US08276691B2
Embodiments relate to rotary drill bits that employ superabrasive cutting elements including a diamond-silicon carbide composite table. In an embodiment, a rotary drill bit includes a bit body configured to engage a subterranean formation. The bit body includes a plurality of blades. The rotary drill bit further includes a plurality of superabrasive cutting elements. Each of the superabrasive cutting elements is attached to a corresponding one of the cutting blades. At least one of the superabrasive cutting elements includes a substrate and a superabrasive table bonded to the substrate. The superabrasive table comprises diamond-silicon carbide composite including a matrix comprising nanometer-sized silicon carbide grains and micrometer-sized diamond grains dispersed through the matrix.
US08276689B2
In one embodiment, a method of forming a wellbore includes running a liner drilling assembly into the wellbore, the liner drilling assembly having a liner, a conveying member, one or more connection members, and a drilling member. The method includes temporarily suspending the liner at a location below the rig floor; releasing the conveying member and the drilling member from the liner; re-connecting the conveying member to the liner; releasing the liner from its location of temporary suspension; and advancing the liner drilling assembly.
US08276683B1
A post driver for driving hollow posts, especially plastic posts, has an elongated central guide shaft and a hollow outer sleeve. The guide shaft has a length and diameter sized to pass fairly freely through but generally fill the post's hollow core to protect against the post buckling during pounding strokes. The outer sleeve annularly surrounds a substantial upper portion of the post for similar reasons. The outer sleeve transmits pounding strikes to a stop formation that rests stationary on the post's top end. That way, a user manually applying pounding strokes to the stop formation's upper surface transmits force to not only the post's top end but also the guide shaft's bottom end. Optionally, the guide shaft's bottom end is tipped and sticks out a little in order to pierce a pilot hole in the ground, and clear a path, for the post to follow.
US08276682B2
A ball valve assembly for use as a control valve for controlling the flow of gas through a continuous stroke pneumatic tool. The valving element is generally spherical and non-magnetizable. The generally spherical valving element is loosely confined between two concave generally conical surfaces, which are provided on valve seat members. The concave generally conical surfaces are opposed to one another to define a valve chamber therebetween. Sufficient clearance is provided so the generally spherical valving element is free to roll and tumble as it moves in the valve chamber between the concave generally conical surfaces. This allows the ball valve assembly to be self purging of excess lubricant, dust, and the like. Wear is distributed over the entire generally spherical surface of the valving element. The loose confinement is also sufficient to provide a relatively large cross-section of gas passageway through the control valve assembly. The two valve seat members are suitably ported to permit the ball valve assembly to be used as a drop-in replacement for prior pneumatic tool control valves.
US08276672B2
A subsea well tubular member has an axial passage with upper and lower retrievable plugs releasably mounted in the passage, the plugs having ends facing each other. A cavity is formed on one of the ends of one of the plugs. A movable barrier is mounted sealingly over the cavity, the barrier being movable repeatedly between inner and outer positions in response to temperature changes. The inner position reduces a volume of the cavity and increases a volume of a trapped fluid space between the ends of the plugs. The outer position increases the volume of the cavity and decreases the volume of the trapped fluid space. The barrier has two metallic layers with different coefficients of expansion.
US08276666B2
Of the many methods and compositions provided herein, one method includes a method comprising introducing a sealant composition into a well bore that penetrates a subterranean formation, wherein the sealant composition comprises a base fluid, a binder material, and a filler material; and allowing the sealant composition to form a cohesive sealant. One composition provided herein includes a sealant composition comprising a base fluid, a binder material, and a filler material, wherein the sealant composition will form a cohesive sealant.
US08276664B2
Spherical porous and non-porous cellulose particulates for use in sand control as well as stimulation procedures, may be prepared by first dissolving cellulosic materials (such as fibrous cellulose, wood pulp linters, cotton balls and/or paper), in the substantial absence of water or a nitrogen-containing base, in an ionic liquid. The solution is then combined with a cellulose-insoluble liquid to render the spherical particulates. The surface of the cellulosic particulates may be treated with a coating or penetrating layer.
US08276655B2
A heat conducting apparatus adopts a design of two oblique slide blocks disposed between and contacted with two objects for conducting heat from one of the two objects to another. The two oblique slide blocks can be adjusted freely according to the different heights of the two objects to conduct the heat produced by a heat generating component to a heat dissipating structure.
US08276652B2
A high performance louvered fin for a heat exchanger is disclosed, wherein adjacent entrance louvers have increased widths and adjacent exit louvers have decreased widths in order to optimize thermal efficiency.
US08276646B2
An apparatus for manufacturing a rotor for a rotating electric machine. The apparatus includes a movable mold and a stationary mold, and a cavity is formed between those molds. The movable mold includes a rotor core holding portion holding a rotor core, and a core arranging portion arranging a core removably. The core includes a base core and a plurality of split cores. The base core is equipped on its outer circumference with a remedy face, which is positioned in the inner circumference of the open end portion of a boss portion and extends in a mold-release direction of a casting, thereby blocking the deformation of the open end portion at the parting time.
US08276644B2
A mold including a product cavity that is to be filled with a molten metal to mold a product; a supply cavity that connects to one side of the product cavity to supply the product cavity with the molten metal that is poured from a casting port; and a cooling cavity that connects to the other side of the product cavity and in which the molten metal filling the cooling cavity is cooled before the molten metal filling the product cavity and the supply cavity is cooled. A modulus M (=V/S) as a ratio of a volume V to a cooling surface area S in each of the cavities has a relation of Ms>Mp>Mc, where Mp is a modulus of the product cavity, Ms is a modulus of the supply cavity, and Mc is a modulus of the cooling cavity.
US08276642B2
A trough shade system and method of use provide improved support for a roller tube and shade material. The roller tube and wound shade material are located within a support cradle to minimize unwanted deflection by the roller tube and associated wrinkling and deformation of the shade material. Various mechanisms allow the roller tube a limited range of movement within the support cradle. The system is suitable for shading larger areas than other shading systems which rely on roller tubes with fixed supports at the ends.
US08276639B2
A plant for manufacturing single-dose capsules for preparing beverages, comprising a conveyor (2) for advancing impermeable shells (101) in succession along a production line, which plant comprises at least: forming means (3) for forming individual beaker-shaped filters (105) of filtering material and for releasing each of the beaker-shaped filters (105) inside an impermeable shell (101), means for adjusting the level of each beaker-shaped filter (105) inside the relative impermeable shell (101), and welding means (5) for welding the upper edge of each beaker-shaped filter (105) to the upper edge of the impermeable shell (101) in which the beaker-shaped filter (105) is inserted.
US08276636B2
The invention is a pipe joint that is particularly suitable for joining pipes composed of materials having a low surface energy and excellent resistance to solvents. The major components are an extrudable adhesive; a first pipe having a socket with an inside diameter, where said socket has a mouth, a self-centering bottom, and a substantially cylindrical wall with an inlet, an outlet, and an inner annular channel; a second pipe having an insertion section with an end and an outer annular channel, said second pipe having an outside diameter that is less than the inside diameter of the socket, where the difference in diameters defines a cap and where the outer annular channel lines up with the inner annular channel therein forming an interlocking keyway; and a flanged annular ring, where said annular ring has an inside diameter that enables it to be slid over the second pipe and a thickness that is comparable to the gap, and where the flange has a width that is sufficient to cap the mouth of the socket. When fully formed, the adhesive has changed to a solid material that substantially fills the gap and the interlocking keyway, and serves as a mechanical key in the interlocking keyway. The adhesive is preferably an alkyl borane adhesive.
US08276632B2
A labeling and preparation device for test tubes. At least one storage section places at least one pallet having a set of test tubes at a preset position. At least one transfer section is disposed above the storage section, and clamps or releases one of the test tubes. A labeling section is disposed below the transfer section, receives the test tubes transferred from the transfer section, and attaches a label having information related to a sample on a circumference of each test tube. An ejection section is disposed below the labeling section, and ejects the test tubes to an outside. A controller controls drivers of the transfer section, the labeling section and the ejection section.
US08276621B2
The present invention principally relates to a thermal insulation element (200) of cylindrical shape for a fluid transport pipe comprising an envelope (204) of longitudinal axis (X), a thermal insulation arranged in said envelope (204), the envelope (204) comprising a deformable annular zone, comprising a first (212.6) and a second (212.12) cylindrical surface that overlap and are able to slide against each other in the case of movement imposed by thermal loads applied to said pipe insulation element (200).The present invention also relates to a method of fabricating pipes for transporting fluids at high temperature, particularly hot gases, from elements according to the present invention by fitting a male connector of one element into a female connector of the other element.
US08276619B2
An exhaust gas duct includes a hollow duct section having a peripheral wall, a slot in said peripheral wall, the slot opening in a direction counter to a flow direction through the hollow duct section; and a baffle plate located on an exterior surface of the peripheral wall, upstream of the slot relative to the flow direction.
US08276608B2
The invention relates to a device for securing a fire hydrant, comprising a duct (3), a control pipe (4) having an operation end piece (5) at one end and a valve (7) at the other end capable of supplying said duct (3) with water from the main network, at least one connection (8) attached to said duct and capable of receiving fire hoses, said connection (8) including a sealing plug (9), said plug (9) including at least one first retaining means (15, 15a, 15b) capable of interacting with the control pipe (4) or with a wall of said duct (3) so as to prevent the sinking of the plug into said connection, characterized in that said plug (9) includes at least a second retaining means (13) for preventing the extraction of the plug from said connection and actuated by a locking device (12).
US08276600B2
The invention relates to a machine for scraping away sediment or the like deposited on the bottom of a gallery. The machine comprises: a first movable body suitable for moving over the bottom portion of the wall of the gallery; first movement means for moving said first movable body; scraper means for detaching sediment from the bottom; first buffer storage means mounted on said first movable body; first transfer means for transferring detached sediment into said first storage means; second transfer means for transferring sediment stored in said first buffer storage means to the outside of said first movable body; a second movable body; second movement means; and second storage means mounted on said second movable body to collect the transferred sediment.
US08276599B2
A personal electronics device of the type such as, but not limited to, cell phones, personal digital assistants, digital camera, and digital electronic games, includes a case having a first compartment and a second compartment. A series of integrated electronic components perform a desired personal electronic function wherein at least a portion of the components are housed in the first compartment. The second compartment defines a selectively accessible storage volume. A cosmetic tray is housed in the accessible storage volume and has at least one form of cosmetic selected from the group of nail polish, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, lip liner, and lip gloss.
US08276589B2
A cricothyrotomy syringe has a hollow body, a needle connector at an end of the body, an aperture at an opposite end of the body, a plunger in the aperture, the plunger having a seal that forms a liquid tight seal with an inner surface of the body and the plunger moveable within the body between an extended position and a compressed position and a ventilator adaptor extending from a side of the body, where an interior of the ventilator adaptor is in fluid communication with an interior of the body when the plunger is in the extended position.
US08276577B2
A method and apparatus for a saw device mountable on a self-propelled piece of equipment, such as tractor, is described. In one embodiment, the saw device includes a gripper and cutter unit mountable on an articulatable arm or boom of the tractor. In one aspect, the gripper and cutter unit is coupled to a distal end of the boom by a frame, the frame being movable in at least an angle relative to a plane of the boom. The gripper and cutter unit comprises a material gripping device and an articulatable saw comprising a circular saw blade operably coupled to a motor, the saw blade and the motor coupled to a pivotable arm that is movable relative to the frame.
US08276574B1
A compound archery bow includes a handle having projecting limbs, and first and second pulleys mounted on the limbs for rotation around respective axes. At least a first of the pulleys includes a flat base with a bowstring let-out groove on the base and a bowstring anchor adjacent to the bowstring let-out groove. A draw module is disposed on the base, a cable groove extends along the draw module, and first and second cable anchors are disposed on the base adjacent to respective ends of the cable groove. The cable groove on the draw module is continuous in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the first pulley. A bow cable arrangement includes a bowstring cable extending from the bowstring anchor on the first pulley around the bowstring let-out groove and then toward the second pulley. A first cable extends from the first anchor on the first pulley through a portion of the cable groove on the module and then toward the second pulley. A second cable extends from the second anchor toward the second pulley. Draw of the bowstring cable away from the bow handle lets out bowstring cable from the bowstring cable groove on the first pulley and rotates the first pulley around its axis, lets out the first cable from the groove on the module and takes up the second cable into the groove on the module including a portion of such groove previously occupied by the first cable.
US08276546B2
Disclosed is a pet washing apparatus having a base including a washing floor board for positioning a pet and a top part connectible with the lower base. The top part further includes a cover positionable at least partly over the floor board to define, at least partly, a contained wash space. Preferably, the washing apparatus also includes a nozzle supported on the cover and operably positioned to spray downwardly onto the base and pet positioned in the wash space.
US08276540B2
A method and system for introducing a process fluid through a chamber component in a processing system is described. The chamber component comprises a chamber element having a first surface on a supply side of the chamber element and a second surface on a process side of the chamber element, wherein the process side is opposite the supply side. Furthermore, the chamber component comprises a conduit extending through the chamber element from the supply side to the process side, wherein the conduit comprises an inlet configured to receive a process fluid and an outlet configured to distribute the process fluid.
US08276534B2
A boat includes a recess arranged in a middle, as viewed in a horizontal direction, of a stern, and outboard motors installed on an installation portion provided in the recess such that the boat driven by the outboard motors. A transom platform is located at left, right, and front sides of the recess so that a crew is allowed to walk on the transom platform. A rear portion of each of the left portion and the right portion of the transom platform projects rearward beyond the outboard motors. The starboard-side step of the transom platform has a step, while the port-side step has a step. A storage portion is arranged below the fore step, and a storage portion is arranged in a rear portion of the port-side step. The boat allows for an effectively usable large space to be provided in the boat body and allows for easy movement around the outboard motors.
US08276530B2
A splitter divides an air/product mixture flow, delivered thereto in an air-powered distribution line, between a primary and a secondary distribution channel, which may be flow-coupled to a product hopper or a hose flow-coupled to another product hopper or another splitter. The air/product mixture enters the inlet of the splitter along an angled downward flow path and exits a primary outlet, flow-coupled to the primary distribution channel, along a vertical downward flow path. Air/product flow is exhausted by a secondary outlet, which is flow-coupled to the secondary distribution channel, at an angled upward flow path. The velocity flow vector along which the air/product mixture is exhausted from the secondary outlet is at an acute angle relative to the velocity flow vector along which the air/product mixture is received by the inlet of the splitter.
US08276524B2
A multiple tier center support stand that includes a plurality of plates each being configured to be associated with a mechanical fastener and a plurality of posts each being configured to be associated with a mechanical fastener. The mechanical fastener is arranged on at least one of the plurality of plates and the plurality of posts in order to vertically arrange the plurality of plates and the plurality of posts. At least one of the plurality of plates is configured to be disassembled in at least two pieces.
US08276518B2
The present invention relates to decoys for heat-seeking missiles and methods of producing and using the same. The decoys are designed to be kinematic or pseudo-kinematic, producing one or more infra-red radiation emitting clouds that give the appearance of a moving infra-red target in the airspace in which the decoy has been released.
US08276510B2
A method for producing a dampening system housing, includes the steps of providing a longitudinal housing element prepared from a flat component, making available two side parts with grooves for accommodating the longitudinal housing element, inserting the longitudinal housing element in the grooves and sealing the longitudinal housing element in the grooves, as well as a correspondingly produced dampening system housing.
US08276507B1
An improved pressure cooker design including a two-piece handle utilizing a common connection point to a cover to increase resistance to damage due to over tightening of connecting screws while simultaneously allowing the use of a conventional handle size with a reduction in overall packaging size. The two-piece handle design includes a cover base portion and a cover grip portion wherein a pair of nuts are mounted within the cover base portion to receive coupling screws at both ends of the nuts for joining the cover and the cover grip portion to the cover base portion. Tightening of the coupling screws provides for continuous metal on metal contact eliminating damage to weaker polymeric materials while allowing a consumer to quickly and easily attach the cover grip portion of the two-piece handle to the cover base portion at a point of use so as reduce overall packaging dimensions.
US08276505B2
An automated food preparation system is described. It allows precise, automated control of the food preparation process, and has the ability to perform an automated cleanup. It comprises at least one manipulator to process and move ingredients, a control system, an autonomously accessible ingredient storage system, and at least one cooking receptacle.
US08276498B1
A modular ballistic shield design includes a viewport which extends from a first lateral edge of the shield to the second lateral edge providing unobstructed viewing. The three modules are connected together in a manner enabling replacement of any particular damaged module. No fastener protrudes through to the front face in a region fronting the user.
US08276493B2
A friction winch and braking system for a sawmill having a cutting mechanism for sawing lumber. The friction winch and braking system allows for easy, one-handed raising and lowering of the sawmill head within the sawmill carriage and the automatic braking of the sawhead at the vertical plane chosen by the operator.
US08276485B1
A pivot head wrenching tool includes a handle, a switch, a pawl, a torsion spring, and a pivotal driving head. The pivot head wrenching tool is operable in a lock mode in which the pivotal driving head is restrained from being pivoted and in an unlock mode in which the pivotal driving head is able to be pivoted. The switch is in a first position and includes a first surface abutted against the pawl as well as the pawl is engaged with a connecting end of the pivotal driving head when the pivot head wrenching tool is in the lock mode. The switch is in a second position and includes a second surface gapped from the pawl as well as the pawl is disengaged from the connecting end of the pivotal driving head when the pivot head wrenching tool is in the unlock mode.
US08276477B2
A control device such as a handlebar-mounted brake includes a support structure containing a hydraulic piston, a lever pivotally connected to the support structure by a pin, and a transmission element for transmitting force from the lever to the piston during a normal actuation stroke of the lever. The lever may pivot outward substantially beyond its normal rest position. A torsion spring biases the lever in the actuation direction so that the lever and the transmission element are normally in contact. However, in the event of a fall, the lever can pivot outward from its normal rest position, out of contact with the transmission element. The hydraulic components are thereby protected from damage, as the pin and support structure bear the entire impact force applied to the lever.
US08276476B2
A joystick including a base portion, a grip portion extending from and pivotally attached to the base portion, and an offset control portion connected to the grip portion and offset from the grip portion such that the offset control portion moves with the grip portion relative to the base portion. A gap is provided between the offset control portion and the grip portion. The offset control portion includes an input device.
US08276472B2
A transmission assembly includes a shift drum operable to rotate in first and second directions. The shift drum includes a common speed change position, where both a fastest forward gear and a reverse gear are capable of becoming engaged, in such a manner that a reverse stopper arm fits at a first end of a reverse cam groove formed on the shift drum. When the shift drum is rotated in the second rotation direction, opposite to the first direction, from a state where the reverse gear is engaged, the reverse stopper arm surmounts the outer periphery of the shift drum from the first end of the reverse cam groove, without requiring the application of an external force thereto, so as to become detached and to move towards a second end of the reverse cam groove.
US08276467B2
The invention relates to a tactile sensor with a sensor cell, wherein a sensor cell comprises an electrically-conducting workpiece made from flexible material and a connection to a first and a second electrode and the flexible material layers the electrical conductivity thereof under mechanical load. According to the invention, pressure distributions can be measured, by providing at least two sensor cells separated by an intervening zone, wherein two adjacent sensor cells are connected to a common first or second electrode and in the intervening zone between a first and a second adjacent sensor cell the electrically conducting workpiece of the first and the second sensor cell are at least partly separated from each other by medium with a greater specific resistance than the specific resistance of the electrically conducting workpieces.
US08276465B2
The unique characteristic sounds produced by urine as it impacts the surface of the water in a toilet are used to monitor men's urinary flow pattern and its dynamics. By detecting the intensity at selected acoustic frequencies, it is possible to accurately and precisely measure the urine flow rate. Techniques for analyzing urine flow and its dynamics employ sound levels that are detected at two or more distinct frequency regions or channels of the sound spectrum. One frequency region that is designated the measurement channel is where the sound measurement intensity strongly depends on urine flow levels. Another frequency region that is designated the reference channel is where the sound measurement intensity is not dependent on urine flow levels. By using a combination of measurements from the measurement channel and the reference channel, the urine-flow monitoring apparatus compensates for variations in operating conditions and other factors during use.
US08276457B2
A pressure sensor includes a hydraulic path filled with a pressure transfer liquid and a pressure transducer having a pressure sensitive deformation body. The hydraulic path includes a channel which extends from a pressure input opening at least to the deformation body, wherein the pressure input opening is spaced a separation distance from the deformation body, and wherein pressure on the deformation body deviates from pressure at the pressure input opening by the difference of the hydrostatic pressure of the pressure transfer liquid between the pressure input opening and the deformation body. The pressure sensor further includes an inclination sensor for determining at least one inclination value dependent on the inclination of the hydraulic path, and a processing circuit, which is suitable to determine the difference of the hydrostatic pressure of the pressure transfer liquid between the pressure input opening and the deformation body as a function of inclination value, a density value of the pressure transfer liquid and a separation distance.
US08276454B2
The present invention describes a system for taking the necessary energy for operating the electronic circuit for monitoring a bearing (A) directly from the rotation movement, namely from the kinetic energy of the bearing i.e by energy harvesting or scavenging. All information read on board the bearing (A) by the sensors (4a, 4b) are sent through radio with a wireless communication system to an external data collecting and processing unit (6), that is able to evaluate and communicate the status of the bearing (A) being analyzed. The preferred system embodiment provides that the generator (1) bases its operation on the gyroscope (or Coriolis force) effect a circuit (7) for accumulating the necessary energy for turning the system on.
US08276444B2
A method for ascertaining and monitoring fill level of a medium in a container a field device using a travel time, measuring method, wherein transmission signals are transmitted and reflection signals received. The received reflection signals are registered as echo signals in an echo function, wherein masking curve, evaluation curves and/or echo parameters of the echo signals in the echo function are ascertained or predetermined, as well as stored in a first measuring cycle. By a static echo search algorithm, through the masking curve, the evaluation curve, the echo parameters, position and/or amplitude of at least one wanted echo signal are/is ascertained, wherein, a dynamic echo search algorithm, a continuous echo tracking of positional changes and/or amplitude changes of individual echo signals and/or the wanted echo signal in the echo function is performed. On the basis of positional changes and/or amplitude changes of individual wanted echo signals, masking curve, evaluation curve and/or echo parameters of the static echo search algorithm are adjusted.
US08276443B2
A method of using of a level meter employing the radar principle, serving to measure the fill level of a medium in a container and incorporating an electric conductor system for conducting an electromagnetic signal into the container and returning reflected components of the electromagnetic signal from the container, the electric conductor system terminating at a predefined level in the container. In practicing the method a variation of the component of the electromagnetic signal reflected at the container-oriented end of the conductor system is utilized as an indicator of the attainment of the predefined fill level by the medium. This permits the detection of very small amounts of a medium for instance in the monitoring of drain pipes, spillway basins or leak-detection systems.
US08276436B2
The present invention provides for an apparatus for testing a surface coating. An elongated tube having a first end and a second end is provided wherein said second end is open to a holding container. The first end of the elongated tube farther includes a funnel. A planar test panel is adapted to hold a variety of materials to be tested. Such materials include paint, coatings, tape, or other like materials. A separator is fluidly connected to the holding container via a first conduit. A vacuum is fluidly connected to a separator by means of a second conduit. A tester places a plurality of loose test pieces, such as metal nuts or small rocks, into the funnel and the loose test pieces fall through the elongated tube and onto the planar test panel. The loose test pieces then fall into the holding container. The vacuum creates suction through said separator and through the conduits into the holding container thereby removing the loose test pieces from the holding container through the conduit and into the separator. The loose test pieces can then be removed from the separator, and the testing process may easily be repeated.
US08276435B2
A surface texture measuring instrument includes: a measuring device that includes a detector for detecting surface texture of a workpiece and an X-axis movement mechanism for moving the detector in a measurement direction; an elevation inclination adjuster capable of adjusting an elevation position and an inclination angle of a table on which the measuring device is mounted; a stage on which the workpiece is mounted; and a controller that controls the measuring device and the elevation inclination adjuster. The controller includes: a measurement controller that controls the X-axis movement mechanism to conduct a preliminary measurement and main measurement of the workpiece; a computing unit that acquires a result of the preliminary measurement from the detector and obtains an inclination angle of the workpiece at which the workpiece is inclined to the measurement direction; and a positioning controller for adjusting the inclination angle of the table based on the obtained inclination angle.
US08276431B1
A method for determining time a single transit of an acoustic wave through a test material using a calibration material having known acoustic velocity characteristics and an acoustic pitch-catch system with a signal recorder for recording a received signal as a function of time. The system includes a first configuration for transmission of acoustic shear waves and a second configuration for transmission of acoustic longitudinal waves. In the first configuration, a first acoustic zero is determined when the acoustic shear waves are applied to the calibration material. In its second configuration, a second acoustic zero is determined when the acoustic longitudinal waves are applied to the calibration material. Each configuration is coupled to a test material with the respective first and second acoustic zeroes identified on the recorder. The signal recorder determines a single transit time for the acoustic waves through the test material.
US08276424B2
A pipe in which polygonization is substantially eliminated is manufactured by a reducer with a grooved roll with a groove having a groove bottom zone including the center of the groove in the roll axial direction and flange zones adjoining both sides of the groove bottom zone. The groove surface has a friction distribution in the roll axial direction such that the frictional force with respect to a material being rolled in the groove bottom zone is larger than the frictional force with respect to a material being rolled in the flange zones. This friction distribution can be achieved by working the groove surface so that the surface roughness of the groove bottom zone becomes greater than the surface roughness of the flange zones or by applying a lubricity modifier which differs with respect to amount and/or type between the groove bottom zone and the flange zones.
US08276408B2
A washing machine includes a tub made of plastic to store water therein and a drum rotatably installed in the tub to hold laundry therein. A shaft passes through the tub and connects to the drum to transmit driving power from a motor to the drum. A wall having a recessing part and a projecting part is formed on an inner surface or outer surface thereof in a circumferential direction. A bearing housing has a stator fastening part where the stator fastening part has a recessing part and a projecting part corresponding with the recessing part and the projecting part of the wall in a circumferential direction, and a stator of the motor is mounted on the stator fastening part and a rotor of the motor is connected to a rear part of the shaft and surrounding the stator.
US08276405B2
A knitted fabric containing a composite yarn is provided, which is characterized in that the composite yarn is constituted of two or more kinds of false-twist crimped yarns and has a torque of not more than 30 T/m.
US08276402B2
Provided is a method of manufacturing a vitreous silica crucible, including: an arc fusing process for fusing the silica powder molded body by using arc flames generated from the plurality of carbon electrodes, wherein the arc fusing process is performed in a state of disposing tips of at least a pair of carbon electrodes of the plurality of carbon electrodes closer to a target surface of the silica powder molded body than other carbon electrode tips, and setting distances from each of the tips of the closer carbon electrodes to the target surface, to be equal, and the arc fusing process is performed by heating and fusing the silica powder molded body while performing fire polishing, which partially removes an inner surface of the silica powder molded body by using arc flames generated by the closer carbon electrodes.
US08276389B2
An arrangement (10) for conveying combustion gas from a plurality of can annular combustors to a turbine first stage blade section of a gas turbine engine, the arrangement (10) including a plurality of interconnected integrated exit piece (IEP) sections (16) defining an annular chamber (18) oriented concentric to a gas turbine engine longitudinal axis (20) upstream of the turbine first stage blade section. Each respective IEP (16) includes a first flow path section (40) receiving and fully bounding a first flow from a respective can annular combustor along a respective common axis (22) there between, and delivering a partially bounded first flow to a downstream adjacent IEP section (42). Each respective IEP further includes a second flow path section (112) receiving a partially bounded second flow from an upstream adjacent IEP (66) and delivering at least part of the second flow to the turbine first stage blade section.
US08276370B2
A construction machine includes a front working implement operable as a result of driving of an engine, a urea SCR catalyst arranged in an exhaust gas line from the engine to purify and reduce nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas, an aqueous urea solution tank for storing an aqueous urea solution, a temperature detector for detecting a temperature of the aqueous urea solution, an air conditioner for air-conditioning an operator's cab, and a warm/cold air guiding device for guiding warm/cold air, which has been blown out of the air conditioner, to the aqueous urea solution tank in accordance with the temperature of the aqueous urea solution. The warm/cold air guiding device includes a controller for outputting a warm air control signal or cold air control signal, which corresponds to a temperature of the warm/cold air blown out of the air conditioner.
US08276360B2
A dual-pump fuel system for use with a gas turbine engine comprises a fuel metering system, a mechanical fuel pump, an electric fuel pump and an engine controller. The fuel metering system is configured to dispense fuel flow to the engine based on operational needs of the gas turbine engine. The mechanical fuel pump is configured to deliver fuel to the metering system dependent on operational speeds of the engine. The electric fuel pump is configured to deliver fuel directly to the engine independent of operation of the engine. The engine controller is connected to the metering system and the electric fuel pump and is configured to cause the electric fuel pump to deliver fuel to the engine to start and operate the engine until the engine operates the mechanical fuel pump to deliver fuel to the metering system sufficient to sustain operation of the engine.
US08276358B2
A process of manufacturing a ultra-soft yarn includes wrapping a roving material with a yarn by a low twist-multiplier of about 1˜4, wherein the roving material is drawn at a draw ratio preferably between 1 and 10, wherein the ultra-soft yarn has a fluffy structure, which can provide better softness, draping property, and hand feel to users. Fabric including the ultra-soft yarn is also provided.
US08276353B2
An apparatus for providing end seals on vertical stand-up packages that prevents pleat formation and gusset variation. A clamping device is mounted below sealing jaws. A bottom end seal is made by the sealing jaws to form an open-ended tube. The open-ended tube is moved downward. The clamping device engages the tube to prevent twisting when product is placed into the tube. Product then enters an open-ended tube of flexible film packaging and the top seal is made.
US08276337B2
In a climate control system for buildings, a number of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic and/or eolic, geothermal and the like) are utilized to obtain a flux of constant temperature fluid to be circulated into radiating pipes placed in continuous spaces or gaps defined in the perimeter walls and floors of said buildings. A desired variable flux of air is made to circulate in said spaces or gaps, to be heated or coiled by said radiating pipes. One said flux of air reaches the desired temperature, its circulation is stopped, to obtain a thermal insulating layer of air, in thermal equilibrium with the rooms to be air conditioned.In the matters of civil, trade, industrial, and also prefabricated buildings endowed with elevated features in heat-sound insulation, it has been utilized a particular simple method for the realization of system of hollow spaces or gaps situated between the outer and inner surface of the building, mainly based on the laying of a series of panels; i.e. thin metal sheets, located.In particular, suitable hooks, joined to the structure of studs and Beams, support horizontal bars vertically lined up, around which a thin metal sheet, preferably as an interrupted ring, is laid.
US08276334B2
A cable anchor has ball surfaces that permit misalignment between the cable and a stem of the anchor, and a fitting that permits the introduction of a corrosion inhibitor to the interior of the anchor.
US08276331B2
A roofing system in a building structure having a ridge vent includes strips of composite material having a base material adapted to form a hermetic seal with the top surface of a roofing section and recesses in a top surface in which an air permeable material can be positioned. A strip is applied to roof sections adjacent to each side of a ridge vent so that a ridge cap can overlay the strips in spaced relation from the underlying roof sections and be sealingly secured to the roof sections. The strip material establishes a barrier between the ridge cap and the roof sections through which air can pass, but through which the passage of rain and insects is inhibited.
