US08458364B2
A device having frame receiving and processing capabilities and a method for receiving and processing frames. The method includes: receiving a frame; associating a frame timestamp with the frame; storing the frame and the associated timestamp at a certain buffer out of a group of buffers; generating a valid timing information frame indicator if the received frame is a valid timing information frame; and storing the valid timing information frame indicator at a certain buffer descriptor associated with the certain buffer.
US08458348B2
Various arrangements for processing data sets using multiple processors are presented. A plurality of constraints may be received by a computer system. Each constraint may identify a data relationship that requires a subset of records of one or more data sets to be processed by a same processing device. A plurality of final constraints may be calculated. Each final constraint of the plurality of final constraints may be linked with a record. Each final constraint of the plurality of final constraints may be at least partially based on the plurality of constraints. Final constraints of the plurality of final constraints having a same value may be linked with records that are to be processed by the same processing device. At least partially based on the final constraint, the set of records may be distributed to a plurality of processing devices for processing.
US08458347B2
Machine, method for use and method for making, and corresponding products produced thereby, as well as data structures, computer-readable media tangibly embodying program instructions, manufactures, and necessary intermediates of the foregoing, each pertaining to digital aspects of a computerized aggregation system. The system can include a user computer system interposed between a segment of a network allowing communication between the user computer system and at least one server system, and other segments allowing communication between the user computer system and a plurality of third party server systems. The one server system enables the user computer system to access the plurality of other servers. The access permits forming an aggregation of information obtained from the third party server systems.
US08458344B2
In one embodiment, an intermediary device situated along a communication path between two endpoint devices may receive communication packets sent along the communication path. If the intermediary device receives a connection-initiating packet having a customization indicator and a connection-acknowledgement packet having a customization indicator, then the intermediary device may install a bypass rule.
US08458343B2
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to signaling for transitions between modes of data transmission. A embodiment of a method includes transmitting a data stream over a data link from a first device to a second device, the data stream operating in a first mode; determining that the data stream is to be changed from the first mode to a second mode; and transmitting a message from the first device to the receiver over a control link, the message indicating that the first device will change the data stream from the first mode to the second mode, the message being sent prior to the change to the second mode.
US08458341B2
A network device comprises a storage device storing an application program for a secure communications service and at least one processor. The processor is configured to execute the application program enabling the network device to (a) send a request to look up a network address of a second network device based on an identifier associated with the second network device; (b) receive an indication that the second network device is available for the secure communications service, the indication including the requested network address of the second network device and provisioning information for a virtual private network communication link; (c) connect to the second network device, using the received network address of the second network device and the provisioning information for the virtual private network communication link; and (d) communicate with the second network device using the secure communications service via the virtual private network communication link.
US08458320B2
A user inputs event information into a data processing system which is stored in an application memory of an application. Message information contained in each incoming message received by a messaging service is compared to the event information. In the event that the message information corresponds to the event information a notification of the event is sent to a short-range wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter transmits notification of the event to a remote receiver. Upon receipt of the wireless signal, the remote receiver triggers an alert notification notifying the user that data processing system has received the specified event.
US08458309B2
A method for managing event-based information. The method includes receiving event-based information originating from a plurality of information suppliers, and linking same type of event-based information originating from different information suppliers together by allocating a common uniform resource identifier to information modules of similar type.
US08458304B1
A method for identifying a client application installed on a mobile communications device. The method includes monitoring mobile network traffic associated with the web-enabled application. A service profile is developed corresponding to the client application, where the service profile includes information about the client application. A client identity is associated with the service profile. An access request, generated by the mobile communications device, is received from a mobile access gateway (MAG), where the access request includes a request to access application content from a content provider. A determination is made whether the access request includes information reflected in the service profile. In response to determining that the access request includes information reflected in the service profile, the client identity is provided to the MAG.
US08458298B2
An exemplary failover module includes (a) instructions to respond to a connection problem to a host server at an IP address by selecting a different IP address from a cached list of IP addresses for a domain name associated with the host server and (b) instructions to return the selected, different IP address to future name queries where the instructions to respond, the instructions to initiate, and the instructions to return execute at an operating system level of a computing device configurable to connect to at least one of a plurality of host servers. Such a module may include instructions to optionally initiate a connection to a host server at the selected, different IP address. An exemplary failover module may optionally select an IP address based in part on Internet Location Coordinates (ILCs) where the host servers reside in an ILC enhanced Domain Name System (DNS). Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed.
US08458290B2
A method and system for flexibly processing content objects is disclosed. A content object is stored on one of a plurality of storage devices. A request is received for the content object. Information corresponding to the requested object (e.g., a unique identifier) is transmitted to one or more content directories. A response is received from a first content directory indicating a location of the content object. The content object is requested from the first location, and at least part of the content object is received.
US08458289B1
One embodiment of the invention relates to the transfer of content between a host computer that issues OAS access requests and a block I/O storage system. Specifically, a host computer may issue an access request for a content unit that identifies the content unit is an object identifier. The request may be received by a second server, which may determine the block address(es) on the block I/O storage system at which the content unit is stored. A request may then be sent to the block I/O storage system to retrieve the content stored at the requested block address(es) and the block I/O storage system may return the content.
US08458288B2
A method and apparatus for managing bookmark information of a media server through a network based on the UPnP AV standard is disclosed. If a request for bookmarking a content item is made, a bookmark item is created and the created bookmark item is linked to the content item by adding the ID of the created bookmark item to the property information of the content item and recording the ID of the content item to be bookmarked in the created bookmark item.
US08458285B2
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for redundant data forwarding. A method includes, in two or more networks of interconnected computer system nodes, receiving a request from a source system in a first network to store data, directing the data to a first computer memory in a first network, directing a first copy of the data to a second computer memory in a second network, continuously forwarding the data from the first computer memory to other computer memories in the first network without storing on any physical storage device in the first network, and continuously forwarding the first copy of the data from the second computer memory to other computer memories in the second network without storing on any physical storage device in the second network.
US08458283B1
A method for communicating modification data for a shared file stored on a network during a video conference wherein a plurality of users modify the shared file, the method comprising a first video conference participant communicating modifications to make to a first version of a shared file to a conference server, the conference server using the modifications to modify the first version of the shared file stored on a network to thereby create a current version of the shared file, a shared file property changing with the modification to a current property. At least a second video conference participant communicating a shared file property that corresponds to the first version of the shared file to the conference server together with a request to be notified of modifications to the shared file and the conference server communicating the modifications made to the first version of the shared file to the at least a second conference participant.
US08458282B2
A computing apparatus for reducing the amount of processing in a network computing system which includes a network system device of a receiving node for receiving electronic messages comprising data. The electronic messages are transmitted from a sending node. The network system device determines when more data of a specific electronic message is being transmitted. A memory device stores the electronic message data and communicating with the network system device. A memory subsystem communicates with the memory device. The memory subsystem stores a portion of the electronic message when more data of the specific message will be received, and the buffer combines the portion with later received data and moves the data to the memory device for accessible storage.
US08458280B2
A mechanism for performing remote direct memory access (RDMA) operations between a first server and a second server over an Ethernet fabric. The RDMA operations are initiated by execution of a verb according to a remote direct memory access protocol. The verb is executed by a CPU on the first server. The apparatus includes transaction logic that is configured to process a work queue element corresponding to the verb, and that is configured to accomplish the RDMA operations over a TCP/IP interface between the first and second servers, where the work queue element resides within first host memory corresponding to the first server. The transaction logic includes transmit history information stores and a protocol engine. The transmit history information stores maintains parameters associated with said work queue element. The protocol engine is coupled to the transmit history information stores and is configured to access the parameters to enable retransmission of one or more TCP segments corresponding to the RDMA operations.
US08458276B2
Particular embodiments evaluate a plurality of messages. Each message may be associated with an author. Information may be logged for each message, such as information associated with the author, information associated with one or more designated recipients of the message, and time information. Correlation values may be determined for one or more sets of designated recipients based on at least a portion of the logged information. Particular embodiments may determine an association amongst a plurality of users over time. The determination may be based on the correlation values. At least one of the plurality of users may comprise at least one of the designated recipients.
US08458267B2
A method and apparatus for distributed parallel messaging in a parallel computing system. The apparatus includes, at each node of a multiprocessor network, multiple injection messaging engine units and reception messaging engine units, each implementing a DMA engine and each supporting both multiple packet injection into and multiple reception from a network, in parallel. The reception side of the messaging unit (MU) includes a switch interface enabling writing of data of a packet received from the network to the memory system. The transmission side of the messaging unit, includes switch interface for reading from the memory system when injecting packets into the network.
US08458265B1
A method and computer-readable medium for posting push-to-talk voice messages on a social networking web page of a user are provided. According to the method, a messaging platform receives a push-to-talk voice message that is addressed to a social networking message service from a mobile station of the user. The messaging platform determines whether an association exists between the mobile station and the social networking web page. When the association exists, the push-to-talk voice message is posted on the social networking web page of the user. The user can listen to the PTT voice messages on his or her social networking web page via the internet.
US08458261B1
In one embodiment, a method of generating a listing of valid email addresses in a private computer network includes monitoring of inbound emails and outbound delivery failure notification emails. Recipient email addresses of inbound emails may be indicated in the listing as valid email addresses. The delivery failure notification emails may be indicative of receipt in the private computer network of an undeliverable email. The recipient email address of the undeliverable email may be identified in the listing as an invalid email address. Comparing the recipient email addresses of undeliverable emails and inbound emails advantageously allows generation of the listing of valid email addresses in the private computer network without having to ask an email server for such a listing.
US08458252B2
A system for minimizing the time required to initiate and terminate an instant messaging session. An initial message in an instant messaging session is checked to determine whether it has any significant content. If the received initial message has insignificant content, then a non-intrusive notification is provided to the user, without changing the current focus in the user interface. A pre-composed response message may also be automatically transmitted to the initiating user, requesting that a more significant message be sent. When an initial message in an instant messaging session is received that is determined to have significant content, the user is promptly notified in a different manner, which may be intrusive such that the current focus of the user interface is changed to a new window or the like containing the newly initiated instant messaging session. Detection of instant messaging session termination by the local user triggers a period of special processing of received instant messages from other participants in the terminated instant messaging session. Instant messages received from other participants in the terminated session during this time period that are insignificant farewell messages are processed without disturbing the local user.
US08458249B2
A method and system for the protected storage of downloaded media content via a virtualized platform. A method comprises downloading content to a special purpose virtual machine and then storing the downloaded content at a location, where the location is only accessible via the special purpose virtual machine. The stored content is then streamed over a virtual network to a general purpose virtual machine, where the special purpose virtual machine and the general purpose virtual machine exist on the same personal computer (PC).
US08458246B2
An improved web application framework methodology enables the creation of web applications which can respond to client requests in a fashion that results in rendering which appears on the client to be independent of scripting capability.
US08458238B2
The present invention is directed to a method and system for efficient write journal entry management maintaining minimum write journal information stored in a nonvolatile memory through utilizing an additional structure in a fast volatile memory. The method and system may manage write journaling of a file volume including multiple fixed sized regions and assign a persistent 1-bit synchronization status (the write journal information) to each data region. In addition, a non-persistent I/O counter (the additional structure) for each region to manage the persistent 1-bit synchronization status during run-time. The present invention may provide a mechanism to determine when write I/O operations have not successfully completed to a specific region of the file volume.
