected to the interconnect, and the bump is provided on the back surface side of the substrate, and connected to the other end of the through-electrode.
US08089145B1

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor package (e.g., a QFP package) including a uniquely configured leadframe sized and configured to maximize the available number of exposed leads in the semiconductor package. More particularly, the semiconductor package of the present invention includes a generally planar die pad or die paddle defining multiple peripheral edge segments. In addition, the semiconductor package includes a plurality of leads. Some of these leads are provided in two concentric rows or rings which at least partially circumvent the die pad, with other leads including portions which protrude from respective side surfaces of a package body of the semiconductor package. Connected to the top surface of the die pad is at least one semiconductor die which is electrically connected to at least some of the leads. At least portions of the die pad, the leads, and the semiconductor die are encapsulated by the package body.
US08089144B2

A semiconductor device includes: a sensor including a sensor structure on a first side of the sensor and a periphery element surrounding the sensor structure; and a cap covering the sensor structure and having a second side bonded to the first side of the sensor. The cap includes a first wiring layer on the second side of the cap. The first wiring layer steps over the periphery element. The sensor further includes a sensor side connection portion, and the cap further includes a cap side connection portion. The sensor side connection portion is bonded to the cap side connection portion. At least one of the sensor side connection portion and the cap side connection portion provides an eutectic alloy so that the sensor side connection portion and the cap side connection portion are bonded to each other.
US08089140B2

A unitary lead frame assembly having a plurality of lead frame sets each comprises a first lead frame unit. The first lead frame unit has a pair of first and second frame portions extending along a first direction and spaced apart from each other along a second direction different from the first direction. The lead frame set further comprises at least two second lead frame units disposed between the first and second frame portions and spaced apart from each other along the second direction. Each of the second lead frame units cooperates with the first lead frame unit to define at least one first die-bonding area therebetween.
US08089124B2

An LDMOS device and a method for fabricating the same that may include a first conductivity-type semiconductor substrate having an active area and a field area; a second conductivity-type deep well formed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor substrate; a second conductivity-type adjusting layer located in the second conductivity-type deep well; a first conductivity-type body formed in the second conductivity-type deep well; an insulating layer formed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor substrate in the active area and the field area; a gate area formed on the first conductivity-type semiconductor substrate in the active area; a second conductivity-type source area formed in the first conductivity-type body; a second conductivity-type drain area formed in the second conductivity-type deep well. Accordingly, such an LDMOS device has a high breakdown voltage without an increase in on-resistance.
US08089123B2

A method for forming an opening within a semiconductor material comprises forming a neck portion, a rounded portion below the neck portion and, in some embodiments, a protruding portion below the rounded portion. This opening may be filled with a conductor, a dielectric, or both. Embodiments to form a transistor gate, shallow trench isolation, and an isolation material separating a transistor source and drain are disclosed. Device structures formed by the method are also described.
US08089120B2

A semiconductor memory device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a stacked body with a plurality of conductive layers and a plurality of dielectric layers alternately stacked, the stacked body being provided on the semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor layer provided inside a hole formed through the stacked body, the semiconductor layer extending in stacking direction of the conductive layers and the dielectric layers; and a charge storage layer provided between the conductive layers and the semiconductor layer. The stacked body in a memory cell array region including a plurality of memory strings is divided into a plurality of blocks by slits with an interlayer dielectric film buried therein, the memory string including as many memory cells series-connected in the stacking direction as the conductive layers, the memory cell including the conductive layer, the semiconductor layer, and the charge storage layer provided between the conductive layer and the semiconductor layer, and each of the block is surrounded by the slits formed in a closed pattern.
US08089115B2

An organic memory device is disclosed that has an active layer, at least one charge storage layer of a film of an organic dielectric material, and nanostractures and/or nano-particles of a charge-storing material on or in the film of dielectric material. Each of the nanostructures and/or nano-particles is separated from the others of the nanostractures and/or nano-particles by the organic dielectric material of the organic dielectric film. A method of manufacturing the organic memory device is also disclosed.
US08089103B2

A semiconductor device includes a substrate portion having a plurality of diffusion regions defined therein. A gate electrode level region is formed above the substrate portion to include conductive features defined to extend in only a first parallel direction. Adjacent ones of the conductive features that share a common line of extent in the first parallel direction are fabricated from respective originating layout features that are separated from each other by an end-to-end spacing having a substantially equal and minimum size across the gate electrode level region. A width of the conductive features is less than a wavelength of light used in a photolithography process for their fabrication. Some of the conductive features extend over the plurality of diffusion regions to form PMOS or NMOS transistor devices. A total number of the PMOS and NMOS transistor devices in the gate electrode level region is greater than or equal to eight.
US08089100B2