US08276330B2
Disclosed herein are embodiments of modular racking systems for solar panels and in particular, modular solar panel racks, racking systems, arrays of racks, kits and methods of use. One embodiment of a modular solar panel rack comprises a plurality of discrete ballast holders and a plurality of panel support members each having two upright portions, a transverse portion contiguously connected between the two upright portions, the connection such that the transverse portion is non-perpendicular to the two upright portions, and a retainer attached to the transverse portion and configured to retain a solar panel. Each of the plurality of ballast holders is connected to no more than four panel support members, each ballast holder perpendicularly connected to one of the upright portions.
US08276329B2
A fire resistant PV shingle assembly includes a PV assembly, including PV body, a fire shield and a connection member connecting the fire shield below the PV body, and a support and inter-engagement assembly. The support and inter-engagement assembly is mounted to the PV assembly and comprises a vertical support element, supporting the PV assembly above a support surface, an upper interlock element, positioned towards the upper PV edge, and a lower interlock element, positioned towards the lower PV edge. The upper interlock element of one PV shingle assembly is inter-engageable with the lower interlock element of an adjacent PV shingle assembly. In some embodiments the PV shingle assembly may comprise a ventilation path below the PV body. The PV body may be slidably mounted to the connection member to facilitate removal of the PV body.
US08276321B2
A gutter cover is formed through expanded metal manufacturing techniques to create alternating areas of solid metal and diamond-shaped openings to facilitate the shedding of leaves while passing water into the gutter. The gutter cover is mounted without fasteners by securing a hook portion underneath the front lip of the gutter and arcing the body portion of the gutter cover to press the rearward drip foot against the gutter and the drip hip adjacent to the fascia board into a pressure fit. The length of the gutter cover from the rearward edge to the front end being slightly longer than the corresponding length of the gutter structure. The gutter cover includes an integral drip leg projecting downwardly from the drip hip and being formed with an area of expanded metal diamond-shaped apertures to direct water into the gutter trough. A front drip lip directs water away from the gutter face.
US08276317B2
A door stay device for automatically locking a door in an open position includes a first component adapted to be attached to a stationary support, the first component including a plate having a curved cam edge with a radius matched to a swinging movement of the door between closed and open positions. The plate has a slot open at the cam edge at a location corresponding to the open position of the door. A second component is adapted to be secured at a lower or upper edge of a door, the second component having a locking member arranged to move into the slot when the locking member is aligned with the slot and the door is in the open position.
US08276309B2
A fishing rod with automatic casting mechanism includes an elongated fishing rod, a reel and a length of fishing line stored on the reel with one end of the line fixed to the reel and a plurality of line guides along the rod with a single line guide at the distal end thereof. The fishing line extends from the reel and through the line guides including the final line guide at the end of the rod. A weighted fishing lure is attached to an opposite end of the fishing line and includes the hook. In addition, a tubular member includes a front and rear position and spring biased mechanism including a coil spring contained within the tubular member for automatically casting the fishing lure over a body of water for a distance of 100 meters or more. A push button release for releasing the energy in the coil spring includes a gravity operated L-shaped element for blocking the movement of the button when the tip of the rod is disposed at an angle of less than 45° and allows the button to be pushed when the rod is disposed at about 45° angle or up to almost 90° to thereby automatically propel the lure and line across the water.
US08276300B2
The present invention is to provide a display device, which comprises a display body having two opposite sides adjacent to a periphery thereof and each formed with at least one first positioning element respectively, and at least one detachable decorative member made of an elastic material and formed with a second positioning element in two opposite sides adjacent to two end edges thereof respectively. When the second positioning element is inserted into and engaged with the first positioning element corresponding thereto, the elastic deformation force of the decorative member can generate a clamping force for enabling the second positioning element to firmly clamp the first positioning element, protecting the periphery of the display body from being broken due to external impact or abrasion, using the decorative member as an elastic cushioning for packing the display body into a packing box, and reducing the use of packing materials.
US08276299B2
A labeling plate, which is to be fastened to the outside surface of the outer cage of a shipping and storage tank for liquids, has an upper and lower frame section and two lateral frame sections, which project outwardly beyond the labeling area of the labeling plate and frame the labeling surface. The labeling areas of the labeling plates of two storage tanks standing side by side on a loading surface are kept spaced apart by the frame sections, so that damage to the labels pasted on the labeling areas of the labeling plates is avoided.
US08276293B2
A laundry dryer includes a rotatable drum and an air delivery system. The air delivery system can include a reversible blower that provides air at a first flow rate when operated in a first direction and provides air at a second lower flow rate when operated in an opposite second direction. The drum can be a reversibly rotatable drum that is rotatable in a first and an opposite second direction, and the dryer can include a drive motor that both rotates the drum and operates the blower. Drum and blower reversal may be controlled to optimize drying efficiency and also reduce stress on the drive system. A moisture delivery system can provide moisture (e.g., water mist or steam) into the drum while air is being provided at the lower second flow rate, and during drum rotation (tumbling).
US08276287B2
An L-shaped diagnostic tool is preferably made from paper with a backing having a contact adhesive. Each arm has a ruler, with origins co-aligned at the internal corner of the intersection of the arms. One arm has representative color images of afflictions for each of the various ranks within a classification system. The other arm contains textual descriptions of the salient features of afflictions in each rank. A photograph of the L-shaped tool placed around the affliction may be taken for diagnostic and monitoring purposes.
US08276276B2
A frame member for a frame assembly of a vehicle includes a first outer steel layer, a second outer steel layer and an aluminum core layer between the first outer steel layer and the second outer steel layer. The first outer steel layer, the second outer steel layer and the aluminum core layer are metallurgically bonded together.
US08276264B2
A component mounting apparatus includes two board transfer devices, a component supply unit, a component placing device, a setting unit, and a controller. Until production of the urgent boards is instructed, the two board transfer devices and the component placing device mount components on the regular boards in accordance with a first mounting program stored by the controller. When production of the urgent boards is instructed, a regular board is unloaded from the other board transfer device, which has been set by the setting unit to transfer urgent boards, the transfer way width of the other board transfer device is adjusted to the width of the urgent boards, and the other board transfer device and the component placing device are controlled so that component mountings on the urgent boards are performed on the other board transfer device in accordance with a second mounting program stored by the controller.
US08276263B2
A surface mounting apparatus includes a conveyer supporting a printed wiring board being moved in a transportation direction, and a board transfer device that lowers a pair of tab members to positions spaced apart upstream and downstream of the printed wiring board and moves the tab members in the transportation direction. The board transfer device includes an interval changing device to change an interval between a pair of the tab members and a sensor to detect the position of the printed wiring board, an interference determination means to determine the absence or presence of the printed wiring board at the positions to which both the tab members are to be lowered according to the position of the printed wiring board detected by the sensor and interval setting means to move the tab members by driving the interval changing device according to a detection result of the interference determination means.
US08276246B2
A fastening device, in particular for hand grips for the interior of a motor vehicle, is equipped with a bearing block, which can be inserted into a recess in a plate-like structure, with a stopper which can be inserted into the bearing block, and with means which, upon insertion of the stopper, make it possible for rear engagement of the fastening device behind a plate-like structure. The invention makes provision for the rear-engagement means to be formed separately and to be produced preferably in the manner of wings from sheet steel.
US08276242B2
The present document describes a pivotable handle assembly for mounting on a support. The assembly comprises a rotation-blocking portion comprising a pivot axis, the rotation-blocking portion for being rotatable about the pivot axis and relative to the support when in an unlocked position, and when in a locked position, the rotation blocking portion for preventing its rotation about the pivot axis; a handle depending from the rotation blocking portion; and a locking mechanism comprising a push-button and a lock release. The locking mechanism is for locking the rotation-blocking portion in the locked position, and for unlocking the rotation-blocking portion in the unlocked position upon a pushing motion being applied to the push-button to actuate the lock release, the unlocked position thereby allowing the handle to be pivoted about the pivot axis.
US08276240B2
A door check device to be mounted to a door for selectively maintaining a gap when door closing is attempted. This prevents injuries to children's fingers and the like. The door check includes a base with a journal having action arm pivoted at its proximal end. The arm has a distal end extending outwardly to engage a doorstop. Indexing sockets are formed along the arm's proximal end. Each socket collaborates with the nose of a spring-biased detent to retain the action arm in a preselected position. The arm may be set in a first position to directly engage the doorstop to form a gap. Set in a second position the arm allows door closing but, upon next opening, the arm automatically reverts to door checking position. In a third position the arm is fully lowered to disable the check device. This device may find application to a variety of closures.
US08276238B2
Disclosed herein is a roller cover cleaning apparatus. The apparatus may include a handle and a wire that is coupled to the handle. The wire may form a helix that extends around an axis of the helix for more than 360 degrees. The wire may be substantially radially equidistant from the axis of the helix along the length of the wire from the proximal end of the helix to the distal end of the helix. The wire may be at least partially resiliently flexible to increase the radial distance between the wire and the axis.
US08276232B2
Disclosed is a device for cleaning wheel rims. Said device is used for removing sticky excess powdered pigments from the flange and hub of the rims prior to the baking process during powder coating. The inventive device comprises a first brush which can be introduced into the hub of a rim that is to be cleaned as well as a second brush which is concentrically disposed around the first brush and rests against the flange surface of the rim when the first brush is inserted in the hub of the rim. The first brush can be axially displaced relative to the second brush and is spring-mounted on the second brush. Furthermore, a drive unit is provided which rotates the first and the second brush by a specific angle, respectively.
US08276229B2
A baby supporting device is provided which includes a frame. The frame includes a first portion for mounting onto a wall and a second portion pivotally coupled to the first portion and rotatable between a first position and a second position. A first stop member extends from the first portion, and a second stop member extends from the second portion, such that when the second stop member engages the first stop member it stops the second portion at the second position. A first surface covers at least a portion of the first portion, and a second surface covers at least a portion of the second portion.
US08276228B1
A portable changing table of the present disclosure includes at least one extendable arm assembly moveable between a retracted position and an extended position. The at least one extendable arm assembly is removably securable to a support structure. The portable changing table further includes a collapsible frame hingedly secured to the at least one extendable arm assembly, wherein the collapsible frame is moveable between a stowed position and a deployed position. The portable changing table further includes a flexible support member secured to a portion of the collapsible frame. The flexible support member extends across a portion of the collapsible frame in the deployed position.
US08276218B2
A macerator toilet comprising a toilet body include a bowl portion and a base portion, the base portion defining a chamber and a macerator unit in fluid communication with the bowl portion, the macerator unit completely disposed in the chamber and operative for macerating a waste received from the bowl unit and pump the waste from the macerator toilet.
US08281407B2
A media content printing method that includes storing encrypted media content data representing media content in a computing device, generating a file of print commands that include the encrypted media content data non-encrypted commands for printing the media content based on the encrypted media content data, and sending the file of print commands to an intermediate device that stores a cryptographic key. The method further includes sending the non-encrypted commands to a printing device, determining if the media content is authorized to be printed, and decrypting the encrypted media content data in the intermediate electronic device that corresponds to the authorized media content to produce decrypted media content data. The decrypted media content data is sent to the printing device for printing the media content based on the non-encrypted commands and the decrypted media content.
US08281403B1
A computer-implemented method for evaluating the health of computing systems based on when operating-system changes occur is disclosed. In one example, this method may include: 1) identifying an operating-system change made to a computing system, 2) determining when the operating-system change occurred, and then 3) assessing the health of the computing system based at least in part on when the operating-system change occurred. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08281401B2
An improved method and apparatus for client-side web application analysis is provided. Client-side web application analysis involves determining and testing, using client-side application interfaces and the like, data input points and analyzing client requests and server responses. A security vulnerability analyzer can analyze web page content for client-side application files, such as Flash files and Java applets, extract web addresses and data parameters embedded in the client-side application file, and modify the data parameters according to user-defined test criteria. The modified data parameters are transmitted as part of a request to a respective web server used to service the client-side application files. The security vulnerability analyzer analyzes the response from the server to ascertain if there are any security vulnerabilities associated with the interface between the client-side application file and the web server.
US08281381B2
Techniques for environment single sign on are provided. Multiple identifiers for devices are associated as a single environment. A principal can be authenticated via any of the devices once to access protected resources and once authenticated the principal can access the protected resources from the other devices without re-authenticating.
US08281345B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an interactive television system for recording television programming. The interactive television system may include components for providing personal video recorder (PVR) functionality, such as an interactive television program guide (IPG), PVR extensions, PVR application programming interfaces (APIs), a PVR device, any suitable hardware or software, or a combination thereof. These components may be implemented in, for example, an arrangement having an integrated PVR-compliant device with a PVR device, or in an arrangement having a PVR-compliant device (e.g., a set-top box) coupled to PVR equipment (e.g., a remote PVR server or a PVR sidecar) with a PVR device. The PVR-compliant device may include software and hardware configured to implement the IPG. The PVR APIs may be a library of intelligent vendor-specific and vendor-independent APIs able to determine the type of PVR device being used. The PVR extensions and PVR APIs may be configured to provide a seamless integration of functionality associated with the PVR-compliant device and the PVR device. A full port of the IPG may be implemented in both the PVR-compliant device and the PVR device.
US08281343B2
A method of transmitting video content between a computing device and display device. The method includes establishing a data connection between a receiver unit and the display device, where the receiver unit includes a first wireless transceiver and an output port, establishing a data connection between a transmitter unit and the computing device, where the transmitter unit includes a second wireless transceiver and a memory and is configured to perform two-way wireless communications with only the receiver unit and is configured to not perform two-way wireless communications with any other devices, and transmitting the video content from the transmitter unit to the receiver unit.
US08281336B2
In a method for delivering targeted television advertisements based on online behavior, IP addresses indicating online access devices and IP addresses indicating television set-top boxes are electronically associated for a multitude of users. Using user profile information derived from online activity from one of the online access IP addresses, a television advertisement is selected, such as by using behavioral targeting or demographic information, and automatically directed to the set-top box indicated by the set-top IP address associated with that online access IP address. Preferably neither the user profile information nor the electronic association of online access and set-top box IP addresses includes personally identifiable information.
US08281333B2
A data carousel exists as an out-of-band carousel (OOBC), and accessed as a hidden background service from the channel map, and that discriminates against metadata that is never (or is rarely) accessed, and that is acquired in the background, filling a cache even when the subscriber is not accessing Video on Demand.
US08281332B2
A video server provides video content to a client via a network. At the instruction of the video server, a player at the client contacts an ad server and downloads one or more creatives and a controller file to the client. The controller file indicates how the creative manifests itself in play. The player displays the video content in a display area at the client. The controller file causes the creative to appear as an animated overlay over the video content. User interface elements indicate the point in the video when the creative appears, and allow the user to minimize and replay the creative. The player can also display other creatives, such as a static creative that is associated with the animated creative. A user can select the creative to view additional information about a product advertised by the creative.
US08281322B2
A method and system for adaptive processing of alert messages exchanged between applications is disclosed. The system may include a diagnostic engine coupled to a plurality of applications. A plurality of application alert messages may be monitored to determine if the alerts exceed a predetermined threshold. If a threshold number of alert messages is exceeded, an interface status based on a diagnostic code for the interface may be determined. A query value for the interface may be adjusted. Based on the amount of the increase in the alert messages, different actions may be indicated. An administrator for the application interface or for equipment associated with the interface may be notified for servicing the equipment.
US08281315B2
Exemplary embodiments include a system and storage medium for managing computer processing functions in a multi-processor computer environment. The system includes a physical processor, a standard logical processor, an assist logical processor sharing a same logical partition as the standard logical processor, and a single operating system instance associated with the logical partition, the single operating system instance including a switch-to service and a switch-from service. The system also includes a dispatch component managed by the single operating system instance. Upon invoking the switch-to service by standard code, the switch-to service checks to see if an assist logical processor is online and, if so, it updates an integrated assist field of a work element block associated with the task for indicating the task is eligible to be executed on the assist logical processor. The switch-to service also assigns a work queue to the work element block.
US08281302B2
A generic service node that operates in a first state while waiting for instructions to adopt a specific service. Upon receiving the instructions, the generic service node operates in a second state where the node installs software received from a network to enable the generic service node to provide the specific service to the network. The generic service node is in communication with a control node or nodes such that the generic service node can be adapted to provide a particular service as requested by the control node(s).
US08281301B2
Providing a volume to a host computer by a storage system is automated for ensuring that an appropriate version of a storage control software is installed on a storage control module of the storage system that manages access of the host computer to the volume. When the volume on the storage system is allocated for use by the computer, a control module on the storage system is designated for managing the access to the volume. An operating system to be used on the computer when accessing the volume is determined, and a compatible version of the storage control software is uploaded and installed on the storage control module. Multiple storage control modules may be provided on the storage system and virtual machines may be used on the storage control modules for enabling simultaneous operation of more than one version of the storage control software on each storage control module.
US08281287B2
A non-tree representation of a UI control tree is provided by a compact UI binary file that is generated by encoding a UI definition markup file expressing UI controls and behavior in human-readable form. The UI binary file is utilized in a runtime environment on a computing device as a source of a binary instruction stream. The stream can be efficiently processed by an interpreter on the device without needing validation between loading and rendering the UI. The encoding places much of the representation into an object and script section of the UI binary file. The interpreter runs this section without it being entirely resident in the device's memory to minimize the memory footprint. At runtime, operation code (“op-code”) streams contained in this section are used to build UI objects, and implement scriptable behavior for manipulating the UI objects to render the UI on the device with the designed behavior.
US08281286B2
Methods and systems for the automated testing of applications using an application independent GUI map are disclosed. A method includes receiving a command to change a physical description of an object of a general class in the GUI map. A physical description of the object of general class is changed in the GUI map to correspond to a specific object in a particular application. A request is received to identify the specific object in the particular application using a physical description of the specific object. The specific object is associated with the physical description of the specific object. Access is provided to the physical description of the specific object.
US08281282B2
According to one embodiment of the invention a computer-readable media stores code that is operable to be executed on a processor. The code includes a JAVA class having objects with associated attributes and also having at least one method. The at least one method is operable, when executed on the processor, to search the objects across any attribute of the objects.
US08281279B2
Mechanisms are provided for creating shift register definition from high-level model using high-level model simulation. The mechanisms initialize all potential scan chain latches, identify the latches in a given scan chain, and separate the scan chain latches into chunks. For each chunk, the mechanisms identify the latches within the chunk that change at each shift. The mechanisms isolate the scan path latch when divergence occurs.
US08281270B2
A method for proximity-aware circuit design where a set of layout constraint values that satisfy predetermined performance or yield goals is determined in accordance with a layout effect model. One of the layout constraint values is then selected as a constraint input to layout design, and a design layout is performed with the selected layout constraint value to provide a semiconductor circuit design for the semiconductor circuit. The set of layout constraint values can be determined by varying an instance parameter of the layout effect model to determine a set of instance parameters that satisfy the at least one predetermined performance or yield goal in accordance with the layout effect model, and determining layout constraints associated with each instance parameter of the set of instance parameters, thus providing a number of candidates in a design space that can be evaluated according to performance and/or yield tradeoffs.
US08281256B2
One method of the present invention includes displaying an interactive map to a consumer and recording interactions with the consumer, recording the interactions, analyzing the recordings, and acting on the analysis. The interactive map is provided at a tourist attraction or other location, and includes maps, images, cameras, and other information about the area surrounding the attraction, as well as information about other attractions, that is useful and/or interesting to a consumer. The interactive media include remote-controlled cameras, touch screen monitors, joysticks, and various other controls. Recording the interactions of the consumers includes recording touches, page views, clicks, session lengths, itineraries selected, and other interactions. Analyzing includes analyzing to find consumer preferences among locations presented. Acting on the results of the analyses includes contacting and forming networks with entities in the area surrounding the tourist hub or remote locations, including contacting and forming networks with other tourist hubs.
US08281255B2
A system includes a user device and a content processing system establishing a provider homepage template and a plurality of content categories. The content processing system receives a first plurality of content and a first plurality of metadata from a first content provider, receives a first plurality of content categories corresponding to each of the respective first plurality of content. The content processing system receives a second plurality of content and a second plurality of metadata from a second content provider and receives a second plurality of content categories corresponding to each of the respective second plurality of content at a content processing system. The content processing system also receives homepage information for a first provider and communicates the first plurality of metadata, the second plurality of metadata, the first plurality of content categories and the second plurality of content categories to the user device. The user device forms a first menu structure with the first homepage information and the first plurality of metadata corresponding to the first content provider without the second plurality of metadata and forming a second menu structure with at least some of the first plurality of metadata and at least some of the second plurality of metadata and at least one of the first and second content categories.
US08281254B2
A computer implemented method is disclosed. The method includes determining, at a set-top box device, that a plurality of menu items in a menu includes a particular menu item associated with a content item that is to be promoted when displaying the plurality of menu items in the menu. The method further includes displaying the plurality of menu items in the menu. A determination is made at the set top box whether to display a promotion of the content item. In response to determining to display the promotion, the promotion of the content item is displayed beside the plurality of menu items, and a right command is enabled allowing a cursor position to jump directly to the particular menu item from a different menu item of the plurality of menu items. The jump is performed after a single application of the right command, where the different menu item does not have a restriction as to a position in the menu. In response to determining not to display the promotion, the right command is disabled.
US08281253B2
A method and a program system comprising a plurality of windows displayed as an evolving series of instances of said windows with different sizes is described. The content of said evolving series of instances of window sizes may be changed according to specific rules and a change is performed when a size is equal with at least one predefined reference size for a window. A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a possibility to display and manage a plurality of windows comprising standard input and output windows as well as system indicators on a small computer screen such as used in mobile telephones or Personal Digital Assistants.
US08281250B2
Described is system that characterizes segments of document with one or more keyphrases and then uses keyphrases to help users find interesting parts of document. Keyphrases are displayed with information about the location of the phrase in the document and are used as pointers to quickly move to from overview to section of potential interest. In another implementation, when there are many documents in a collection, inventive multi-document view can be used to reduce number of documents presented, helping user to more efficiently find documents of interest. In this view, a user (possibly repeatedly) filters documents displayed based on metadata values. In one implementation, icons corresponding to documents are displayed on a display device together with metadata corresponding to the documents. When the value of the metadata is selected by the user, display state of the icons corresponding to document is varied based on selected value of metadata.
US08281238B2
The present invention relates to a system, method and computer program for creating, visualizing and manipulating a data structure using an intuitive and interactive graphical interface. It is operable to display a data structure and enable users to interact with the data structure by means of a user interface. The data structure includes data entities and relationships between the data entities. One or more user context properties are associable with the data entities. The user interface is populated with data entities from the data structure by enabling the users to associate visual properties of the user interface with the user context associable properties of the data structure. This enables the users to interact with the data structure by means of the user interface.
US08281226B2
A reproduction apparatus includes a reproduction unit reading a reproduced signal of the data recorded on an optical disk, a reproduced signal processing unit performing ECC decoding for the reproduced signal using a predetermined parameter value, a storage unit storing the parameter number associated with the currently set parameter value and a parameter table listing parameter values and associated parameter numbers, and a control unit controlling the reproduction unit and the reproduced signal processing unit. The control unit, when ECC decoding fails, changes the parameter values in the order of the parameter numbers and controls the reproduced signal processing unit until ECC decoding succeeds in retried reproduction processing and, when ECC decoding succeeds, stores the parameter number associated with the currently set parameter value and sets in the next retried reproduction processing the parameter value associated with the stored parameter number in the reproduced signal processing unit.
US08281219B2
An ECC circuit and method for an integrated circuit memory allows a user to enter a test mode and select a specific location to force a known failure on any memory chip, whether it is fully functional or partially functional. Additional circuitry is placed in the data path where existing buffers and drivers are already located, minimizing any additional speed loss or area penalty required to implement the forced data failure. In a first general method, a logic zero is forced onto a selected data line at a given time. In a second general method, a logic one is forced onto a selected data line at a given time.
US08281216B2
An assignment scheme exploits the Media Access Control (MAC) layer protocol features under various MAC layer call scenarios. In one embodiment, the Hamming distance between pairs of critical Data Units are assigned to codewords with a minimum distance of dmin2=8 bits, thereby increasing the hard decision error correcting capability from 1 bit to 3 bits when deciding between these pairs of Data Units. The method for assigning data unit identification (DUID) codes by a radio operating within a wireless communication system includes determining by the radio whether an expected burst is a 4 Voice Burst with Encryption Synchronization Signaling (4V); when the expected burst is 4V, decoding the DUID within the received burst using an increased minimum distance; and when the expected burst is not 4V, decoding the DUID within the received burst using a minimum distance.
US08281213B1
A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitter including a scrambler and a forward error correction encoder. The scrambler is configured to receive user data and generate scrambled data in response to the user data. The forward error correction encoder is configured to generate encoded data, in response to the scrambled data, using a low density parity check (LDPC) matrix, wherein the LDPC matrix is derived from a specified base matrix.
US08281203B2
When a transaction layer circuit detects an error, error information in respect of transmission data is set in a TLP digest. The method includes: a step in which, at an endpoint (3a) that receives a memory read request transmitted by the root complex 1, if an error is detected during transmission of first data corresponding to the requested TLP, error information is set in the TLP digest and a completion with data attached is returned; a step in which the root complex (1) returns a memory read request based on the error information to the endpoint; a step in which the endpoint returns requested second data; and a step in which the root complex terminates the response after overwriting the error location of the first data that was held, with the second data.
US08281190B2
An interface processes memory redundancy data on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with self-repairing random access memory (RAM) devices. The interface includes a state machine, a counter, and an array of registers. The state machine is coupled to a redundancy chain. The redundancy chain includes coupled redundant elements of respective memory elements on the ASIC. In a shift-in mode, the interface shifts data from each of the elements in the redundancy chain and compresses the data in the array of registers. The interface communicates with a test access port coupled to one or more eFuse devices to store and retrieve the compressed data. In a shift-out mode, the interface decompresses the data stored in the array of registers and shifts the decompressed data to each unit in the redundancy chain. The interface functions absent knowledge of the number, bit size and type of self-repairing RAM devices in the redundancy chain.
US08281187B1
An architecture and techniques for implementing a unified and extensible meta-testing framework within a distributed environment. This framework allows entities within the distributed environment to run tests written in different testing frameworks in a unified way. In addition, this disclosure describes techniques for allowing an entity within the distributed environment to test itself, both from its own perspective as well as from the perspective of other entities within the distributed environment.
US08281161B2
A data access apparatus and a processing system using the same are disclosed herein, which can be a power-off status to permit its storage media being accessible by another processing system. When a bus signal switching and conversion unit receives a first-level control signal, the storage media is permitted to electrically connect only with a first bus channel and to perform a conversion between a first and second bus interface formats to the accessed data and to supply a system power based on a first power signal from the processing system to the storage media. When the bus signal switching and conversion unit receives the second-level control signal, the storage media is permitted to electrically connect only with a second bus channel and to perform a conversion between a second and third bus interface formats to the accessed data, and to supply a system power based on a second power signal from the another processing system to the storage media.
US08281148B2
The present invention relates to a method and a system of securely computing a measure of similarity for at least two sets of data. A basic idea of the present invention is to securely compare two sets of encrypted data to determine whether the two sets of data resemble each other to a sufficient extent. If the measure of similarity complies with predetermined criteria, the two sets of data from which the encrypted sets of data originate are considered to be identical.
US08281146B2
A third-party can subscribe to one or more electronic message group lists without joining the group lists by creating a trust relationship between the subscriber and a group list member. In particular, the subscriber can send a trust indicator to the group member, who can then determine whether to accept the trust indicator for all or specific groups that are associated with the group member, as appropriate. In at least one embodiment, the group member can send a trust indicator acceptance message to the subscriber that identifies the group member, and any or all group lists associated with the group member. The subscriber can then receive messages directed to the trusted group member or group lists, and can send group messages to the group lists subject to a receive setting associated with the group lists or group members of the group lists.
US08281142B2
A system and method helps to control “read” and/or “write” access to electronic paper (e-paper). Informational data may be on a restricted portion of e-paper material that is protected by a security methodology accessible to authorized entities. Some embodiments maintain a record of access activity regarding the restricted portion, and a record of access activity regarding use of an item or product or service related to the e-paper informational data. Some implementations include an authorization listing of a party having a particular access privilege or authorization to make modifications to various restricted portions including an authentication region and a protected region. One possible aspect includes performing a verification analysis of data indicia in a restricted portion of the e-paper media. Additional possible system and process components may determine an authenticity status of the data indicia, and provide an output result.
US08281138B2
Techniques described herein are generally related to steganalysis of suspect media. Steganalysis techniques may include receiving instances of suspect media as input for steganalytic processing. A first set of quantized blocks of data elements may be identified within the media, with this first set of blocks being eligible to be embedded with steganographic data. A second set of quantized blocks of data elements may be identified within the media, with this second set of blocks being ineligible to be embedded with steganographic data. The steganalysis techniques may requantize the first and second blocks. In turn, these techniques may compare statistics resulting from requantizing the first block with statistics resulting from requantizing the second block. The steganalysis techniques may then assess whether the first block of data elements is embedded with steganographic features based on how the statistics of the second blocks compare with the statistics of the first blocks.
US08281133B1
A device receives, from a wireless access point, a pairwise master key identification (PMKID) based on a known pairwise master key (PMK), and determines whether the received PMKID matches one of multiple PMKIDs stored in a cache associated with the device. The device dynamically generates a PMKID based on the known PMK when the received PMKID does not match one of the multiple PMKIDs stored in the cache, and performs a fast four-way handshake to establish a secure connection between the device and the wireless access point when the dynamically generated PMKID matches the received PMKID.
US08281114B2
A security system with methodology for defending against security breaches of peripheral devices is described. In one embodiment, for example, a method is described for protecting a computer from security breaches involving devices that may be attached to the computer, the method comprises steps of: when a device is first attached to the computer, specifying authorization information indicating that the device is allowed to communicate with the computer; detecting detachment of the device from the computer; updating the authorization information to indicate that the device is no longer authorized to communicate with the computer; and upon reattachment of the device, blocking communication with the device while the device remains unauthorized, thereby preventing a security breach involving the device.
US08281103B2
A method and apparatus for allocating storage addresses are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a storage address allocation request; searching a level-2 bitmap in a hierarchical bitmap in bidirectional mode; outputting an idle bit according to the result of searching in the level-2 bitmap; obtaining a storage address according to the output idle bit, and allocating the storage address. The apparatus includes: a first receiving module, configured to receive a storage address allocation request; a first searching module, configured to search a level-2 bitmap in a hierarchical bitmap in bidirectional mode for an idle bit, wherein the hierarchical bitmap includes N level-1 bitmaps and the level-2 bitmap; and an allocating module, configured to: obtain a storage address according to the output idle bit in the level-2 bitmap, and allocate the obtained storage address.
US08281098B2
The storage system includes a first storage system and a second storage system. The first storage system, which is coupled to a computer and the second storage system, includes a first storage control device and a plurality of first storage units. The second storage system includes a plurality of second storage units. The first storage control device provides the computer with a logical unit assigned to at least one of the second storage units, receives a first access request from the computer and sends a second access request to one of plurality of the second storage units, obtains performance information relating to the second access request, and moves data stored in at least one of the plurality of second storage units to at least one of the first storage units according to the performance information.