US08458225B2
A voxel database can store and manage a set of voxel records in a voxel table. Each of the records can have a unique voxel identifier. Each voxel record can include a set of different sensory attributes. The sensory attributes can include visual attributes, spectral signature attributes, olfaction attributes, audition attributes, gustation attributes, somatsensory attributes, and material composition attributes. Uniquely defined voxels of voxel database can be a volume unit on a grid (regular or non-regular) in three dimensional space, which is a voxel space. A correspondence can exist between voxels in the voxel space and volume units of a real world volumetric space from which geospatial data was directly gathered and encoded within the voxel database. Voxel space can be mapped to simulation space. Thus, simulators can consume data of the voxel space to generate three dimensional immersive environments having multisensory output.
US08458217B1
A computer system for generating an Instantly Built Information Space (IBIS) for use with an application program is provided. The application program connects to a data repository. The application program connects to at least one Bookkeeping Information Space (BIS). The address of a main database object of the BIS is placed into a knowledge base pointer. The address of a main database object of the database is placed into a pointer in an object of the BIS. The database and the BIS are included in the IBIS. The BIS is accessed by the application program through the knowledge base pointer and the database is accessed by the application program through the pointer in the object of the BIS.
US08458213B2
Described herein are methods and systems for promoting item listings that satisfy a query based on the item listings being assigned to certain categories. A query to identify a set of item listings is processed where each item listing associated with an item or service being offered for sale and assigned to a leaf-level category. The scope of the query is determined based on a dictionary of queries or a length of the query when the query is not found in the dictionary. One or more categories are identified based on the scope of the query. A search results page is presented with the item listings from the identified one or more categories.
US08458206B2
A business intelligence (BI) server and repository are described which support a set of customized and/or calculated data members. In accordance with an embodiment, the BI server maintains a connection to a plurality of data sources which may store a set of dimension members. The data source can be relational, file storage based, multidimensional and other types. In accordance with an embodiment, the BI server can accept queries from the user that contain calculated members as a parameter. The calculated member is defined by an expression including multiple dimension members and one or more arithmetic operators. The BI server can parse and validate the query and rewrite the query for the data source. After the query is rewritten and optimized, it is executed against the data source and a set of results is received.
US08458205B2
A method for using a rule-based system implemented by at least one physical processor to identify from a set of available products a group of products relevant to data provided by a user includes creating with the rule-based system a number of rules based on the data provided by the user, for each available product in the set of available products, creating a combined ruleset including the rules based on the data provided by the user and a number of rules characterizing the available product and determining with the rule-based system whether a conflict exists in the combined ruleset, and returning to the user the available products for which no conflict was found as the group of products relevant to the data provided by the user.
US08458201B2
A method, an apparatus and computer instructions are provided for mapping structured query language (SQL) schema to application specific business objects in an integration application environment. A SQL business object application specific information (BO ASI) builder is added to the business object application specific information (BO ASI) resolver. When a SQL markup language schema is parsed by a schema resolver, meta business objects (BOs) are generated with schema annotations, and the BO ASI resolver locates the SQL BO ASI builder that is able to handle the meta BOs. The SQL BO ADI builder then fills the ASI fields of the meta BOs and returned to a BO writer, which writes out application specific business objects understandable by the integration server.
US08458200B2
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for composing and executing queries using filtered fields. In one embodiment, a query may be composed with compatible fields, meaning filtered fields that store related data of a particular data type. Such compatible fields may be combined into a single query condition, thus simplifying the composition and execution of the query. In one embodiment, fields may be identified as compatible based on metadata included in a database abstraction model.
US08458196B1
A method and system for determining topical authority may include receiving topic information for a document, the information including at least one topic and a weight for each topic, where the topic relates to content of the document, and the weight represents how strongly the topic is associated with the document. Authorship information for the document may be received, the information including, for each topic in the document, at least one author and an authorship percentage for each author. An update to an authority signature value for a first author of a first topic may be generated based on a product of an authorship percentage for the first author of the first topic and the weight of the first topic in the document, where the first topic is included in the received topic information.
US08458194B1
A method for categorizing documents may include receiving topic information for a source document, the information including at least one topic and a weight for each topic, where the topic relates to content of the source document, and the weight represents how strongly the topic is associated with the source document. Similarity scores may be generated based on a weight of each topic in the source document and the weight of the same topic in each document within one or more sets of documents, where each document in the one or more sets of documents comprises topic information. A confidence score may be generated, based on the similarity scores, for each of the document sets. One or more document sets may be selected based on the confidence scores and may be output to a user.
US08458191B2
A method (and structure) of storing schema-less data of a dataset in a relational database, includes constructing a hash table for the schema-less data, using a processor on a computer. Data in the dataset is stored in a tuple format including a subject along with at least one other entity associated to the subject. Each row of the hashtable will be dedicated to a subject of the dataset, and at least one of the at least one other entity associated with the subject in the row is to be stored in a pair-wise manner in that row of the hashtable. In an exemplary embodiment, RDF data that uses triples (subject, predicate, object) is stored with the predicate/object stored in the pair-wise manner in its associated subject row.
US08458190B2
With conventional print and electronic tools, researching statutory material is difficult and time-consuming. So, to facilitate this type of research, the present inventors devised systems, methods, and software that promise to improve the ability of researchers to find, verify, read, and/or interpret statutory information. One exemplary system provides options for users to access statutory information by citation, by table of contents, by index, and/or by popular name; presents specific statutory information in combination with visual indicators, such as red or yellow flags, that indicate the validity or status of the information; and provides requested statutory information in context of links to related information, such as tables of contents, other versions of a statute, case law, scholarly materials, legislative history, cross-referenced statutes, and administrative-law materials.
US08458187B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products can visualize topic location in a document redundancy graph. Document subcomponents such as, for example, document paragraphs of a document or document set can be searched for user interface specified search data and a determination can be made as to which document subcomponents contain information relating to the search data. Based on the redundancy graph data, a determination can then be made as to which particular user selectable node(s) of the graph contain the particular document subcomponent(s). Data for identifying the determined particular user selectable node(s) on a user interface can be generated and rendered to allow a user to quickly locate the particular user selectable node(s) on the redundancy graph. The particular user selectable nodes themselves can for example be visually highlighted on the graph. Keyword indexing can be used to assure chosen keywords are keywords relating to particular topics contained in the document set.
US08458185B2
A customized, specialty-oriented database and index, of a subject matter area and methods for constructing and using such a database are provided. Selection and indexing of articles is done by experts in the topic with which the database is concerned. As a result, articles are indexed in a manner that allows facile, rapid retrieval of highly relevant articles with few or no false positives with much reduced database maintenance cost through frugal limitation of number of documents in the database, number of terms in a Master Index, and number of codes assigned to each document. A thesaurus allows indexing and search in accordance with terminology familiar to different anticipated groups of users (e.g. doctors, patients, nurses, technicians, and the like). Key articles collections and rapid access to documents therein are also provided.
US08458184B2
An accessory communicates with a PMD to store tags associated with broadcasts in a file maintained in a storage medium of the accessory. In one embodiment, the accessory sends a command to the PMD to create or open a tag file that resides on the PMD. Once opened, the tag file is held open by the PMD until the accessory closes it (or disconnects), allowing multiple tags to be written to one file. Each time the user requests a new tag, the accessory generates a tag containing information descriptive of the broadcast material (e.g., song title, artist, radio station identifier, time of tagging, etc.) and writes the tag to the tag file using a write command to the PMD.
US08458179B2
A system is provided for augmenting a privacy policy. During operation, the system obtains a set of training documents and at least one seed keyword associated with the privacy policy. The system extracts a number of candidate keywords from the training documents and formulates at least one query based on the candidate keywords. The system then issues the query to a corpus. In response to the query, the system receives a set of result documents. The system further determines whether a respective keyword extracted from the result documents matches at least one seed keyword. The system then augments the privacy policy by associating the candidate keyword corresponding to the respective keyword with the privacy policy based on the determination. In addition, the system applies the augmented privacy policy to a subject document and produces a result to indicate whether the subject document is in violation of the privacy policy.
US08458175B2
As things happen on a volume, the file system forwards events to an event list manager. The event list manager stores the events and associates them with epochs that were active at the time the event occurred. Event consumers can independently declare epochs at any time. When event consumers end an epoch, they can request events that occurred during the epoch, which are reported to the event consumer using the event list manager.
US08458174B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for adjusting confidence scores of image labels for images. In one aspect, a method includes accessing images stored in an image data store, the images being associated with respective sets of labels, the labels describing content depicted in the image and having a respective confidence score that is a measure of confidence that the label accurately describes the content depicted in the image; selecting a first image from the images and determining for each of the other images and independent of the labels, a proximity score that is a measure of a relatedness of the other image to the first image; and adjusting the set of labels associated with the first image based on the respective proximity scores of the other images and the confidence scores of the labels of the other images.
US08458164B2
A user-friendly query modeling tool and method, for representing, creating, modifying and modeling a query language statement for use in retrieving data from a database. In accordance with the present invention, the tool includes a user interface for receiving or building and manipulating a query, a query model definition for use in populating instances of one or more query models, and a model content provider for receiving query elements from the user interface and providing them to the query model, and conversely, for retrieving query elements from the query model and providing them to the user interface. The user interface enables the user to easily group and ungroup query elements by providing a visual tool for selecting query elements to be grouped and ungrouped.
US08458160B2
Techniques are provided which include obtaining, from a user, a query for review or purchase information from users in a social network of the user, relating to a product, service or brand that, for example, the user may be considering or intending to purchase. Based at least in part on the query, review or purchase information is obtained from multiple users in a social network of the user, relating to the product, service or brand, and this information is used in formulating a reply to the user. Collected information may also be used in advertising targeted to the user.
US08458153B2
A method for centrally providing a profile of a user's degree of preference for one or more items across categories in a plurality of domains of interest in a taxonomy of preferences is described. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying a user's degree of preference for an item from a plurality of indicators. The user's degree of preference for the item is associated with a category in a domain of interest and is stored in a profile of the user. In another embodiment, the profile identifies preferences of the user in a taxonomy of preferences across categories in a plurality of domains of interest.
US08458148B2
Improved data governance solutions to enterprise-level master data storage hubs are provided by implementing data governance functionality across the operational systems, analytical systems, and master data hubs of an enterprise. Data governance functionality is provided across the systems and hubs of an enterprise by providing visibility into the operational data, analytical data, and master data of an enterprise, by providing visibility into the data quality measuring processes that have been executed on the operational and analytical data, and by providing functionality for correcting fragmented, inconsistent, and erroneous information within operational and analytical data.
US08458145B2
A method and system are disclosed for storage optimization. Data parts and metadata within a source data unit are identified and the data parts are compared with data which is already stored in the physical storage space. In case identical data parts are found within the physical storage, the data parts from the source data unit are linked to the identified data, while the data parts can be discarded, thereby reducing the required storage capacity. The metadata parts can be separately stored in a designated storage area.