A restricted layout region includes a diffusion level layout including diffusion region layout shapes that define at least one p-type diffusion region and at least one n-type diffusion region separated by a central inactive region. A gate electrode level layout is defined above the substrate portion to include linear-shaped layout features placed to extend in only a first parallel direction. Adjacent linear-shaped layout features that share a common line of extent in the first parallel direction are separated from each other by an end-to-end spacing that is substantially equal across the gate electrode level layout and that is minimized to an extent allowed by a semiconductor device manufacturing capability. A total number of PMOS and NMOS transistor devices in the restricted layout region is greater than or equal to eight. The restricted layout region corresponds to an entire gate electrode level of a cell layout.
US08089094B2

A power semiconductor device is provided, that realizes high-speed turnoff and soft switching at the same time, includes n-type main semiconductor layer including lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer and extremely lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer arranged alternately and repeatedly between p-type channel layer and field stop layer and in parallel to the first major surface of n-type main semiconductor layer. Extremely lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer is doped more lightly than lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer. Lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer prevents a space charge region from expanding at the time of turnoff. Extremely lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer expands the space charge region at the time of turnoff to eject electrons and holes quickly further to realize high-speed turnoff. The pattern of arrangement of the lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer and extremely lightly doped n-type semiconductor layer is independent of the arrangement pattern of the gate electrode structure.
US08089093B2

A nitride semiconductor device having a substrate electrode establishing an excellent ohmic contact with a nitride semiconductor substrate is provided. The nitride semiconductor device includes a substrate having an electrode formed on at least one main surface. The substrate is a nitride semiconductor substrate whose surface includes two regions. The first region has an electrode formed thereon and a second region does not have any electrodes formed thereon. A first n-type impurity is included in a higher concentration in the first region than that in the second region in the vicinity of the surface of the substrate.
US08089091B2

A device includes a semiconductor structure comprising a light emitting layer disposed between an n-type region and a p-type region. The semiconductor structure includes an n-contact region and a p-contact region. A cross section of the n-contact region comprises a plurality of first regions wherein portions of the light emitting layer and p-type region are removed to expose the n-type region. The plurality of first regions are separated by a plurality of second regions wherein the light emitting layer and p-type region remain in the device. The device further includes a first metal contact formed over the semiconductor structure in the p-contact region and a second metal contact formed over the semiconductor structure in the n-contact region. The second metal contact is in electrical contact with at least one of the second regions in the n-contact region.
US08089087B2

A light emitting device package is provided. The light emitting device package comprises a package body, a light emitting device on the package body, and a light-transmitting light guide member under the light emitting device.
US08089086B2

Light sources are disclosed herein. An embodiment of a light sources comprises a substrate having a first surface and a second surface located opposite the first surface. At least one first electrically conductive layer is affixed to the first surface of the substrate and partially covering the first surface of the substrate. At least one second electrically conductive layer is affixed to the first surface of the substrate and partially covering the first surface of the substrate. A light emitter is affixed to the first surface of the substrate in an area not covered by either of the at least one first electrically conductive layer or the at least one second electrically conductive layer.
US08089066B2

To provide a light emitting device high in reliability with a pixel portion having high definition with a large screen. According to a light emitting device of the present invention, on an insulator (24) provided between pixel electrodes, an auxiliary electrode (21) made of a metal film is formed, whereby a conductive layer (20) made of a transparent conductive film in contact with the auxiliary electrode can be made low in resistance and thin. Also, the auxiliary electrode (21) is used to achieve connection with an electrode on a lower layer, whereby the electrode can be led out with the transparent conductive film formed on an EL layer. Further, a protective film (32) made of a film containing hydrogen and a silicon nitride film which are laminated is formed, whereby high reliability can be achieved.
US08089061B2

An inorganic EL device is provided with a substrate, a first electrode, a first insulating layer, a light emitting layer, a second insulating layer and a second electrode. The inorganic EL light emitting device is characterized in that the light emitting layer contains a quantum dot and is arranged between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer by being brought into contact with each of the insulating layers.
US08089060B2

A non-volatile memory cell and a fabrication method thereof are provided. The non-volatile memory cell includes an anode; a cathode having a surface facing the anode; a specific structure disposed on the surface; and an ion conductor disposed among the anode, the cathode and the specific structure, wherein the specific structure is one of a bulging area on the surface of the cathode and an insulating layer with an opening.
US08089028B2