US08281095B2
A data storage system and the backup method thereof are provided. The data storage system includes a storage device and a storage controller. The storage controller is coupled to the storage device and used for dividing the storage device into a primary data block and a backup data block and setting the data storage system to operate under one of a real time backup mode and a non-real time backup mode. Under the non-real time backup mode, the storage controller backups the data stored in the primary data block to the backup data block when the data storage system is idle.
US08281093B1
A computer-implemented method for creating consolidated backups of snapshot hierarchies may include identifying a hierarchy of snapshots. The computer-implemented method may also include copying data in a root snapshot of the hierarchy to a backup. The computer-implemented method may further include, for each child snapshot in the hierarchy, copying valid data in the child snapshot to the backup. The computer-implemented method may additionally include copying information that identifies a parent of the child snapshot to the backup. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08281090B2
A data storage virtualization subsystem (SVS) for providing storage to a host entity is disclosed. The SVS comprises a storage virtualization controller for connecting to the host entity, at least one physical storage device (PSD) pool, and at least one PSD is designated to be a pool spare PSD to the at least one PSD pool. The at least one PSD pool comprises at least one PSD to store user data or associated redundant information and is given a pool ID for identifying the PSD pool.
US08281087B2
Provided are a method, system, and program for receiving a request to remove a record. A determination is made as to whether a state associated with the record includes at least one hold state and whether the state associated with the record includes at least a retention period that has not expired. The request to remove the record is denied in response to determining that the state associated with the record includes at least one of at least one hold state and one retention period that has not expired.
US08281083B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus, system, and method of generating an execution instruction. Some demonstrative embodiments my include generating an execution instruction of a predetermined executable format based on memory address data of a memory-access instruction representing a memory address. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08281080B2
A system and method for modifying an information unit, the method includes the following stages: (i) receiving, over a first bus, a request to initiate a snooping type atomic operation associated with at least one information unit located at a first address of a memory module; (ii) providing the information unit over the first bus; (iii) attempting to complete the snooping type atomic operation of an updated information unit; and (iv) defining the atomic operation as a failed atomic operation if during at least one stage of receiving, providing and attempting, the first address was locked as a result of a locking type atomic operation.
US08281075B2
A technique for triggering a system bus write command with user code includes identifying a specific store-type instruction in a user instruction sequence. The specific store-type instruction is converted into a specific request-type command, which is configured to include core permission controls (that are stored in core configuration registers of a processor core by a trusted kernel) and user created data (stored in a cache memory). Slave devices are configured through register space (that is only accessible by the trusted kernel) with respective slave permission controls. The specific request-type command is then transmitted from the cache memory, via a system bus. In this case, the slave devices that receive the specific request-type command process the specific request-type command when the core permission controls are the same as the respective slave permission controls. The trusted kernel may be included in a hypervisor or an operating system.
US08281059B2
An electronic device with a projection functionality includes: a universal serial bus (USB) port, a processing circuit, a storage, a storage controller and a display circuit. The USB port receives USB packets carrying a first pixel data. The processing circuit is coupled to the USB port, and converts the received USB packets into the first pixel data. The storage controller is coupled between the processing circuit and the storage, and stores the first pixel data into the storage. The display circuit is coupled to the storage controller, and generates a display driving signal according to the first pixel data stored in the storage.
US08281056B2
A system and method for processing data on a peripheral device that is operatively coupled to a host computing system via a peripheral bus. The compression of input data transmitted to the peripheral device and/or the size of the storage provided on the peripheral device may enhance the efficiency of the processing of the data on the peripheral device by obviating a bottleneck caused by the relatively slow transfer of data between the host computing system and the peripheral device.
US08281052B2
A microprocessor system having a microprocessor and a double data rate memory device having separate groups of external pins adapted to receive addressing, data, and control information and a memory controller adapted to set a burst type of the double data rate memory to interleaved or sequential by sending a signal through one of the external pins of the double data rate memory device, such that when a read command is sent by the controller, depending on the burst type set, the double data rate memory device returns interleaved or sequentially output data to the memory controller.
US08281048B2
An information processing apparatus includes a connector that conforms to a Universal Serial Bus standard. The information processing apparatus detects voltages at signal terminals of the connector a plurality of times, and judges a type of an apparatus connected to the connector by using detection results obtained the plurality of times.
US08281034B2
Peer-to-peer approaches to servicing subscriptions to information feeds are generally disclosed. Network nodes may exchange information about information feeds that they can provide to other nodes, and other information about information feeds to which they may be interested in subscribing. Any of a variety of techniques may then be applied to allow the nodes to negotiate for feeds to which they may be interested in subscribing. For example, each node may apply algorithms that service feed subscriptions of other nodes on a prioritized basis, prioritized for example based on which other nodes service subscriptions in return.
US08281028B2
Systems and methods for performing storage operations over multi-stream data paths are provided. A first agent receives a request for a storage operation from a storage manager, identifies folders of a client computing device based on one or more file types of files in the folders of the client computing device, weights the folders based on the amount of data in the folders, and groups the folders into two or more sets of folders based at least in part on a file type of one or more of the files in the folders and the weight of the folders. A second agent transmits data from each of the two or more sets of folders to one or more storage devices in via at least one of two or more streaming communications paths based on pathway characteristics.
US08281025B2
A method of distributing a disk image by multicast includes a first computer downloading a disk image over a network, at least one second computer detecting the download and requesting the disk image, and the first computer multicasting the disk image to the at least one second computer.
US08281024B2
Tokens and policy descriptors are used for dynamic on demand session management in a distributed and scalable architecture for on demand sessions and resource management. The architecture includes an on demand client, a purchase server, and a session manager. A purchase token is generated at the purchase server and assigned to the on demand client. The purchase token represents at least one requested asset. In response to an on demand session set-up request corresponding to the purchase token from the on demand client to the session manager, the purchase token is expanded to generate at least one dynamic policy management descriptor for the on demand session. This provides token-based purchase authorization and policy management for on demand services.
US08281016B2
The present invention relates to a program and an information processing method and apparatus with which a connection can be formed reliably between apparatuses having different capabilities. A first application, using a presence function, announces a profile space ID representing processing for a service that can be provided. A second application receives the announcement. The second application requests the first application for detailed information of the service and registration to the service. The second application connects to the first application by peer to peer, based on a URI needed for peer-to-peer access, transmitted from the first application. The present invention can be applied to personal computers, network-enabled CE devices, and commercial application servers on the Internet.
US08281013B2
Techniques are disclosed for the non-disruptive and reliable live migration of a virtual machine (VM) from a source host to a target host, where network data is placed directly into the VM's memory. When a live migration begins, a network interface card (NIC) of the source stops placing newly received packets into the VM's memory. A virtual server driver (VSP) on the source stores the packets being processed and forces a return of the memory where the packets are stored to the NIC. When the VM has been migrated to the target, and the source VSP has transferred the stored packets to the target host, the VM resumes processing the packets, and when the VM sends messages to the target NIC that the memory associated with a processed packet is free, a VSP on the target intercepts that message, blocking the target NIC from receiving it.
US08281010B2
System and method for providing network support services and premises gateway support infrastructure
A disclosed, service management system (50) communicates via wide area network (99) with gateway devices (10), located at respective user premises. The service management system (50) remotely manages delivery of application services by the gateway device(s) (1 On), e.g. by selectively activating or deactivating service logic modules in the gateway devices. The service management system (50) also may selectively provide secure communications and exchange of information among gateway devices (10) and among associated endpoint devices (30). An exemplary service management system (50) includes a router connected to the network and one or more computer platforms, for implementing management functions. Examples of the functions include a connection manager for controlling system communications with the gateway devices, an authentication manager for authenticating each gateway device and controlling the connection manager and a subscription manager for managing applications services and/or features offered by the gateway devices. A service manager, controlled by the subscription manager, distributes service specific configuration data to authenticated gateway devices.
US08281009B2
According to this invention, a computer system which provides a client node with a file system mounted into a virtual namespace, comprising: at least one file server which provides the file system; a root node which mounts the file system provided by the file server into the virtual namespace; and a network which couples the file server and the root node. The root node has an interface coupled to the network, a processor coupled to the interface, and a memory coupled to the processor. The root node is configured to: obtain access information set to a directory above a point in the virtual namespace at which the file system is to be mounted when mounting the file system into the virtual namespace; judge whether the obtained access information is to be inherited; and set, to the file system to be mounted, the obtained access information that is to be inherited.
US08281004B2
A method and system for automated remote submission of jobs to host systems generate a single executable file having a user program specified in a command line. A separate thread is used to submit the single executable file to the host system. The separate thread monitors progress of the single executable file on the host system and posts information associated with the monitored progress of the single executable file.
US08280994B2
A software program/software tools allows end user quality of experience to be quantified and translated into network conditions required to achieve that end user quality of experience. By focusing on the Quality of Experience (QoE) for the applications that will use the network rather than the traditional bottom up approach, and then looking to design the network based on those end user requirements, the network may be designed and/or operated to achieve a high quality of experience. The program and tools may be used at different phases of the networking cycle, including design, planning, deployment, and operational phases, to allow the QoE requirements to be obtained while optimizing network cost and utilization. A QoE server may be implemented off line and used for network design/planning, or may be included on the network to monitor the network and control operation of the network to achieve the intended QoE.
US08280993B2
Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to detect Internet bots in communication networks. Some embodiments of the invention allow an agent of a server to detect human interaction events on a client system. In other particular embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed below can be used to detect bots using server logs. In some other embodiments, the present invention involves sending an agent to a client system and polling the agent on whether human interaction events are detected on the client system.
US08280988B1
A technique in which content is supplied to an electronic reader device is described. A time at which to send content to the electronic reader device is stored in a content server based on user preferences, user electronic reader device interaction or network conditions. The content is transmitted to the electronic reader device at the time for later display. Additional content may be securely supplied to the electronic reader device for purchase. The additional content may be in a format such that when a user later enters a request to purchase the content, the content can be instantly displayed.
US08280984B2
The present invention discloses a solution for adding syndication feeds to calendar data exchange enabled programs, such as programs conforming to the iCalendar (iCal) standard. Default syndication feed links can be established by a publisher of iCalendar data. Subscribers of iCalendar data can replace default syndication feeds with feeds from other sources and/or add their own syndication feeds to a program that supports iCalendar data. Information obtained from the syndication feeds can be stored in a calendar entry indexed fashion, so that users accessing a iCalendar program can view information obtained from the syndication feeds as well as information related to an iCalendar subscription.
US08280983B2
Distributed searches in a casual server network may be provided. First it may be determined, at an originating server, that a first request cannot be fulfilled by information associated with the originating server. Then, from the originating server, the first request may be posted to a distributed request ring. Next, at a remote server on the distributed request ring, the first request may be received. The remote server may then query for current data on a data store associated with the remote server that may satisfy the first request. The remote server may next write a foreign reference in the data store. The foreign reference may indicate that the originating server requested the current data. Next, at the originating server, a response may be received to the first request from the remote server. The response may include the current data.
US08280972B2
A user interface and method for composing a message to be sent over a wireless network environment using a handheld device is disclosed. According to the method, upon receipt of a user request to compose a message, a screen is displayed with a recipient field for a recipient address, an associated label to indicate that the recipient field is for a recipient address, and a message body field for holding message content. The method further includes, upon each keystroke entry of text to the recipient field, looking up entries from an address book which match the text, and displaying a selection menu representing addresses from at least a portion of the entries.
US08280967B2
A method is used to filter an electronic message using virtual email sent to a server using a virtual email address created by the server for a recipient-identified. The virtual email address comprises a sender identification in combination with the recipient's non-encoded email address. The server identifies the email recipient using the recipient's non-encoded email address, identifies the email sender as authorized, stores the email sender's identification, stores email comprising the virtual email address; enables the recipient to access the email; enables the recipient to create a virtual email address, receives the virtual email; receives a second electronic message from a non-user-identified sender at the server, responds to the non-user-identified sender requesting an answer that only a human could provide; and, receives the answer from the non-user-identified sender and if the answer is correct, then creates an electronic account on the server for the non-user-identified.
US08280964B2
A system and method are disclosed for communicating transactional and informational messages among air travel service providers and other participants. The technique implements a public protocol in a network having a service oriented architecture. A message in a source format is converted to a public format message with a payload, wherein the payload is the message. The open source message is parsed and communicated over a network, such as the Internet Protocol network, to a switch. The switch authenticates the message, extracts the payload, and communicates the message to the destination, where the message may be converted into a destination format and communicated to a user interface. The message may be processed by the switch and/or the destination to obtain statistical and/or other useful data.
US08280953B2
A relay unit includes: a storing unit storing a first correspondence relation between interface information of a client and a tenant identifier of the client, and a second correspondence relation among the tenant identifier, connection information about a connection with a server, and a state of connection with the server; a tenant identifying unit obtaining the tenant identifier from the first correspondence relation; a connection identifying unit creating the first connection information and adding the correspondence relation among the created first connection information, the obtained tenant identifier, and the state to a busy state into the second correspondence relation; and a connection creating unit creating a connection with the server and transmitting the obtained tenant identifier and the message to the server, wherein the connection identifying unit sets the state to an unused state in response to a reply message from the server.
US08280952B1
Methods of the present inventions allow for providing a preferred domain position on a registration website. An exemplary method may comprise receiving a request from a registrar, which may comprise a bid that the registrar had previously received from a registry seeking a preferred placement on a domain registration website for a domain administered by the registry. The method may further comprise generating a quality score for the domain, determining (based upon the bid and the quality score) a preferred placement for the domain, and transmitting the preferred placement to the registrar.
US08280950B2
A system and method which enables clients to automatically generate client CLI response-objects directed for reading new unfamiliar server CLI response-objects which are received from servers without the need to write or obtain new code for each new server response-object.
US08280945B2
A method and system are disclosed for providing functionality on a network. A mobile agent moves from a first node to a target node and, at the target node, performs as an application layer gateway.
US08280942B2
A documentation system for a network is provided. The system has a data port and a destination device, each of which includes an electronic module with an identification code. A source device sends query signals along a network path addressed to the data port and destination device. Each of the data port and destination device electronic module responds to the query addressed to the data port and destination device by transmitting its identification code to the source device. A processor and switch in communication with the source device direct the source device to send the query signals and to interpret the responses. The data port and destination device electronic modules are powered by a local power source and patch cord. A patch cord may be adapted to provide power from the local power source both to the destination device and to the data port.
US08280932B2
A computer data processing system including a central processing unit configured with a novel integrated computer control software system for the management of data objects including dynamic and automatic organization, linking, finding, cross-referencing, viewing and retrieval of multiple objects regardless of nature or source. The inventive system provides underlying component architecture having an object-oriented database structure and a metadata database structure which is unique in storing only one instance of each object while linking the object to multiple collections and domains by unique metadata links for the grouping into and retrieval from any of the collections. The system employs configurable, extensible attribute/properties of data objects in metadata format, and a truly user-friendly configurable interface that facilitates faster, more unified, comprehensive, useful and meaningful information management. Additional features include a sticky path object hierarchy viewing system, key phrase linking, viewing by reference, and drag-and-drop relationship link creation.
US08280930B1
A technique, which involves participation by electronic circuitry of a data storage array, obtains configuration change information from host devices which are constructed and arranged to store data into and load data from the data storage array. In particular, the technique involves receiving a set of change notices from a set of host devices. Each change notice is received by the electronic circuitry of the data storage array when a respective host device of the set of host devices undergoes a configuration change. The technique further involves providing a set of requests from the electronic circuitry of the data storage array to the set of host devices based on the set of change notices. The technique further involves acquiring configuration change information from the set of host devices in response to the set of requests.
US08280928B2
A method for creating a multi-level enmeshed structure is provided. The multi-level enmeshed directory structure of the present embodiments contain objects described by multiple object descriptors, which can be thought of as tags. Each object can be accessed by any one of the descriptors that describe the object and the descriptors of an object are also accessible.
US08280927B2
The present invention claims and discloses an electronic equipment capable of executing a processing executing program that performs a predetermined processing. The electronic equipment comprises a memory; a setting unit that sets an allocation time for a memory region in the memory that the processing executing program is to use; and a memory leak detecting unit that detects when the memory region has not been deallocated within the allocation time.
US08280923B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to effectively visualize the mapping between two schemas, referred to herein as a source schema (or first schema) and a destination schema (or second schema), regardless of the size or complexity of the schemas and mappings. According to one aspect of the present invention a method for visually representing a mapping between a first schema and a second schema is provided. The method includes receiving a selection of an object, emphasizing the selected object and identifying a plurality of objects that are relevant to the selected object. The objects that are identified as being relevant to the selected object are also emphasized.
US08280920B2
Grouping media files via playlists on a computer-readable medium. One or more media files are selected according to a grouping criterion to define one or more playlists from the media files. A container group is associated with the playlists and stores values identifying each of the playlists associated with the container group along with references to each of the playlists.
US08280919B2
A metadata validation process that allows for deferring object model validation until after the objects are created. The process also allows for multi-threaded processing of the validation rules, thus increasing overall performance. Validation is performed by enforcing a series of validation rules on an appropriate subject. Rules are specified according to the subject that they are validating (i.e., attribute level, association level, object level or collection level). The metadata driven validation process implements several validation types on different validation units. Correctness validation rule types ensure that a validation unit satisfies all semantic rules defined for it. Completeness validation rule types ensure that a validation unit contains all the necessary data and is ready for further use. At design time, only correctness type validation is performed. Thus, the present invention advantageously allows for incomplete objects to be created at design time. The developer, however, in this case may opt to perform completeness validation at any time. In general, a developer may opt to perform completeness and/or correctness validation at any time independent of deployment processing. In another aspect, full validation (e.g., completeness and correctness) is automatically performed on the objects during the process of creating a configuration prior to deployment.
US08280918B2
An approach is provided for determining related queries for a given search query based on the linking structure of electronic documents within a document set. Document titles are used to represent potential search queries and links between the electronic documents are used to determine relationships between the potential search queries. As such, the document set may be represented as a directed graph in which document titles (which represent potential search queries) are nodes and links are edges between the nodes. When a particular search query is received, a corresponding node is identified and related queries are determined by identifying other nodes having connections with that node.
US08280917B1
Batching content management operations to facilitate efficient database interactions is disclosed. Two or more content management-related requests are received. The two or more content management-related requests are treated as a batch, including by formulating and sending to a database in a single database interaction a grouped request to add, delete, or modify each of a plurality of database records.
US08280910B2
A new conversion database associated with information to be finally stored in a host information database is stored in a RAM along with a previous conversion database. Each processing unit refers to the new conversion database to identify data to be held in the host information database of the processing unit itself and refers to the previous conversion database to identify the processing unit which currently holds the data thus identified. The processing unit further relocates the data to be held in the processing unit itself from the processing unit thus identified.
US08280905B2
Methods and systems are provided for a proactive approach for computer forensic investigations. The invention allows organizations anticipating the need for forensic analysis to prepare in advance. Digital signatures are generated proactively for a specified target. The digital signature represents a digest of the content of the target, and can be readily stored. Searching and comparing digital signatures allows quick and accurate identification of targets having identical or similar content. Computational and storage costs are expended in advance, which allow more efficient computer forensic investigations. The present invention can be applied to numerous applications, such as computer forensic evidence gathering, misuse detection, network intrusion detection, and unauthorized network traffic detection and prevention.
US08280900B2
Speculative query expansion is a way to increase the effectiveness of relevance feedback. Instead of picking the best expansion query beforehand, multiple queries are executed and the best expansion query is selected afterward, but with no additional effort (or information) required from the user. From the best expansion query, search results and expanded queries more pertinent to the user can therefore be provided.
US08280894B2
An item authority system is provided. The item authority system uses rules to identify item definitions that match or potentially match an item description. When a unique match is found, then the item authority system may indicate that the item description describes the same item as the item definition. If multiple matches or only potential matches are identified, then the item authority system may allow a user to manually indicate which item definition matches.
US08280889B2
Methods, apparatus, and storage media to build a music metadata library from music collections stored on a plurality of client computing devices. A music server may receive, from a first client computing device of the plurality of client computing device, a unique identifier for a track stored in the first client computing device. The music server may determine if the track is a known track corresponding to acoustic metadata that is already contained in the music metadata library. When the track is not a known track, the music server may send a message indicating the track is a new track to the first client computing device. The music server may then receive acoustic metadata for the track from the first client computing device and store the received acoustic metadata in the music metadata library.
US08280888B1
Systems and methods are described for creating question and document titles representing the relevant content of the question or document and optimized for a search engine where the title is of the appropriate character length such that search engines will view and index the entire title. A method includes receiving a document in which an optimized title is desired, identifying a maximum number of characters a search engine reads when characterizing the document, applying phrasal analysis to the document, identifying topics included in the document, computing candidate titles based on the identified topics, sorting the candidate titles based on the number of topics in each candidate title, selecting the candidate title with the largest number of topics as a candidate optimized title, and selecting the candidate optimized title in response to determining that the candidate optimized title character length is less than the maximum size.
US08280884B2
Systems and methods which facilitate search engine discovery of and/or access to application program content are shown. Declarative code may be provided within the procedural code of a rich Internet application in order to identify various states, and their associated content, of the rich Internet application. A Web crawler may identify content associated with a rich Internet application using the foregoing information. Likewise, direct access to rich Internet application states associated with the identified content may be provided using the foregoing information. A translation module may be provided for interfacing between a Web crawler and a rich Internet application. Such a translation module may interact with the Web crawler to respond to Web crawler navigation instructions and access declarative code associated with different states of the rich Internet application, providing responsive information identifying content in a structure that is compatible with a search engine associated with the Web crawler.
US08280883B2
A device receives one or more contacts provided in an address book associated with a user, and receives profile information associated with one or more other users. The device also links the profile information with one or more corresponding contacts provided in the address book, and provides the address book with the linked profile information to one or more user devices associated with the user.
US08280865B1
A facility for specifying and previewing changes to a web site is described. Sets of changes to a web site are scheduled for release at a specified time. While the changes are being specified using a tool/interface, methods for showing the change as it will appear on the live web site are implemented. Inconsistencies between specified changes and changes in future releases may be identified as the changes are specified. Web page preview functionality is provided to allow any release to be viewed before publication to a live web site. The preview further allows inconsistencies between selected changes and changes in other future releases to be identified.
US08280863B2
Methods and apparatuses provide real-time or near real-time streaming of content using transfer protocols such as an HTTP compliant protocol. In one embodiment, a method includes providing a request for a playlist file (e.g. an updated playlist) and specifying a compression protocol with or for the request; the request can come from a client device which is requesting the playlist from a web server. The web server can provide the playlist in a compressed format.
US08280860B2
A computer-implemented method for deduplicating an incoming data sequence can include the steps of storing signature values for a plurality of data blocklets of a parent data sequence in a deduplication index, sequentially storing signature values for at least some of the plurality of data blocklets of the parent data sequence in a first storage location outside of the deduplication index, determining that a first data blocklet in the incoming data sequence is absent from the parent data sequence, storing a signature value for the first data blocklet in a second storage location outside of the deduplication index, storing a guarded link linking the first data blocklet to the second data blocklet into the second storage location, determining that a second data blocklet that follows the first data blocklet in the incoming data sequence is present in the parent data sequence, the second data blocklet having a signature value that is stored in the first storage location, and copying at least a portion of the contents of the first storage location and the second storage location into a cache to expedite access during deduplication of the incoming data sequence.
US08280855B2
A data storage system stores logical data object(s), each identified by a logical identifier. A control is configured to assign a unique WORM (Write Once Read Many) identifier to the logical data object, and stores the unique WORM identifier as associated with the logical identifier, in a database maintained by the control so as to be persistent. Data storage is configured to write the logical data object with a header with the unique WORM identifier. The control, in order to allow the logical data object to be accessed externally to the control, requires matching the unique WORM identifier in the header of a logical data object to the unique WORM identifier of the persistent database for the logical object. The unique WORM identifier is formed of a checksum hash value related to nonce fields comprising at least the logical identifier of the logical data object, an incrementing token, and a time stamp.
US08280849B2
A system and method for enhanced data transfer are disclosed, the method being applicable to a system comprising a computing device configured to transfer data from a portable device. In one embodiment, the computing device stores a fingerprint of the newest record downloaded from a portable device and stops downloading records from the device when a downloaded record matches the fingerprint. In another embodiment, the computing device stores a fingerprint of the newest record downloaded from a portable device and fully processes records that are downloaded from the device after a downloaded record matches the fingerprint. The system may include a portable device configured to adapt its operation responsive to a system fingerprint provided by the computing device. The portable device may be a medical device. The system may be a healthcare data management system.
US08280841B1
Stage determination apparatus including storage and processor includes: bibliographic database integrating heterogeneous resources; feature-set creation module calculating feature values of predefined features by searching the bibliographic database, and creating feature-set of each technology using the feature values, for technologies on technology lifecycle; answer-feature-set creation module calculating common feature value of feature sets of technologies belonging to the same stage in the technology lifecycle and creating answer-feature-set of each stage; stage determination module that, if technology is inputted, acquires feature values and creates feature-set for predefined features by searching the bibliographic database for the technology, compares corresponding feature value in the feature-set of the technology with feature value according to feature selection flow in previous decision tree according to the feature selection flow, and determines a stage having feature value finally selected according to the feature selection flow as a stage where the technology belongs to in the technology lifecycle.
US08280830B2
An exemplary method for using multiple in-line heuristics to reduce false positives may include: 1) training a first heuristic using a set of training data, 2) deploying the first heuristic, 3) identifying false positives produced by the first heuristic during deployment, 4) modifying the training data to include the false positives produced by the first heuristic, 5) creating a second heuristic using the modified training data, 6) deploying both the first heuristic and the second heuristic, and then 7) applying both the first heuristic and the second heuristic, in sequence, to a set of field data.
US08280829B2
In one embodiment, training a ranking model comprises: accessing the ranking model and an objective function of the ranking model; accessing one or more preference pairs of objects, wherein for each of the preference pairs of objects comprising a first object and a second object, there is a preference between the first object and the second object with respect to the particular reference, and the first object and the second object each has a feature vector comprising one or more feature values; and training the ranking model by minimizing the objective function using the preference pairs of objects, wherein for each of the preference pairs of objects, a difference between the first feature vector of the first object and the second feature vector of the second object is not calculated.
US08280828B2
A classifier method comprises: projecting a set of training vectors in a vector space to a comparison space defined by a set of reference vectors using a comparison function to generate a corresponding set of projected training vectors in the comparison space; training a linear classifier on the set of projected training vectors to generate a trained linear classifier operative in the comparison space; and transforming the trained linear classifier operative in the comparison space into a trained nonlinear classifier that is operative in the vector space to classify an input vector.
US08280822B2
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a human resource management platform that includes applications targeted to solve a variety of human resource, compensation, and performance management problems. Applications of the human resource management platform include business applications such as performance driven compensation that may provide a single solution for driving employee performance and organizational success by automation of goal setting, performance measurement, and employee rewards by directly linking performance results to rewards.
US08280819B2
A method and apparatus for securely displaying and communicating trusted and untrusted internet content via a web browser is described. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is an electronic marketplace system in which auction-related content is displayed in one window of a customer's web browser while item-related content is displayed in a second window of the customer's web browser, such that the auction-related content and the item-related content are substantially prevented from substantially interacting. The invention further provides a method and apparatus for communicating predetermined information between multiple documents opened in multiple web browser windows, where the documents are served from multiple domains.
US08280815B2
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for facilitating online storage of files (e.g., audio tracks, video, etc.) for playback/access or sale/exchange by the owners of the files without violating copyrights that copyright holders have in the files. For example, by providing a playback service that does not store additional versions of an audio file when the file is transmitted to, and immediately played on, a user device without buffering, the present invention avoids violating copyright laws by not making copies of the file. Numerous other aspects are disclosed.
US08280814B2
An electronic cash management system including a plurality of electronic cash safes each associated with a cash acceptor and a communicator under the physical control of a financial institution operating as a vault cash manager which owns the cash located therein and operative upon receipt of cash into one of said plurality of cash safes, verified by the cash acceptor to employ the communicator for providing a computer network notification to the financial institution indicating receipt of the cash as vault cash owned by the financial institution.
US08280811B2
Charitable donations are increased by automatically providing immediate on-line recognition of on-line donors. A list of donors is maintained on a Web page acknowledging the on-line contributions. Donor names on the list can be links to additional information about the donation or the donor. Information about donor and donation is entered by the donor, who can specify what information is to be published on the Web and what information is to remain unpublished. The donor list can be arranged in order of donation size, and donors can compete for position on the list. The donor information can indicate membership in a group, and donations can also be totaled by group to encourage donation competition between groups.
US08280809B2
Some embodiments include systems and methods for linking a card with a merchant account. A financial institution that issues the merchant card to a merchant acts as both issuer and acquirer for the merchant. The merchant uses the merchant card to accept other financial cards as payment. Funds due the merchant are added to an available balance of the merchant card rather than depositing the funds in a settlement account. The funds can be added to the available balance before the transactions settle and can be accessed by the merchant. The financial institution also authorizes transactions when the merchant uses the merchant card as a regular cardholder to make payment. The merchant name can be changed on a per transaction basis if desired.
US08280806B1
Systems and methods are provided for determining an indication that an application for a mortgage loan to secure a property may result in closing of the loan transaction. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving application information, such that the application information includes at least borrower information, property information, and a first interest rate; receiving home value information, such that the home value information represents an estimated value of the property; receiving a second interest rate; and determining the indication based on the received application information, received home value information, and received second interest rate, such that the indication represents a likelihood that the mortgage loan may result in closing.
US08280796B2
The present invention relates to methods of aggregating and valuing intellectual property in a financial exchange. The present invention provides means whereby holders of intellectual property rights may sell, or license intellectual property to an aggregator and receive shares of stock or cash for the contribution based on the aggregated value of the intellectual property held by the aggregator.
US08280792B2
A computer-based billing system presents, via an end-user interface, a plurality of exceptions as have occurred with respect to corresponding billing events as pertain to a plurality of billed parties while also presenting exceptions metrics as pertain to this plurality of exceptions. These exceptions metrics include at least one age-related metric, at least one financial-related metric, and at least one count-related metric. These teachings then further provide for permitting the end user to selectively prioritize the presenting of the plurality of exceptions as a function of at least one of these exceptions metrics.
US08280789B2
There is described an efficient and simple method of billing a client for using a computerized numerical control machine. The invoice amount to be billed is based on at least one trajectory of at least one axis during operation, on a volume of a stock removed from a work piece during operation, and on a processing time information related to working on the work piece. One concept of the method therefore is a pay-per-use concept relating the added value created by the computerized numerical control machine to the invoice amount.
US08280787B1
A method and system for recommending a bank account based on consumer financial data whereby financial transaction data, including banking transaction data, associated with a given consumer is obtained from one or more sources. The financial transaction data is then analyzed to identify one or more consumer bank account usage attributes associated with the given consumer. Data representing one or more bank accounts currently available, and one or more banking features associated with the one or more bank accounts currently available, is obtained from one or more sources and stored in an available bank accounts database. The available bank accounts database is then searched using the data representing the identified one or more consumer bank account usage attributes to find one or more bank accounts currently available having banking features that are advantageous to the given consumer. The given consumer is then provided access to data indicating the one or more bank accounts having banking features that are advantageous to the given consumer.