US08458143B2
An information system including subscriber stations (MS), at least two service sources (2 to 5) providing a respective service to subscriber stations of the system, and an access point (1) arranged to analyze a service request in order to forward the service request to the service source (2) offering the service, the service sources (2 to 5) being arranged to analyze a received service request in order to provide the subscriber station (MS) with the requested service. In order to improve the user friendliness of the system said system further includes a memory (7) for storing service requests which have led to successful identification of the requested service, and an error correction device (6) arranged to correct a received service request by utilizing the service requests stored in the memory (7) if no service source or no service can be identified.
US08458134B2
A method for providing rolling continuous data protection of source data is disclosed. In one embodiment, such a method includes enabling a user to select source data and establish a first interval when point-in-time copies of the source data are generated. The method further enables the user to specify a first number of point-in-time copies to retain at the first interval. The method further enables the user to specify a second number of point-in-time copies to retain at a second interval, wherein the second interval is a (n≧2) multiple of the first interval. The method further enables the user to specify a third number of point-in-time copies to retain at a third interval, wherein the third interval is a (n≧2) multiple of the second interval. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed.
US08458131B2
A block based backup system may store backed up data from multiple clients by maintaining backup databases for each client, where each backup database may include blocks of data. The backup system may perform a de-duplication process by examining the databases to identify common blocks and moving the common blocks to a common database. The common blocks may be removed from the client backup databases and a pointer substituted for the data, thus compacting the client backup databases. The de-duplication operation may be performed at an opportunistic time, such as after the clients have completed any data transfer to the backup system.
US08458129B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide fine grain concurrency control for transactions in the presence of database updates. During operations, each transaction is assigned a snapshot version number or SVN. A SVN refers to a historical snapshot of the database that can be created periodically or on demand. Transactions are thus tied to a particular SVN, such as, when the transaction was created. Queries belonging to the transactions can access data that is consistent as of a point in time, for example, corresponding to the latest SVN when the transaction was created. At various times, data from the database stored in a memory can be updated using the snapshot data corresponding to a SVN. When a transaction is committed, a snapshot of the database with a new SVN is created based on the data modified by the transaction and the snapshot is synchronized to the memory. When a transaction query requires data from a version of the database corresponding to a SVN, the data in the memory may be synchronized with the snapshot data corresponding to that SVN.
US08458125B1
A method, and corresponding system, is provided for generating replicas or copies of data objects that are used to serve data streams. The method includes determining one of the storage devices is operating at a load above a predetermined overload value. The method continues with identifying the data objects being served by data streams from the near overload storage device and then, selecting one of these served data objects for replication. To create a replica, the method includes writing data from the selected data object to another less busy one of the data storage devices, with the writing being done using data from one or more of the streams being served from the selected data object on the near-overload storage device. During replica creation, one or more streams from the selected data object provide data concurrently to a stream consumer or client device and to the replica.
US08458124B2
A technique for enforcing a database relationship is disclosed. The technique includes specifying within a database schema a reference type that associates two structures and specifies the relationship between the two structures, and automatically generating code that checks the relationship between the two structures based on the specified reference in the database schema.
US08458114B2
Some general aspects relate to systems and methods of analog computation using numerical representation with uncertainty. For example, a specification of a group of variables is accepted, with each variable having a set of at least N possible values. The group of variables satisfies a set of one or more constraints, and each variable is specified as a decomposition into a group of constituents, with each constituent having a set of M (e.g., M
US08458111B2
Embodiments are directed to interpreting declarative program types at runtime without compiling and mapping between a declarative type and a dynamic runtime type. A computer system accesses a portion of a declarative program, where the declarative program includes fully modeled activity types. The computer system dynamically constructs a dynamic activity type based on one of the fully modeled activity types of the declarative program, where the dynamic activity type is configured for interpretive execution without compilation. The computer system also interpretively executes the dynamically constructed dynamic activity type such that the dynamic activity is executed without compilation.
US08458110B2
A verification support apparatus includes an identifying unit that, by using a pre-change specification and a post-change specification given before and after a specification change in a subject to be verified, identifies an area that has changed from among a plurality of specification items included in the post-change specification and a selecting unit that selects a specification item from among the areas identified by the identifying unit. The verification support apparatus further includes a searching unit that, by referring a transition graph concerning the specification items included in the post-change specification and by tracing specification items as origins of transitions from a starting point that is the specification item selected by the selecting unit, searches for a route made up of specification items affected by the specification change; and an output unit that outputs a search result of the searching unit.
US08458106B2
An example system and method where some operations include determining constraint compliant values for each of a set of constrained variables of an optimization problem. The constraint compliant values comply with a constraint condition for the optimization problem. The operations can further include generating a population of constraint compliant candidate solutions for a computer-based simulation that implements a population-based optimization algorithm for the optimization problem. The candidate solutions use a subset of the constraint compliant values such that each of the candidate solutions comply with the constraint condition. Further, while running the computer-based simulation with the candidate solutions, determining that a child candidate solution created from two of the candidate solutions fails to comply with the constraint condition; and modifying the child candidate solution to use at least one value randomly selected from the compliant values such that the child candidate solution complies with the constraint condition.
US08458104B2
A system and method for solving a set of optimization problems initializes a current region of solutions for the set of optimization problems, performs a reduction phase, and provides the optimal solutions within the current region. The reduction phase creates a random sample of points within the current region and identifies a subregion of the current region that very likely does not contain any optimal solutions. The identified subregion is then removed from the current region. If the current region does not satisfies one or more convergence criteria, the process loops back to create another random sample of points and repeats the above-described steps. If, however, the current region does satisfy the convergence criteria, the optimal solutions within the current region are provided to the output device.
US08458103B2
The present invention is directed to systems, articles, and computer-implemented methods for assessing effectiveness of communication content and optimizing content distribution to enhance business objectives. Embodiments of the present invention are directed to computer-implemented methods for a computer-implemented method, comprising conducting an experiment using experimental content to determine effectiveness of communication content and executing, while conducting the experiment, a machine learning routine (MLR) using MLR content to enhance an effectiveness metric.
US08458097B2
A system, method and software for healthcare selection are presented in which a user can authorize the comparison of their pangenetic (genetic and epigenetic) data with data profiles corresponding to health care products, services, and service providers to determine which are the most appropriate for a particular consumer. Data masks can be applied to limit the amount of pangenetic data transmitted for analysis.
US08458093B1
After a charge has been made with a credit card, the charge may be analyzed to determine if it may be transferred to a line of credit. The credit card may be monitored for purchases that match rules or criteria set by a user and/or an institution system. If the transaction meets the rules and/or criteria, the charge on the credit card may be paid with funds from the line of credit. In an implementation, instead of the user waiting for the credit card bill and then paying the amount of the charge on the bill from the line of credit, the institution system automatically performs the transfer for the user (e.g., pays the charge on the credit card with funds from the line of credit).
US08458091B2
A prioritizing system and method are disclosed for prioritizing processing of payment instructions through a payment instruction processing system of a business entity. The method includes identifying a first set of rules determining a prioritization among a set of payment instructions. These include payment instructions related to payments from nostro accounts associated with the business entity and processed by other business entities. Also, the payment instructions have data fields for qualitative and quantitative attributes describing the payment instructions. The method also includes holding and ordering the payment instructions in a queue, determining a first sequence ordering the payment instructions in the queue based upon the first set of rules, and initiating processing of the payment instructions in the queue according to the first sequence.
US08458090B1
A method, an apparatus and an article of manufacture for detecting a fraudulent mobile money transaction. The method includes determining a reputation score for at least one customer based on historical data, determining multiple patterns related to fraudulent mobile money transaction activities by using the reputation score and the historical data, automatically detecting at least one of the patterns in mobile money transactions incoming from at least one other customer, and classifying the at least one detected pattern as a fraudulent mobile money transaction or a genuine mobile money transaction.
US08458075B2
A method for commodity sourcing management or commodity management includes identifying a plurality of divisions of commoditization. A plurality of sourcing options for at least one of the divisions of commoditization are identified, as well as a plurality of financial instruments. The method includes correlating the plurality of divisions of commoditization, the sourcing options and the financial instruments so that they are commonly commensurable for analysis.
US08458062B2
A system and method for providing real time financial product matching is disclosed. In one embodiment, the real time financial product matching system may store one or more financial product data records. Each financial product data record may be associated with a financial product. The real time financial product matching system may receive a customer data record associated with a customer, the customer data record including a customer preference related to financial products. The real time financial product matching system may then match the customer with one or more financial products in real time by comparing the customer data record to the one or more financial product data records. And, the real time financial product matching system may present the matched one or more financial products to the customer in real time.
US08458060B2
The present invention presents systems and methods for organizing price modeling data using hierarchically organized portfolios including a collection of transactions in a transaction database representing a first hierarchical level; collections of hierarchically organized portfolios at higher hierarchical levels than a previous hierarchical levels, the hierarchically organized portfolios representing selections from the previous hierarchical level where the hierarchically organized portfolios are arranged to be responsive to an enterprise approval hierarchy.
US08458058B2
A tax event system is configured to evaluate a taxable event that gives rise to tax liability in multiple jurisdictions. The system provides for real time determination of location information (e.g. work location, residence location, assignment location, and the like) for the calculation of tax liability. Such real time analysis allows for transactions to be settled and tax liability to be satisfied in time periods prescribed by various regulating authorities.
US08458046B2
A fact checking system verifies the correctness of information and/or characterizes the information by comparing the information with one or more sources. The fact checking system automatically monitors, processes, fact checks information and indicates a status of the information.
US08458044B2
A method on a server for managing discount offers for a plurality of users over a communications network. The method includes receiving a discount offer, wherein a discount offer comprises at least a product or service description, an initial price, a discount price less than the initial price, a minimum number of acceptances and a time deadline, and transmitting the discount offer to the plurality of users. The method further includes receiving acceptances of the discount offer, and detecting attainment of a predefined time before the time deadline. The method further includes decreasing the minimum number of acceptances by a numerical decrement, if the number of acceptances is less than the minimum number of acceptances at the predefined time before the time deadline, and re-transmitting the discount offer with a decreased minimum number of acceptances to the mobile computers of the plurality of users.
US08458041B1
Techniques for reducing fraud are disclosed. A transaction request is received from a user to perform a transaction using an account. In one approach, a source icon is displayed prior to executing the request. The source icon includes a graphical representation of an owner of the account. In another approach, at least one of a photograph and a voice of the user is recorded prior to executing the request. In a third approach, the user is informed that at least one of a photograph, a voice print, and location data will be taken prior to executing the transaction request.
US08458035B2
Methods and systems are disclosed for providing online advertisements to consumers. A method disclosed herein allows a consumer to provide contact information to a business in response to a search request submitted to a search engine. Subsequently, the business may initiate a communication to the consumer at the contact information provided by the consumer. As a result, the business has better assurance that the advertisement fees provided to the search engine is in fact generating better consumer contacts for the business. In an embodiment of the system disclosed herein a telecommunications service provider may receive the contact information from the consumer and establish a line of communication between the consumer and the business.
US08458022B2
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for conducting sales. The method embodiment comprises receiving an inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item, identifying one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry, identifying comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data, presenting one or more comparable groups to the user, each comparable group comprising one discount item and the respective comparable items, and furthering the sales process based on user input responding to the presented one or more comparable groups. Also disclosed is a method further comprising receiving a request from the user for multiple sub-items associated with the item, and engaging in a dialog with the user to enable payment for each of the multiple sub-items with one of a multiple payment types.