Methods for repairing a gas turbine engine knife edge seals are provided. A representative method includes: providing a knife edge of a gas turbine component, the component comprising IN-100, the knife edge being degraded; directing a laser beam toward the knife edge; and dispensing IN-100 powder such that the IN-100 powder is melted by the laser beam and is deposited on the knife edge.
US08089020B2

[Object] A compact gas-insulated switching apparatus in which the space for arranging a gas breaker module may be reduced, and the space for arranging a circuit wiring may be reduced in the vertical direction is proposed.[Means for Resolution] Gas circuit breakers for respective phases of a breaker module have the reference axial lengths having the same length between the first and second vertical planes and arranged so as to extend in the first direction, first circuit wirings for the respective phases of a first circuit wiring module are configured with gas-insulated buses respectively and are extended in parallel to each other along the second direction which is orthogonal to the first direction, the first circuit wirings for the respective phases are positioned at the respective apexes of a right angled isosceles triangle, the first circuit wirings respectively for the phase A and the phase B are positioned at both ends of the short side of the right angled isosceles triangle and are arranged on a third vertical plane positioned between the first vertical plane and the second vertical plane so as to extend in parallel thereto.
US08089014B2

A waterproof push button switch does not need to be covered with a resin to a height at which a divided connected portion of a case for the switch is hidden by the resin in a height direction and the divided connected portion may be waterproofed. A gap (55, 57) is formed between a peripheral wall portion 7b of a base case 7 and a second cylindrical wall portion 9b of a cover case 9, and between an opposite surface 41 of the cover case 9 and a waterproofing seal member 11. The gap (55, 57) extends from an opening portion of the base case fitting chamber 37 to an annular watertight seal portion 51 to completely surround a periphery of the watertight seal portion 51. The thickness of the gap portion 55 is determined so that the resin entered into the gap portion 55 from an opening portion 37a of the base case fitting chamber 37 reaches the watertight seal portion 51 by surface tension.
US08089010B2

An electronic device with two keypads is provided. The electronic device includes a recessed portion and a pressable member rotatably attached to the recessed portion. A plurality of key switches is arranged on a surface of the recessed portion. A plurality of first pressable portions are formed on a first surface of the pressable member, and a plurality of second pressable portions are formed on a second surface of the pressable member. The first pressable portions and the key switches form the first keys, and the second portions and the key switches form the second keys. The electronic device further includes a switch unit and a processor. The processor is configured for assigning the key switches to correspond to the first pressable portions or the second portions according to the switch signal generated by the switch unit.
US08089008B2

When a start pulse is supplied, a time-constant circuit (1) is charged to a voltage Vcc, and charge in a variable capacitor (C) is discharged through a resistor (R1). Upon the voltage (a) of the variable capacitor (C) reaching a preset reference voltage V1, a signal (b) is output from a comparator (2). In response to the signal (b), a time measuring circuit (3) stores a measured time period as a time period “T1”, and at the same time a switching signal (c) is output. The switching signal (c) switches the reference voltage V1 to a reference voltage V2, which is slightly lower than the reference voltage V1, and further switches the resistor R1 to a resistor R2, which has higher resistance than the resistor R1. Upon the voltage (a) of the variable capacitor (C) reaching the reference voltage V2, the signal (b) is output from the comparator 2. In response to the signal (b), the time measuring circuit (3) stores a measured time period as a time period “T2”.
US08089005B2

A wiring structure of a substrate adapted to mount a plurality of integrated circuits has a signal wire for connecting the integrated circuits to each other, first and second power supply layers faced to each other, and return path wires arranged generally in parallel to the signal wire. One of the return path wires has opposite terminal ends connected to the first power supply layer (Vcc layer). The other return path wire has opposite terminal ends connected to the second power supply layer (GND layer).
US08089001B2

A low voltage differential signal (LVDS) cable includes a cable body, a power wire, a number of twisted lines for signal transmission, and a number of ground bare wires. The power wire is arranged in a center of the cable body. The number of twisted lines for signal transmission is equidistantly arranged around the power wire. Each signal transmission twisted line includes a pair of differential signal wires and a ground bare wire. The pair of differential signal wires and the ground bare wire are twisted together to form a triple-twisted line. The number of the ground bare wires is equidistantly arranged around the number of twisted lines for signal transmission.
US08088998B2