US08280765B2
A computer implemented method for maximizing publisher revenue for online advertising is provided. The computer implemented method includes determining a ratio of guaranteed ad impressions to expected remaining ad impressions. If the ratio is less than a threshold, the method includes, identifying a minimum bid value, the minimum bid value based on the ratio; comparing the minimum bid value to a received bid value for an ad impression; allocating the ad impression to an owner of the received bid when the received bid value is greater than or equal to the minimum bid value; and displaying an ad of the owner of the received bid. If the ratio is greater than the threshold, the method includes, allocating the ad impression to an owner of the guaranteed ad impressions. In one embodiment, the method operations are stored on a computer readable storage medium.
US08280764B2
A method for delivering an electronic coupon to a mobile device includes receiving via a wireless network a target image or icons extracted from the target image, comparing the target image to a plurality of learned images using a processor in communication with the wireless network, determining whether the target image matches at least one learned image, and when the target image matches at least one learned image, delivering to the mobile device over the wireless network an electronic coupon associated with the at least one learned image. The target image can represent at least a portion of a front surface of a consumer packaged good located in a retail outlet. The target image can be generated using a mobile device configured to communicate with the wireless network. The front surface of the consumer packaged good is the surface of the consumer packaged good that faces an aisle of the retail outlet carrying the consumer packaged good; accordingly, the consumer does not need to handle the consumer packaged good in search of a bar code.
US08280763B2
The present invention provides an approach for rewarding customers for use of self-checkout stations and, optionally, for being self-sufficient in such use by not requiring retailer (employee) assistance. Specifically, the under the present invention, a set of service choices made by a customer during purchasing transactions are tracked. Such service choices include whether the customer elected to use self-checkout stations. In addition, a frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions will be tracked. Such tracking can be accomplished using any known technology including the use of the customer loyalty cards that are assigned to specific customers. In any event, a reward can be offered to the customer if the customer elected to use self-checkout stations to complete at least a subset of the purchasing transactions, and/or if the frequency of assistance needed by the customer during the purchasing transactions fell below a predetermined threshold.
US08280759B2
Fee-charging unit has unit to exclude, from a fee-charging target, information that is provided for a period of non-operating time for which the receiving device is presumed, from at least the charging state, to be disabled from continuing the reception if the fee-charging target information was provided to the receiving device in the past, if there is not recorded a piece of information that the receiving device can continue to receive the information for the predetermined period of time and if there is recorded a piece of information that the charging state of the secondary battery is not sufficient for continuing the reception.
US08280756B1
A method of scheduling project milestones is provided. The method includes estimating a minimum duration of the project based on an estimated level-of-effort of the project. The method includes selecting a release cycle in which to deliver the project based on the minimum duration of the project, and further based on a release cycle milestone and on a duration of a project planning phase. The method provides for determining a project start date based on the duration of the project planning phase. The method also including scheduling each of a plurality of project milestones based on the release cycle milestone, the project start date, and a schedule of project phases as a percentage of total project duration. The schedule of project phases as a percentage of total project duration is derived from averages calculated from data collected from completed projects.
US08280752B1
A system and method for calculating and applying insurance costs. For vehicle insurance under one embodiment of the present invention, insurance costs are calculated on a per-mile basis in a nonlinear fashion, assigning different levels of risk based upon the distance driven by a customer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the first miles or kilometers driven by a customer are assigned a greater level of risk than later-driven miles or kilometers. The present invention provides an actuarial method that more closely conforms the cost of insurance for a particular vehicle to its annual mileage by creating a Rate Per Mile Factor (RMF), where the RMF is expressed as a function of annual mileage.
US08280749B2
The present invention provides a real-time interactive information system for measurement of 12-lead electrocardiogram waveforms and report editing, comprising a server providing cross-platform web page browsing for user to input commands or to review ECG reports and to edit or to measure information from patient further, a device for supporting internet interacting protocol which is a WEB SERVICE allowing for receiving commands issued by the server of cross-platform web page browsing and giving the server the feedback of processed ECG information by assistance from the database device, and a database device allowing for accessing patient's information to the internet interacting protocol.
US08280747B1
Systems and methods for a healthcare information collection and analysis system to collect health information, aggregate and/or analyze the information, and use the collected information to provide relevant information in an organized form to one or more system users. The information may be used to provide system users with health information about health conditions and their related procedures and medications. The information may be used by the system users, for example, to determine what procedures and medications they can expect with certain health conditions. The information may also help system users select healthcare providers and may provide system users with a range of approximate costs to expect for the procedures and medications.
US08280743B2
During production, at least one audio signal is processed in order to derive instructions for channel reconfiguring it. The at least one audio signal and the instructions are stored or transmitted. During consumption, the at least one audio signal is channel reconfigured in accordance with the instructions. Channel reconfiguring includes upmixing, downmixing, and spatial reconfiguration. By determining the channel reconfiguration instructions during production, processing resources during consumption are reduced.
US08280739B2
The present invention provides a speech analysis method comprising steps of obtaining a speech signal and a corresponding DEGG/EGG signal; regarding the speech signal as the output of a vocal tract filter in a source-filter model taking the DEGG/EGG signal as the input; and estimating the features of the vocal tract filter from the speech signal as the output and the DEGG/EGG signal as the input, wherein the features of the vocal tract filter are expressed by the state vectors of the vocal tract filter at selected time points, and the step of estimating is performed using Kalman filtering.
US08280730B2
A method (400, 600, 700) and apparatus (220) for enhancing the intelligibility of speech emitted into a noisy environment. After filtering (408) ambient noise with a filter (304) that simulates the physical blocking of noise by a at least a part of a voice communication device (102) a frequency dependent SNR of received voice audio relative to ambient noise is computed (424) on a perceptual (e.g. Bark) frequency scale. Formants are identified (426, 600, 700) and the SNR in bands including certain formants are modified (508, 510) with formant enhancement gain factors in order to improve intelligibility. A set of high pass filter gains (338) is combined (516) with the formant enhancement gains factors yielding combined gains which are clipped (518), scaled (520) according to a total SNR, normalized (526), smoothed across time (530) and frequency (532) and used to reconstruct (532, 534) an audio signal.
US08280727B2
A voice band expansion device includes a time-frequency converter that calculates a frequency spectrum of a voice signal having a first frequency band; a separator that extracts, from the frequency spectrum, an envelope amplitude spectrum, a periodic amplitude spectrum, and a random amplitude spectrum; an envelope amplitude spectrum band expander that expands a frequency band to a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band; a periodic amplitude spectrum band expander that expands a frequency band to the second frequency band; a random amplitude spectrum band expander that expands a frequency band of the random amplitude spectrum to the second frequency band; a broadband spectrum calculator that calculates a broadband frequency spectrum having the first frequency band and the second frequency band; and a frequency-time converter generates a voice signal having the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
US08280721B2
Word sense probabilities are compressed for storage in a semantic index. Each word sense for a word is mapped to one of a number of “buckets” by assigning a bucket score to the word sense. A scoring function is utilized to assign the bucket scores that maximizes the entropy of the assigned bucket scores. Once the bucket scores have been assigned to the word senses, the bucket scores are stored in the semantic index. The bucket scores stored in the semantic index may be utilized to prune one or more of the word senses prior to construction of the semantic index. The bucket scores may also be utilized to prune and rank the word senses at the time a query is performed using the semantic index.
US08280716B2
A method for computing includes specifying a data processing system using a logical system definition, which defines logical system components having respective functionalities and a topology for interconnecting the logical system components. The logical system components are represented using respective logical objects in a hierarchical object model. Physical resources of a grid computer system are represented using physical objects in the hierarchical object model. The logical objects are automatically mapped to at least some of the physical objects, so as to allocate the physical resources to carry out the respective functionalities of the logical system components. The allocated physical resources are configured and activated so as to cause the grid computer system to function as the data processing system, in accordance with the logical system definition.
US08280715B2
A method may include receiving a first selection via a user interface comprising a hardware configuration for a simulated computer storage system, the hardware configuration including a plurality of hardware components. The method may also include receiving a second selection via the user interface comprising a storage configuration for the plurality of hardware components of the simulated computer storage system. Further, the method may include creating a storage configuration template utilizing the storage configuration. Additionally, the method may include associating the plurality of hardware components of the simulated computer storage system with the storage configuration template. Further, the method may include storing the plurality of hardware components of the simulated computer storage system and the associated storage configuration template.
US08280708B2
In a method, a data processing system and a computer program for the configuration of tools and/or processes for the manufacturing of formed metal parts, raw data (r) for the description of a geometry and of a condition of a formed metal part are calculated from a set of nominal simulation parameters (d,n) through the simulation of a metal forming process. From a set of nominal simulation parameters (d,n) in a simulation run a set of raw data is calculated and saved, the preceding step is repeated several times with a variation of the simulation parameters (d,n), and as a result of this further sets of raw data (r) are generated and saved, and a statistical analysis (10) of several or of all the saved sets of raw data (r) is carried throughout for the purpose of calculating statistical characteristic values (Cr) of the raw data (r).
US08280707B2
A scenario is simulated by providing an agent that is an object in the scenario, providing a time window for the scenario that spans the farthest reachable past time and the farthest reachable future time with respect to a present time for the agent and/or at least one player that interacts with the simulated scenario, providing at least one event that represents a change in at least one attribute of the agent, and updating a state of the scenario by applying the at least one event to the agent within the time window.
US08280706B2
A simulator simulates the behavior of a plurality of agents existing in the virtual space. Each of a plurality of calculators, communicable with one another, includes a space allocation storage that stores space allocation information, a space allocation control part that updates the space allocation information, an allocation change candidate space extracting part that extracts a divided space to be a candidate for the allocation change, a communication amount estimating part that calculates an amount of communication or an amount of change in communication generated between calculators based on the number of agents, a space allocation change judging part that determines whether or not to allocate a divided space to another calculator based on the amount of communication or the amount of change in communication, and a space allocation change executing part that requests the space allocation control part and other calculators to change the space allocation.
US08280705B2
A method for predicting a residual online time of a peer in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network is provided. The method includes: obtaining M history life cycle sampling data Si of a peer, i=1, . . . , M; determining the number, n, of Gaussian components in a multidimensional Gaussian Mixture Model to be established, where n≧2, and the multidimensional Gaussian Mixture Model denotes a probability distribution of a residual online time of the peer; using Si and n to establish the multidimensional Gaussian Mixture Model; and using the established multidimensional Gaussian Mixture Model to predict the residual online time of the peer. A device for predicting a residual online time of a peer in a P2P network is also provided.
US08280704B2
The fragmentation of a bird or similar soft body, following its impact on an angled target plate, is modeled by representing the body as a combination of fragments and slurry, their relative proportions depending on the severity and angle of impact. The method is particularly suitable for modeling the behavior of a bird striking an obscuring intake of a gas turbine engine.
US08280701B2
A computer-aided design apparatus generates a tree structure of coordinate systems defining the topology of a three-dimensional object to be fabricated. The coordinate systems are positioned and orientated in accordance with mathematical functions. The mathematical function positioning child coordinate systems has the identity of the parent coordinate systems as a variable so that the positions of the child coordinate systems relative to their parent coordinate systems vary in accordance with the identity of the parent coordinate systems. Data defining the coordinate systems and connections therebetween is stored in a graph. Bases having a defined relationship are identified and three-dimensional content objects are added thereto. The content objects are added using the same mathematical function to generate a three-dimensional content object in each of a plurality of coordinate systems. The mathematical function for generating the content objects has the identity of the coordinate systems as a variable thereof to generate the content object in each coordinate system with a different shape.
US08280700B2
An automated system and method is provided for configuring an object (e.g., a room). In accordance with a preferred embodiment, configuration is facilitated through the use of layering functionality and frame-based inferences to evaluate stored knowledge of object attributes. The frame-based inferences may be supplemented by a rules-based inference system. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a graphics-based user interface may be used to permit interactive configuration using two-dimensional and three-dimensional models of the object, and incorporating engineering specifications, as well as functional and physical attributes.
US08280698B2
The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method of computing. In one embodiment, computing a boundary of a modelled object in a computer aided design system, the method may include accessing data defining a modeled object as a simplicial m-complex. The method may further include projecting the simplicial m -complex in n, m≧n. The method also may include computing a polyhedral boundary of the modeled object as a polyhedral n−1-cycle in the projection of the simplicial complex. The polyhedral n−1-cycle may substantially border the projection of the simplicial complex. The present invention is further directed to a computer program product and a computerized system for performing the method of the invention.
US08280696B1
A method for computer aided design of conduit comprising: creating a library of specification information and a library of drawing characteristics related to a plurality of element types and bundles. An element type is selected, and an identification key is calculated for the selected element type, forming a graphics object. The selecting of element types and the calculating of identification keys is repeated, forming an updated graphics object. Specification information and drawing characteristics are retrieved from the libraries and stored in association with each selected element type. At least two element types are selected to form a bundle. An identification bundle key is calculated for the bundle. Selection of element types to form additional bundles is repeated, calculating identification bundle keys or each additional bundle, forming an updated bundle graphics object. Specification information and drawing characteristics for the bundles are retrieved and stored in association with the bundles.
US08280688B2
Methods, apparatus, and systems for performing fault diagnosis are disclosed herein. In one exemplary embodiment, a failure log is received comprising entries indicative of compressed test responses to chain patterns and compressed test responses to scan patterns. A faulty scan chain in the circuit-under-test is identified based at least in part on one or more of the entries indicative of the compressed test responses to chain patterns. One or more faulty scan cell candidates in the faulty scan chain are identified based at least in part on one or more of the entries indicative of the compressed test responses to scan patterns. The one or more identified scan cell candidates can be reported. Computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods are also provided. Likewise, computer-readable media storing lists of fault candidates identified by any of the disclosed methods are also provided.
US08280681B2
A system of monitoring weight of a person includes a plurality of pressure sensors integrated with a shoe, for generating wireless signals responsive to weight of a person wearing the shoe when walking or running over ground. A processor processes the signals to determine an improper walking or running event, and a transmitter transmits a signal indicative of the improper walking or running event. A remote receiver receives the signal and generates an indication of the improper walking or running event.
US08280675B2
A method for inspecting a rail vehicle includes receiving signals representative of temperatures of a wheel of the rail vehicle and generating a sensed wheel temperature profile of the wheel based on the signals. At least a portion of the sensed wheel temperature profile is representative of the temperatures of the wheel. The method also includes identifying waveform attributes in the sensed wheel temperature profile and designating the sensed wheel temperature profile as at least one of a typical wheel profile and an atypical wheel profile based on the waveform attributes in the sensed wheel temperature profile.
US08280674B2
In one embodiment, a temperature sensing apparatus includes two temperature sensors that are disposed at differing depths from a surface and a measurement circuit that is coupled to the temperature sensors. The measurement circuit is operable to calculate the temperature of the surface based on a first temperature of one temperature sensor with a second temperature of the other temperature sensor.
US08280669B2
An HDMI cable may exhibit frequency dependent signal attenuation, inter symbol interference, and inter-pair skew. A boost device integrated with the cable can compensate for such impairments of the cable. A self calibrating cable with a boost device of the embodiment of the invention is described, in which parameters that control the response of the boost device are set optimally in a self-calibrating process including looping the boosted cable on itself through a calibration fixture that contains a calibration control device. The boost device includes pattern generators and a sampling circuit. Each high speed channel of the cable is separately tested and calibrated with the help of one of the other channels serving as a sampling channel.
US08280660B2
Previously, electrical power systems have been analyzed to provide theoretical fault levels values for different zones of an electrical power distribution system based upon a worse case scenario. However, existing electrical loads will in practice provide a more adaptable and higher fault level. By monitoring and identifying an I-V characteristic upon switching electrical load in practical operation an actual default level at particular nodes in a power distribution system is determinable. In such circumstances decisions with regard to the connectability of further electrical generators or loads at particular parts and zones of an electrical power distribution system can be quantified by reference to the actual fault level rather than the theoretical worse case scenario level and therefore avoid unnecessary upgrading of transmission equipment or denying access to the electrical power system.
US08280659B2
A method for determining a low performing cell in a fuel cell stack. The method measures the voltage of each cell in the fuel cell stack and calculates an average cell voltage of all of the cell voltages from the fuel cell stack at a plurality of stack current densities. The method also identifies a minimum cell voltage from all of the cell voltages from the fuel cell stack at the plurality of stack current densities that the average cell voltages are calculated and determines a relative delta voltage relationship between the average cell voltage and the minimum cell voltage at each of the plurality of stack current densities. The relative delta voltage relationships are used to determine whether the minimum cell voltage indicates a persistent stack problem.
US08280652B2
An apparatus, method, and system for measuring the magnetic field produced by phase conductors in multi-phase power lines. The magnetic field measurements are used to determine the current load on the conductors. The magnetic fields are sensed by coils placed sufficiently proximate the lines to measure the voltage induced in the coils by the field without touching the lines. The x and y components of the magnetic fields are used to calculate the conductor sag, and then the sag data, along with the field strength data, can be used to calculate the current load on the line and the phase of the current. The sag calculations of this invention are independent of line voltage and line current measurements. The system applies a computerized fitter routine to measured and sampled voltages on the coils to accurately determine the values of parameters associated with the overhead phase conductors.
US08280650B2
Methods and apparatus enable sensing flow of a fluid inside a conduit with an array of pressure or strain sensors. Inputs for a curve fit routine include power correlation values at one of multiple trial velocities or speeds of sound and several steps on either side utilizing data obtained from the sensors. The velocity at which a curve fit routine returns a max curvature result corresponds to an estimate value that facilitates identification of a speed of sound in the fluid and/or a velocity of the flow. Furthermore, a directional quality compensation factor may apply to outputs from the curve fit routine to additionally aid in determining the velocity of the flow.
US08280634B2
A system and method of mapping underground utilities and other subsurface objects involves one or more of acquiring utility location data using a number of different detectors and sensors, processing the multiple detector/sensor output data to produce mapping data, storing the mapping data in a database, and providing access to and use of the stored mapping data by subscribing users on a usage fee basis.
US08280630B2
A navigation device is provided that presents a travel direction of a vehicle at a guide point along with a map around the vehicle, without significantly reducing a display area of the map around the vehicle. The navigation device of the present invention includes current position locating means 9 for locating the current position of a vehicle, storage means 25 for storing map data, display means 19 for displaying a guidance screen that includes a map 41 around the current vehicle position with use of the map data, and operation means formed by a plurality of keys 45, 49, 65, 67 and 69 displayed on the display means 19 and a touch panel 31. The guidance screen includes a guide point display key 49, the guide point display key 49 causing a map 41 around a guide point that the vehicle is to pass through next, out of guide points that are present on the guidance route and where a travel direction of the vehicle is guided, to be displayed on the display means 19 instead of the guidance screen, and an arrow 51 is added to the guide point display key 49, the arrow 51 indicating the travel direction of the vehicle at the guide point that the vehicle is to pass through next.
US08280624B2
A method of determining a likely geographical location for which a user of a computer desires further information based on submitted criteria comprising the steps of: the user submitting criteria including a locality name; identifying from the criteria the locality name; returning, in dependence on the locality name, a probability that the locality name is associated with a geographical location.
US08280615B2
An air inlet system of an engine includes a throttle, a fan, a motor, and a throttle sensor. The fan is connected to the throttle. The motor is for driving the fan to force air into at least one intake manifold of the engine through the throttle. The throttle sensor is for controlling the rotational speed of the fan according to the motion of a throttle pedal.
US08280612B2
A coordinated torque control (CTC) system is provided that includes an engine capacity module, a multi-pulse enable module, and a catalyst light off torque reserve module. The engine capacity module determines a torque capacity of an engine and generates a maximum engine torque capacity signal. The multi-pulse enable module enables a multi-pulse mode that includes the injection of at least two pulses of fuel into a cylinder of the engine during a combustion cycle. The multi-pulse enable module generates a multi-pulse desired signal to operate in the multi-pulse mode based on the maximum engine torque capacity signal, a catalyst light off signal, and a brake torque request signal. The catalyst light off torque reserve module generates a torque reserve corrected signal based on the multi-pulse desired signal.
US08280607B2
A system includes a trailer sensing module, a position sensing module, a torque reducing module, and an override control module. The trailer sensing module senses when a trailer is attached to a vehicle. The position sensing module senses positions of an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal of the vehicle. The torque reducing module reduces torque output to wheels of the vehicle when both the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are pressed. The override control module selectively deactivates the torque reducing module when the trailer is attached to the vehicle and when a speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a threshold.
US08280603B2
Systems and methods for determining aircraft brake pedal sensor failure are provided. A brake pedal sensor and/or a brake pedal may be “failed” if brake pedal sensor readings unlikely to be generated as a result of human input are detected. The method comprises acquiring brake pedal measurements from a brake pedal sensor, determining a state of the brake pedal sensor, and providing a notification of the state. Each brake pedal measurement comprises a brake pedal deflection amount. The brake pedal sensor test algorithm may be conducted at regular intervals, in preparation for aircraft landing, at the request of a human operator, and the like.
US08280599B2
A vehicle control device where, the transmission apparatus is provided with a state in which the rotational driving force is not transmitted from the output member to the input member when a first engaging element is engaged; the vehicle control device is provided with a control unit that controls the transmission apparatus to engage the first engaging element by a hydraulic pressure from the electric pump for implementing the state in an idle stop state in which the vehicle is in a moving state and the engine is stopped; in a case where a travel speed of the vehicle is not greater than a predetermined release threshold value, the first engaging element is engaged by the hydraulic pressure from the electric pump; and in a case where the travel speed of the vehicle is greater than the predetermined release threshold value, all of the engaging elements are released.
US08280594B2
A door opening/closing apparatus includes an opening/closing handle provided in a vehicle door, electrodes disposed in the door handle, a detection circuit configured to detect a change of electrostatic capacitance which occurs in the vicinity of the electrodes when a human body portion approaches or contacts the door handle and then to output a locking or unlocking operation signal and a device for executing locking or unlocking of the door based on the operation signal, and a transmission/reception antenna for effecting transmission/reception with a portable unit corresponding to the vehicle, wherein the door handle includes an insulating base body, and on a vehicle outer side surface of the base body, there is attached a metal layer comprised of a group of island shaped metal particles that extend along the surface of the base body and that are separated from each other.
US08280579B2
A vehicular memory management apparatus includes in an SRAM a mirror area for mirroring information from a PDTC storage area and an update information storage area for storing update information of the SRAM. When a fault is detected, a DTC is stored in both of the mirror area and a DTC storage area for maintaining consistency between the contents of the two areas, and the update information is updated. After confirming the consistency based on the update information, the information in the mirror area is copied to the PDTC storage area. Further, the information in the PDTC storage area is copied to the mirror area upon determining that the information in the mirror area is deleted based on the update information.
US08280568B2
A first threshold is determined, with reference to an absolute acceleration that is determined in accordance with a vehicle usage condition, to detect an acceleration change generated in acceleration of a self-axle speed that is a maximum speed (a minimum speed in a decelerating operation) of revolving speeds of plural motors that drive plural driving wheel axles. When the acceleration exceeds the first threshold, a system for generating a target torque command value reduced in accordance with the acceleration deviation is separated by setting an output of a comparator circuit to level “0”, and a first-order delay circuit outputs the target torque command value subjected to a reduction process during a processing period designated by an output of a delay time generating circuit.
US08280564B2
The method of optimizing the exit of an aircraft traversing for a known duration (D) a holding circuit forming a racecourse comprising two parallel branches of the same distance, the branches being traversed in a first time (t1), and two arcs of the same radius linking respectively the ends of each branch, the two arcs being traversed in a second time (t2), the holding circuit comprising an exit point situated at the end of one of the branches is characterized in that the distance of the branches of the holding circuit for the last two loops performed are adjusted so that the aircraft is substantially in proximity to the exit point when the duration (D) has elapsed.
US08280561B2
A powered wheel chair device comprises a motorized undercarriage and a support seat for supporting a wheelchair occupant. At least one support arm is located adjacent the seat. A controller is mounted on the arm, the controller including a joystick unit within reach of the occupant. The joystick is in communication with the motorized undercarriage for driving the undercarriage. The joystick includes an upstanding post with a collar, the collar having a periphery with a number of abutment regions located therealong. A number of actuators are provided, each movable from a storage position distal to the corresponding abutment region and a deployed position adjacent the corresponding abutment region. Each actuator is responsive to an obstacle detecting sensor near a corresponding peripheral region of the undercarriage.
US08280557B2
An air-conditioning apparatus includes first and second outdoor units having first and second outdoor heat exchangers and first and second heat source-side degree of subcooling adjustment devices configured to adjust first and second degrees of subcooling in outlet sides of the first and second outdoor heat exchangers, respectively. First and second outdoor-side determination units are configured to determine first and second degrees of subcooling, respectively. A controller is configured to control the first and second heat source-side degree of subcooling adjustment devices, respectively, such that a difference between the first degree of subcooling and the second degree of subcooling is reduced when refrigerant is charged into a refrigerant circuit having the first outdoor heat exchanger and the second outdoor heat exchanger.
US08280553B2
Various embodiments of a lip moving device for use in robots are provided. A lip moving device has first and second lip members. The first and second lip members are made from a flexible material. First and second driving parts apply torques to both ends of the first lip member, while third and fourth driving parts apply torques to both ends of the second lip member. The first and third driving parts are mounted in a first frame. The second and fourth driving parts are mounted in a second frame. The first and second frames are pivotally coupled to a supporting part. An adjusting part pivots the first and second frames relative to the supporting part to adjust a distance between the first and second frames.
US08280552B2
It is possible to provide a power assist device which can maintain a stable contact state without causing an oscillation phenomenon even if a robot is brought into contact with an environment. A method for controlling the power assist device is also provided. The power assist device includes: an inner force sensor which detects an operation force applied by an operator; an operation handle having the inner force sensor; a robot arm which supports the operation handle; an actuator which drives the robot arm; the actuator and a control device which measure or estimate a force applied when the robot arm is brought into contact with an environment; and the actuator and the control device which detect or estimate a motion speed of the operation handle. The control device acquires a corrected external force according to the operation force detected by the inner force sensor and an external force detected by the actuator and the control device as external force derivation means and controls the actuator so that the corrected external force acts on the operation handle.
US08280548B2
Computer-implemented method of loading goods stored in a warehouse on a vehicle for transporting and delivering to a number of destination locations, whereby the destination locations are on a predetermined route, comprising the following steps: receiving a number of delivery requests, each request specifying the goods to be delivered, and the destination locations of the goods to be delivered; receiving data descriptive of the route which the vehicle has to travel for delivering the goods at the destinations; placing the goods to be delivered on a staging area associated with the vehicle, the staging area defining a physical place where the goods are intermediately put down and sequentially picked up from for being loaded on the vehicle; whereby the goods are positioned on the staging area in such a first spatial sequence that they can be picked up there from and placed in the vehicle in such a second spatial sequence that they can be unloaded from the vehicle at the respective destination locations in the sequence of arriving at the destination locations.
US08280546B2
A system for transporting inventory items includes an inventory holder capable of storing inventory items and a mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is capable of moving to a first point with the inventory holder at least one of coupled to and supported by the mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is additionally capable of determining a location of the inventory holder and calculating a difference between the location of the inventory holder and the first point. The mobile drive unit is then capable of determining whether the difference is greater than a predetermined tolerance. In response to determining that the difference is greater than the predetermined tolerance, the mobile drive unit is also capable of moving to a second point based on the location of the inventory holder, docking with the inventory holder, and moving the mobile drive unit and the inventory holder to the first point.
US08280534B2
When a system operator selects a message to be analyzed from among a plurality of messages listed in a state change list displayed on an HMI unit, a monitoring target is identified from the selected message and all other messages that correspond to the same monitoring target are automatically searched. Subsequently, a timeline chart is displayed that represents changes in the operating state specified in the selected message and the found messages.
US08280526B2
An extensible medical lead comprises at least one proximal contact, at least one distal electrode, and having at least one conductive filer electrically coupled between the proximal contacts and the distal stimulation electrode. The lead further comprises an outer jacket made of a longitudinally compressible material. The conductive filer may also be coiled to provide extensibility.
US08280507B2
An implantable antitachycardiac cardiac stimulator has at least one right-ventricular sensing unit, a defibrillation shock generator and a control unit, as well as an additional detection unit for detecting ventricular events which operates independently of the right-ventricular detection electrode, and an evaluation unit (e.g., as an additional component of the control unit) which suppresses the delivery of a defibrillation shock on reliable detection of the normal rhythm via the additional detection unit.
US08280506B2
The connector between the patient electrode pads and the base unit of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) system can be formed by capturing a printed circuit board (PCB) within a connector housing. The PCB can have conductive metal traces that serve as the contact points between the wires from the patient electrodes and the electronics within the AED base unit. The PCB in combination with the conductive metal traces can be shaped similar to a conventional two-prong or two-blade connector. Employing such a PCB-based connector may result in AED pads which are less complex and less costly to manufacture. The PCB can also support a configuration circuit that is positioned between the conductive metal traces and that allows the AED to read and store information about the attached pads. For example, the AED can use this data storage feature to check the expiration date of the pads.
US08280505B2
An implanted electrical signal generator delivers a novel exogenous electrical signal to a vagus nerve of a patient. The vagus nerve conducts action potentials originating in the heart and lungs to various structures of the brain, thereby eliciting a vagal evoked potential in those structures. The exogenous electrical signal simulates and/or augments the endogenous afferent activity originating from the heart and/or lungs of the patient, thereby enhancing the vagal evoked potential in the various structures of the brain. The exogenous electrical signal includes a series of electrical pulses organized or patterned into a series of microbursts including 2 to 20 pulses each. No pulses are sent between the microbursts. Each of the microbursts may be synchronized with the QRS wave portion of an ECG. The enhanced vagal evoked potential in the various structures of the brain may be used to treat various medical conditions including epilepsy and depression.
US08280497B2
A method for performing echocardiography for use with patient's unable to perform on a treadmill and in which no medications for increasing heart rate are used. Compression cuffs are placed on each of a patient's four extremities and compression is applied rotatingly to subsets of three out of the four cuffs. EKG is monitored before, during, and after application of the sequential decompression, thereby providing an echocardiograph of the patient's heart.
US08280491B2
A set of 2D reconstructed images is generated from a pretreatment 3D scan showing an initial position of a target, wherein the set of 2D reconstructed images corresponds to perturbations from said initial position along fewer than six degrees of freedom. Said set of 2D reconstructed images are registered with one or more 2D x-ray images of said target showing a current position of the target, wherein the registering includes computing a set of 3D transformation parameters that represent a change in position of said target between said initial position of said pretreatment 3D scan and said current position of said 2D x-ray images along six degrees of freedom. A positioning system is instructed to adjust a relative position of a radiosurgical beam generator to said target by an amount prescribed by said 3D transformation parameters, wherein said target is allowed six degrees of freedom of position.
US08280483B2
A medical imaging system (10) comprises one or more displays (66). A viewer device (86) generates an interactive user interface screen (80) on the display (66), which viewer device (86) enables a user to simultaneously inspect selected image data of multiple patients or multiple images.