US08458020B2
Some described embodiments provide for selecting (e.g., by a server computer from a plurality of transaction records), a transaction record associated with a financial account of an account holder. In one example, the transaction record includes an indication of an amount due, by the account holder, for a previous purchase completed by the account holder with a first merchant. Some embodiments provide further for generating a billing statement for the account holder, the billing statement including an indication of the amount due by the account holder for the previous completed purchase and an indication of an acquisition offer, in which the acquisition offer comprises a promise from a second merchant to pay at least a portion of the amount due by the account holder, and transmitting the billing statement to the account holder.
US08458017B2
A method and system for making payment of a transacted price to which a discount is applied using a mobile terminal for receiving geographical location information for establishing a discount to be applied to a purchase from at least one discount medium available within the area of the location of the mobile terminal with the user of the mobile terminal selecting a discount from the available discount medium and with the method and system using temporary card numbers generated from a temporary card number issue device for paying the transacted price less discount. An issued temporary card number includes the discount selected by the user and includes temporary card number issue information which is transmitted to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal transmits payment information to an authorization terminal (CAT) and to a payment server using the temporary card number and discount information for determining and paying the transacted price after calculating the discount subject to the payment request by the user being made within a pre-determined time period from when the temporary card number is issued. Otherwise the issued temporary card number is extinguished and the payment transaction is terminated. When authorized, the payment server issues payment if the request for payment was made by the user within the time period.
US08458014B2
A system and method for optimizing order fulfillment by considering multiple supply modes in one aspect, plans supply of inventory by forecasting demand, estimating accuracy of said forecasted demand, and establishing reorder point policy based at least on said accuracy of said forecasted demand, a plurality of supply transportation modes, cost of carbon emissions and limit on carbon emission credits. Current inventory position is monitored and if the current inventory position is below the reorder point policy, orders are placed according to a selected shipping method. The selected shipping method may be based at least on customer order priority, transportation budget, and carbon emission limit.
US08458007B2
A method may include receiving an order associated with processing a media file and generating a workflow associated with fulfilling the order. The method may also include identifying a number of tasks associated with the workflow and generating an estimate associated with executing the tasks. The generating an estimate may include identifying a resource type associated with the media file and the order, and identifying at least one of capacity and time requirements associated with executing the tasks.
US08458006B2
Wasteful repetitive tasks are easily reduced in processes to develop complex products. A product development process support system is a system which analyzes dependencies between a plurality of requirements in product development processes belonging to a plurality of layers, and comprises an input reception portion for receiving input of information indicating the dependency between two requirements belonging to adjacent layers and of information indicating the degree of influence of requirements on product development, and dependency derivation portion for deriving the dependency between two arbitrary requirements belonging to the same layer from information indicating the dependencies between the two requirements in question and other requirements received by the input reception portion and from information indicating the degree of influence of the two requirements in question, based on dependency derivation rules established in advance.
US08458004B2
In the context of a work container which includes a set of atomic tasks to be executed in some order, along with a specification of the role/skill needed for each task, the estimated effort and due date, methods and arrangements for pooling unutilized capacities of multiple resources whenever possible, and making adjustments to the estimated effort to take transactional costs into account. More particularly, preferred embodiments of the invention operate on a principle that if resources do not individually have the available bandwidth needed to execute and complete an atomic task during a given period then, collectively, the time available on their calendars, when pooled together and aggregated in sequence, may well be more than sufficient for the task, even after making adjustments to account for transaction costs.
US08458003B2
System comprising a set of interconnected processors for managing the delivery of financial advisory services. In one embodiment, the system manages activities and workflows for a plurality of clients over a financial planning period. The financial planning period may comprise a calendar year, which may be divided into distinct seasonal portions, each with a predetermined, specific focus on a financial topic or grouping of topics. Workflow of the firm may be controlled by utilizing a plurality of processors to automate workflow handling. A first processor is used for individual client scheduling, a second processor aggregates the appointments, calculates utilization metrics based thereon, and a third processor generates reports, providing feedback to modulate input into the first processor.
US08457993B1
A system and method for insuring a safe deposit box is disclosed. The system for insuring a safe deposit box comprises a computer system capable of being assessed over an Internet, the computer system capable of providing various screens and for receiving entered information relating to a safe deposit box to be insured, and determining a premium to be paid for the insurance for a safe deposit box. The method for insuring a safe deposit box comprises the steps of renting a safe deposit box and purchasing insurance for insuring the safe deposit box.
US08457991B2
A method and system provides for the use of credit arrangements in simulated environments. A user can participate in credit transactions involving purchases of virtual products, virtual services, and virtual items of value. Feedback is provided to the user regarding results of the credit transactions. In some embodiments multiple users can make simulated purchases or incur simulated credit obligations that are posted to virtual accounts, and the multiple users can also make simulated compensation against balances due or obligations owed for said virtual accounts. The user is also provided with an opportunity of engaging in real-world financial transactions related to the virtual credit arrangement. In some implementations of the system and method, multiple players at different locations can use virtual charge accounts and/or real world financial accounts in connection with arranging or resolving a virtual credit transaction.
US08457976B2
A sub-band processing system that reduces computational complexity and memory requirements includes a processor and a local or distributed memory. Logic stored in the memory partitions a frequency spectrum of bins into a smaller number of sub-bands. The logic enables a lossy compression by designating a magnitude and a designated or derived phase of each bin in the frequency spectrum as representative. The logic renders a lossless compression by decompressing the lossy compressed data and providing lost data based on original spectral relationships contained within the frequency spectrum.
US08457975B2
Audio decoder, audio encoder, methods for decoding and encoding an audio signal and computer program
An audio decoder for providing a decoded representation of an audio content on the basis of an encoded representation of the audio content comprises a linear-prediction-domain decoder core configured to provide a time-domain representation of an audio frame on the basis of a set of linear-prediction domain parameters associated with the audio frame and a frequency-domain decoder core configured to provide a time-domain representation of an audio frame on the basis of a set of frequency-domain parameters, taking into account a transform window out of a set comprising a plurality of different transform windows. The audio decoder comprises a signal combiner configured to overlap-and-add-time-domain representations of subsequent audio frames encoded in different domains, in order to smoothen a transition between the time-domain representations of the subsequent frames. The set of transform windows comprises one or more windows specifically adapted for a transition between a frequency-domain core mode and a linear-prediction-domain core mode.
US08457964B2
A method and system for determining and communicating biometrics of a recorded speaker in a voice transcription process. An interactive voice response system receives a request from a user for a transcription of a voice file. A profile associated with the requesting user is obtained, wherein the profile comprises biometric parameters and preferences defined by the user. The requested voice file is analyzed for biometric elements according to the parameters specified in the user's profile. Responsive to detecting biometric elements in the voice file that conform to the parameters specified in the user's profile, a transcription output of the voice file is modified according to the preferences specified in the user's profile for the detected biometric elements to form a modified transcription output file. The modified transcription output file may then be provided to the requesting user.
US08457956B2
An audio signal is conveyed more efficiently by transmitting or recording a baseband of the signal with an estimated spectral envelope and a noise-blending parameter derived from a measure of the signal's noise-like quality. The signal is reconstructed by translating spectral components of the baseband signal to frequencies outside the baseband, adjusting phase of the regenerated components to maintain phase coherency, adjusting spectral shape according to the estimated spectral envelope, and adding noise according to the noise-blending parameter. Preferably, the transmitted or recorded signal also includes an estimated temporal envelope that is used to adjust the temporal shape of the reconstructed signal.
US08457953B2
In a method of smoothing background noise in a telecommunication speech session; receiving and decoding S1O a signal representative of a speech session, the signal comprising both a speech component and a background noise component. Subsequently, determining LPC parameters S20 and an excitation signal S30 for the received signal. Thereafter, synthesizing and outputting (S40) an output signal based on the determined LPC parameters and excitation signal. In addition, modifying S35 the determined excitation signal by reducing power and spectral fluctuations of the excitation signal to provide a smoothed output signal.
US08457947B2
A hybrid translation apparatus includes a source language input unit for generalizing an input source language sentence for each node; a statistics-based translation knowledge database(DB) for storing learning data generalized for each node to be acquired; a first translation result generating unit for transforming the source language sentence generalized for each node into a node expression using the statistics-based translation knowledge to generate a first translation result; and a second translation result generating unit for repeatedly performing the generation of a target word for each node on the first translation result using pattern-based knowledge to generate a second translation result as target words for the respective nodes. Further, the hybrid translation apparatus includes a pattern-based translation knowledge DB for using in the pattern-based translation; and a translation result combining unit for combining the first translation result and the second translation result to output a target language sentence.
US08457944B2
In a method and a device for determining requirement parameters of at least one physical hardware unit, the operating parameters of simulated, virtual hardware units are varied during the execution of a program flow on the virtual hardware units, for example via an interface device of a simulation device, in such a manner that requirement parameters of the execution of a program flow of at least one physical hardware unit can be identified. A method and a device are used for determining requirement parameters of at least one physical hardware unit. The method and the device are used to determine requirement parameters of software products of hardware components to be used. Requirement parameters are allowed to be identified systematically, using an operating system and eliminates the need for expensive, physical hardware components and for modifications to a physical computer system.
US08457932B2
Disclosed are techniques for representing and modeling systems in which each system corresponds to an application mode. This may be done for one or more geometries using local and/or non-local couplings. For each application mode, physical quantities are modeled and may be defined using a graphical user interface. Physical properties may be used to model the physical quantities of each system. The physical properties may be defined in terms of numerical values or constants, and mathematical expressions that may include numerical values, space coordinates, time coordinates, and actual physical quantities. Physical quantities and any associated variables may apply to some or all of a geometric domain, and may also be disabled in other parts of a geometrical domain. Partial differential equations describe the physical quantities. One or more application modes may be combined using an automated technique into a combined system of partial differential equations as a multiphysics model.
US08457931B2
A numerical analysis data evaluation apparatus includes: a shell generation model which converts a three-dimensional shape model into a three-dimensional shell model so that a thickness on an analysis model becomes zero; a front surface-side physical quantity projector and a rear surface-side physical quantity projector which interpolate physical quantities of front surface-side elements and physical quantities of rear surface-side elements of the three-dimensional shape model obtained as a result of the numerical analysis in on-shell model element data obtained by spatially discretizing the three-dimensional shell model, and project the physical quantities on front surface-side physical quantities and rear surface-side physical quantities of on-shell elements; an on-shell element front surface-side physical quantity data storage unit; an on-shell element rear surface-side physical quantity data storage unit; and an arithmetic unit which calculates differences between the front surface-side physical quantities and the rear surface-side physical quantities of the on-shell elements.
US08457925B1
Methods and apparatus for automating various preliminary and non-vehicle specific steps during a vehicle wheel alignment service procedure by automatically imparting a rolling movement to a supported vehicle and automatically rotationally driving a pair of vehicle steered wheels through a range of steering movement.