Flush mount and surface mount sectional electrical box assemblies is provided. In the flush mount electrical box, the male section has a clamping member and a mounting bracket guide. The female section has a clamp guide, a mounting bracket, and a ramp. In the surface mount sectional electrical box assembly the base section fits inside the front section. Wire molding joining the surface mount box with a molding base having an integrally molded combination raceway and a molding cover. A further embodiment provided is a complete electrical box assembly with the clamp members biasing toward the ramps.
US08088994B2

A light concentrating module for transforming light into at least one of electrical and thermal energy is provided. The light concentrating module may be coupled in flow communication with a fluid conversion module and include a primary optical element that has a reflective surface with a plurality of contoured sections. Each contoured section is shaped to reflect light that impinges the contoured section toward a corresponding focal region. The module may also have a receiver system that includes a plurality of energy conversion members positioned proximate to corresponding focal regions. The receiver system also has a working fluid passage for carrying a working fluid that absorbs the thermal energy. The working fluid can be conveyed away from the receiver system through a mounting post that holds the receiver system. In addition, the module may also generate electricity.
US08088993B2

A p-type electrode on p+ layer of solar cell comprising, prior to firing; (a) Electrically conductive particles comprising silver particle having a particle size of 0.1 to 10 microns and added particle composed of a metal alloy containing a metal selected from the group consisting of Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, W, Re, Os, Ir and Pt, (b) Glass frit, and (c) A resin binder, wherein the electrode is made from a fired conductive paste which is comprised of 40 to 90 wt % of the silver particle and 0.01 to 10 wt % of the added particle based on the weight of the paste.
US08088990B1

In one aspect of the present invention, a photovoltaic panel includes a substrate, a reflective layer formed on the substrate, a first conductive layer formed on the reflective layer, an active layer formed on the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer formed on the active layer. The reflective layer has an index of refraction and a thickness such that the reflectance spectrum of the photovoltaic device for light incident on the substrate has a maximum in a selected wavelength range in the visible spectrum.
US08088988B2

An improved transducer structure for musical instruments, principally for stringed instruments, permitting the production of an electrical analog signal which faithfully reproduces sound waves conducted to a sensor from the surface of the instrument through the attachment surface of the transducer and air borne sound waves incident on the elevated structure of the transducer, with nominal distortion. The sensors which are effective using this transducer technology include piezo-electrical sensors, magnetic sensors and capacitive pickups are made part of a symmetric resonant structure none of whose sides are parallel.
US08088981B1

A novel maize variety designated X5S800 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 X5S800 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X5S800 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X5S800, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X5S800. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X5S800 and to the maize varieties derived by the use of those methods.
US08088980B2

A celery cultivar, designated ADS-15, is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of celery cultivar ADS-15, to the plants of celery cultivar ADS-15 and to methods for producing a celery plant by crossing the cultivar ADS-15 with itself or another celery cultivar. The invention further relates to methods for producing a celery plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic celery plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to celery cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from celery cultivar ADS-15, to methods for producing other celery cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from celery cultivar ADS-15 and to the celery plants, varieties, and their parts derived from the use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid celery seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar ADS-15 with another celery cultivar.
US08088975B2

Materials and methods for identifying lignin regulatory region-regulatory protein associations are disclosed. Materials and methods for modulating lignin accumulation are also disclosed.
US08088964B2

This invention relates to a wound dressing (10). The wound dressing includes first and second absorbent layers (12, 14) of a non-woven fabric of viscose and polyester fibres. Each absorbent layer has an operatively inner face (20, 26) and an operatively outer face (18, 22). The first and the second absorbent layers are bonded together with their operatively inner faces in face-to-face relationship, such that the absorbent layers together form a pad. The bonding between the first and second absorbent layers may be effected by a needle-punching process in which the needle punching density is no more than 400 punches/cm2. The wound dressing further includes a third layer (16) sandwiched between and bonded to the first and second absorbent layers. The third layer is in the form of cotton gauze. The invention extends to a method of making a wound dressing, and to a method of treating a wound.
US08088956B2

The present disclosure enables phenol recovery, purification and recycle in a simple, economic manner from waste streams from, for example, a phenol/acetone production process, e.g., a phenol/acetone plant or an upstream cumene hydroperoxide cleavage process step, and BPA production step, for use in the reaction with acetone to produce BPA. The disclosure therefore reduces the overall consumption of phenol in the production of BPA.
US08088955B2