US08280482B2
Methods for measuring atrophy in a brain region occupied by the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. In one example, MRI scans and a computational formula are used to measure the medial-temporal lobe region of the brain over a time interval. This region contains the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, structures allied with learning and memory. Each year this region of the brain shrank in people who developed memory problems up to six years after their first MRI scan. The method is also applicable for measuring the progression rate of atrophy in the region in an instance where the onset of Alzheimer's disease has already been established.
US08280475B2
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring an analyte in a host. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for transcutaneous measurement of glucose in a host.
US08280471B2
Disclosed are methods and devices for continuous in vivo monitoring of a potential bacterial infection site. Disclosed devices may be utilized to alert patients and/or health care providers to the presence of pathogenic bacteria at an early stage of a hospital acquired infection, thereby providing for earlier intervention. Disclosed methods utilize optical fibers to deliver an excitation signal to an area in which pathogenic bacteria may exist. In the presence of the excitation signal, bacterial pathogens may autofluoresce with a unique spectral signature. Upon generation of a fluorescent emission, an optically detectable emission signal may be transmitted to a detection/analysis device. Analysis of the characteristics of the emission signal produced in response to the excitation signal may be used to determine the presence or concentration of pathogens at the site of inquiry, following which real time information may be transmitted to medical personnel via a wireless transmission system.
US08280469B2
A method is provided for determining contact of a sensor with a patient's tissue. The method comprises comparing the intensity of detected light at a first wavelength to a threshold, wherein the first wavelength is not used to determine a physiological characteristic of the patient, and determining if the sensor is in contact with the patient's tissue based on the comparison. In addition, a method is provided for determining the amount of light shunting during operation of the sensor. The method comprises comparing the intensity of detected light at a first wavelength to a threshold, wherein the first wavelength is not used to determine a physiological characteristic of the patient, and determining the amount of light shunting based on the comparison.
US08280466B2
A reach back secure communications terminal capable of GSM network connectivity includes a GSM fixed cellular terminal, and a single whip antenna adapted for user selectable use at any of four distinct frequency bands, e.g., 850, 900, 1800, or 1900. Immediate and secure voice, data and video connectivity is provided to multiple telecommunications networks. Integrated components simplify access to varied networks allowing deployed users to select and connect quickly to a network that best supports their present mission. Networking options include any of PSTN, PBX, GSM (or CDMA or other cell telephone standard), SAT, IP and WiFi. During secure call setup, the reach-back communications terminal exchanges public keys with a remote terminal using FNBDT signaling. Traffic encryption is performed using the NIST approved Advanced Encryption System (AES) standard (Rijndael) and a 128-bit random key (2^128 possible keys).
US08280465B2
Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide compatibility among incompatible accessories and portable media players. One example provides an adapter having a connector receptacle to mate with an accessory's connector insert and a connector insert to mate with a portable media player's connector receptacle. Another example provides an adapter having a direct connection between pins on the connector insert and pins on the connector receptacle that are used for compatible signals. Another example provides an adapter including a DC-to-DC converter that receives a first power supply from an accessory and provides a second power supply to a portable media player. Another translates signals using different signaling technologies. Authentication and identification circuitry may also be included. Other examples may employ wireless technologies instead of either or both the connector insert and connector receptacle.
US08280452B2
An in-vehicle apparatus having a handsfree function is disclosed. The in-vehicle apparatus is connectable with multiple cellular phones at a same time using a handsfree communication protocol. When a first cellular phone and a second cellular phone of the multiple cellular phones are respectively and simultaneously in a handset communicating state and in a calling state, the in-vehicle apparatus does not display a transfer switch for the first cellular phone and displays an answer switch for the second cellular phone, the transfer switch for the first cellular phone being user operable to switch the first cellular phone from the handset communicating state into a handsfree communicating state, the answer switch for the second cellular phone being user operable to switch the second cellular phone from the calling state into the handsfree communicating state.
US08280440B2
A mobile terminal device that executes a function setting operation is disclosed. When a memory card that stores various file types is inserted into the mobile terminal device, a decision processing portion reads identification information of the memory card and compares the identification information with stored identification information in a storing portion. If the read identification information and the stored identification information coincide, a function setting controlling portion executes a resetting of a display or of a sound function of the mobile terminal device by using the various file types stored in the memory card.
US08280439B2
Various embodiments are described herein for a mobile communication device that utilizes a smart battery. The mobile device includes a main processor for controlling the operation of the mobile communication device. The smart battery is coupled to the main processor and provides supply power. The smart battery includes a battery processor for controlling the operation of the smart battery and communicating with the main processor, and a battery module having one or more batteries for providing the supply power. A battery interface is provided for coupling between the main processor and the battery processor for providing communication therebetween. The battery interface comprises a data communication line and protection circuitry for protecting the main processor from electrostatic discharge. A communication protocol is also provided for communication between the main processor and the battery processor.
US08280437B2
Embodiments described herein provide a system, method and technique for operating a communication device. According to an embodiment, information contained in a contact record is displayed, where the information includes a plurality of entries. Each entry is associated with one of a plurality of communication types and includes an identifier for use with an application of the associated communication type. An input is detected corresponding to a user's selection of one of the plurality of entries. In response to the user's selection, the application of the communication type associated with the selected entry is automatically executed by initiating a communication using the identifier included in the selected entry.
US08280435B2
The present invention provides a communication system that enables safe and easy addition of a function for use of credit card settlement services to a portable information terminal. In this system, if a user brings his credit card close to the portable information terminal, the portable information terminal reads a card ID stored in a contactless IC card provided in the credit card. Then, the card ID is transmitted to a card management system which checks whether or not the card ID is valid. If confirming that the card ID is valid, the card management system instructs the portable information terminal to write the card ID thereto. If the user places an order of a merchandise, the card ID written to the portable information terminal is provided therefrom to use credit card settlement services.
US08280426B2
Techniques are provided for improving performance of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system. At a first wireless communication device (e.g., a base station) having a plurality of antennas, uplink transmissions are received from a second wireless communication device (e.g., a client device). The base station determines a measure of multipath conditions between it and the second wireless communication device based on the received uplink transmissions. The base station applies downlink beamforming weight vectors together with power balance and phase adjustment factors depending on the measure of multipath conditions to transmit multiple downlink data streams across the plurality of antennas simultaneously to the second wireless communication device.
US08280425B2
A mobile wireless communication terminal changes a transmitter channel configuration, for example, frame size, based on enhanced transport format combination indictor (E-TFCI) information and based on transmit power related information of the wireless communication terminal. In one embodiment, the terminal signals this information to a network infrastructure entity, which re-configures the transmitter channel configuration for the terminal. In another embodiment, the terminal re-configures the transmitter channel configuration.
US08280424B2
The invention relates to methods for providing a network element of a communications network with data, in particular HSDPA related data. In order to enable the transmission of user data, it is proposed that a controller of the network uses a dedicated frame structure for assembling frames with said user data. The frames can then be transmitted from the controller via an interface to the network element. In order to enable the transmission of control parameters, it is further proposed that an interface application protocol is employed which allows the controller to add control parameters to control messages transmitted from the controller to a network element via the interface.
US08280423B2
Systems and methods are provided for routing voice communications to groups in a voice communication system using a voice hub system. The voice hub system allows a user to group communication devices into one or more logical networks and/or unit task organizations. The user can then select one or more of the communications groupings to transmit and receive voice communications. A user can change the communication grouping selections automatically changing the communication group that the voice hub system is transmitting and receiving voice messages.
US08280421B2
A terminal device free of interference between an RACH and a PUSCH or the like even when a base station device with a large coverage is installed. In the device, a configuration number extraction unit (103) extracts a configuration number from a BCH received by a BCH reception unit (102). A control unit (104) determines the corresponding RACH format (the necessity of repetition, the CP length TCP, the second preamble length TPRE2, and the GT length TGT) according to the configuration number, notifies a repetition unit (109) of the result of the judgment of necessity of repetition, notifies the repetition unit (109) of the second preamble length TPRE2, notifies a CP addition unit (110) of the CP length TCP, and notifies a GT addition unit (112) of the GT length TGT. When the repetition unit (109) receives the notification of performing the repetition, it performs the repetition according to the second preamble length received from a TPRE2 determination section (154). The CP addition unit (110) produces a CP according to the CP length received from a TCP determination section (155).
US08280416B2
Embodiments of the disclosure are concerned with a method and a system for distributing mobile applications, in particular to aspects of receiving, processing and displaying advertisements on mobile terminals. In one aspect, embodiments provide a software component for controlling movement of an advertisement image on a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal comprising a display area and a processor, the software component comprising processable instructions defining movement of the advertisement image relative to the display area, wherein the instructions are wirelessly transmissable to the mobile terminal and the processor is arranged to process said instructions in order to move the advertisement image.
US08280413B2
A mobile terminal and its world time display method are disclosed. The mobile terminal executes a world time display function according to the occurrence of an event. A particular area is selectively received according to the executed world time display function, and time information and representative information of the selected area are obtained and displayed. The time information includes date, a time zone, and information about a time difference between an area where a terminal is currently located and the selected area. The representative information includes a building that represents the selected area, popular tourist attractions, animals and plants, a country code, an area code, traditional costumes, etc. Simple information with respect to the particular area as well as the time information of the particular area can be provided to the user.
US08280409B2
A communication device (100) and method (700) are disclosed for providing temporary communication features, temporary scheduling features, or combinations thereof associated with temporary membership in a private network (101), such as that associated with a hotel (102), resort (103), or cruise ship (105). An association module (209) can register (701) the communication device (100) with the private network (101) as a temporary member device. A private network information retriever (210) can then retrieve (702) one or both of private network directory information (109) and private network scheduling information (110). An integrator (211) can then integrate this information into an address book application (212) or a calendaring application (215) to provide additional functionality for the communication device (100).
US08280408B2
Advertising is tailored based on usage patterns of a portable electronic device are provided including determining if a portable electronic device has entered an area associated with a local area network (LAN). A link is established between the portable electronic device and the LAN if it is determined that the portable electronic device has entered the area associated with the LAN. User services are established between the portable electronic device and a remote server using the established link based on a user profile associated with the portable electronic device. Devices associated with the remote server communicatively coupled to the LAN are controlled using the portable electronic device. Actions and/or behaviors of a user are tracked based on use of the portable electronic device. Advertisements are displayed and/or played on at least one of the controlled devices based on the tracked user actions and/or behaviors.
US08280403B2
A method and apparatus for a location-based update of RSS content are provided. The method includes appointing place information for an update of content for each RSS URL at user equipment, acquiring location information about the user equipment selecting RSS content to be updated based on the place information when the acquired location information coincides with the appointed place information, and updating the selected RSS content.
US08280396B2
A method may include determining a metric for at least one physical resource block of a wireless cellular network in at least a one cell. Each physical resource block may include a set of frequencies, and/or the metric may be based on interference on the at least one physical resource block in the at least one cell. A determination of whether the metric violates a metric threshold may be made, and an overload indicator may be sent to at least one other cell if the metric violates the metric threshold.
US08280391B2
An apparatus and method for determining an uplink channel used for a random access procedure are provided. An exemplary method by a User Equipment (UE) includes transmitting a preamble to a Base Station (BS) on at least one channel of a plurality of channels, receiving a response from the BS, and distinguishing the response based on an identifier unique to a channel resource to identify the channel in which the preamble is transmitted.
US08280390B2
In case that an uplink grand from a base station apparatus is detected on PDCCH, a data designated by the uplink grant, channel state information measured at the time of transmission are transmitted by PUSCH as an uplink transmission signal. Then, in case that a notice that indicates retransmission is received, the data to be retransmission and the channel state information measured at the time of retransmission are transmitted by PUSCH. Accordingly, the mobile station apparatus can transmit appropriate channel state information when designated to retransmission so that the base station apparatus can make an efficient communication control (scheduling) between the base station apparatus and the mobile station apparatus that is suitable for the current channel condition.
US08280389B1
The present invention proposes methods, devices and computer program products in relation to a communication module configured for communication in a carrier aggregation mode aggregating a primary and at least one secondary carrier. Scheduling information is carried in a control channel of one of the carriers, the scheduling information being associated to a respective one of said aggregated carriers and designating search spaces for payload in a payload channel of said respective aggregated carrier. Sensing is performed responsive to a sensing command added to the scheduling information associated to said at least one secondary carrier, which sensing command commands sensing to be performed on said at least one secondary carrier.
US08280385B2
Embodiments of the invention provide for allocating spectrum in a wireless communication system that supports simultaneously at least a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation. Logic is arranged for determining a proportion of spectrum required for the wireless communication unit to operate simultaneously in both the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation. Logic for allocating spectrum allocates a temporary guard band between a first portion of spectrum for the first mode of operation and a second portion of spectrum for the second mode of operation for use while the wireless communication unit operates simultaneously in the first mode of operation and second mode of operation.
US08280376B2
In general, a first private access point detects a neighboring private access point. An address of the neighboring private access point is identified, and a peer-to-peer network that includes the first private access point and the neighboring private access points is formed. The peer-to-peer network is maintained between the first private access point and the neighboring private access points.
US08280370B2
A method for detecting a neighboring BS interference is provided. The method includes the following steps. A base station (BS) informs a coexistence signaling interval information to a subscriber station (SS) in a wireless access system. The SS obtains a silent period in a coexistence signaling interval from the coexistence signaling interval information, and monitors an interference information from a neighboring BS during the silent period. The SS reports the monitored interference information to the BS. A device for detecting a neighboring BS interference, a method for identifying an interferential neighboring BS and a device thereof are further provided. The problem of resource conflict raised when two BSs which originally are not neighboring BSs become neighboring BSs because of changes of a SS's status, or SS's position and environmental conditions, is solved.
US08280366B2
Using radio frequency sensing to detecting that a cellular base station has been moved to a new geographic location is disclosed. A determination is made that a sensed radio frequency environment does not match a stored baseline. It is concluded, based at least in part on the determination that a sensed radio frequency environment does not match a stored baseline, that the cellular base station has been moved.
US08280365B1
A search receiver in a mobile communicator uses an adaptable search window to search for one or more base stations.
US08280362B2
A system for controlling at least one feature of at least one mobile communication unit includes: At least one sensor unit coupled with the at least one mobile communication unit. The at least one sensor unit senses at least one parameter associated with the at least one mobile communication unit. Each respective sensor unit of the at least one sensor unit presents a respective indicator relating to a respective sensed parameter of the at least one parameter. The system also includes at least one feature management system coupled with the at least one sensor unit. The at least one feature management system receives a representation of each respective indicator. The at least one feature management system employs the representation in cooperation with the at least one mobile communication unit to effect the controlling.
US08280359B2
Methods for authorizing actions using mobile phones. Embodiments include receiving from a person having authority to authorize the action, an identification of a phone number for obtaining authorization for the action, receiving from a person seeking the action a request for authorization of the action, sending an automated first message through a mobile phone network to the mobile phone, including a description of the action for which authorization is requested, and receiving, from the first mobile phone, a second message, which authorizes the action. Actions that are authorized, in different embodiments, include computer access, physical access, and financial transactions. In various embodiments, the phone number may be received through the mobile phone network through the Internet, through a local signal, or directly from the user.
US08280354B2
A method for provisioning wireless devices for use of services offered by a service provider on a wireless network, comprising: receiving at a provisioning system from a wireless device a wireless device identifier, the wireless device having a first subset of the services; identifying from the wireless device identifier a subscriber associated with the wireless device, the subscriber having a second subset of the services; and, if the first and second subsets conflict, enabling none, one, or both of the first and second subsets of services in accordance with conflict resolution information for the service provider.
US08280351B1
Disclosed procedures automatically identify a carrier-authorized mobile station and verify an account related identifier (e.g. mobile number) associated with the device, in response to start-up of an application in the device. In an example, application start-up causes the device to send a request to an application server, with the device's current IP address, MTN and a device identifier such as MEID or ESN. The server queries a AAA system of the network to retrieve the MTN that has been assigned the IP address. If the retrieved MTN matches the MTN passed to the server in the request, the server queries a network database such as DMD for the device identifier associated with the MTN. A match of the device identifier retrieved from the network database with that passed to the server via the request indicates perfect authenticity of the requesting device and its MTN.
US08280348B2
A system and method for recognizing patterns in wireless device locations using wireless device location data derived from a communications signaling network is provided. By using wireless network supported signaling operations and messages, location data concerning the whereabouts of wireless devices, and hence wireless device users, may be obtained. The location data derived from the communications signaling network may be statistically analyzed to reveal potential geographic patterns that may indicate meaningful behaviors of the purported users of the wireless devices.
US08280336B2
Provided is an apparatus and method for eliminating an outband interference signal. An apparatus for eliminating an interference signal includes a first mixer, a filter unit, a second mixer, and an operation unit. The first mixer downconverts a received signal containing an outband interference signal. The filter unit extracts the downconverted outband interference signal from the downconverted received signal. The second mixer upconverts the downconverted outband interference signal to restore the outband interference signal to the original frequency band. The operation unit subtracts and eliminates the restored outband interference signal from the received signal.
US08280334B2
A waveform reconstruction circuit receives an rf signal from an antenna, digitizes it, and then generates an undistorted reconstructed waveform. The reconstructed waveform can then be conventionally mixed and demodulated to extract useful signal information with enhanced receiver fidelity and sensitivity.
US08280331B2
A device is provided for dividing a clock signal by even and odd integers. The device includes a divider, a delay portion and a duty cycle corrector. The divider is arranged to receive the clock signal and can divide the clock signal and output a divided clock signal. The delay portion can output a delayed signal based on the divided clock signal. The duty cycle corrector can output a first signal based on the delayed signal and the divided clock signal.
US08280327B2
An adjusting method for reducing local oscillation leakage or I/Q mismatch in a receiver includes the steps of: (a) detecting a current extent of local oscillation leakage or I/Q mismatch; (b) determining if an adjusting direction is correct with reference to the current extent of local oscillation leakage or I/Q mismatch thus detected, maintaining the adjusting direction if correct, and reversing the adjusting direction upon determining that the adjusting direction is incorrect; and (c) adjusting a control signal according to the adjusting direction.
US08280324B2
Aspects of a method and system for closed loop power control in wireless systems are provided. In this regard, an output power of an amplifier may be measured and an indication of the measured power may be compared to a reference signal. The results of the comparison are utilized to generate an error correction factor. The gain of a preamplifier may be adjusted utilizing the error correction factor, where the output of the preamplifier may be input to the amplifier. The error correction factor may be generated via a proportional integral derivative controller. The gain of the preamplifier may be adjusted via at least one control signal, where the at least one control signal may be generated based on a reference control word and the error correction factor. The indication of the measured power and the reference signal may be time aligned.
US08280312B2
A method and system use the mutual coupling property of multiple antenna elements for characterizing signal waveform distortion introduced by items in the signal path, including the antenna elements, of a radio frequency transmit/receive system. The method and system alleviate the need for external test equipment by using the same hardware used in standard operation of the transmit/receive system for performing waveform distortion characterization through the generation, mutual coupling, and acquisition of a reference signal. In an embodiment involving application of complementary inverse predistortion to generation of an operational signal and/or to processing of a received operational signal, the signal as received and processed during standard system operation is compensated for distortion contributed by system hardware, improving impulse response and system performance.
US08280310B2
The present invention provides with a terminal having a monitoring period changing function for changing the value (monitoring period) of a no-traffic monitoring timer of the terminal by feeding back the information on radio signal conditions, and a no-traffic monitoring function for changing the status of the call of the terminal to “a disconnected state for only receiving radio signal from a base station” depending on the value (monitoring period) of the no-traffic monitoring timer based on the information fed back.
US08280308B2
A method of operating a mobile electronic device includes detecting at least one other mobile electronic device within a predetermined distance of the mobile electronic device, and determining a spatial relationship of the at least one other mobile electronic device relative to the mobile electronic device. An ad hoc wireless connection is established with the at least one other mobile electronic device based on the determined spatial relationship. Data may be transmitted to and/or received from the at least one other mobile electronic device over the ad hoc wireless connection based on the determined spatial relationship. Related systems, devices, and computer program products are also discussed.
US08280300B2
A method, apparatus and computer software for automatically analysing a filled in questionnaire, are provided. The method includes automatically analysing a filled in questionnaire, the method comprising the steps of: providing a questionnaire having answer locations; scanning at least two copies of the questionnaire with the answer locations filled in differently and complementarily in a predetermined way, to produce a first scan and a second scan; automatically determining answer locations by comparing the first and second scans; providing a filled in questionnaire having certain answers; scanning the provided filled in questionnaire as a third scan; and automatically judging the certain answers with the determined answer locations.
US08280294B2
A cleaning device includes a rotary member that contacts with an image carrier and moves materials on a surface of the image carrier along a rotation direction of the rotary member; a scraping member that contacts with the rotary member to scrape the materials adhering on the rotary member; a collected material receiving portion disposed downstream of a contact portion of the rotary member and the scraping member in a gravity direction; plural openings provided along a width direction of the image carrier by a partition member, through which the materials scraped by the scraping member pass to the collected material receiving portion; a protrusion portion that is arranged between the openings and the contact portion of the rotary member and the scraping member, and protrudes toward an upstream side in a rotation direction of the rotary member.
US08280292B2
Often times the glossing process results in an image artifact consisting of locally lighter image a fixed distance from the lead edge as a print is glossed. This artifact is most visible in areas of medium but consistent image. The present invention provides methods for reducing this artifact.
US08280284B2
Flexible members for use in imaging devices comprise a polyamideimide comprising phosphorus.
US08280282B2
A doctor blade assembly for an electrophotographic printer comprises a first bracket having a first width dimension and a first height dimension, a second bracket having a second width dimension and a second height dimension, a doctor blade disposed between the front bracket and the rear bracket, the doctor blade having a cantilever length, the cantilever length varying from a first length at a first location and a second length at a second location moving along the width dimensions.
US08280277B2
A housing device includes: a housing that has an opening and defines a containment space for containing an object inserted through the opening; a guide member that has a longitudinal direction aligned with a direction of insertion of the object with respect to the housing and guides the object when the object is inserted into the containment space; a support structure that supports the guide member to be moveable with respect to the housing in the longitudinal direction; and a cover that opens and closes the opening, wherein when the cover closes the opening, the cover supports the object such that the object is spaced apart from the guide member.
US08280274B2
A roller for use in a developing unit of an image forming apparatus may include a non-conductive shaft member and a non-conductive member to surround at least a part of an outer periphery of the shaft member. The shaft member may include a cylindrical rolling part and a pair of support parts formed to project from both ends of the rolling part in a lengthwise direction. The rolling part of the shaft member may be arranged opposite a charge roller in a developing unit and may rotate in contact with the charge roller to absorb and remove foreign substances adhered to a surface of the charge roller.
US08280271B2
A printing system includes an optical sensor that reads a plurality of order sheets at least selecting images to be printed and printing sheet types, a printing specifying unit that specifies the images and printing sheet types selected by the order sheets on the basis of an output from the optical sensor, a reader that reads image data of the images selected by the order sheets from a recording medium, and a printer that prints the read image data on types of printing paper which correspond to the printing sheet types selected by the order sheets, wherein after the optical sensor reads the order sheets, the printer performs batch printing based on the images and printing sheet types selected by all the order sheets.
US08280266B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit having image forming elements and a fixing unit. The image forming elements includes an image carrier, a charging unit, a developer carrier, and a developer supplier. The image forming apparatus further includes a post unoperated period image formation preparation processor operable to, when the unoperated period, which is a time period from an end of an image forming operation to a start of a subsequent image forming operation is equal to or greater than a threshold, perform an idling operation to rotate the image carrier while applying a post unoperated period image formation preparation voltage, which is different from a normal image formation voltage, to a given one or more of the image forming elements.
US08280258B2
The present disclosure provides optical communication systems and methods that utilize, on top or in place of the conventional framework: (1) optical amplifiers that are provided with extended bandwidth coverage, such as Extended Band Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs), combination of Raman amplifiers and EDFAs, Split-Band C+L EDFAs, etc.; (2) ROADMs that are configured in a conventional manner in a portion of the optical amplification spectrum—providing connectivity between network nodes with adjacency within conventional unregenerated optical reach; (3) an optical amplification spectrum with a portion reserved for “ultra-express” channels between far-spaced network nodes, with OPC mechanisms placed exclusively in this portion of the optical amplification spectrum to extend unregenerated optical reach; (4) “express” channels that effectively bypass intermediate ROADM hardware via band filtering, thereby minimizing detrimental filtering and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) accumulation impacts; and (5) if optical reach to far-off ROADM nodes is required, a loopback at the terminal.
US08280250B2
A quantum key distribution system is deployed in an optical fiber network transporting classical data traffic. A source of entangled photon pairs is used to generate quantum keys. Classical data traffic is typically transported over channels in the C-band. If a pair of channels for transport of quantum data is available within the C-band, then the source of entangled photon pairs is tuned to emit in a pair of channels in the C-band. If a pair of channels for transport of quantum data is not available within the C-band, then the source of entangled photon pairs is tuned to emit in a pair of channels in a combined S-band and L-band. When a periodically-poled lithium niobate waveguide pumped with a laser is used for the source of entangled photon pairs, the output spectral properties are tuned by varying the temperature of the waveguide.
US08280236B2
In various embodiments, the invention provides a system for heating a liquid, such as, for example, water, comprising a plurality of liquid heaters, the inlets and outlets of which are respectively connected in a parallel flow relationship by respective manifolds, and configured to provide liquid having a temperature of greater than about 90 degrees Fahrenheit at a flow rate of greater than about 10 gallons per minute. In various embodiments, the present invention provides an electric tankless liquid heater system capable of delivering hot liquids, and in particular water, at even higher flow rates and or temperatures, including, but not limited to, flow rates greater than about: (1) 12 gpm; (2) 18 gpm; (3) 20 gpm; and (5) 20 gpm; and/or temperatures of greater than about: (1) 100° F.; (2) 120° F.; (3) 140° F.; and (4) 180° F.
US08280234B2
In a video server, rate information showing a bit rate in encoding input video data from a recording line is stores on a recording medium together with encoded data, and a reproduction speed is controlled in accordance with the rate information so that the higher the bit rate is in preview-reproducing, the lower the reproduction speed becomes.
US08280233B2
A playback apparatus that, when it is incorporated in a home theater system, judges via the HDMI whether an apparatus such as a speaker 600 connected thereto has a playback capability. If the connection partner apparatus has the playback capability, the playback apparatus inquires a user whether a decoding should be performed using a decoder embedded in the connection partner apparatus. If, in response to the inquiry, the user indicates that the decoding should be performed using the decoder of the connection partner apparatus, the playback apparatus reads a digital stream from a recording medium and outputs the read digital stream to the connection partner apparatus, by the pass-through output, regardless of a decoding capability of the playback apparatus itself.
US08280232B2
A plurality of video streams and STN_table are recorded in the local storage 200. Each of the plurality of video streams is a secondary video stream to be played together with a primary video stream, and includes picture data representing a child image to be displayed in Picture in Picture that is composed of a parent image and the child image. In the STN_table, entries of secondary video streams that are permitted to be played are described in the order of priority.
US08280231B2
A storage medium on which moving-image data including mode information is recorded, wherein the storage medium stores at least one object of a first type for reproducing moving-image information, at least one object of a second type for providing additional functions using the moving-image information and system data for controlling the reproduction of the objects of the first and second types. The system data includes mode information indicating the types of the objects.
US08280227B2
A caption removal method for a digital video editing system includes the following steps. A video frame of a video sequence is inputted. A high level executing stage is provided. The high level executing stage includes the step of recovering the structural region of the temporal domain in the video frame and the step of recovering the structural region of the spatial domain in the video frame. A low level executing stage is provided. The low level executing stage includes the step of recovering the non-structural region in the video frame.
US08280212B2
In general, in a first aspect, the invention features photonic crystal fibers that include a core extending along a waveguide axis, a confinement region extending along the waveguide axis surrounding the core, and a cladding extending along the waveguide axis surrounding the confinement region, wherein the cladding has an asymmetric cross-section.
US08280203B2
A parallel optical communications device is provided that has an OSA that includes at least one heat dissipation block having a slot formed in a lower surface thereof that contains a weldable insert. Likewise, an upper surface of the mounting device of the ESA has at least one slot formed therein that contains a weldable insert. After the OSA is placed in contact with the ESA and optically aligned with the ESA, the OSA is secured to the upper surface of the mounting device of the ESA by welding together the respective weldable inserts contained in the respective slots in the OSA and in the mounting device of the ESA. The welding process results in an extremely strong welded joint between the OSA and the ESA that prevents relative movement between the OSA and the ESA if external forces that are exerted on the OSA and/or on the ESA.
US08280202B2
A fiber-optic dynamic sensing module comprises a support member, a beam extending from the support member, and a pre-strained fiber Bragg grating sensor and a strain-free fiber Bragg grating sensor mounted on the beam. The pre-strained and strain-free fiber Bragg grating sensors each comprise a Bragg grating inscribed in a fiber. The Bragg grating of the pre-strained fiber Bragg grating sensor is packaged more tightly along a longitudinal direction of the beam than the Bragg grating of the strain-free fiber Bragg grating sensor.
US08280201B2
A Mach-Zehnder modulator has an optical splitting element splitting an input optical signal into two optical signals that are conveyed by two optical waveguide arms, and an optical combining element combining the two optical signals into an output optical signal. Two traveling wave electrodes (TWEs) carry an electrical modulation signal to induce a change in phase of these two optical signals, and include a number of pairs of modulation electrodes positioned adjacent to the waveguide arms. At least some of the electrodes in one waveguide arm have a different shape (e.g., length or width) than the electrodes in the other waveguide arm to alter the effectiveness of the electrodes in inducing a phase change in the two optical signals.
US08280195B2
[Problem] To reduce omission of searched results and improve search efficiency in indexing by means of telop and another text information attached to a video.[Solving Means] A video indexing system has an index generating unit which generate an index, an index accumulating unit which accumulates the index together with attached information such as an index position, an image feature generating unit which generates an image feature, an image feature accumulating unit which accumulates the image feature together with the attached information such as the position, and an image feature checking unit which compares the image feature with past image features, and, when matched, outputs the index at the time of outputting the corresponding past image feature as a current index.
US08280194B2
An imaging system generates a picture depth map from a pair of reduced resolution images. The system captures two full resolution images, receives image reduction image information and creates two reduced resolution images. The system computes a blur difference between the two reduced resolution images at different image locations. The system calculates the depth map based on the blur difference between the two reduced resolution images at different image locations.
US08280183B2
A noise robust contrast-enhancement engine utilizes low-pass infinite-impulse-response filters for enhancing the contrast while preventing noise amplification in video/image signals.
US08280165B2
The present invention discloses a system and method for segmenting foreground and background in a video, wherein the system comprises: a video shooting module for shooting the video; a data reading module for reading each frame of the video; a primary segmentation module for establishing a plurality of Gaussian models in a first color space for each pixel of each frame, and performing a matching processing between each pixel of the current frame and the plurality of Gaussian models corresponding to the pixel, and primarily segmenting the pixels as foreground and background according to the result of the matching processing; and a segmentation rejudging module for performing a rejudging processing to the primarily segmented foreground and background in a second color space, so as to obtain the finally determined foreground and background. The present invention improves the effect of foreground segmentation by using the combination of the color spaces and introducing the relationship between pixels.
US08280157B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for refining text-detection results for a digital image.