US08457924B2
A computer control system and method is disclosed. Such a system may include a processor and an ultrasonic area-array sensor configured to receive a ridged surface, such as one or more digits of a hand. The processor may be configured to: (a) acquire a first information set from the sensor, the first information set representing at least a portion of the ridged surface, (b) acquire a second information set from the sensor, the second information set representing at least a portion of the ridged surface, (c) compare the first information set with the second information set to identify a common feature of the ridged surface that is present in both the first information set and the second information set, (d) determine a first position of the common feature using the first information set, (e) determine a second position of the common feature using the second information set, and (f) calculate a control measurement by comparing the first position and the second position.
US08457923B2
Provided is a velocity calculating apparatus including: a horizontal-angular-velocity-detecting portion disposed to a main-body portion attached to a movable object moving along a movement plane to detect a horizontal-axis angular velocity around a horizontal axis perpendicular to a moving direction generated according to an inclination angle of the movement plane; a vertical-acceleration-detecting portion disposed to the main-body portion to detect a vertical acceleration generated according to a shape of the movement plane; a time-difference-calculating portion configured to calculate a time difference between characteristic components occurring in the horizontal-axis angular velocity and the vertical acceleration due to a position of the movement plane; and a velocity-calculating portion configured to calculate a time-differential velocity based on a ratio between an installation distance from a position to which the horizontal angular velocity is exerted in the overall movable object to an installation position of the main body portion and the time difference.
US08457917B2
A device, a method and a guiding device for setting out contours, points or works, including a computer-controlled measuring device provided with a movable measuring probe and a portable base unit provided with a rotatably supported elongate arm. The measuring probe is connected to the measuring device by means of a cord or a wire via the elongate arm, and the measuring device is provided with sensors for measuring a length or a change in the length of the cord or the wire and rotation of the arm in at least one degree of freedom for providing position data of the measuring probe.
US08457906B2
Different types of localized corrosion, erosion corrosion and other types of corrosion may be detected and identified by examining or viewing a solid surface where corrosion is occurring or has occurred to obtain an image therefrom. The image is then represented as a three-dimensional mathematical surface, which is then fit to a parametric surface composed of one or more curved and/or polygonal surfaces. Representative parameters are determined from the parametric surface. The corrosion type is identified by the best fit of the parameters known to be correlated (or caused by) a particular type of corrosive activity or agent for a given substrate.
US08457905B2
A soot discharge amount is calculated by multiplying a “steady discharge amount” by a “transient correction value.” The steady discharge amount is a soot discharge amount in a steady operation state, and is acquired through table search. For each of a plurality of factors which affect the soot discharge amount, a steady value (value obtained through table search) of the factor and a transient value (current value) of the factor are substituted for a characteristic equation which represents a change in the soot discharge amount with the value of the factor, whereby a steady characteristic value and a transient characteristic value are acquired. The “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” is then calculated for each factor. The transient correction value is obtained by multiplying together all values of the “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” obtained for the factors.
US08457903B1
Computer processing methods and/or systems for minimizing and/or optimizing data strings in accordance with rules and options. Minimized data strings can represent data sequences important in certain biologic analyses and/or syntheses. In specific embodiments, a request is generated by a user at a client system and received by a server system. The server system accesses initial data indicated or provided by the client system. The server system then performs an analysis to minimize the data needed for further reactions. In specific embodiments, a server can use proprietary methods or data at the server side while protecting those proprietary methods and data from access by the client system.
US08457901B2
A system for optimizing a patient's insulin dosage regimen over time, comprising at least a first memory for storing data inputs corresponding at least to one or more components in a patient's present insulin dosage regimen, and data inputs corresponding at least to the patient's blood-glucose-level measurements determined at a plurality of times, and a processor operatively connected to the at least first memory. The processor is programmed at least to determine from the data inputs corresponding to the patient's blood-glucose-level measurements determined at a plurality of times whether and by how much to vary at least one of the one or more components in the patient's present insulin dosage regimen in order to maintain the patient's future blood-glucose-level measurements within a predefined range.
US08457897B2
A method and system for estimating the status of a production well using a probability calculator and for developing such a probability calculator. The method includes developing a probability calculator, which may be a Bayesian network, utilizing the Bayesian network in a production well event detection system, which may include real-time well measurements, historical measurements, engineering judgment, and facilities data. The system also includes a display to show possible events in descending priority and/or may trigger an alarm in certain cases.
US08457869B2
A method for ascertaining consumption and/or emission values of at least one vehicle in a traffic area, includes the following steps: determining a number of traffic-technology variables for the traffic area, ascertaining a driving profile of the vehicle based on the traffic-technology variables, assigning an individual consumption and/or emission model and/or a consumption and/or emission model related to the vehicle type group to the driving profile of the vehicle, calculating consumption and/or emission values based on the driving profile and the consumption and/or emission model. In addition, the invention relates to a corresponding method for ascertaining consumption and/or emission values of the vehicle target group of vehicles present in a traffic area and to a method for traffic control employing the consumption and/or emission values. Furthermore, the invention relates to ascertainment systems for ascertaining consumption and/or emission values and to a traffic control system.
US08457853B2
A circuit configuration for serial communication includes a first half for receiving and emitting sensing and/or actuating signals; a second half for receiving and emitting sensing and/or actuating signals, a two wire connecting line, which connects bidirectionally the first half and the second half of the circuit configuration; and a wake up switching device for waking up the first and second halves of the circuit configuration out of their standby mode without quiescent current. Independently of the switching state of the wake up switching device, a high level state at the output of a second low pass filter device holds a first switching device in its closing state, and a high level state at the output of a first low pass filter device holds a second switching device in its closing state, as a result of which a self-holding of the supply voltage is guaranteed.
US08457849B2
A method of controlling an automated variable-speed transmission in a drivetrain of a motor vehicle having all-wheel drive in which, during driving operation under difficult ground conditions, measures are provided for suppression of the automatic shift processes. To reliably prevent undesired automatic shift processes when the vehicle is in an all-wheel drive mode on difficult terrain, particularly also in combination with active differential locks, currently active traction-related mechanisms are evaluated by a plausibility check taking into account detection of wheel slippage, and the measures for suppressing automatic shift processes are carried out as a function of the evaluation.
US08457841B2
An analytical methodology for the specification of progressive optimal compression damping of a suspension system to negotiate severe events, yet provides very acceptable ride quality and handling during routine events. In a broad aspect, the method provides a progressive optimal unconstrained damping response of the wheel assembly with respect to the body. In a preferred aspect, the method provides a progressive optimal constrained damping response of the wheel assembly with respect to the body, wherein below a predetermined velocity a conventional damper force is retained.
US08457836B2
A system for announcing failure of a mechanically actuated arrangement employs a first coupler arrangement that couples an actuator to a structural element that is desired to be controlled, and a first force sensor is coupled to the first coupler arrangement. The first coupler arrangement and the first force sensor constitute a primary load path. Similarly, a second coupler arrangement is coupled to the actuator to the structural element and constitutes a secondary load path. Changes in the forces experienced by one or both of first and second force sensors are monitored by a controller/monitor system. A connector has a screw shaft in the primary load path and a preloaded tie rod in the secondary load path. Axial forces are generated by a drive motor, which can include a ball screw arrangement. Operating impulses generated by the ball screw arrangement are monitored during a predetermined interval of operation.
US08457830B2
A legged vehicle includes a body, wherein the body includes a major axis corresponding to a primary direction of travel; a plurality of leg mechanisms attached to the body, wherein each leg is attached at its proximal end at one or more discrete attachment points, wherein the attachment points are arranged in-line, one behind the other, with respect to the body, each of the legs including actuators attached between the legs and the body and between adjacent leg members, said legs being actuated for movement of a distal end in three dimensions; a control system in communication with the leg mechanisms to coordinate movements of the leg mechanisms according to approximately single track foot placement, and movement of the legged vehicle in three dimensions over the ground; and a power source connected to and driving the control system components and the plurality of actuators and joints which drive the legs.
US08457828B2
A system for controlling a tool carrier and work tool from either a first remote control or a second remote control. The first remote control and the second remote control both transmit respective first and second control signals to a controller system supported on the tool carrier. The controller system is programmed to select either the first control signal or the second control signal to control operation of the tool carrier. The system may include programming to allow autonomous movement of the tool carrier between a first work zone and a second work zone. Further, the controller system may be programmed to avoid obstacles within its path and to reroute its path between the first work zone and the second work zone to avoid such obstacles.
US08457826B2
A mobile support such as a rack or a platform for a rack housing a server or other electronic equipment is capable of independent movement and automatic connection and disconnection from resources such as network connection, coolant supply and power supply. The coordination of a plurality of such mobile supports is envisaged so as to automatically distribute equipment in a data center in such a way as to optimally use space and resources.
US08457825B2
A powertrain system includes an electric machine mechanically coupled to an internal combustion engine mechanically coupled to a transmission. A method for operating the powertrain system includes determining an engine stall threshold rate during engine operation in a low load condition. A time-rate change in an accessory load is controlled by the electric machine operating in an electric power generating mode in response to the engine stall threshold rate during the engine operation in the low load condition.
US08457823B2
In a method for operating a hybrid vehicle, an idle first drive unit is started during the driving of the hybrid vehicle by transferring part of a torque from an operating second drive unit to the first drive unit. To minimize effects on the movement characteristics of the hybrid vehicle during starting and/or stopping of the first drive unit, a control unit is provided for influencing the torque of the operating second drive unit by at least one of the variables derived from the longitudinal movement of the hybrid vehicle.
US08457820B1
A method is provided by controlling the operation of a marine vessel subject to porpoising. The method includes sensing an operational characteristic of the marine vessel which is indicative of porpoising of the marine vessel, and responding to the sensing of the operational characteristic with a response that is representative of the operational characteristic of the marine vessel as being indicative of the porpoising of the marine vessel.
US08457818B2
A train slide control device and a train slide control method capable of further improving the precision of slide control are achieved. The train slide control device comprises: an electromagnetic valve unit; a relay valve that outputs a pressure of the brake cylinder; and a slide controller that includes: a velocity-difference detecting unit that detects a velocity difference of each wheel based on a velocity signal; a deceleration calculating unit that calculates a deceleration of a train based on the velocity signal; a sliding-amount determining unit that determines a sliding-amount of each wheel based on the velocity difference and deceleration; and a brake-cylinder-pressure calculating unit that calculates a pressure control signal for controlling a pressure of the brake cylinder based on:the sliding-amount; a brake command for obtaining a predetermined deceleration; and a signal that indicates the pressure of the compressed air and a pressure of the brake cylinder.
US08457816B2
Method for detecting fires in railway vehicles. For detecting fires reliably and with a reduced error rate, it is proposed that compartment air in a railway vehicle be sucked in by means of at least two suctioning devices operated separately from one another, each in a monitoring region, that the monitoring parameter of the compartment air sucked in be evaluated in the suctioning devices and that a first control signal be output on detection of a monitoring parameter threshold value in at least one suctioning device.
US08457814B2
When a vehicle moves into a radar prohibited area preset for the neighborhood of a facility that suffers adverse effects from radar waves, emission of radar waves is stopped, and a voice guidance such as “Radar monitoring is stopped” is sent to a speaker via a voice output unit. Moreover, during a period in which a vehicle is located in a radar prohibited area, an icon that indicates that a radar is being stopped, a mark that indicates an institution for which the radar prohibited area is set, and the scope of the radar prohibited area are displayed on a map image.