This invention relates to novel alpha-substituted α,β-unsaturated E- or Z-aldehydes, or isomer mixture thereof, of the formula (I) in which R1 and R2 may be identical or different and are each H or a hydrocarbon, in which the hydrocarbon may have one or more heteroatoms and R3 and R4 may be identical or different and are each a hydrocarbon, in which the hydrocarbon may have one or more heteroatoms, and R5 may be identical or different and is H or a hydrocarbon, in which the hydrocarbon may have one or more heteroatoms, to the use thereof, and to processes for their preparation. The invention further relates to the preparation of further intermediates for pharmaceuticals and to the preparation of the pharmaceuticals.
US08088937B2

Disclosed herein are compounds of the formula: (R)x—Sn—(R′)4-x wherein: R is alkyl; R′ is a moiety selected from the group consisting of: w is 0 or 1; x is 1 or 2; y is 1, 2, 3, or 4; and Z is a linear, branched, cyclic, or aromatic hydrocarbon. These compounds are excellent stabilizers for halogen-containing resins, such as PVC.
US08088935B2

Compounds and methods for the treatment of asthma are disclosed. The methods involve mast cell stabilization together with selective inhibition of iNOS. The compounds are combinations of a mast cell inhibiting moiety and an inhibitor of iNOS. An example is:
US08088930B2

The invention is concerned with novel benzimidazole derivatives of formula (I) wherein A, n and R1 to R7 are as defined in the description and in the claims, as well as physiologically acceptable salts and esters thereof. These compounds can be used as medicaments.
US08088923B2

The present invention provides a concise synthetic method for generating lactam-fused beta-lactones that feature, in some embodiments, a tertiary fused carbinol, quaternary carbons, and a reactive beta-lactone moiety available for further reactions. The present invention further provides compounds synthesized by this method as well as methods of using these compounds as inhibitors of the proteasome and fatty acid synthase.
US08088922B2

Dibenzorylenetetracarboximides of the general formula I in which the variables are each defined as follows: R′ are identical or different radicals: hydrogen; optionally substituted aryloxy, arylthio, hetaryloxy or hetarylthio; R are identical or different radicals: hydrogen; optionally substituted C1-C30-alkyl, C3-C8-cycloalkyl, aryl or hetaryl; m, n are each independently 0 or 1.
US08088916B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a hyaluronic acid-methotrexate conjugate useful as a therapeutic drug for joint diseases.There is provided a hyaluronic acid-methotrexate conjugate useful as a therapeutic drug for joint diseases, wherein methotrexate is conjugated with a carboxyl group of hyaluronic acid through a linker containing a peptide chain consisting of 1 to 8 amino acids.
US08088907B2

A method for detecting a mutation related to the gene encoding OAS1. This and other disclosed mutations correlate with resistance of humans to viral infection including hepatitis C. Also provided is a therapeutic agent consisting of a protein or polypeptide encoded by the mutated gene, or a polynucleotide encoding the protein or polypeptide. Inhibitors of human OAS1, including antisense oligonucleotides, methods, and compositions specific for human OAS1, are also provided.
US08088905B2

This disclosure provides antibodies and antigen-binding fragments that can act as agonists and/or antagonists of PD-1 (Programmed Death 1), thereby modulating immune responses in general, and those mediated by TcR and CD28, in particular. The disclosed compositions and methods may be used for example, in treating autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders, allergies, transplant rejection, cancer, and other immune system disorders.
US08088904B2

The present disclosure describes tetrahydropyran nucleoside analogs, oligomeric compounds prepared therefrom and methods of using the oligomeric compounds. More particularly, tetrahydropyran nucleoside analogs are provided, having one or more chiral substituents, that are useful for enhancing properties of oligomeric compounds including nuclease resistance and binding affinity. In some embodiments, the oligomeric compounds provided herein hybridize to a portion of a target RNA resulting in loss of normal function of the target RNA.
US08088901B2

An azaindenofluorenedione derivative shown by the following formula (I), (IIa) or (IIb):
US08088899B2

Disclosed is a novel physiologically active protein, which is a human granulocyte colony stimulating factor isoform, constructed in order to increase the in vivo lifetime of human granulocyte colony sedtimulating factor. The human granulocyte colony stimulating factor isoform comprises a polypeptide and polyethylene glycol (PEG) bound thereto as a non-protein polymer. A specific site of the polypeptide is selected so that polyethylene can be bound to the site while not adversely affecting the activity of the protein. The amino acid of the site is modified with cysteine and polyethylene glycol is bound to the modified site. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the isoforms, genes encoding the isoforms, and a primer for modifying the amino acid sequence are also disclosed.
US08088897B2