US08280155B2
A method of modeling spectral characteristics of an input imaging device comprising includes adjusting digital values measured from a target to be linear relative to luminance of neutral patches of the target, for each channel of the input imaging device. The method further includes modifying the adjusted digital values to compensate for cross-channel interaction, for each channel of the input imaging device. In addition, the method includes converting the modified digital values to a spectrum, for each channel of the imaging device. An apparatus for modeling spectral characteristics of an input imaging device is also provided.
US08280151B2
Display suitable to an actual three-dimensional model or a recognition-target object is performed when stereoscopic display of a three-dimensional model is performed while correlated to an image used in three-dimensional recognition processing. After a position and a rotation angle of a workpiece are recognized through recognition processing using the three-dimensional model, coordinate transformation of the three-dimensional model is performed based on the recognition result, and a post-coordinate-transformation Z-coordinate is corrected according to an angle (elevation angle f) formed between a direction of a line of sight and an imaging surface. Then perspective transformation of the post-correction three-dimensional model into a coordinate system of a camera of a processing object is performed, and a height according to a pre-correction Z-coordinate at a corresponding point of the pre-coordinate-transformation three-dimensional model is set to each point of a produced projection image. Projection processing is performed from a specified direction of a line of sight to a point group that is three-dimensionally distributed by the processing, thereby producing a stereoscopic image of the three-dimensional model.
US08280150B2
A method for determining similarity between a non-planar probe surface and a non-planar model surface is disclosed. The method comprises calculating an extremal value of an objective function describing embedding of the probe surface into an embedding space having a non-constant sectional curvature; and determining similarity between the probe surface and the model surface based on the extremal value.
US08280147B2
A pattern verification apparatus includes a correction section creating a plurality of first data pieces; a determination section performing light intensity simulation to create a plurality of plots, determine whether or not each of the plurality of simulation result plots falls within an allowable range, and recognize two or more simulation result plots which do not fall within the allowable range as a plurality of second data pieces; an extraction section extracting a reference pattern of the plurality of original design patterns corresponding to the plurality of second data pieces; and a classifying section classifying the plurality of second data pieces into categories of the reference pattern.
US08280145B2
A system and method for monitoring degradation of a device having a metal layer and a composite layer, such as a vehicle-mounted boom arm. The system can include a collar mounted on an outer surface of the device, a radiography device movably coupled to the collar, and a monitor. The radiography device can include a source of radiography signals positioned to direct radiography signals through at least a portion of the device and a detector to detect radiography signals that have passed through the device. The monitor can be connected to the detector to display an image of the device generated from the detected radiography signals. Anomalies in the device image can represent degradation in the device.
US08280143B1
A system and method for adding check information to an electronic transaction listing whereby a paper check, or copy of a paper check, is scanned into a computing system and converted to an electronic image of the paper check. One or more areas of the image of the paper check are identified and the image of the paper check is sub-divided into image sub-sections based on the content displayed in a given area/sub-section. One or more image sub-sections are copied from the electronic image of the paper check and then added to a check based financial transaction listing in a financial transaction list.
US08280140B2
Methods are disclosed for classifying different parts of a sample into respective classes based on an image stack that includes one or more images.
US08280139B2
A cell feature amount calculating apparatus is provided that is capable of capturing the state of nuclear DNA. This cell feature amount calculating apparatus includes an image input unit that inputs an image of a cell, a cell nucleus region extracting unit that extracts a cell nucleus region of the cell from the image, a standard contour length calculating unit that calculates a standard contour length of the cell nucleus region, a contour length sequence calculating unit that extracts, for each threshold value of a plurality of different threshold values, a specific region which is a region having a pixel value larger than or equal to the threshold value from the cell nucleus region and calculating a contour length sequence by calculating a contour length of the specific region, and a contour complexity calculating unit that calculates a feature amount of the cell based on the standard contour length and the contour length sequence.
US08280138B2
A system and method for performing skeletal age assessment is provided. The method includes scanning a hand and/or wrist of a patient using a dual-energy x-ray imaging system, acquiring density information of the hand and wrist using the scan, comparing the density information to at least one reference image, and automatically determining a skeletal age of the patient based on the comparison.
US08280133B2
A method and system for brain tumor segmentation in multi-spectral 3D MRI images is disclosed. A trained probabilistic boosting tree (PBT) classifier is used to determine, for each voxel in a multi-spectral 3D MR image sequence, a probability that the voxel is part of a brain tumor. The brain tumor is then segmented in the multi-spectral 3D MRI image sequence using graph cuts segmentation based on the probabilities determined using the trained PBT classifier and intensities of the voxels in the multi-spectral 3D MR image sequence.
US08280128B2
A method of generating an enhanced perfusion image comprising the use of a blind deconvolution algorithm and the adiabatic approximation to the Johnson and Wilson model (aaJW) and generation of an image, wherein the blind deconvolution algorithm and the aaJW model are used in the generation of values of the following parameters: voxel specific arterial input function cp[t] and voxel specific tissue residue function r[t].
US08280124B2
A method is described for identifying an optimal, or preferred set of views for radioactive-emission measurements of a body structure, based on modeling the body structure, in terms of its geometry and radioactive emission distribution, obtaining different sets of views of the model, and scoring the different sets of views, with a scoring function, using information theoretic measures, for example, for uniformity, reliability and separability in reconstruction.The preferred set of views may then be applied in imaging the in-vivo body structure, that has been modeled.
US08280122B2
The present invention provides a registration device which can improve the authentication accuracy. The registration device includes a detection means for detecting fluctuation information that fluctuates according to an illumination intensity in an image-pickup element, a filter means for performing the spatial filter processing for an image signal output from the image-pickup element using a filter coefficient which is made to correspond to the fluctuation information detected by the detection means, and extracting a living organism identification subject contained in the image signal, and a registration means for generating registration data from the image signal that is spatially filtered by the filter means, and storing thus generated registration data in a storage medium.
US08280121B2
A method of establishing a skin color model includes the following steps. A human face detecting procedure is performed on an input image, and a human face area in the input image is circled through a selecting window. A skin color model is established by using a Gaussian probability distribution function (PDF) according to color information in the selecting window. When the skin color model established in the above step is applied to skin color detection, pixels having the skin color in the input image are detected through the skin color model and a Mahalanobis distance computing procedure.
US08280120B2
A method and system for authenticating financial transactions is disclosed wherein biometric data is acquired from a person and the probability of liveness of the person and probability of a match between the person or token and known biometric or token information are calculated, preferably according to a formula D=P(p)*(K+P(m)), wherein K is a number between 0.1 and 100, and authenticating if the value of D exceeds a predetermined value.
US08280118B2
Provided is a biometric authentication device for identifying an individual based on a biometric pattern of the subject included in a picked up image. The biometric authentication device includes: a light guiding unit for outputting light from a surface thereof; a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit for adjusting, on a display pixel basis, an intensity of light output from the surface of the light guiding unit; an image pickup unit for picking up an image of the subject; a display light source for emitting light used as a backlight of the LCD unit; a detection light source for emitting light for irradiating the subject; and a control unit for controlling processing of the biometric authentication device The control unit turns on the detection light when the image pickup unit picks up a first image, which is used for authentication, and turns on the display light source when the LCD unit displays information.
US08280117B2
Methods and apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. Source data representing one or more input images of a geographic area including the dig area is electronically received at a first user location, which may be remote from the dig area. The source data is processed so as to display at least a portion of the input image(s) on a display device at the first user location. One or more indicators are added to the displayed input image(s), via a user input device associated with the display device, to provide at least one indication of the dig area and thereby generate a marked-up digital image. In one example, the indicator(s) is/are added to the displayed input image(s) without acquiring geographic coordinates corresponding to the indicator(s).
US08280112B2
A system for predicting object location includes a video capture system for capturing a plurality of video frames, each of the video frames having a first area, an object isolation element for locating an object in each of the plurality of video frames, the object being located at a first actual position in a first video frame and being located at a second actual position in a second video frame, and a trajectory calculation element configured to analyze the first actual position and the second actual position to determine an object trajectory, the object trajectory comprising past trajectory and predicted future trajectory, wherein the predicted future trajectory is used to determine a second area in a subsequent video frame in which to search for the object, wherein the second area is different in size than the first area.
US08280101B2
The present invention relates generally to identification documents. One claim recites an apparatus to authentic an identification document. The identification document comprising first machine-readable information including a first plural-bit message, and semantic information carried on or in the identification document. The apparatus includes: a first reader to read the first machine-readable information to obtain the first plural-bit message; a second reader to obtain information from the semantic information carried on or in the identification document; an electronic processor programmed as a decryption unit to decrypt the first plural-bit message or the information obtained from the semantic information; and an electronic processor programmed as a decision unit to determine whether the identification document is authentic based at least in part on the first plural-bit message and the semantic information. Other claims and combinations are provided as well.
US08280100B2
Encoding information is assigned to each block according to a position of the block in an image of the color image data. An image analyzing unit analyzes the block and outputs a feature value. A block determining unit determines whether the block is an embedding-possible block based on the feature value and demarcates a watermark embedding area in the embedding-possible block. An embedding unit embeds the watermark information by deforming the watermark embedding area according to a pattern that represents the watermark information and replacing a pixel in the watermark embedding area with another pixel near the pixel to be replaced.
US08280098B2
The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, an imaging system including an active pixel sensor imaging array configured to capture an image, said imaging array being in electronic communication with a watermark embedder.
US08280088B2
To enable hearing apparatus feedback to be reliably detected, it is provided that the hearing apparatus has an analyzer for analyzing the resonant behavior of the overall system as a function of a modification of the signal processing device and for determining from the analysis result a feedback variable constituting a measure of the feedback. On the basis of the feedback variable, an adaptive compensation filter, for example, can then be step-size-controlled to compensate the feedback.
US08280078B2
Electro-acoustic converters each include a diaphragm, and a fixed electrode apart from the diaphragm for a certain distance and facing the diaphragm. The electro-acoustic converters are anteroposteriorly disposed on the same axis in a single casing, and are electrically connected in series. The front and rear converters each include impedance converters, and are serially connected with each other together with the impedance converters.
US08280074B2
An audio signal processing apparatus for outputting an input digital audio signal as a positive phase PWM signal and a negative phase PWM signal. The resolution of the input digital audio signal is converted to a low resolution and noise shaping is performed to generate a positive phase digital signal (REF_P) and a negative phase digital signal (REF_N). Both signal patterns are compared at a buffer and pattern comparator section when muting. If the signal patterns match, a selector outputs a set value having 50% duty instead of the digital signals to optimize timing for switching to 50% duty when muting.
US08280062B2
According to one embodiment, a sound corrector includes a signal outputter, a response signal, a frequency specifier, a coefficient specifier, a filter, and an outputter. The signal outputter outputs a measurement signal to measure acoustical properties of an object to be measured. The response signal receiver receives a response signal from the object in response to the measurement signal. The frequency specifier specifies a resonant frequency at a resonance peak from the response signal. The coefficient specifier specifies a correction coefficient of a correction filter for reducing the resonant frequency based on the specified resonant frequency. The filter performs filtering on a signal to be output to the object using the correction filter with the correction coefficient. The outputter outputs the signal having undergone the filtering to the object.
US08280061B2
A system for encrypting data comprising a computer configured to encrypt a plurality of data entries using at least one encryption algorithm and a system memory, wherein the computer is configured to use different keys with the encryption algorithm(s) for each data entry and the system is configured to store in the system memory or transmit for storage in an external memory the encrypted data corresponding to each entry along with an identifier corresponding to at least part of the key used to encrypt that entry, such that when decrypting a data entry in the system or external memory the associated identifier can be used to locate at least part of the correct key.
US08280054B2
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to scrambling-descrambling systems for encrypting and decrypting electromagnetic signals transmitted in optical and wireless networks. In one aspect, a system (1302) for scrambling electromagnetic signals comprises a first electronically reconfigurable electro-optical material (1402) positioned to receive a beam of electromagnetic radiation including one or more electromagnetic signals encoding data. The beam is transmitted through the electro-optical material (1402) and a two-dimensional speckled pattern (1410) is introduced into the cross-section of the beam such that data encoded in the one or more electromagnetic signals is scrambled. System embodiments also include a system (1304) for descrambling scrambled electromagnetic signals, the systems comprising a second electronically reconfigurable electro-optical material (1502) configured to remove the two-dimensional speckled pattern from the beam revealing the one or more electromagnetic signals encoding the data.
US08280050B2
The construction of a receiving apparatus for receiving a broadcast from a plurality of broadcasting providers is simplified. In a receiving apparatus for receiving a broadcast from a plurality of broadcasting providers, of the function blocks which constitute the receiving apparatus, a block used in common irrespective of the broadcasting provider is formed as a common block, and a block different from one broadcasting provider to another is formed as an independent block. These blocks are connected to each other through an IEEE1394 interface, and the common block is shared among the plurality of blocks which are not used in common, so that a receiving process is performed.
US08280048B2
A method of inhibiting the disclosure of confidential information through power analysis attacks on processors in cryptographic systems. The method masks a cryptographic operation using a generator G. A secret value, which may be combined with the generator G to form a secret generator is generated. The secret value is divided into a plurality of parts. A random value is generated for association with the plurality of parts. Each of the plurality of parts is combined with the random value to derive a plurality of new values such that the new values when combined are equivalent to the secret value. Each of the new values is used in the cryptographic operation, thereby using the secret generator in place of the generator G in the cryptographic operation. The introduction of randomness facilitates the introduction of noise into algorithms used by cryptographic systems so as to mask the secret value and provide protection against power analysis attacks.
US08280043B2
A system for protecting data in a security system generates and encodes a backup key for encoding long-lived secrets. The system generates a distribution plan for distributing cryptographic splits of the encoded backup key to selected persons based on geographic and organizational diversity. The distribution plan specifies a number M of the cryptographic splits to be generated and a number N of the cryptographic splits required to recover the backup key. The system processes utilize an init file comprising system parameters and state files each comprising parameters reflecting a state of the secure system after a transaction. Any of the state files may be used for any of the system processes. The state files and the init file are encoded by the backup key, thus protecting the long-lived secrets.
US08280037B2
In an echo canceller including an ADF and a cancellation adder, an ACANC calculator finds an average value of the amount of echo cancellation for a predetermined period to update the average value of the amount of echo cancellation, and detects a convergence state of the ADF to find the amount of echo cancellation in the convergence state of the ADF. A coefficient selector, when receiving a detection signal of the convergence state from the ACANC calculator, finds a power ratio of the sum total of power of all tap coefficients and the partial total of power of tap coefficients not to be assigned to taps to determine the effective number of taps useful for suppressing an echo component on the basis of the amount of echo cancellation and the power ratio. The ADF updates only the effective number of taps to disable the remaining taps.
US08280035B2
An Internet Protocol (IP) telephone has a constant impedance filter that is capable of being continuously attached to the physical layer of a computer chip in the IP telephone. The constant impedance filter is located outside the physical layer and is connected to a relay on the physical layer. The relay is configured using native FET devices, which are normally conductive without a supply voltage. Therefore, the relay is capable of operating during the discovery mode of IP telephone operation, where no power is applied to the substrate. Rectifier circuits rectify an incoming signal during discovery mode, and apply the rectified signal to the gate of the relay to improve conductivity of the relay. This allows for faster detection of the IP telephone during discovery mode. During normal operation mode, voltage is applied to the physical layer, and the relay is opened by grounding the native devices. Also, during the normal operation mode, any signal coming from the constant impedance filter is terminated in a switchable termination resistor that is also disposed on the physical layer.
US08280031B2
A web-based hosted solution (a managed service or system) through which business entities create and manage communications campaigns, such as interactive campaigns that afford target recipients an opportunity to be connected to a call center. To reduce latency of customer-to-agent connections, the system implements an agent stay-on-line function by which a persistent telephony connection is established and maintained between the system infrastructure and an available agent. In this manner, the agent may handle multiple customers while avoiding an ACD hold queue. In addition, preferably a service-side hold queue also is established and maintained on the service-side of the infrastructure. This hold queue maintains calls that are waiting to be connected to available agents. It ensures that any customer abandons (on the service side) do not impair the connections that are being established and maintained to the agents. The managed service carries out a communications campaign on behalf of a client. A “campaign” refers to a series of calls to a contact list using one or more sub-campaigns. A sub-campaign associates a list of contacts, a script, and a timeframe.
US08280023B2
A communication conference system that enables users who have only a connecting unit via a telephone line network and users who have only an IP connecting unit to hold a talk session mutually without a need of an expensive dedicated conference server is provided. A talk session device 1 includes a network processing portion for transmitting/receiving voice information to/from other equipments via IP, and a terminal for inputting/outputting a voice signal. The talk session device 1 is connected to a handset terminal of a telephone 3 via an adaptor 2 that converts the standards (mainly a level) of the voice signal. The talk session device 1 is connected to other talk session devices via IP, and is connected to other telephones by a telephone line via the telephone 3. Accordingly, a user serving as a destination of the IP and a user serving as a destination of the telephone line are connected mutually.
US08280019B2
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for locating files. Upon receipt of caller identification information, a search is performed to identify all files associated with the caller identification information. A presentation of the caller identification information is caused.
US08280003B2
A method is proposed for accurate and efficient modeling of head scatter phase space for treatments with dynamic jaws. Specifically, the method enables the efficient calculation of the head scatter phase space in case of a dynamic treatment where jaws and MLC leaves move during the delivery. In one embodiment, the invention can be used to calculate the head scatter contribution during final dose calculation of dynamic treatments. This novel method also enables an accurate calculation of the head scatter contribution from optimal fluence and from jaw positions without having to calculate the leaf sequence. In this embodiment, the invention can be used in optimization of large field IMRT treatments.
US08279999B2
An X-ray CT apparatus includes an X-ray generator and an X-ray detector. The X-ray generator and the X-ray detector rotate about a subject. A controller controls the timing of exposing X-rays from the X-ray generator. The controller controls the collection timing for the projection data used by the X-ray detector and causes the X-ray detector to continuously collect the projection data at the specified collection timing. The controller causes additional information representing the state of exposure of the X-rays to be added to each projection data that has been collected by the X-ray detector at said specified collection timing.
US08279997B2
Projection data (302) acquired during a tomographic examination of a periodically moving object is used to reconstruct a plurality of image layers (308). The image layers (308) are combined to generate image data at a desired phase of motion. To generate a weighting function used to combine the image layers, a reference weighting function (512) is generated at the desired phase. The image layers (308) are weighted to approximate the first weighting function (312). The number of image layers and the size of a sub-region of interest are advantageously selected so that the various image layers can be stored in a relatively high speed memory portion of a computer.
US08279992B1
An adaptive bandwidth clock and data recovery circuit and method are provided. The adaptive bandwidth clock and data recovery circuit includes a voltage controlled oscillator for outputting a phase of a clock. In addition, a phase detector is included for determining a phase difference between received data and the clock. Further, a charge pump is included for outputting a current as a function of the phase difference, the current utilized for generating a control voltage provided to the voltage controlled oscillator. Still yet, an adaptive bandwidth control is included for providing the voltage controlled oscillator with an adaptive bandwidth based on the phase difference.
US08279983B2
An automatic gain control apparatus can prevent jumps in the gain coefficient when the gain coefficient is altered, due to a sharp change in the level of the received signal before and after the alteration. The apparatus includes a mean square circuit for processing the received signal, a gain coefficient generating circuit for generating a gain coefficient, a decision circuit for deciding whether the received level of the received signal has changed, and a control circuit for, when a change in the received level of the received signal is detected, determining a number of mean square values and a generating interval. The apparatus further includes a gain coefficient linear smoother for altering the gain coefficient over an interval, and a multiplier for multiplying the received signal by the gain coefficient obtained from the gain coefficient linear smoother.
US08279981B2
A two-stage approach to MIMO detection improves receiver performance in a computationally tractable manner. A whitening joint detector processes a MIMO symbol stream. The whitening joint detector includes a pre-filter operative to suppress a first subset of the received MIMO streams as colored noise. The whitening joint detector further includes a primary joint detector operative to process a second subset of the MIMO streams and to output a preliminary solution obtained by minimizing a whitening joint detection metric. A secondary detector then operates in the vicinity of the primary joint detector preliminary solution. The secondary detector improves the preliminary solution by comparison to a full joint detection metric.
US08279979B2
Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus that processes a signal transmitted over a transmission path that causes stationary distortion to occur in a waveform representing a signal value of a specific symbol in accordance with a value of a symbol transmitted before the specific symbol. The apparatus includes: storage means for storing distortion characteristics; acquisition means for acquiring the signal value of the specific symbol; correlation coefficient calculation means for calculating a correlation coefficient between the waveform representing the signal value of the specific symbol and each distortion characteristic; selection means for selecting a distortion characteristic(s) having a high correlation with the waveform representing the signal value of the specific symbol, based on the correlation coefficients; and determination means for determining the values of the symbols in the signal based on the combination of the values of the symbols corresponding to the selected distortion characteristic(s).
US08279971B2
A level of power reduction for a transmitter arranged to transmit signals modulated according to one of a number of modulation configurations via radio channels in a digital wireless communications system is estimated. Modulation dependent data comprising a term calculated from a third order product of a signal modulated according to a modulation configuration are provided, and a power reduction estimate for transmission of signals modulated according to said modulation configuration is calculated there from. The modulation dependent data are provided to comprise, in addition to the term calculated from a third order product, at least one term calculated from a higher order product. Further, transmitter dependent data are provided, and the estimate is calculated from said modulation dependent and transmitter dependent data. Thus a more accurate method of determining a power reduction is achieved, which also allows different operating conditions for the transmitter to be considered.
US08279965B2
MIMO detection is described that reduces the complexity of computations for finding the soft bit output. The detection process includes QR factorization splitting the distance calculations into two groups, subset lookup using a last cross constellation set (LCCS) lookup, and minimal distance lookup with soft bit output calculation. By grouping the distance calculations into a first group that has one antenna transmitting using a modulation scheme with a generally square constellation diagram and a second group for all of the other antenna constellation diagrams, the LCCS lookup process may be used which substantially reduces the number of calculations to be made in the detection process. Moreover, in the special case of 2×2 antenna, QR factorization is performed by applying a scaled Givens rotation to the channel matrix. The application of the scaled Givens rotation operator eliminates any square root operations that would be performed in a standard QR factorization.
US08279964B2
Embodiment of the disclosure set forth methods for transmitting data in a wireless communication system. Some example methods include converting a data stream to a symbol set; selecting a first plurality of symbols from the symbol set, wherein the first plurality of symbols includes at least a first symbol, a second symbol, a third symbol, and a fourth symbol; generating a second plurality of symbols having at least a fifth symbol and a sixth symbol, wherein the fifth symbol includes a first part of the first symbol and a second part of the second symbol and the sixth symbol includes a first part of the third symbol and a second part of the fourth symbol; weighting the sixth symbol to form a first weighted symbol; and transmitting in a first time slot the fifth symbol with a first antenna and the first weighted symbol with a second antenna.
US08279960B2
A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication system and method. The MIMO communication system includes: an antenna number determination unit to determine a number of active antennas among a plurality of transmitting antennas based on a power of a transmission signal wherein the number of active antennas is at least one and the at least one active antenna transmits the transmission signal; and a beam generator to generate the transmission signal corresponding to the number of active antennas by using channel information wherein the channel information is fed back from each of a plurality of user terminals.
US08279959B2
Compact pulse shape partial response (CPS PR) signaling is developed for trellis based signals like QM-MSK, and for PAM/QAM type signals to improve the performance to bandwidth tradeoff. Compact pulse shaped signals are partial response signals that employ a very short pulse shaping filter and use Viterbi decoding to optimally detect the CPS signal in presence of its inherent inter-symbol interference. The CPS filters considered herein have much shorter impulse response than the well-known raised cosine (RC) filter. There is no need to equalize the received signal to eliminate ISI or to allow a fixed amount of ISI between received signal samples as sampled at the symbol rate as is common in partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) systems. Numerical results indicate that CPS QM-MSK and CPS QAM provides between several dB of gain, depending on constellation size, over PR-CPM and RC QAM, when compared at a given value of bandwidth, i.e., B99Tb.
US08279952B2
Methods of controlling threshold voltages of a transmission envelope detector are provided. The methods include comparing a voltage of an input signal initially input with a threshold voltage of the transmission envelope detector and increasing the threshold voltage when the voltage of the input signal is higher than the threshold voltage after serial communication is started.
US08279948B2
A device includes a transmitter coupled to a node, where the node is to couple to a wired link. The transmitter has a plurality of modes of operation including a calibration mode in which a range of communication data rates over the wired link is determined in accordance with a voltage margin corresponding to the wired link at a predetermined errorrate. The range of communication data rates includes a maximum data rate, which can be a non-integer multiple of an initial data rate.
US08279944B2
The invention relates to a method and a device for regulating the encoding bit rate of video images relative to a target image size). The images being subdivided into zones to be encoded, the complexity of encoding of each zone is distinguished among the zones, the zones to be encoded are classified according to a determined order of complexity, each zone is successively encoded according to the decreasing order of complexity, successively minimizing the estimated encoding error of each zone, the final size of each image relative to the target size and the bit rate of the sequence of video images. Application to the video encoding of images of video sequences, in particular to networked video surveillance.
US08279940B2
A quantizer and dequantizer for use in a video coding system that applies non linear, piece-wise linear scaling functions to video information signals based on a value of a variable quantization parameter. The quantizer and dequantizer apply different non linear, piece-wise linear scaling functions to a DC luminance signal, a DC chrominance signal and an AC chrominance signal. A code for reporting updates of the value of the quantization parameter is interpreted to require larger changes when the quantization parameter initially is large and smaller changes when the quantization parameter initially is small.
US08279929B2
Coding techniques for a video image compression system involve improving an image quality of a sequence of two or more bi-directionally predicted intermediate frames, where each of the frames includes multiple pixels. One method involves determining a brightness value of at least one pixel of each bi-directionally predicted intermediate frame in the sequence as an equal average of brightness values of pixels in non-bidirectionally predicted frames bracketing the sequence of bi-directionally predicted intermediate frames. The brightness values of the pixels in at least one of the non-bidirectionally predicted frames is converted from a non-linear representation.
US08279928B2
An encoding method and apparatus which include a coded picture that enables special playback to be easily performed while suppressing reduction in coding efficiency are provided. Coding is performed per a certain number of pictures, including pictures for special playback. When coded pictures for special playback using an interframe predictive coding scheme, referencing is limited to coded pictures encoded using an intraframe predictive coding scheme or coded pictures encoded using the interframe predictive coding scheme having the same reference limitation.
US08279927B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for ordering, communicating and applying pixel intra-prediction modes.
US08279925B2
A streaming appliance having an internal quantizer is disclosed so that the bit rate of a streamed video can be adjusted based on the current conditions of a link between the streaming appliance and one or more target devices.
US08279924B2
This disclosure describes rules that may be applied during block-based video coding to ensure that quantization parameter selections for luma blocks will not adversely affect the quality of chroma blocks. In accordance with this disclosure, rate-controlled video encoding occurs in which quantization parameter changes in luma blocks are pre-evaluated to determine whether such quantization parameter changes in luma blocks will also cause quantization changes for chroma blocks. If quantization parameter changes in the luma blocks will also cause quantization changes for chroma blocks, then that quantization parameter change for luma blocks may be skipped and not evaluated. In this way, secondary effects of quantization parameter changes in the luma blocks (with respect to the chroma blocks) can be avoided.
US08279915B2
A system and method are provided for ordering tap setting modifications in a link partner using a plurality of voltage gain taps, while avoiding minimum and maximum limitations. Provided is a link partner (LP) transmitter having a parallel selectable voltage gain taps. The method sends messages from a network-connected local device (LD) directing the LP to generally change the gain setting of either the pre-tap or the post-tap, as follows. The gain setting of selected tap is changed in the desired direction of modification and then the center tap gain settings is maximally increased until a limit signal is received. If a selected tap increment is desired, the center tap is initially decremented more steps than the desired change in the selected tap.
US08279913B2
A system is disclosed for operating a plurality of receiver paths and/or a plurality of transmitter paths in a single mode or multiple mode configuration.
US08279908B2
A broadcasting method includes: using a first transmitter to send a signal including a plurality of frames of data synchronized with respect to a first GPS pulse signal, receiving the signal at a first remote transmitter, synchronizing the frames to a second GPS pulse signal at the first remote transmitter, and transmitting the synchronized frames from the remote transmitter to a plurality of receivers. A system that implements the method is also provided.
US08279907B2
A semiconductor laser device includes: a semiconductor laser having a reflector region, a gain region for laser oscillation and a plurality of refraction index controllers, the reflector region having a plurality of segments in which a diffraction region and a space region are coupled to each other, the plurality of segments being separated into a plurality of segment groups having a same optical length, the plurality of refractive index controllers being provided according to each segment group and controlling an equivalent refraction index of each segment group; a wavelength controller controlling an oscillation wavelength of the semiconductor laser by controlling the plurality of the refraction index controllers as at least one of control parameters; and a dither controller inputting a dither signal into only one of the segment groups having the most segments from one of the refractive index controllers according to the segment group.
US08279902B2
A laser device comprises: first and second laser excitation regions that are disposed in series each other; a first power supply unit (PSU1) that injects a first energy into the first laser excitation region; and a second power supply unit (PSU2) that injects a second energy into the second laser excitation region, wherein the first power supply unit injects a predetermined excitation energy equal to or higher than a critical injection energy at which laser oscillation starts into the first laser excitation region as the first energy and the second power supply unit injects energy between a preliminary excitation energy needed for preliminary discharge and the critical injection energy into the second laser excitation region as the second energy, so as to control laser power. Consequently, the laser device can stably output very low laser even though it is a high power laser.
US08279900B2
A mode-locked fiber laser comprising a multicomponent glass fiber doped with a trivalent rare-earth ion of thulium and/or holmium and including a fiber-optic based passive saturable absorber that contains an adhesive material mixed with a saturable absorbing components and is disposed along the length of an optical fiber such as to assure that a mode propagating within the fiber spatially overlaps with the volume occupied by the saturable absorbing components.
US08279899B2
A fiber laser of an MOPA type includes an MO which is a laser oscillator for generating seed light, a PA which is a light amplifier connected to a rear stage of the MO, for amplifying and outputting laser light emitted from the MO, and a reflection device which is provided between the MO and the PA. According to the present invention, the MOPA type fiber laser can decrease the peak value of the pulse which is emitted toward the MO or the pump light source by self-oscillation or reflection, and makes it unlikely that the pump light source or the MO will be damaged.
US08279895B2
The system (500), apparatus (400), and method of the present invention provide three architectures for logically organizing multiple channels: a parallel multi-channel superframe (PMS) (100), a sequential multi-channel superframe (SMS) (200), and a non-overlapping multi-channel superframe (NMS) (300). Each of these architectures arises from different trade-offs and is applicable to any multi-channel MAC protocol that is based on the concept of a superframe, e.g., IEEE 802.11 superframe.
US08279892B2
A method for increasing upstream bandwidth per cable modem user in a cable communications system that includes a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and a plurality of cable modems is provided. The method permits a cable modem to transmit data to the CMTS on multiple upstream channels simultaneously using a technique called “channel bonding.” Channel bonding allows smaller bandwidth upstream channels to be bonded together to create a larger bandwidth pipe.