US08457803B2
An apparatus for controlling peak demand of a resource. The apparatus includes a plurality of devices and a plurality of control nodes. Each of the plurality of devices consumes a portion of the resource when turned on, and the each are capable of performing a corresponding function within an acceptable operational margin by cycling on and off. Each of the plurality of control nodes is coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of devices, where the plurality of control nodes is coupled together via a demand coordination network, and where the plurality of control nodes coordinates run times for the each of the plurality of devices to reduce the peak demand of the resource, and where one or more of the run times start prior to when otherwise required to maintain corresponding local environments, but which still operate within the acceptable operating margin for the corresponding local environments.
US08457801B2
A method for defining one or more ANM zones in an electricity network that has at least one energy producing/consuming device that has an output that has to be regulated. The method comprises determining the maximum power and/or current transmittable to or from a node or branch in the network at which an energy producing/consuming device that has to be regulated is to be added; determining the maximum capacity of power and/or current transmittable through that node or branch; and defining a zone (zone 1, zone 2) including the node or branch and regulated energy producing/consuming device that requires to be actively managed, in the event that the maximum power and/or current transmittable to the node or branch exceeds the maximum capacity of power and/or current transmittable through it.
US08457799B2
An automatic gated-pipe actuator for controlling flow of an irrigation material to an agricultural region through an irrigation gate in a gated-irrigation pipe. The automatic gated-pipe actuator includes a gate valve for coupling to the gated-irrigation pipe, a gate actuator removably coupled to the gate valve and for actuating the gate valve and an automatic gated pipe gate control unit for controlling actuation of the gate valve. The control unit has a processor unit communicatively coupled to the gate actuator. Upon instruction from the gate control unit, the gate actuator will actuate and alter the disposition of the gate valve thereby altering the flow of irrigation material through the irrigation gate and to a portion of the agricultural region adjacent the irrigation gate.
US08457798B2
A long-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver-controller module configured to transmit and receive RF signals in one or more of the 433, 868, 915 MHz, and 2.4 and 5.8 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency bands is provided that is capable of consistently transmitting such signals over a range of 100 meters or more without line of sight, including underground. A wireless control system that comprises a plurality of the long-range RF transceiver-controller modules arranged in a distributed, ad hoc networking topography is also provided. The wireless control system has utility in a wide range of medical, industrial, agricultural, military and commercial applications, including, for example, the management of irrigation systems, manufacturing processes, security systems, sewage treatment and handling systems, hospital management systems.
US08457790B2
A robot is characterized by an external measurement device. The robot generates a first point cloud of data. The external measurement device generates a second point cloud of data. These two points clouds are analyzed to determine an accuracy of the robot.
US08457785B2
The present invention relates to a system for dispensing bags, particularly plastic bags, one at a time, particularly for use in stores and shopping areas. The system has an actuator for actuating a bag dispenser to dispense a single bag at a time. The actuator is coupled to a controller, which may be the controller of an electronic cash register or a store controller, for two-way communication, permitting control of the total number of bags dispensed to each customer. If desired, the rate at which the bags are dispensed can also be set and controlled. According to one embodiment, the system can also hold advertising material or other informational or aesthetic displays, and may include a media player for displaying advertising material aimed at the specific customer.
US08457784B2
A container for use in a dispensing system is disclosed. The container comprises a body, a linkage element movably attached to the body, a control module, and an actuator comprising a memory wire having a length and a terminator that is attached to the memory wire. The linkage element has a first position and a second position, and the actuator is mechanically coupled to the linkage element. The control module is attached to the body and comprises a contact element. The terminator is attached to the body and electrically coupled to the contact element, wherein the electrical coupling between the memory wire and the contact element is mechanically compliant such that the position of the terminator relative to the body is invariant when the position of the control module relative to the body varies.
US08457778B2
A robotic tape library which queues two or more move instructions is described. Generally, the robotic system receives a first move instruction which commands a first robot to move a first tape cartridge from a shelf to a first tape drive to be loaded therein. Though the first move has not actually taken place, the library replies to the host computer that the first tape drive has been loaded with the first tape cartridge, at least to an acceptable level of engagement, at which point, the first move instruction is queued. After receiving a second move instruction from the host to move a second tape cartridge from the shelf to a second tape drive, the library reorganizes and physically carries out the move instructions in a preferred order.
US08457776B2
The invention relates to a method and a system for material transport, whereby at least one mobile transport means is detected by means of a detection device, comprising a radar or laser detecting device. Position coordinates, position angles and speed of the transport means are determined by means of a reference coordinate system and transmitted to a stationary data processing device. A central material tracking with verification of storage location is generated by means of the data processing device, whereby, particularly with use of the positing angle, the storage type for the material can be automatically determined. Operator input for the complete description of the material storage is not necessary.
US08457774B2
To perform a maintenance work safely by a maintenance engineer, even if the maintenance work is performed with power of a substrate processing apparatus turned-on. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a controller that inhibits a shift from an idling state to a standby state, when a generation of a prescribed event is detected; the controller further comprising: a shift indicating part that controls an apparatus state so as to be shifted from the idling state possible to receive an indication of execution of the recipe, being an apparatus state possible to step into the substrate processing apparatus, to the standby state possible to execute a recipe, being an apparatus state impossible to step into the substrate processing apparatus; and an event detection part that detects a generation of the prescribed event for inhibiting a shift from the idling state to the standby state and notifies the shift indicating part of the prescribed event.
US08457773B2
A method of manufacturing a manifold assembly (22) in accordance with specifications required by a mold is provided. The method includes selecting a manifold (22) from a predetermined set of manifolds (22) and sub-manifolds (24) selected from a predetermined set of sub-manifolds (24). Both the manifolds (22) and the sub-manifolds (24) are at least partially manufactured to define first and second portions of the melt channels (28). Injection nozzles (26) are also selected for each sub-manifold (24), defining third portions of the melt channels (28). The manifold (22), the at least one sub-manifold (24) and the injection nozzles (26) are arranged and assembled together so that the first portions, the second portions and the third portions of the melt channels (28) cooperatively define the melt channels (28) operable to direct a melt material to gates located in the mold. The invention further includes a manifold assembly manufactured using the methods described herein.
US08457762B2
An electrode bundle for implantation in soft tissue comprises two or more electrodes aligned in parallel. Each electrode comprises an electrode element, an anchoring element joined to the electrode element at a portion intermediate between the front end and the rear end thereof and a means bundling the electrodes disposed between the anchoring element and the rear end. The anchoring element forms an angle α from 0° to 6° with the electrode element and extends in the direction of the rear end thereof. Also disclosed is a stack of electrode bundles, methods for insertion of the bundle and the stack into soft tissue, and their uses.
US08457753B2
The present invention is a method of improving the contrast of electrical neural stimulation and expanding the dynamic range for brightness, and specifically a method of improving the contrast of an image supplied to the retina, or visual cortex, through a visual prosthesis. The background brightness for a blind subject is often not perfectly black, but a dark gray or brown. When stimulating visual neurons in the retina, low current stimulation tends to create a dark percept, the perception of a phosphene darker than the background brightness level perceived in the un-stimulated state. The human retina contains neurons that signal light increments (“on” cells) and neurons that signal light decrements (“off” cells). In a healthy retina, the on cells tend to fire in response to an increase in light above the background level, while the off cells tend to fire in response to a decrease in light below the background level.
US08457739B2
A method and apparatus for controlling an atrial overdrive pacing therapy include detecting an atrial arrhythmia episode and determining if the atrial arrhythmia episode is an early recurring episode. Delivery of the atrial overdrive pacing therapy is enabled in response to the early recurring episode and commences upon detection of an atrial arrhythmia episode or a long pause.
US08457735B2
A therapeutic device for application to a user's body in order to effect transcutaneous nerve and/or muscle stimulation, includes a conductive flexible member having a top side and a bottom side, a first electrode disposed in the member and connectable with external electrical apparatus for establishing a current distribution through the member and into the user's body, a second electrode disposed in the member and connectable with external electrical apparatus for establishing an electric field within the member in order control the current distribution through the member and into the user's body; and a conductive adhesive disposed on the conductive member bottom side for adhering the device to a the user's body.
US08457733B2
Systems and methods for monitoring cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) based on electrical impedance measurements are disclosed. The systems can include an excitation source of alternating current (202), at least two sensor electrodes (212,214) adapted for disposition within CSF in a ventricle of a subject's brain, and an impedance measuring device (204) electrically connected to the sensor electrodes (212,214) to measure impedance of CSF. Methods for controlling hydrocephalus are also disclosed and such methods can include the steps of disposing an impedance sensor (902) within CSF in a ventricle of a subject's brain, measuring impedance of the CSF with the sensor (902), and withdrawing CSF when the impedance measurement is less than a threshold value.
US08457730B2
A computerized method for determining a test subject's (TS) hearing threshold (HT). An acoustic stimulus (AS, 102) is applied the test subject's (TS) ear. The stimulus intensity is increased during a ramp, with a predetermined dependency on time, such that the intensity begins below the hearing threshold and ends above it. The test subject's brain response (104), which includes a transient brain response (TR)1 is non-invasively recorded during the ramp section. The stimulus-response cycle is repeated several times. The recorded brain responses and stored a-priori information on transient brain response to the acoustic stimulus are used to determine a combined time interval between the acoustic stimulus and the transient brain response. The test subject's hearing threshold is determined based on the predetermined dependency on time of the intensity during the ramp and the combined time interval between the acoustic stimulus and the transient brain response.
US08457728B2
A medical device system and method for monitoring a cardiac signal in a patient senses ventricular R-waves and computes a morphology metric of an R-wave and a corresponding preceding morphology metric of a preceding R-wave. One of a difference and a ratio of the R-wave morphology metric and the preceding R-wave morphology metric is compared to an established detection threshold for discriminating premature ventricular contractions from premature atrial contractions. A cardiac signal measurement is computed from the sensed R-waves in response to detecting a premature ventricular comparison based on the comparison.
US08457722B2
Devices and methods for measuring body fluid-related metric using spectrophotometry that may be used to facilitate diagnosis and therapeutic interventions aimed at restoring body fluid balance. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a device for measuring a body-tissue water content metric as a fraction of the fat-free tissue content of a patient using optical spectrophotometry. The device includes a probe housing configured to be placed near a tissue location which is being monitored; light emission optics connected to the housing and configured to direct radiation at the tissue location; light detection optics connected to the housing and configured to receive radiation from the tissue location; and a processing device configured to process radiation from the light emission optics and the light detection optics to compute the metric where the metric includes a ratio of the water content of a portion of patient's tissue in relation to the lean or fat-free content of a portion of patient's tissue.
US08457694B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting a function key of a mobile communication terminal. The apparatus includes a flexible printed circuit for electrically connecting a plurality of function keys to the mobile communication terminal, wherein the flexible printed circuit is conformable to a shape of a mounting space the plurality of function keys are mounted in, and a plurality of supporting members, wherein each supporting member corresponds to at least one of the plurality of function keys for supporting the at least one of the plurality of function keys within the mounting space, wherein the flexible printed circuit connects the plurality of supporting members to each other by attaching to a surface of the supporting members.