An isolated antibody produced against a donor product of an enzymatically catalyzed group transfer reaction is disclosed. In one aspect, the antibody has the ability to preferentially recognize the donor-product guanosine diphosphate (GDP), in the presence of the donor molecule guanosine triphosphate (GTP). Immunuoassays using compositions including such antibodies and kits for performing the immunoassays are also disclosed.
US08088891B2

This invention provides an isolated mutant atpE protein and departing from said mutant atpE protein the identification of an ATPase binding domain. This invention also provides related nucleic acids, vectors, host cells, pharmaceutical compositions and articles of manufacture. This invention further provides methods for determining whether a test compound interacts with an atpE protein, i.e. with the ATPase binding domain of the present invention, as well as pharmaceuticals compositions comprising said test compound, in particular as antimicrobials, more particular as antimycobacterial agent, even more particular for treating tuberculosis in a subject.
US08088886B2

The enzyme Lp-PLA2 in purified form, an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding Lp-PLA2, the use of an inhibitor of the enzyme Lp-PLA2 in therapy and a method of screening compounds to identify those compounds which inhibit the enzyme.
US08088881B2

Melamine-urea-formaldehyde resins may be prepared using processes including a first cook stage, a second cook stage, and a final addition wherein: the molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea and melamine (F:U+M) in the first cook stage is from about 2.0 to about 5.0; and the molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea and melamine (F:U+M) in the second cook stage is from about 1.5 to 3.0; and the molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea and melamine (F:U+M) in the final addition from about 0.4 to 0.70.
US08088877B2

A curable composition and a process for using the curable composition within a grating-coupled waveguide (GCW) sensor are disclosed. The composition can be used for facile replication of optical components, specifically those used in a label-independent detection system where operation of the waveguide is dependent on the detailed formation of micro and nano size patterns. The photo or electron beam curable composition has low viscosity (≦500 cPs) and cures to an optically clear material with high glass transition temperature (≦70° C.), low shrinkage on cure, low outgassing, and low extractables.
US08088870B2

A method for treating at least one interior surface (for example, a bed wall) of a fluidized bed polymerization reactor system, including by applying a solution catalyst (preferably at least substantially uniformly and in liquid form) to each surface, and optionally (where a catalyst component of the solution catalyst comprises at least one chromium containing compound) oxidizing at least some of the applied chromium containing compound in a controlled manner.
US08088868B2

A method for preparing a functionalized polymer, the method comprising the steps of (i) polymerizing conjugated diene monomer by employing a lanthanide-based catalyst to form a reactive polymer, and (ii) reacting the reactive polymer with a protected oxime compound.
US08088855B2

Disclosed is a powder coating method and paint thereof. First, a metal object is applied a voltage. Second, paint is rubbed to carry a static charge, wherein the static charge is opposite to the voltage applied to the metal object. The statically charged paint is then sprayed from a nozzle to the metal object to form a coating covering the metal object surface. The paint composition includes 90 to 99.9 parts by weight of a resin matrix, and 10 to 0.1 parts by weight of a carbon nanocapsule evenly dispersed in the resin matrix.
US08088854B2

An aqueous composition adhesive composition comprising a vinyl acetate polymer and a plasticizer having the general formula: wherein R1 and R2 are independently selected from the group consisting of saturated straight or branched and unsubstituted alkyl or cycloalkyl groups having from 4 to 8 carbon atoms.
US08088852B2

An oily surface adhesive room temperature curing type organopolysiloxane composition includes: (A) at least one of organopolysiloxanes represented by specific general formulas; (B) heavy calcium carbonate of which the surfaces have been treated with a fatty acid and/or paraffin treating agent; (C) an oil-absorbing carbon powder; (D) a silane represented by a specific general formula or a partial hydrolyzate; (E) a curing catalyst; and (F) an organic compound having one isocyanate group in its molecule.
US08088851B1

The present invention provides curable poly(acrylate) compositions, cured reaction products of which demonstrate improved resistance to shrinkage when exposed to hydrocarbon fluids, such as transmission fluids and oil- and fuel-based fluids.
US08088843B2

Crosslinking systems suitable for use in a polymer melt composition wherein the polymer melt composition comprises a hydroxyl polymer; polymeric structures made from such polymer melt compositions; and processes/methods related thereto are provided.
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