US08279884B1
The present invention is a method of correcting packet discontinuities using the steps of: (A) generating a continuous real time data stream from input of media content from a media source comprising packets transmitted by way of a computer packet network to a specific receiving device to establish a transmission portion of an end to end communication, (B) a jitter buffer receiving real time data stream packets from the packet network and temporarily storing at least some of them in the jitter buffer, (C) the jitter buffer operating on multiple fixed length packets to output a first output of a predetermined sequence of said fixed length packets, preferably substantially as they were originally transmitted, (D) a control unit receiving the first output and changing the length of one or more of fixed length packets of the first output to form a second output in response to a detected delay or other discontinuity in the packet sequence, (E) a playout buffer receiving the second output and operating on the stream of original and varied length packets to deliver them to a digital to analog converter (DAC), and (F) transmission of analog output of the DAC to interface devices such as displays, speakers, and mechanical devices for intelligible playout of the media content for appreciation by a human interacting with the interface devices.
US08279881B2
A method for route updating includes: a. determining more than one route in accordance with a predetermined preset mechanism and sending the determined more than one route to a client and/or a non-client, by a reflector in a route advertisement, and saving more than one route reaching the same destination address by the client and/or the non-client; and b. sending to the client and/or the non-client a message carrying information on the next hop of the route to be withdrawn, by the reflector in a withdrawal of a route and withdrawing the corresponding route for route updating in accordance with the information on the next hop carried in the message, by the client/the non-client. A system for route updating and a router reflector is also provided.
US08279880B2
A communication gateway includes a communication unit that transmits and receives messages in order to communicate with at least one remote communication node on a first wireless communication network according to a protocol which includes network access control (MAC), and receives messages originating from at least one transmitter transmitting messages on a second wireless communication network according to a protocol which does not include network access control (MAC). The protocols of the first and second wireless communication networks use a same physical layer (PHY). The communication gateway also includes a processing unit associated with the communication unit that differentiates between the received messages originating from the first wireless communication network and the received messages originating from the second wireless communication network by analyzing header information contained in the received messages originating from the first wireless communication network and in the received messages originating from the second wireless communication network.
US08279879B1
A chunk format for a large-scale, high data throughput router includes a preamble that allows each individual chunk to have clock and data recovery performed before the chunk data is retrieved. The format includes a chunk header that contains information specific to the entire chunk. A chunk according to the present format can contain multiple packet segments, with each segment having its own packet header for packet-specific information. The format provides for a scrambler seed which allows scrambling the data to achieve a favorable zero and one balance as well as minimal run lengths. There can be a random choice of available scrambler seeds for any particular chunk to avoid malicious forcing of zero and one patterns or run lengths of bit zeroes and ones. There are a chunk cyclical redundancy check (CRC) as well as forward error correction (FEC) bytes to detect and/or correct any errors and also to insure a high degree of data and control integrity. Advantageously, a framing symbol inserted into the chunk format itself allows the receiving circuitry to identify or locate a particular chunk format. “Break Bytes” and “Make Bytes” fields located at the beginning of a chunk preamble precondition an optical receiver to a proper state before the actual chunk arrives at the receiver.
US08279873B2
In a method and a system Radio Link Control (RLC) Status Reports in a cellular radio system employing Acknowledge Mode (AM) RLC are not delivered in sequence, thereby obtaining an increased peak throughput. Thus, even when an in-sequence delivery exists, for example if the system uses HARQ transmission, it is not used for data related to the RLC status report.
US08279872B1
In various embodiments, methods and systems are provided for acquiring a mobile internet protocol address in a communication network. In an embodiment, a mobile network internet node key is sent to a service node. A mobile network internet node sends a mobile internet protocol access request message to an authentication node. The authentication node can then receive the mobile network internet node key transferred from the service node. In response to receiving a mobile internet protocol access accept message at the mobile network internet node transferred from the authentication node where the mobile internet protocol access accept message comprises the mobile network internet node key, the mobile internet protocol address is assigned at the mobile network internet node to a mobile station associated with a user identifier.
US08279870B2
A wireless utility network contains a plurality of utility nodes that communicate within a wireless utility network. A gateway to the wireless utility network communicates with the utility nodes in the wireless utility network, and connects the wireless utility network to at least one other network. A packet is transmitted from one utility node to another utility node according to a route included in the transmitted packet. The route included in the transmitted packet is updated with received network information to determine an updated path cost of the included route and compared to alternate routes to select a preferred route based upon path cost. The selected preferred route is included in the packet and the packet is transmitted to another node according to the selected preferred route.
US08279869B1
Various systems and methods for exchanging communications between devices coupled by an address translation device are disclosed. These techniques can be used to facilitate automatic relationship discovery. One method involves extracting a sequence number from a TCP acknowledgment message being conveyed from a network interface to a TCP stack, and then sending a new TCP message, which includes the sequence number.
US08279866B2
A method for switching packets in a communication network is provided. The method includes dividing a data stream into at least two sub-streams in a first application card received in a first application card slot of a packet switch. A first sub-stream is sent through a first application port associated with the first application card slot to a first switch port associated with a switch port slot of the packet switch. The switch port slot is operable to receive a switch card for the packet switch. A second sub-stream is sent through a second application port associated with the first application card slot to a second switch port associated with the switch port slot.
US08279858B2
A method and apparatus for transmitting beacon signals in a wireless communications network. For a given cell site, a single frequency may be used for the beacon signal by assigning different beacon signal time slots to different sectors of the cell site. During one time slot, the beacon signal is transmitted to one of the sectors, and during another one of the time slots, the beacon signal is transmitted to a different one of the sectors. Because a single frequency can be used for all of the sectors of a cell site, more frequencies are available for other purposes, such as for user traffic, for example. The invention improves spectral efficiency, reduces adjacent channel interference and co-channel interference and allows power consumption to be controlled.
US08279857B2
A virtual private branch exchange is formed by a plurality of interconnected feature server modules, each having an integral feature server that is configured and operates independently of the other feature server modules. Within a virtual private branch exchange, the feature server modules may be logically arranged in a hierarchy having at least a main feature server module and one or more subordinate feature server modules. A particular feature server module may operate in multiple virtual private branch exchanges, and may have a distinct set of rules for handling calls originating in different virtual private branch exchanges.
US08279854B2
A method and equipment for deregistering a wireless IP access network contact address are provided. When a call corresponding to a common subscriber ID of a TE is received after the TE leaves an IP access network abnormally, the method and the equipment can avoid problems caused by still delivering the subsequent call from the IP access network according to an IP access network contact address associated with the common subscriber ID. The method includes notifying an IMS network to deregister a contact address of a TE in a first wireless IP access network through a current available access network of the TE if the contact address of the TE in the first wireless IP access network is not deregistered to the IMS network when the TE leaves the first wireless IP access network.
US08279848B1
Systems and methods are provided for determining characteristics of a mobile user of a network. The system includes a provider and a mobile device communicating with the provider. A communication with the provider includes a header having user characteristics. The provider is configured to determine a content to provide to the mobile device based on the user characteristics in the header.
US08279836B2
Soft handoff in an OFDMA system is disclosed. If the pilot signal strength for a base station exceeds the defined threshold, the base station is added to an active set list. Subcarriers in a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols are divided and allocated into subchannels. The OFDM symbols are divided and multiplexed. A soft handoff zone with a first dimension of the subchannels and a second dimension of the divided and multiplexed OFDM symbols is defined. The soft handoff zone has subcarriers with a subchannel definition, for example, an identical permutation.
US08279832B2
A method, system, and device for converting session control signaling are provided. The method includes at least one of the following steps: a first adaptation unit converts a session control signaling message of a circuit switched (CS) session leg into a session control signaling message of an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) session leg; or the first adaptation unit converts a session control signaling message of an IMS session leg into a session control signaling message of a CS session leg. In embodiments of the present invention, an adaptation unit intercepts a CS signaling message after an inter-mobile switching center (MSC) handover, and converts CS signaling messages to IMS signaling messages and vice versa, so that the IMS domain may continue to control a session after the inter-MSC handover.
US08279819B2
A wireless communication method is provided which includes the steps of selecting, by a wireless communication device belonging to a communication system operating on a certain communication protocol, a communication protocol among a plurality of communication protocols, exchanging, among a plurality of wireless communication devices including the wireless communication device, information including peripheral communication status of each wireless communication device by using the selected communication protocol, and changing the communication protocol to be used for exchanging the information.
US08279818B2
A method of packet element transmission for a mobile device of a wireless communication system includes generating a control element including a triggered capability report and a header of the capability report when the mobile device has sufficient resources to transmit both of the capability report and the header thereof in a transmission opportunity.
US08279807B2
A technology is disclosed with which a mobile terminal moving in a PMIP domain receives various types of prefixes and selects a type of an address to be configured, and route optimization is performed without adding a signaling load on the PMIP domain. According to the technique, when connecting with a home domain, a MN (310) requests a plurality of prefixes. When a MAG (320) makes an AAA server (340) authorize the MN and receives a notification instruction of the plurality of prefixes from the AAA server, the MAG 320 makes a notification of the plurality of prefixes with a RA message (364), for example. The MN configures a plurality of addresses (for example, a PMIP address including a PMIP domain prefix or a global address including an on-link prefix) from the plurality of prefixes received and notifies the MAG of the same. The MAG registers a plurality of bindings relating to the plurality of addresses with a LMA (330).
US08279805B2
A particular residential gateway includes a connector interface to receive a composite signal including voice data, video data, and network data via one or more communication lines and a power coupling device to receive power via the one or more communication lines. The residential gateway includes a voice module to route the voice data to a voice-enabled device coupled to a network interface, a video module to route the video data to a video-enabled device coupled to the network interface, and a network module to route the network data to a computing device coupled to the network interface. The residential gateway further includes a testing module to communicate test results to an external device via a data communication interface. At least one of the voice module, the video module, the network module, and the testing module is powered using the power received by the power coupling device.
US08279802B1
Cellular-telephone-based servers are provided that have reduced power consumption. When a cellular-telephone-based server is active, the server may maintain an Internet Protocol (IP) link with a communications network. When no users are connected to the server or at other appropriate times, the cellular-telephone-based server may enter a hibernation state to reduce power consumption. In the hibernation state, the cellular telephone that is running the server may maintain a communications link that supports short messaging service (SMS) messaging and may maintain a communications link associated with control channels that convey control data for cellular telephone communications. A user wishing to connect to the server may send an SMS address request to the server to obtain its IP address. If the server is hibernating, a service controller can activate the server before responding to the SMS address request.
US08279796B1
A radio system including a selected number inputs for substantially simultaneously receiving radio signals in different frequency bands and a selected number of conversion paths for converting the radio signals received at corresponding ones of the inputs into a corresponding number of digital streams. Digital processing circuitry substantially simultaneously processes digital samples for plurality of channels, the samples taken from at least one of the digital streams, wherein a maximum number of channels is greater than a maximum number of digital streams provided by the conversion paths.
US08279792B2
A device for wirelessly communicating a service to user equipment is provided. The device includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a processor. The processor is programmed to promote the transmitter polling to determine whether user equipment desire a service and responsive to receiving, via the receiver, at least one user equipment request for the service, the processor programmed to promote the transmitter providing a point-to-multipoint (PTM) broadcast of the service.
US08279788B2
A method and system for stateful negotiation of energy efficient parameters in Layer 2 are provided. In this regard, energy efficiency of communications between a first network device and a second network device may be managed via an exchange of information between the network devices and a verification of whether the information is up-to-date prior to utilizing the information. In various embodiments of the invention, the second network device may generate a decision pertaining to implementing one or more energy efficient techniques and the second network device may send a message to the first network device requesting that the first network device implement the decision. The message sent to the first network device may comprise the decision as well as parameter values utilized to generate the decision. The first network device may receive the decision and the parameter values and may determine whether the received parameter values are up-to-date.
US08279787B2
A packet processing apparatus includes a packet buffer unit that temporarily holds packet data, a packet processing unit that processes packet data output from the packet buffer unit, a clock supply unit that supplies a clock signal to the packet processing unit, and a control unit that detects a buffer vacant time indicating a time during which no packet data exists in the packet buffer unit based on an accumulation amount of the packet data in the packet buffer unit, and controls an operational state of the clock supply unit in accordance with the buffer vacant time.
US08279781B2
A new random linear network coding scheme for reliable communications for time division duplexing channels is proposed. The setup assumes a packet erasure channel and that nodes cannot transmit and receive information simultaneously. The sender transmits coded data packets back-to-back before stopping to wait for the receiver to acknowledge (ACK) the number of degrees of freedom, if any, that are required to decode correctly the information. Provided herein is an analysis of this problem to show that there is an optimal number of coded data packets, in terms of mean completion time, to be sent before stopping to listen. This number depends on the latency, probabilities of packet erasure and ACK erasure, and the number of degrees of freedom that the receiver requires to decode the data. This scheme is optimal in terms of the mean time to complete the transmission of a fixed number of data packets. It is shown that its performance is very close to that of a full-duplex system, while transmitting a different number of coded packets can cause large degradation in performance, especially if latency is high. Also described herein is the throughput performance of the novel system and technique along with a comparison to existing half-duplex Go-back-N and Selective Repeat ARQ schemes. Numerical results, obtained for different latencies, show that the novel system and technique described herein has similar performance to the Selective Repeat in most cases and considerable performance gain when latency and packet error probability is high.
US08279778B2
A wireless mesh network, method of operating a wireless mesh network, and a central node device are disclosed herein. Communications are interleaved to maintain a spatial differential, for example, two “hops,” between any two nodes transmitting in proximity to the collector. In one embodiment, a wireless mesh network includes a central node and a plurality of bidirectional nodes in bidirectional wireless communication with the central node. Each bidirectional node has a respective wireless communication path to the central node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more intermediate bidirectional nodes. Each bidirectional node is characterized by a number of intermediate bidirectional nodes forming a respective wireless communication path to the central node. The central node isolates a first data communication from a first node from second data communications from other nodes that are within a defined threshold of hop levels of the first node.
US08279774B2
In a method for optimizing exchanges of acknowledgement signals between a mobile equipment in asynchronous communication with a plurality of base stations of a cellular telecommunication network, the terminal sends data to the base stations and each base station is likely to return to the terminal a positive acknowledgement ACK or negative acknowledgement NACK. The method includes the steps of: synchronizing the mobile equipment with the network; and estimating quality of downlink communication between each base station and the mobile equipment on at least one standardized channel, such that if at least one base station returns an acknowledgement to the mobile equipment, the mobile equipment only requests a NACK from the base stations while the data is continuously being transmitted, and if all the base stations return a NACK to the mobile equipment, the mobile equipment only requests an ACK from the base stations during the current communication.
US08279768B2
Methods, devices and computer program products are provided for capturing information associated with a triggering event at a network-enabled device. A triggering event is detected at a first network-enabled device. A message is transmitted to at least one other network-enabled device responsive to the detected triggering event. The message includes an indication of a time period associated with the triggering event and a request that the at least one other network-enabled device mark information associated with the at least one other network-enabled device during the associated time period as having significance, such that this information is retained rather than discarded.
US08279762B2
In a redundant system where multiple network interfaces can be switched, an interface switching device includes: a transformer for transforming automatic switch information between a predetermined type used for a predetermined network interface and each of other types used for network interfaces other than the predetermined network interface; a switch controller for performing switch control for automatic switch information of the predetermined type; and a control interface for connecting a first network interface to the switch controller via the transformer when first automatic switch information received from the first network interface is not of the predetermined type.
US08279759B1
In one embodiment, a system includes a first network device configured to communicate on a first communication layer, and a second network device configured to communicate on a second communication layer. The system further includes a router communicatively coupled to the first and second network devices through at least one network path. The at least one router includes a ping inter-working unit configured to support the transmission of a message between the first and second network devices through the at least one network path.
US08279752B1
Packet switch operating methods and packet switches detect, at a packet switch, a change in a first tunnel's ability to relay packets between the packet switch and another packet switch and, in response, send a control packet to the other packet switch. The control packet indicates a particular one of the tunnels is active on the packet switch. The packet switches are coupled together by the first tunnel and a second tunnel. A packet switch network includes a first packet switch and a second packet switch both configured to recognize disagreement regarding which one of a first tunnel and a second tunnel is active and which one is inactive in response to receiving control packets from each other and resolve the disagreement so that a particular one of the first tunnel and the second tunnel is active according to both the first packet switch and the second packet switch.
US08279748B2
Systems and methods for implementing a satellite network, are described. The system includes satellite gateways in communication with subscribers over a satellite communication network. The satellite gateways send network communications to the subscribers and receive network communications from the subscribers. The system further includes a first core node in communication with at least one of the satellite gateways. The first core node provides networking services, at L2, to a first subset of subscribers. The system further includes a second core node in communication, at L2, with one of the satellite gateways and the first core node. The second core node provides the networking services, at layer-2 of the OSI model, to a second subset of the subscribers. In response to failure of at least one of the networking services in the first core node, the second core node providing the at least one of the services to the first subset of the subscribers.
US08279739B2
A heat-assisted magnetic recording medium that includes a substrate, underlayers formed on the substrate, and a magnetic layer which is formed on the underlayers and contains either an FePt alloy having an L10 structure or a CoPt alloy having an L10 structure as a main component, wherein the underlayers include a first underlayer formed from an amorphous alloy, a second underlayer formed from an alloy having a BCC structure containing Cr as a main component and also containing at least one element selected from among Ti, Mo, W, V, Mn and Ru, and a third underlayer formed from MgO. Also, a magnetic storage device that uses the heat-assisted magnetic recording medium.
US08279731B2
An optical-disc writer writes extrinsic data to an optical disc. Extrinsic data can be written as (i) embedded marks (e.g., pits and lands) located outside the conventional readable area of a disc and/or (ii) alternative marks, such as surface marks located on a surface of the disc. In an optical-disc player having a disc-reading subsystem and a read controller, the disc-reading subsystem reads and relays the extrinsic data to the read controller, which controls the operations of the player based on the extrinsic data. For example, the writer prints extrinsic data, e.g., a barcode, on the surface of a software installation disc. The disc is inserted in the player and installation is commenced. The read controller instructs the disc-reading subsystem to read the extrinsic information. If the read controller determines that the extrinsic data was successfully read, then installation proceeds; otherwise, installation is halted.
US08279729B2
A method and apparatus for recording contents. The method includes recording contents on a disc; verifying whether an error occurs in the recording; and reducing the number of available recordings of the contents, which is included in recording authority information, by 1, if an error does not occur in the recording. According to the method, if an error occurs in recording, the number of available recordings may be prevented from being unreasonably reduced.
US08279726B2
A recording device records contents in a plurality of recording media. While the recording device records a content in a recording medium, if a free space of the recording medium runs out, an unrecorded part of the content needs to be recorded in another recording medium. In order to play back all parts of the content, all recording media in which all the parts of the content have been separately recorded are necessary. Particularly, if an internal recording medium included in the recording device has a small space and accordingly a sufficient space is secured by connecting an external removable recording medium to the recording device after the recording has started, parts of the content are separately recorded in the internal recording medium and the external recording medium. As a result, even if the external recording medium is removed from the recording device and is connected to a playback device in order to play back all the parts of the content, it is possible to play back only one part of the content. In order to play back all parts of the content using another playback device, a user needs to edit the separately recorded parts of the content so as to be saved in a single recording medium. In view of this problem, the present invention aims to provide a recording device that controls a recording destination of a content to be recorded such that the content can be recorded in a single recording medium for as long as possible.
US08279725B2
A control device includes n optical pickups, n being an integer greater than one; a dividing unit configured to divide one block into n pieces of data, the one block being a predetermined amount of data; and a control unit configured to control the n optical pickups to record the n pieces of data obtained by the dividing unit on a predetermined recording medium.
US08279720B2
Disclosed herein is a hard disk apparatus, including: a magnetic recording medium; a recording head adapted to record information on the magnetic recording medium; a semiconductor laser adapted to be controlled for light emission in a cycle of a recording clock to irradiate a light spot upon the magnetic recording medium to carry out thermal assistance in magnetic recording by the recording head; a laser driving circuit adapted to drive the semiconductor laser at a timing and with optical power in accordance with a light emission timing signal and a laser power controlling signal; and a controller adapted to set laser power in accordance with at least one of characteristics of the magnetic recording medium, semiconductor laser and recording head and output the laser power controlling signal to the laser driving circuit so that the laser power is adaptively varied.
US08279715B2
A sample analyzing apparatus is provided with a memory for storing a schedule of maintenance, a display, and a controller for displaying on the display a screen of calendar format, wherein the screen includes a date display area for displaying a date and a maintenance item display area for displaying a maintenance item scheduled on the date.
US08279707B2
Geophysical data representing at least first and second overlapping geophysical spaces may be aggregated. A first set of geophysical data representing the first geophysical space and a second set of geophysical data representing the second geophysical space may be obtained. The second set of geophysical data may be separate and discrete from the first set of geophysical data. The first set of geophysical data may be transformed from a first parametric domain to a third parametric domain, while the second set of geophysical data may be transformed from a second parametric domain to the third parametric domain. The first set of geophysical data may be fused with the second set of geophysical data in the third parametric domain to create a fused set of geophysical data. The fused set of geophysical data may be transformed from the third parametric domain to a fourth parametric domain.
US08279702B2
A semiconductor apparatus includes an individual-chip-designating-code setting block configured to generate a plurality of sets of individual-chip-designating-codes which have different code values or in which at least two sets of individual-chip-designating-codes have the same code value, in response to a plurality of chip fuse signals; a control block configured to generate a plurality of enable control signals in response to the plurality of chip fuse signals and most significant bits of the plurality of sets of individual-chip-designating-codes; and an individual chip activation block configured to compare individual-chip-designating-codes of the plurality of sets of individual-chip-designating-codes excluding the most significant bits, with chip selection addresses in response to the plurality of enable control signals, and enable one of a plurality of individual-chip-activation-signals depending upon a comparison result.
US08279696B2
There is provided a technique for ensuring both an SNM and a write margin simultaneously in a semiconductor device having static memory cells. A semiconductor device has a plurality of static memory cells. The semiconductor device includes a memory cell array having the static memory cells arranged in a matrix, a temperature sensor circuit for sensing a temperature in the semiconductor device, and a word driver for controlling a voltage supplied to a word line of the memory cell array based on an output of the temperature sensor circuit at the time of writing to or reading from a memory cell.
US08279690B1
A system is provided for high-speed communication between a memory controller and a plurality of memory devices. A memory controller, and a plurality of memory devices are provided. Additionally, at least one channel is included for providing electrical communication between the memory controller and the plurality of memory devices, an impedance of the channel being at least partially controlled using High Density Interconnect (HDI) technology.
US08279684B2
An integrated circuit includes a positive power supply node, a current tracking circuit, and a current mirroring circuit including a plurality of current paths coupled in parallel. The currents of the plurality of current paths mirror a current of the current tracking circuit. The current mirroring circuit is configured to turn off the plurality of current paths one-by-one in response to a reduction in a positive power supply voltage on the positive power supply node. The integrated circuit further includes a charging node receiving a summation current of the plurality of current paths, wherein a voltage on the charging node is configured to increase through a charging of the summation current.
US08279682B2
The present disclosure includes methods, devices, modules, and systems for operating semiconductor memory. One method embodiment includes determining a status of a page of memory cells without using input/output (I/O) circuitry, and outputting the status through the I/O circuitry.
US08279680B2
A method of programming a nonvolatile memory device comprises applying a program voltage to a selected wordline to program selected memory cells, and performing a verify operation by applying a verify voltage to the selected wordline to determine the programming status of the selected memory cells. The verify operation applies the verify voltage to the selected wordline at least two different times to divide the selected memory cells into at least three regions corresponding to different threshold voltage ranges.
US08279674B2
Providing for a serial array memory transistor architecture that achieves high read speeds compared with conventional serial array memory is described herein. By way of example, the serial array memory can be connected to and can drive a gate voltage of a small capacitance pass transistor, to facilitate sensing memory transistors of the serial array. The pass transistor modulates current flow or voltage at an adjacent metal bitline, which can be utilized to sense a program or erase state(s) of the memory transistors. Due to the small capacitance of the pass transistor, read latency for the serial array can be significantly lower than conventional serial array memory (e.g., NAND memory). Further, various mechanisms for forming an amplifier region of the serial array memory comprising discrete pass transistor are described to facilitate efficient fabrication of the serial array memory transistor architecture.
US08279670B2
A non-volatile semiconductor storage device according to an embodiment includes: a memory cell array including an array of electrically rewritable memory cells and configured to be able to store N bits of data (where N is a natural number not less than 2) in one memory cell; and a controller operative to control read, write and erase operations of the memory cell array. The memory cell array includes a first region having a first memory cell operative to retain N bits of data, and a second region having a second memory cell operative to retain M bits of data (where M is a natural number less than N). A data structure of address data received by the controller when accessing the first memory cell is the same as a data structure of address data received from the outside when accessing the second memory cell.
US08279663B2
A magnetoresistance effect element includes: a first ferromagnetic layer having invariable magnetization perpendicular to a film plane; a second ferromagnetic layer having variable magnetization perpendicular to the film plane; a first nonmagnetic layer interposed between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer; a third ferromagnetic layer provided on an opposite side of the second ferromagnetic layer from the first nonmagnetic layer, and having variable magnetization parallel to the film plane; and a second nonmagnetic layer interposed between the second and third ferromagnetic layers. Spin-polarized electrons are injected into the second ferromagnetic layer by flowing a current in the direction perpendicular to the film planes between the first and third ferromagnetic layers, precession movement is induced in the magnetization of the third ferromagnetic layer by injecting the spin-polarized electrons, and a microwave magnetic field of a frequency corresponding to the precession movement is applied to the second ferromagnetic layer.
US08279657B2
Provided is a nonvolatile memory element which is capable of performing a stable resistance change operation at a low breakdown voltage.A nonvolatile memory element (100) includes: a first electrode layer (103); a second electrode layer (105); and a variable resistance layer (104) which is placed between the electrodes (103 and 105), and whose resistance state reversibly changes between a high resistance state and a low resistance state based on a polarity of a voltage applied between the electrodes (103 and 105). The variable resistance layer (104) is formed by stacking a first oxide layer (104a) including an oxide of a first transition metal and a second oxide layer (104b) including an oxide of a second transition metal which is different from the first transition metal. At least one of the following conditions is satisfied: (1) a dielectric constant of the second oxide layer (104b) is larger than a dielectric constant of the first oxide layer (104a); and (2) a band gap of the second oxide layer (104b) is smaller than a band gap of the first oxide layer (104a).
US08279636B2
A power supply includes a first power converter, a second power converter, and a clamp reset circuit. The clamp reset circuit is electrically coupled to other components within the first power converter and the second power converter. A clamp standby connection can be provided to electrically couple the clamp reset circuit to components comprising the second power converter. The clamp reset circuit is coupled to reduce magnetizing energy of a transformer of the first power converter and limit voltage in a component of the second power converter. The clamp reset circuit may include a Zener diode and a resistor that are adapted to reduce magnetizing energy of the first power converter and voltage through the second power converter. The clamp reset circuit normally includes a capacitor that is adapted to store energy from the first power converter and the second power converter.
US08279628B2
Audible noise in resonant switching power converter during low-power burst mode operation is reduced by spreading the spectrum generated by the bursts, thereby reducing the amplitude of audio spectrum peaks in the current supplied through the resonant tank from a switching circuit. The spreading can be accomplished by varying the intervals between the bursts and/or by varying a pulse pattern within the bursts. The pulse pattern within the bursts can be varied by varying the number of pulses in the bursts, the polarity of the initial pulse of the bursts, and/or the duration of pulses within the bursts either uniformly or randomly. The burst pulse pattern may also be selected in alternation from a set of pulse patterns stored in a memory and the selection may be made randomly or systematically.
US08279626B2
A power meter assembly for enclosure within an electrical wiring raceway comprises a power meter affixed to a mounting plate. The mounting plate is of an arbitrary width down the length of the raceway. The mounting plate includes tabs for attachment to the raceway, facing away from the user, towards the raceway opening. The power meter provides typical electrical power information for viewing by a user, and may include buttons or other mechanisms to enable the user to select a desired data presentation.
US08279623B2
A portable electronic device includes: a housing, a power pack received in the housing, and an actuator disposed between the power pack and a component of the portable electronic device, the component being in a fixed position relative to the housing, wherein the actuator imparts a force on the power pack to move the power pack relative to the housing.
US08279622B2
An electronic device includes a body section, a cove section and a slider section. The cover section is pivotably coupled with the body section by a joint such that the cover section is foldable up or upon the body section. The slider section has a key board hidden between the body section and the cover section when the cover section is folded upon the body section. The slider section is slidably mounted to the body section such that the key board is capable of being exposed.
US08279618B2
A circuit substrate includes protruding terminals and has a structure that ensures an excellent connection with an electronic component, such as an IC. The circuit substrate on which an IC is to be mounted includes terminals that are to be electrically connected to solder bumps located on the IC. The terminals protrude from the mounting surface of a substrate body on which the IC is to be mounted. The sectional area of the top surface of each of the terminals is about 1.2 times the sectional area of each of the terminals on the mounting surface.
US08279613B2
Flexible circuit assemblies with stacked flex interconnects and connector assemblies having the same
A flexible circuit assembly including a pair of mating panels. Each of the mating panels has an engagement face and a power contact. The circuit assembly also includes adjacent first and second flex interconnects that mechanically and electrically couple the mating panels. The first and second flex interconnects extend alongside each other and have respective interior surfaces. The first and second flex interconnects are stacked with respect to each other such that the interior surfaces face each other and define a heat-dissipating interspace therebetween. The circuit assembly also includes a plurality of power conductors that extend through the first and second flex interconnects between the mating panels. The power conductors are electrically parallel to one another between the power contacts. At least one of the power conductors extends proximate to the interior surface of one of the first and second flex interconnects.
US08279610B2
An electronic component package has a base in the shape of a rectangle as viewed from the top, and a metal lid. A terminal electrode on a base bottom surface and a circuit substrate are joined using a conductive adhesive material. In the electronic component package, a first terminal electrode group including two or more terminal electrodes formed in parallel is formed eccentrically to one corner position of the base bottom surface, and a single second terminal electrode, or a second terminal electrode group including two or more terminal electrodes formed in parallel, is formed eccentrically only to a first diagonal position diagonally opposite the one corner position. Also, no-electrode regions in which no terminal electrode is formed along a short side of the base are provided at another corner position facing the one corner position in a short side direction of the base, and a second diagonal position diagonally opposite the other corner position. At least one of the terminal electrodes is a ground terminal electrode connected to the metal lid.
US08279608B2
A heatsink device includes an insulating board having at least one periphery, a first face and a second face, at least two conductive plates mounted on at least one of the first face and the second face of the insulating board, and at least one heat source mounted on the insulating board and having two conducting poles conducted with the at least two conductive plates. Thus, the at least two conductive plates are directly connected with the two conducting poles of the at least one heat source so that the at least two conductive plates can carry away the heat produced by the at least one heat source so as to provide a heatsink effect to the at least one heat source.
US08279605B2
The present invention provides a power module in which a first semiconductor device disposed on a first substrate and a second semiconductor device disposed on a second substrate are disposed at symmetrical positions with a third substrate interposed therebetween.