US08457685B1
A radio frequency (RF) circuit including control circuitry adapted to select one of multiple modes, including a first transmit mode and a first receive mode. The first receive circuitry is coupled to a first node, and the first node is coupled to a first antenna. During the first receive mode the first receive circuitry is adapted to receive a first RF input signal having a first receive frequency. First power amplifier circuitry including a first final stage provides a first RF output signal having a first transmit frequency for transmission from the first antenna during the first transmit mode. First impedance transformation circuitry is coupled between an output of the first final stage and the first node. During the first receive mode the first final stage is disabled and the first final stage and the first impedance transformation circuitry present a substantially high impedance to the first node.
US08457683B2
In the method for establishing communication to a remote terminal from the mobile terminal operating in dual mode, the terminal considers a contact corresponding to the remote terminal. The contact has a string of characters including an identification field containing an identifier of the remote terminal and a description field containing at least one character corresponding to a category to which the identifier contained within the identification field belongs. The terminal analyzes the string of characters. The terminal considers the value of the description field. A rule for establishing communication corresponding to the value is determined. The value of the identification field is considered. A request to establish communication in accordance with the rule is sent to the remote terminal.
US08457682B2
A method and an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention includes a controller to process a travel assistance request for communication through a satellite and terrestrial mobile communication network. Data related to multiple assistance providers can be received in response to the request. At least one criterion can be processed for the assistance providers based on, for example, historical trip data. The assistance providers can be graphically represented for user selection based on the criterion. Data related to a selected assistance provider can be displayed, including navigation data to and/or from the assistance provider. In another embodiment, the travel assistance request can be communicated to a service center through the network. The service center can communicate data related to an assistance provider, including navigation data to and/or from the assistance provider. A rating of the assistance provider can be communicated to a specified community-of-interest through the network.
US08457678B2
The present invention relates to a method for balancing the distribution of interference between radio cells in a wireless communication system comprising cells in which subcarrier blocks are used for communication. A number of adjacent cells build a cell cluster. Moreover, the present invention relates to a corresponding method adapted for use in a system in which multi beam antennas or multiple antennas are used. Furthermore, the present invention relates to base stations performing the above method as well as a communication system comprising the base stations. To reduce the large average SIR variations without causing additional SIR estimation, measurement and calculation problem as introduced with power control the invention suggests to group subcarrier blocks into a plurality of subcarrier block sets in each cell of a cell cluster, to determine transmission power ranges for each of the cells of said cell cluster, and to assign transmission power ranges to the subcarrier block sets to perform TPC within the ranges.
US08457673B2
A method and apparatus for radio frequency (RF) fingerprint distribution is provided herein. In particular, when a mobile node wishes to access a restricted-access base station, the mobile node will access a database containing RF fingerprint identification information for the RF environment surrounding the restricted-access base station. When the RF environment matches the RF fingerprint, the mobile node will know that it can access the restricted-access base station.
US08457669B2
A system and method are provided for communicating calendar appointment acknowledgements to a sender from a recipient device, in particular a mobile communication device capable of receiving SMS messages. The sender creates a calendar object comprising calendar event data, designates a recipient, and selects a transport method for delivering the calendar event data. If the transport method is SMS, then a calendar object message in plaintext SMS format is prepared, comprising a unique identifier, and transmitted to the recipient. The recipient's mobile communication device receives the SMS message and parses the message to extract the calendar event data, and transmits an acknowledgement to the sender including the unique identifier.
US08457668B2
A method and system are provided for remotely deleting short message service messages stored on the remote mobile communication device, by initiating a delete command, or setting a message lifespan when creating a SMS message, from a sender mobile communication device.
US08457663B2
Embodiments of the invention related to a method for encapsulating phone numbers preferably using a token based framework and routing calls between users using such a token based framework, where the method comprises generating a set of tokens by a service provider for a phone number provided by the service provider, wherein the set of tokens comprise a generic token and a privacy token, the generic token maintained by the service provider and the privacy token distributed to a first user. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US08457662B2
Methods and systems for providing user names for network addresses in messages such as SMS, MMS and EMS are disclosed. A data base is provided for storage in a mobile device that associates a user name with at least a portion of a network address. A system is provided for a mobile device that converts the network address transmitted with the message into a user name and displays the message with the user name.
US08457661B2
Methods and systems for managing messaging are described. An illustrative messaging system includes a processor and a content database storing video content and/or other content, and a user database that stores an identifier corresponding to a telecommunications carrier associated with a user mobile phone, and an indicator indicating the messaging capability of the mobile phone of the user. Code is stored in memory that is configured to provide for display on a terminal a form via which a user can view a plurality of videos from the content database, select a video to be sent as a message, and specify a recipient for the video message. The system is optionally configured to initiate the transmission of an approval request message to a terminal, such as a mobile phone associated with the user, wherein the user can approve the sending of the video message to the recipient by taking an action in response to the approval request.
US08457658B2
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal which transfers or receives data, including location information, in various ways, and a method of transferring or receiving data using the same.
US08457652B2
A mobile computing device, comprising processing components, memory components, a wireless receiver/transmitter, and an agent stored in the memory components. The agent is adapted to determine a pattern in data received and requested by the mobile computing device, determine a pattern in a location of the mobile computing device, and request to receive data based on (i) the pattern in the data received and requested by the mobile computing device, and (ii) the pattern in the location of the mobile computing device.
US08457649B2
A method for mitigating interference at a small base station in a hierarchical cell structure is provided. In the method, the small base station checks a sub-frame allocated to macro user equipment by using a downlink signal received from a macro base station when an interference candidate user equipment list is received. The interference candidate user equipment list contains information on the macro user equipment adjacent to a femto cell controlled by the small base station. Then the small base station allocates other sub-frame to femto user equipment located in the femto cell by avoiding the sub-frame allocated to the macro user equipment.
US08457647B2
The invention discloses a method (400) for use in a first node (110) in a wireless access communication system (100). According to the method, the first node controls (405) traffic to and from users, UEs (120), within a certain area in the system, a cell, and the first node is equipped (410) with a plurality of transmit antennas (111,113). The first node can employ (415) a variety of multi antenna transmit modes for down link transmissions, i.e. transmissions to the UEs, and the first node can carry (420) out a so called Random Access (RA) procedure with UEs which do not have a dedicated up link resource, i.e. a resource to the eNodeB. According to the method, one and the same down link multi antenna transmit mode is used by the first node during the RA procedure.
US08457644B2
Systems and methods for planning a wireless network are disclosed. Attributes of the wireless network may be determined from minimal information. For instance, based on a specified coverage area and network usage information, and without operating frequency information, base station equipment models may be determined. An estimated number of base stations to deploy the network also may be determined. Also, a geographic extent of the network for regulatory compliance and acquisition of spectrum use rights may be determined.
US08457638B2
In a mobile communication method according to the present invention includes the steps of: transmitting, from a handover source radio base station to a swithcing center, a handover request including an NCC, a PCI and a KeNB*; changing, at the swithcing center, the NCC, changing, at the swithcing center, the KeNB* on the basis of the PCI, and transmitting, from the swithcing center to the handover target radio base station, the handover request including the changed NCC and the changed KeNB*; generating, at the handover target radio base station, a first key on the basis of the KeNB*; and generating, at the mobile station, the first key on the basis of the NCC and the PCI included in a handover command.
US08457635B2
The invention relates to a method for a handover of a mobile node from a non-3GPP to a 3GPP network, and of a mobile node, which is located in a non-3GPP/3GPP network. The handover is improved by discovering an appropriate MME and registering the mobile node at the discovered MME, in advance. This includes to first determine the location of the mobile node in the non-3GPP network, so as to be able to detect an MME in the vicinity of the mobile node's location. The 3GPP contexts are then transmitted to the new MME before the handover is performed. Moreover, the invention teaches to change the Serving-Gateway in the 3GPP network before performing a handover, thereby accelerating the handover. When a handover gets likely, the mobile node's location is determined and a new Serving-Gateway is selected. The data path is changed to go via the new Serving-Gateway.
US08457633B1
During a call, a radio access network (RAN) may substantially simultaneous communicate with a wireless communication device (WCD) via multiple wireless coverage areas. The number of wireless coverage areas used for this substantially simultaneous communication may vary based on the call type. Thus, for instance, if the call type is a real-time call type, the RAN may use more wireless coverage areas when communicating with the WCD to improve the quality of the call. But, if the call type is a non-real-time call type, the RAN may use fewer wireless coverage areas when communicating with the WCD so that wireless resources are conserved.
US08457627B2
The Traffic Scheduling System executes a multi-step process first to identify the bandwidth intensive traffic. The identification of the bandwidth intensive traffic is effected at the stream level by measuring the byte volume of the stream over a predetermined period of time and using this data to classify the stream into one of a plurality of usage categories. The classification of bandwidth intensive traffic is network neutral in that all data is classified at the stream level (source IP, destination IP, source port, destination port). Otherwise, the data is not inspected. Once streams have been classified by the Traffic Scheduling System, the Bandwidth Intensive and Near Real Time traffic can be controlled by a simple Traffic Shaping process executed by the Traffic Scheduling System, using a traffic management parameter such as via the Round-Trip Time of the next higher priority queue, in the set of queues.
US08457626B2
A computer-implemented method for aggregating and disseminating tag data is provided. The method includes receiving a tag generated at a particular time from a particular mobile device. Data indicative of a particular location of the particular mobile device is received corresponding to the particular time. The tag is associated with the location indicative data of the particular mobile device. Data indicative of a location of one or more other mobile devices is received, and data indicative of the tag is transmitted to the one or more other mobile devices in response to the location indicative data of the one or more other mobile devices corresponding to the location indicative data of the particular mobile device.
US08457624B2
A radio link timeout procedure for call re-establishment is provided. A mobile station receives signals over a wireless link, determines whether there is a potential call re-establishment as defined by at least one condition, and decides whether radio link failure has occurred on the basis of the signals received over the wireless link such that while there is a potential for call re-establishment as defined by the at least one condition, a decision that a radio link failure has occurred is made earlier than if there is no potential for call re-establishment.
US08457620B2
One illustrative technique for use in a mobile device having a visual display includes monitoring an operating temperature at the device and, when the monitored operating temperature is greater than a first threshold temperature, allowing only emergency communication and providing a visual indication indicating that only emergency communication is allowed.
US08457618B2
A method for preventing random access by a mobile station with outdated system information includes, in the mobile station, receiving system information earlier than a time instant at which the system information become effective, determining that a current time is within a new access blocking offset before the time instant at which the system information becomes effective, and delaying random access at least until the time instant at which the system information becomes effective.
US08457617B2
A system and method for locating a wireless accessory. User input to search for the wireless accessory is received. A determination is made whether a signal is received from the wireless accessory. Location information is displayed to a user in response to detecting the signal from the wireless accessory.
US08457607B2
A system for targeting advertising content includes the steps of: (a) receiving respective requests for advertising content corresponding to a plurality of mobile communication facilities operated by a group of users, wherein the plurality includes first and second types of mobile communication facilities with different rendering capabilities; (b) receiving a datum corresponding to the group; (c) selecting from a first and second sponsor respective content based on a relevancy to the datum, wherein each content includes a first and second item requiring respective rendering capabilities; (d) receiving bids from the first and second sponsors; (e) attributing a priority to the content of the first sponsor based upon a determination that a yield associated with the first sponsor is greater than a yield associated with the second sponsor; and (f) transmitting the first and second items of the first sponsor to the first and second types of mobile communication facilities respectively.