US08279604B2
According to one embodiment, an antenna cooling system, comprises a first cylinder and a second cylinder substantially concentric to the first cylinder. The first and second cylinders form a chamber between the first cylinder and the second cylinder. The chamber is configured to receive a fluid flow. A plurality of fins are disposed within the chamber and rigidly coupled to the first cylinder and the second cylinder. The plurality of fins are configured to transmit thermal energy to the fluid flow. A plurality of ports are coupled to the second cylinder. Each port is configured to receive an antenna unit.
US08279596B2
A fan mounting system includes a fan chassis defining a plurality of fan housings. A guide member is located on the fan chassis. At least one board support member extends from the fan chassis and is operable to extend through a board to engage an Information Handling System (IHS) chassis when the fan chassis is positioned in the IHS chassis. An IHS chassis cover anchor is located on the fan chassis and is operable to engage an IHS chassis cover and secure the IHS chassis cover to the IHS chassis when the fan chassis is coupled to the IHS chassis.
US08279592B2
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a first main unit having a surface thereof provided with a display panel, a second main unit having a surface thereof provided with another display panel, a hinge mechanism coupling the first and second main units, and two operation buttons arranged symmetrical with respect to a center line passing through the respective centers of the first and second main units.
US08279585B2
A cathode containing a metal substrate that possesses a micro-roughened surface imparted by spark anodization is provided. The surface is formed by contacting the substrate with an electrolytic solution and applying a voltage to form a dielectric sub-oxide layer. The voltage is raised to a sufficiently high level to initiate “sparking” at the surface of the substrate, which is believed to create high local surface temperatures sufficient to etch away the substrate. This results in the formation of a “micro-roughened” surface having a plurality elevated regions. These elevated regions can increase the effective surface area and thus allow for the formation of capacitors with increased cathode capacitance for a given size and/or capacitors with a reduced size for a given capacitance. The elevated regions may also exhibit excellent adhesion to additional electrochemically-active materials and provide enhanced stability in certain liquid electrolytes.
US08279566B2
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) clamp (41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91), coupled across input-output (I/O) (22) and common (GND) (23) terminals of a protected semiconductor SC device or IC (24), comprises, an ESD transistor (ESDT) (25) with source-drain (26, 27) coupled between the GND (23) and I/O (22), a first resistor (30) coupled between gate (28) and source (26) and a second resistor (30) coupled between ESDT body (29) and source (26). Paralleling the resistors (30, 32) are control transistors (35, 35′) with gates (38, 38′) coupled to one or more bias supplies Vb, Vb′. The main power rail (Vdd) of the device or IC (24) is a convenient source for Vb, Vb′. When the Vdd is off during shipment, handling, equipment assembly, etc., the ESD trigger voltage Vt1 is low, thereby providing maximum ESD protection when ESD risk is high. When Vdd is energized, Vt1 rises to a value large enough to avoid interference with normal circuit operation but still protect from ESD events. Parasitic leakage through the ESDT (25) during normal operation is much reduced.
US08279561B2
This application discloses a hard disk drive, a head stack assembly, and a head gimbal assembly, each including a micro-actuator hinge configured to position a slider over a rotating disk surface with greater stroke sensitivity while reducing bending perpendicular to the disk surface. The micro-actuator hinge includes at least one micro-actuator, a hinge plate and at least one hinge plate cover, with the micro-actuator including a first region and a second region, each coupled between the hinge plate and the hinge plate cover.
US08279531B2
A zoom lens system, in order from an object side to an image side, comprising a first lens unit having negative optical power, a second lens unit having positive optical power, and at least one subsequent lens unit having optical power, wherein in zooming from a wide-angle limit to a telephoto limit, the lens units are moved along an optical axis such that an air space between at least any two lens units among the lens units should vary, so that variable magnification is achieved, wherein the first lens unit includes a lens element having a reflecting surface for bending a light beam incident from the object, and wherein the condition is satisfied: 0.20<|fG1|/fT<0.52 (fT/fW≧4.0, fG1 is a composite focal length of the first lens unit, and each of fT and fW is a focal length of the entire system at a telephoto limit or a wide-angle limit), an imaging device and a camera are provided.
US08279519B2
An integrated semiconductor optical-emitting device includes a surface-emission laser diode and an EA-type semiconductor optical modulator integrated commonly on a GaAs substrate in a direction perpendicular to the GaAs substrate.
US08279516B2
A first wavelength converter of a wavelength-conversion device includes: an optical amplifier amplifying an incident light beam; a first dispersion flat fiber spreading the wavelength spectrum width of the amplified beam; and a first wavelength filter transmitting a predetermined wavelength bandwidth of the first fiber output beam. A center wavelength of the first wavelength converted beam is shifted by Δλ1 from that of the incident light beam. A second wavelength converter of the device does not include an optical amplifier and includes: a second dispersion flat fiber spreading the wavelength spectrum width of the first wavelength converted beam; and a second wavelength filter transmitting a predetermined wavelength bandwidth of the second fiber output beam. A center wavelength of the second wavelength converted beam is shifted by Δλ2 from that of the first wavelength converted beam. The Δλ1 and Δλ2 satisfy Δλ1+Δλ2=Δλ, Δλ1×Δλ2<0, and |Δλ1|<|Δλ2|.
US08279515B2
An electrophoretic display device includes a substrate, an electrophoretic component layer, a first optical adhesive, a barrier layer, a second optical adhesive, a protective layer, and a sealant. The first optical adhesive and the second optical adhesive contribute in helping to provide light exposure to the sealant. One of the first optical adhesive and the second optical adhesive is capable of absorbing the light of predetermined wavelength and is adapted to expose the sealant.
US08279510B2
A dual view or two-sided display system to display two different images in substantially opposite direction using a single transparent display to time-multiplex the images and two shutter devices to alternately block each side from being viewed according to the image being displayed. The system includes reflective devices between each side of the transparent display and the two shutter devices so light can be reflected from one side of the transparent display to the other side of the transparent display in order to supplement the light intensity of the image being displayed.
US08279508B2
An optical reflecting element includes a mirror, and a pair of high-frequency vibrators and a pair of low-frequency vibrators for vibrating the mirror. The high-frequency vibrators include a substrate, a bottom electrode layer formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric layer, and a drive electrode and a first monitor electrode as the top electrode layer. One end of the low-frequency vibrator has the substrate shared with the high-frequency vibrator, a bottom electrode layer, a piezoelectric layer, a drive electrode, and a second monitor electrode as the top electrode layer. The other end of the low-frequency vibrator has the substrate shared with the high-frequency vibrator, a bottom electrode layer, a piezoelectric layer, a drive electrode, a first monitor electrode, and an insulator layer as a dead zone for preventing a piezoelectric effect due to the piezoelectric layer from reaching the first monitor electrode. The first monitor electrode provided on the low-frequency vibrator is connected from the top of the vibrator to an extraction electrode.
US08279507B2
The invention relates to a hologram that enables two or more different images to be simultaneously reconstructed even in a state where the hologram is fixed in terms of relative position with respect to an eye, and a holographic viewing device that incorporates it. The hologram 14 is fabricated by applying Fourier transform to a plurality of input image to obtain a plurality of corresponding Fourier transform images 13-1, 13-2 and arraying the Fourier transform images 13-1, 13-2 on the same plane according to a given two-dimensional array principle into a computer-generated hologram. When a plurality of point light sources 231 to 239 located behind the hologram 14 are viewed through the hologram 14, a plurality of images are simultaneously and parallel reconstructed (28) in correspondence to the array positions of the plurality of Fourier transform images.
US08279501B2
A scanning apparatus includes a scanning module. The scanning module includes plural light emitting diodes, a porous reflective plate with plural openings, and a reflective element. When the scanning apparatus starts scanning a document, the light beams emitted by the light emitting diodes are directed to the porous reflective plate. A portion of light beams reflected by the porous reflective plate are defined as reflected light beams. The light beams penetrating through the openings are diffracted to be diffractive penetrated light beams. The reflected light beams reflected by the reflective element and the diffractive penetrated light beams are projected on the document, so that enhanced uniform illumination efficacy is achieved.
US08279497B2
An image-reading device includes a document-supporting base, a document-pressing member, a reading unit, a controlling unit, and a determining unit. The document-supporting base has a transparent member on which a document is placed. The document-pressing member is disposed on the document-supporting base so as to cover the transparent member. The document-pressing member is capable of opening and closing on the document-supporting base. The reading unit has a light source and capable of reading an image from the document placed on the transparent member while the light source irradiates light on the document. The controlling unit is configured to control the reading unit to execute a first scanning operation to output image signals for the image on the document while the light source is lit, and a second scanning operation to output image signals for the image on the document while the light source is not lit. The determining unit is configured to determine whether outside light has penetrated the document-supporting base based on the image signals for the second scanning operation outputted from the reading unit.
US08279496B2
A method of optimal focusing for a document scanner is disclosed. The scanner includes an optic module movable in a given scanning direction to perform scanning operation over an area of a document in a scan line by scan line manner by being driven by an optic module moving mechanism under control of a control unit. The control unit includes a best focus value memory for storage of the best focus value for each scan line. The method includes the steps of moving the optic module to one of scan lines of the document and retrieving the best focus value corresponding to the selected scan line. A focus adjusting mechanism is controlled by the control unit to move the optic module in a second direction to adjust the focus position of the optic module in accordance with the best focus value of the scan line. Once the optic module reaches the scan line, the operation of the optic module is temporarily suspended in order to have the vibration of the optic module damped out. Thereafter, a scanning operation is performed over the scan line.
US08279486B2
A PC is provided with a display control portion for displaying, in a setting dialogue box in which setting items corresponding to each function are provided in order to perform an operation setting for each function of a plurality of connected devices, illustrations of the plurality of devices, a device information storage portion for storing a mounted function for each of the devices, a detecting portion for detecting that a pointer indicates the setting item, and a device determination portion for determining the device mounted with a function corresponding to the detected setting item. The display control portion performs a display of an illustration of a function mounted device specified by the device determination portion of the plurality of devices in a different form from illustrations of other devices.
US08279481B2
This invention relates to the updating of image processing control data that is related to image data and controls image processing of the image data. An image related data generator generates an image file that includes image data and image processing data pre-stored therein. The image processing control data can be updated according to the following process. The image related data generator sends specification data that specifies image processing control data to be updated to an update data server. Then the image related data generator receives the update data from the update data server. And the image related generator updates the image processing control data stored therein with the update data.
US08279475B2
There are provided a printing apparatus and a method for processing real-time commands using the same. The printing apparatus is able to be stably operated without any mechanical troubles such as degraded performance of the printing apparatus, which are caused when real-time commands are analyzed and processed on a receive interrupt routine, by detecting real-time commands from data transmitted from the host computer, separately storing the detected real-time commands in a real-time command buffer and processing the stored real-time commands in preference to the other data.
US08279468B2
A printing device connects to at least one client computer via a network. The printing device includes a storage section that stores image formats for general-purpose image format data. A control section converts page description language (PDL) data sent via the network from the at least one client computer into pixel map format data, converts the pixel map format data into general-purpose image format data based on one of the image formats stored in the storage section, and sends via the network to the at least one client computer the general-purpose image format data together with a source information file containing source information indicating the source of the PDL data. A memory section stores the pixel map format data obtained through the conversion performed by the control section. A printer prints the pixel map format data.
US08279466B2
A document processing system comprises a document management apparatus, which executes processing tasks on a document according to a job flow that defines the sequence by which the tasks are to be executed, and a document property management apparatus, which manages properties of the document. The document management apparatus executes processes within the processing tasks on a document that is inputted into the document management apparatus, and performs output processing on the document, according to the job flow that the user has directed for execution. The document management apparatus obtains the properties of the document from the document property management apparatus when the document is inputted, and changes the content of either the process or the output according to the properties in question.
US08279459B2
A forming unit forms a latent image of input image data. A counter counts number of times of forming the latent image in a sub-scanning direction, in which an upper limit of the number of times is set. A first control unit controls the forming unit to form the latent image based on the upper limit. A determining unit determines whether a latent image forming is performed by the forming unit exceeding the upper limit. When the determining unit determines that the latent image forming is performed exceeding the upper limit, a second control unit controls, the forming unit to continue to form the latent image.
US08279454B2
A method of measuring a length of sections of extrados or intrados curves of an elongated workpiece travelling in a bending machine along a forwarding direction, the elongated workpiece having cross-sections each of which is separated by a neutral axis in both an extended portion and a compressed portion when the elongated workpiece is subjected to bending, and at least a neutral cross-section, i.e. not subjected to bending, neutral cross-section beyond which the bending of the elongated workpiece begins along the forwarding direction thereof, provides a measuring instrument positioned so that it engages either an extrados or an intrados point of the elongated workpiece near the neutral cross-section, but displaced therefrom in the forwarding direction of the elongated workpiece. Further, a measuring instrument on a bending machine that embodies the method is described.
US08279453B2
There is provided a method of measuring a physical thickness of each of layers of a multilayer film, based on an optical thickness thereof. The method includes: (a) setting refractive indexes of the layers; (b) calculating a coefficient matrix using the refractive indexes; (c) providing light to the multilayer film so as to measure the optical thickness based on the light reflected by the multilayer film; and (d) calculating the physical thickness, based on the optical thickness and the coefficient matrix.
US08279450B2
The present invention aims to provide an intra-oral measurement device and an intra-oral measurement system capable of measuring an inside of an oral cavity at high accuracy without increasing a size of the device, and includes a light projecting unit for irradiating a measuring object including at least a tooth within an oral cavity with light, a lens system unit for collecting light reflected by the measuring object, a focal position varying mechanism for changing a focal position of the light collected by the lens system unit, and an imaging unit for imaging light passed through the lens system unit.
US08279449B2
A radially shearing interferometer including a beam splitter configured to form two optical beams from entering light, the optical beam including a magnified beam and a demagnified beam; a plurality of mirrors arranged so as to generate the magnified and demagnified beams and provide a common optical path with the beams traversing the plurality of mirrors in the opposite direction back to the beam splitter, the plurality of mirrors including a pair of parabolic mirrors, the first of the pair configured to receive one of the magnified and demagnified beams, and reflect the first received beam to a flat mirror configured to reflect the first received beam to the other of the pair. An imaging device may be positioned at a pupil plane of the magnified beam and the demagnified beam so as to record the interference of both beams. A method for recording an interferogram is also disclosed.
US08279448B2
A shape measurement apparatus and method using a laser interferometer are disclosed. The shape measurement apparatus includes a plurality of laser devices, which generate beams, emit a beam of a specific frequency from among the generated beams, and output interference signals for detecting wavelengths of the generated beams, and a controller for detecting the wavelengths of the generated beams from the outputted interference signals, and controlling the laser devices on the basis of the detected wavelengths. The optical unit projects the beam of the laser device on a target object, and generates an interference pattern of the object. Several shutters are closed and opened. If the shutters are closed, they prevent the beam of each laser device to be projected on the optical unit. An image pickup unit captures the interference pattern.
US08279443B2
A bioinstrumentation apparatus irradiates light onto a measured region of a subject, detects diffused light to acquire internal information on the measured region, and includes: a container holding a light transmitting medium; a light irradiation unit including a plurality of light emitting ends fixed to the container and irradiating a first light and a second light that mutually differ in wavelength onto the measured region that is immersed in the medium; a light detection unit including a plurality of light detecting ends fixed to the container and detecting the diffused light from the measured region; and a computing unit computing the internal information based on an output signal from the light detection unit; the wavelength of the first light being a wavelength at which an absorption coefficient of the measured region and a mean value of absorption coefficient of the medium are substantially equal, the wavelength of the second light being a wavelength at which the absorption coefficient of the measured region is greater than the mean value of the absorption coefficient of the medium, and the computing unit computing the internal information based on an output signal related to diffused light of the first light and computing boundary information between the measured region and the medium based on an output signal related to diffused light of the second light.
US08279442B2
In various embodiments of the invention, a unique construction for Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) with at least one luminescent rod and extracting optical elements is used to generate a variety of high brightness light sources with different emission spectra. In an embodiment of the invention, forced air cooling is used to cool the luminescent rod. In an embodiment of the invention, totally internal reflected light can be redirected outward and refocused. In another embodiment of the invention, light emitted by the luminescent rod is out-coupled for use in a variety of applications. In various embodiments of the invention, a plurality of independent narrow band colors can be coaxially combined.
US08279441B2
A spectrophotometer includes a plurality of LEDs arranged in a circular array, each having a calibrated power input determined by the use of pulse width modulation and each having a unique wavelength band determined by the utilization of a unique fluorescent phosphor coating or lens. At least one of the LEDs comprising a phosphor-free high energy UV LED. Light reflected to the spectrophotometer is divided into predetermined wavelength ranges through the utilization of a linear variable filter and photo detectors wherein the analog signal from a photo detector is converted to a digital value through the use of auto-ranging gain technique.
US08279437B2
An apparatus for detecting at least one species using Raman light detection includes at least one laser source for illuminating a sample containing the at least one species. The apparatus also includes a modulating element for modulating a spatial relationship between the sample and the light beams to cause relative positions of the sample and the light beams to be oscillated, in which Raman light at differing intensity levels are configured to be emitted from the at least one species based upon the different wavelengths of the light beams illuminating the sample. The apparatus also includes a Raman light detector and a post-signal processing unit configured to detect the at least one species.
US08279434B2
The invention lies in the technical field of cell biology and transplantation medicine. It concerns devices and methods for rapid and noninvasive analysis or checking of biological samples, especially for sterility control, for characterization of infectious particles and microorganisms contained in the biological sample and for characterization of tissue cells and transplants. The main areas of application of the invention are biotechnological production of pharmacological active ingredients and therapeutic agents as well as transplantation medicine.
US08279429B2
According to some embodiments of the invention a laser directed infrared countermeasures system (hereinafter: “LDIRCM system”) is mountable on a platform. According to some embodiments of the invention, a LDIRCM system may include a plurality of sector units. Each sector unit may include at least one laser unit and a laser guidance module. The laser unit may be adapted to generate a laser beam or laser energy that is intended for jamming a guidance system of a threat. The laser unit may be coupled to the laser guidance module. The laser guidance module may be adapted to steer at least a laser beam generated by the laser unit towards a threat.
US08279426B2
An testing device for lens module includes an image sensor, a light source assembly, a testing tray, a detecting device, and a processor. The light source assembly is aligned with the image sensor. The testing tray is disposed between the light source assembly and the image sensor, and defines a plurality of through holes for receiving lens modules. The detecting device is configured for detecting whether the lens module to be tested is tilted. The processor controls the moving of the image sensor and the testing tray. The processor is capable of stopping the moving of the image sensor and the testing tray when the detecting device detected the lens module to be tested is tilted.
US08279421B2
The invention relates to an optical-electronic distance measuring method according to the phase measurement principle by emitting of optical measuring radiation, which is modulated according to the burst modulation principle, having a burst period duration made of an active burst time and a dead time, receiving at least a part of the measuring radiation (23), which is reflected on the measured object, wherein transforming into an input measuring signal (ES) is performed, and determining a distance to the measured object by analyzing a measuring signal (MS, gMS) generated from the input measuring signal (ES).
US08279418B2
Techniques are provided for determining distance to an object in a depth camera's field of view. The techniques may include raster scanning light over the object and detecting reflected light from the object. One or more distances to the object may be determined based on the reflected image. A 3D mapping of the object may be generated. The distance(s) to the object may be determined based on times-of-flight between transmitting the light from a light source in the camera to receiving the reflected image from the object. Raster scanning the light may include raster scanning a pattern into the field of view. Determining the distance(s) to the object may include determining spatial differences between a reflected image of the pattern that is received at the camera and a reference pattern.
US08279407B2
A stage system includes a movable stage, at least two encoder heads each constructed to provide an encoder signal representative of a position of the movable stage with respect to an encoder target structure, and a controller to control a position of the stage. The controller is provided with the encoder signals of each of the encoder heads. The controller is arranged to apply a weighting function to the encoder signals and to derive a position of the stage from the weighted encoder signals.
US08279405B2
A lithographic apparatus includes a radiation system having reflective optical elements constructed and arranged to condition a beam of radiation. The reflective optical elements include a first faceted mirror constructed and arranged to generate a plurality of source images on a second mirror. The lithographic apparatus also includes a facet mask constructed and arranged to selectively mask one or more of the facets of the first faceted mirror. The facet mask includes a masking blade selectively interposable into the beam.
US08279396B2
An immersion lithographic apparatus is provided with an electrode set to remove unwanted droplets of an immersion fluid from a particular surface. Unwanted droplets of immersion fluid may form on any number of different surfaces of the immersion apparatus, such as on a liquid barrier member. If allowed to evaporate and/or dry, these droplets may cause a problem such as uncontrolled heat loading of the apparatus and/or staining of the surface. An electrode set is provided on a surface where the droplets are likely to be formed. A controlled voltage is applied to the electrodes within the electrode set in order to electrostatically remove the droplets from the surface.
US08279386B2
This object aims to provide a liquid crystal display panel with good in viewing angle characteristic, and capable of carrying out a high brightness display. The liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate having at least one pixel unit and at least one first orienting structure, a second substrate disposed opposite to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first and second substrates and having negative dielectric anisotropy. The pixel unit includes a pixel electrode that is located in the display area, while the first orienting structure is located outside the display area. In addition, the liquid crystal layer contains an optical rotation material, and some of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are inclined toward the internal part or the external part of the pixel unit by the first orienting structure.
US08279383B2
The present invention provides a film for optical use wherein interference patterns are inconspicuous, while hard coat properties and image sharpness are maintained.In the film for optical use, an undercoat layer 22 is disposed between a base material layer 21 and a resin layer 23 having hard coat properties. Refractive index na of the base material layer 21, refractive index nb of the undercoat layer 22 and refractive index nc of the resin layer 23 satisfy the relationship of na≦nb≦nc or na≧nb≧nc (provided that na≠nc). The difference between the refractive index na of the base material layer 21 and the refractive index nb of the resin layer 23 is 0.5 or smaller. Since the difference of refractive indexes of adjacent layers is low, interference unevenness can be suppressed and image sharpness can be maintained.
US08279380B2
An LCD including a backlight module and an LCD panel is provided. The LCD panel includes a color light guide panel, suitable for differentiating an incident light into multiple color lights. The color light guide panel includes a substrate and a color light output structure. The substrate has multiple pixel regions, and the color light output structure is disposed in each of the pixel regions. The color light output structure includes first˜fourth nano-patterns. The incident light is scattered by the first nano-pattern for producing a first color light, scattered by the second nano-pattern for producing a second color light, scattered by the third nano-pattern for producing a third color light, and scattered by the fourth nano-pattern for producing a fourth color light. The color light guide panel can output uniform and high luminous first˜fourth color light, and the LCD can display high quality image.
US08279376B2
A liquid crystal display panel including a first substrate, a liquid crystal layer, an alignment layer, a polymer layer, scan lines, data lines, pixel structures, first capacitor bottom electrodes and second capacitor bottom electrodes, and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. Each pixel structure has a first pixel electrode and a second pixel electrode. Each first capacitor bottom electrode is disposed between the first pixel electrode and the first substrate. Each second capacitor bottom electrode disposed between the second pixel electrode and the first substrate includes a first pattern and a plurality of second patterns. The first pattern extends from a first side to an opposite second side of the second pixel electrode. The second patterns connected to the first pattern are disposed on the first side and the second side. The second pattern at least partly overlaps a region between the second pixel electrode and the data line.
US08279375B2
In one embodiment of the present invention, a liquid crystal apparatus includes first and second transmissive liquid crystal panels which are combined with each other. Each of the liquid crystal panels displays a video image in accordance with an identical video source. The first liquid crystal panel is driven by an interlace method in which a video image corresponding to one frame is displayed in two fields while the second liquid crystal panel is driven by a progressive method in which a video image corresponding to one frame is displayed in one field. Accordingly, the display apparatus has high display quality and no interference fringes. This attains a liquid crystal display apparatus with high display quality since the liquid crystal display apparatus has no interference fringes even if a plurality of transmissive liquid crystal display panels are combined with each other.
US08279371B2
A method of manufacturing an optical plate, includes forming a protrusion on a base film by jetting ink containing a liquid resin on the base film, contacting a light guiding plate to the protrusion, and curing the protrusion which contacts with the light guiding plate.
US08279359B2
A flat panel display apparatus includes a plasma display panel, a power supply substrate, a signal processing substrate, a Y sustaining substrate, and an X sustaining substrate. The power supply substrate, the signal processing substrate, the Y sustaining substrate and the X sustaining substrate are arranged at a back of the plasma display panel. When viewing the plasma display panel from the back, the power supply substrate is arranged at a center portion of the plasma display panel, the Y sustaining substrate is arranged at one of a left and right side of the plasma display panel, the X sustaining substrate is arranged at the other of the left and right side, and the signal processing substrate is arranged under the X sustaining substrate. A circuit substrate other than the power supply substrate, the Y sustaining substrate, and the X sustaining substrate is arranged under the power supply substrate.
US08279357B2
Systems and methods that facilitate the use and operation of a television with an integrated sound projection system. The sound projector preferably comprises an array of speakers configurable to project beams that reflect off the walls and ceiling to create surround sound. In one embodiment, sound can be projected and/or the television can be oriented automatically as a function of the location of the television remote control unit.
US08279347B2
A system of edge direction detection for comb filter includes a buffer, first and second filters, first and second oblique detectors, and a comparator. The buffer receives and stores a composite signal. The first filter performs filtering operation on the composite signal to produce a first filter signal. The second filter performs filtering operation on the composite signal to produce a second filter signal. The first oblique detector detects an oblique in the first filter signal to produce a first oblique indication signal and a first oblique direction signal and output a first minimum oblique difference. The second oblique detector detects an oblique in the second filter signal to produce a second oblique indication signal and a second oblique direction signal and output a second minimum oblique difference. The comparator compares the first and second oblique indication signals and the first and second oblique direction signals to produce edge information.
US08279341B1
In particular embodiments, a process relating to the creation of a high-resolution video from a low-resolution video. In a particular embodiment, the process receives as input a sequence of low-resolution video frames. The process first determines a matching score for consecutive frames in the sequence, where the matching score is based on a preliminary global transformation between consecutive frames. From the matching scores, the process determines a set of matching windows and relative-motion estimates and then uses the set and estimates to calculate more thorough global transformations and any residual relative-motion which can be explained using independent object motion and/or optical flow. The process uses the latter global transformation and any independent object motion and/or optical flow to create motion trajectories and to generate high-resolution frames by interpolating low-resolution frames at trajectory-defined points, using regular-to-irregular spatio-temporal interpolation. The process then restores the frames, using deblurring, and outputs them.
US08279336B2
A cover member fixed to a pickup element has a non-vertical surface and an upright surface and satisfies H2 tan(θA−2θC)≦L1+L1′ at any point on the upright surface, and H tan(θA−2θB)+(H1)tan θB≦L1 and θB>θC at any point on the non-vertical surface, where θA is the inclination of incident light, θB is the inclination at a point on the non-vertical surface, θC is the inclination at a point on the upright surface, H1 is the height of the non-vertical surface, H2 is the height of the upright surface, H is the height of the frame portion, L1 is the distance from the edge of a pixel region to the upper edge of the upright surface, and L1′ is the distance from the upper edge to the lower edge of the upright surface in the planar direction.
US08279335B2
A camera apparatus is attached to a portable electronic device. The camera apparatus includes an imaging module, a socket and a holder. The imaging module is positioned in the socket. The holder includes a base portion, and two positioning cylinders. The base portion provides a receiving space accommodating the socket and the imaging module, and the positioning cylinders are fixed to the portable electronic device.
US08279328B2
A CMOS image sensor uses a special exposure control circuit to independently adjust the photodiode exposure (integration) time for each pixel in a pixel array to obtain non-saturated photodiode charges for each pixel. Exposure time adjustment involves extrapolating a pixel's final photodiode charge using an intermediate photodiode charge measured after a predetermined portion of an exposure frame period. If the intermediate photodiode charge is, e.g., over 50% of the photodiode's full-well capacity after half of the exposure frame period, then saturation is likely and the photodiode is reset to integrate only during the remaining time. If not, then the photodiode integrates over the allotted exposure frame period. Data indicating the length of the exposure portion is stored as analog data on the memory node of each pixel, and readout of the final photodiode charge is performed using Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) techniques.
US08279322B2
An image pickup device includes a fixedly provided half mirror that separates object light that has passed through a shooting optical system into transmitted light and reflected light, and an image pickup unit that generates an image of an object by receiving the transmitted light. The half mirror includes an optically transmissive film that is optically isotropic.
US08279311B2
A ramp generator includes a row decoder, a column decoder, a current cell matrix and a current-voltage converter. The row decoder generates row selection signals, and the column decoder generates column selection signals. Each of current cells included in the current cell matrix is turned on to provide a unit current if a corresponding row selection signal and a corresponding column selection signal are activated. Each of the current cells is maintained to be turned on even if the corresponding row selection signal or the corresponding column selection signal is deactivated. The current cell matrix outputs an output current by summing unit currents provided from the current cells that are turned on. The current-voltage converter converts the output current of the current cell matrix into a ramp voltage. Therefore, the ramp generator may have a small size and prevent a glitch.
US08279310B2
A solid-state imaging device includes: a pixel array including pixel circuits arranged in a matrix; and a pixel drive unit configured to drive the pixel array to perform a reset of the pixel array, a signal storage, and an output operation. The pixel drive unit includes a pixel reset control portion to supply a signal for resetting a pixel to the pixel circuits of a plurality of rows. The pixel reset control portion performs a reset control so that a row in which the reset signal is cancelled and a row in which the reset signal is continued always exist in one reset row change operation, and a row in which the reset signal continues to be supplied exists during two or more reset row change operations.
US08279309B2
An image capture device includes a first clock generating unit that generates a first clock for sampling a video signal using a first crystal oscillator, a second clock generating unit that generates a second clock for sampling an audio signal using a second crystal oscillator, a calculating unit that calculates a correction value for adjusting a shift between the first clock and the second clock, and an adjusting unit that adjusts a driving timing of a capturing unit according to the correction value.
US08279307B2
A sharpness processing method and system for a digital image are applied to an image capturing device for capturing a raw image. The method includes the steps. An image processing procedure is performed on the raw image to generate a registered image. A first sharpness enhancement table and a second sharpness enhancement table respectively sharpness attenuation at an outer-edge region and a central region of the registered image are loaded, and a range between the outer-edge region and the central region is defined as a plurality of critical regions. A sharpness enhancement weight table is loaded, and weight values of each critical region respectively corresponding to the first sharpness enhancement table and the second sharpness enhancement table are searched, for obtaining a sharpness enhanced value of each critical region. An image sharpness processing procedure is performed on the critical region, for correct the registered image into a digital image.
US08279304B2
A plurality of photography operations are performed with respect to a single subject with different photography conditions, to obtain a plurality of image data sets. The obtained image data are processed to obtain a single dynamic range expanded image data set. A photography method is selected from among: a first method, in which photography is performed at least twice at different exposures; a second method, in which photography is performed with an underexposure at a step number based on a set dynamic range; and a third method, in which photography is performed at least twice with different underexposures at step numbers based on a set dynamic range, based on whether photography operations are possible at exposure ratios corresponding to the expansion ratio of the dynamic range and whether flash is emitted. Photography is performed according to the selected method, thereby preventing limitations of dynamic range due to hardware specifications.