US08457599B2
Disclosed is a method for establishing a data connection for a remote station. In the method, a wireless network capable of establishing a data connection is found. Based on determining that the remote station is a non-subscribing remote station that does not have an existing subscription relationship that supports establishment of a data connection using the wireless network, an initial connection identity (ICI) value is sent to the wireless network, wherein the ICI value includes a characteristic associated with a non-subscribing remote station. An authentication inquiry is received from the wireless network in response to the sent. ICI value. A response value, responsive to the authentication inquiry, is generated in accordance with pseudo-authentication information associated with the ICI value. The response value is sent to the wireless network for allowing establishment of a data connection between the remote station and the wireless network.
US08457596B2
A mobile communication device that may be used by an investigator to secretly record a suspect and track the investigator's location includes a microphone for detecting sounds, a communication component for transmitting signals or data representative of the sounds to one of the portable computers via the wireless communication network, a display for displaying information related to operation of the device, a computing device, and a computer program implemented by the computing device. The computer program is operable to place the device in a stealth mode in which the display is turned off or otherwise deactivated to make the entire device appear to be turned off while the microphone continues to detect sounds and the communication component continues to transmit signals or data representative of the sounds to a surveillance or support team operating one of the portable computers. The mobile communication device may also include a location-determining component for determining geographic locations of the device and for transmitting location data to the portable computer.
US08457595B2
A system and method is provided for processing and storing captured data in a wireless communication device based on detected biometric event data. The captured data may be acquired through a data acquisition system with devices or sensors in an integrated or distributed configuration. The captured data may include multimedia data of an event with time, date and/or location stamping, and captured physiological and behavioral biometric event data in response to the event. The captured data may be dynamically stored in a data binding format or as raw data in a local host device or communicated externally to be stored in a remote host or storage. At least one user preference may be specified for linking a biometric event data to the mapped, analyzed, categorized and stored captured data in a database. Captured data may be retrieved by matching biometric event data to at least one user preference from the database.
US08457593B2
Information processing device, communication system, and billing method for wireless terminal device
An information processing device includes: a detecting unit configure to detect, with regard to a plurality of wireless terminal devices sharing a usage right of subscription authentication information relating to a mobile network operator which provides wireless connection services, transfer of the usage right among the wireless terminal devices; and a calculating unit configured to, in the event that transfer of the usage right is detected, calculate fees relating to the subscription authentication information occurring after the transfer, based on billing information set for the wireless terminal device to which the usage right has been transferred.
US08457590B2
A monitoring center notifies emergency broadcast request information specifying its broadcast area to a prescribed emergency broadcast processing apparatus when any sensor detects an abnormality and determines that an emergency broadcast is needed. When acquiring the emergency broadcast request information transmitted from a plurality of monitoring centers, the processing apparatus grasps contents specified in the request information to notify information necessary for the emergency broadcast to a broadcast station covering an objective area. When a request instruction for the emergency broadcast is issued, the broadcast station arranges contents of emergency information in free areas in a broadcast format, arranges control information to start receivers in the objective area and also automatically select a channel at a defined position in the broadcast format to create an emergency broadcast signal and multiplexes it with a normal broadcast signal to broadcast it.
US08457589B2
An alarm system includes a mobile terminal and an alarm controller. The alarm controller is configured to communicate with the mobile terminal, to attempt a call to a monitoring service using a first communication technique responsive to detection of an alarm condition, and to attempt a call to the monitoring service using the mobile terminal if the call attempt using the first communication technique is unsuccessful.
US08457585B2
A noise reduction method is disclosed that uses numerical logic to estimate the value of the noise in a receive system and remove the noise. A surrogate probe value is selected and subtracted from an input signal and an iterative process selects a noise probe value for each iteration and the respective noise probe values are summed resulting in a noise estimate that is combined with the input signal.
US08457569B2
An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a transceiver, an antenna tuner connecting said transceiver to an antenna, a power sensor adapted to acquire measurements about transmit power, a receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) adapted to acquire measurements about receive power and wherein said tuner tunes said antenna based upon said transmit and receive measurements to optimize said antenna in both the receive and transmit bands.
US08457558B2
A method of transmitting a capture image for an information processing apparatus comprising a communication module configured to execute close proximity wireless transfer. The method may include establishing connection between the communication module and an external device. The method may also include generating image data for a screen displayed on a display device and transmitting the generated image data to the external device when a “Get default object” command defined in a push protocol class of an object exchange (OBEX) protocol for requesting acquisition of a default object is received from the external device in a state where connection between the communication module and the external device is established, the “Get default object” command comprising a parameter for indicating an attribute of requested data as images.
US08457554B2
Methods and systems for wireless communication are disclosed and may include controlling one or more scans of a received signal detection frequency across a frequency range and storing a magnitude of the received signal at each frequency where the magnitude exceeds a threshold level. A type of one or more signals in the received signal may be determined based on a bandwidth of the signals. A Bluetooth page/inquiry scan may be initiated if the determined type is a page/inquiry signal, and scans may be continued if the determined type may not be a page/inquiry signal. The scans may be repeated on a periodic basis and may be controlled utilizing a voltage controlled oscillator. Each of the scans may include a plurality of discrete frequency steps or a continuous frequency ramp. The controlling may include a start frequency, an end frequency and a frequency step size for the scans.
US08457551B2
There is provided a communication device including: a high frequency coupler; a band-pass filter; a switching mechanism that switches an electrical length a transmission line between the high frequency coupler and the band-pass filter; a communication unit that receives hardware information of other end of communication before establishing a communication connection; and a control unit that controls switching of the electrical length of the transmission line according to the received hardware information of the other end of communication by using the switching mechanism with or after establishing a communication connection.
US08457549B2
Systems and methodologies for employing a multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) relay protocol with self-interference cancellation in a wireless communication environment are provided herein. Data streams sent between user device(s) and base station(s) can traverse through a relay. Further, a decode and forward protocol can be employed by the relay rather than merely amplifying and forwarding the data streams. Moreover, each user device can listen to and decode data stream(s) sent by other user device(s) to the relay, and these decoded data stream(s) can be utilized for interference cancellation. Further, the user device(s) and the base station(s) can employ self-interference cancellation upon signals received from the relay. According to another example, an adaptive relay power allocation algorithm, which enhances power efficiency, can be leveraged by the relay for transmitting signals to the user device(s) and the base station(s).
US08457547B2
A magnetic induction (MI) repeater includes first and second coils configured to have the same resonance frequency and to be substantially isolated from one another, and an amplifier connected to the first and second coils and configured to receive a signal induced in the first coil by a first magnetic field and output, via the second coil, a second magnetic field based on the signal, wherein the second magnetic field is amplified relative to the first magnetic field.
US08457546B2
Systems and methods are provided to enable high-performance Internet access on board moving vehicles using WiFi data communication protocols. In an illustrative implementation, an exemplary wireless data communications environment comprises a ViFi module, an instruction set comprising at least one instruction set to process data for wireless communication between a cooperating component onboard a moving vehicle and other cooperating wireless components, and one or more wide-area wireless communications links. In an illustrative operation, the ViFi module can perform one or more wireless communications techniques to exploit macro-diversity and opportunistic receptions by cooperating WiFi base stations to minimize disruptions for mobile clients. The exemplary ViFi module can communicate data to and from one or more cooperating WiFI base stations such that the one or more base stations can operatively opportunistically overhear a packet, and can probabilistically relay the packet to the intended next hop.
US08457543B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a sheet of recording media, an image reading unit to read image data of an original document, disposed above the image forming unit, a sheet discharge space defined by the image reading unit and the image forming unit and disposed therebetween, a discharge port formed in a first inner side wall of a main body of the image forming apparatus, through which the sheet is discharged into the sheet discharge space, a positioning member to position and detachably mount a positioning member to position and detachably mount an auxiliary unit adjacent to the discharge port in the sheet discharge space.
US08457531B2
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers, a plurality of developing units configured to contact each of the plurality of image carriers to develop a latent image formed on each of the plurality of image carriers, a contact and separation unit configured to perform contact and separation of the plurality of image carriers and the plurality of developing units, a drive unit that drives the contact and separation unit, and a control unit that controls a drive speed of the drive unit so that the plurality of developing units are separated from the plurality of image carriers after the development performed by the plurality of developing units is completed, and the control unit controls the drive speed so that a last developing unit is separated after completion timing of development performed by the last developing unit and before separation timing of the last developing unit.
US08457520B2
An image-forming device may include a main body, a developing unit, a transferring unit, and a tray. In some examples, the developing unit may include a developer-accommodating section that accommodates developer and a photosensitive member on which an electrostatic latent image is formed. The developing unit may further include a developer-carrying member to develop the electrostatic latent image. The tray may enable the developing unit to move between a contact position and a separate position.
US08457518B1
An image forming apparatus includes a casing; an endless belt; a cleaning unit configured to collect a waste toner remaining on the endless belt; a first cartridge including a first accommodating portion to accommodate toner to be supplied to a first photosensitive member; a second cartridge including a second accommodating portion to accommodate toner to be supplied to a second photosensitive member, and a waste toner retainer to accommodate waste toner collected by the cleaning unit; a waste toner conveying unit configured to convey the waste toner collected by the cleaning unit to the waste toner retainer; and a moving member configured to support the first cartridge, the second cartridge, and the cleaning unit, the moving member being movable in a first direction from an inner position in the casing to an outer position out of the casing. The second cartridge is positioned at an upper stream position than a position of the first cartridge in the first direction when the moving member supports the first cartridge, the second cartridge, and the cleaning unit. And, the cleaning unit is positioned at a lower stream position than a position of the first cartridge when the moving member supports the first cartridge, the second cartridge, and the cleaning unit.
US08457512B2
Disclosed are a fusing unit capable of a variable fusing pressing force, a control method thereof and an image forming apparatus employing the same. The fusing pressing force may be selectively varied so as to apply a lesser force at the initial stage of the operation of the fusing unit, and may be increased to a desired level of force suitable for fusing operation so as to minimize excessive torque in a driving motor that rotationally drives the fusing device.
US08457508B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a developing housing that accommodates a developer for developing an electrostatic latent image into a developer image; a developer carrier, which carries the developer in the developing housing, and which supplies the developer to the image carrier; a developing bias supply part that supplies a developing bias to the developer carrier; a remaining quantity calculation part that calculates a remaining quantity of the developer in the developing housing; a deterioration grade storage part that stores a relationship between the remaining quantity of the developer in the developing housing and a deterioration degree of the developer caused by the developing operation; and a developing bias setting part that sets a value of the developing bias in accordance with the remaining quantity calculated by the remaining quantity calculation part and the relationship stored in the deterioration grade storage part.
US08457488B2
A system for serving N optical communication lines by a redundant set of modules in an optical network; where the set of modules comprises N>1 main modules and one backup module, N optical splitters, 2N fiber connections and a control means. In the system, each of the N optical splitters is connected to two different modules of the set by two respective fiber connections out of the 2N connections, while each of the N optical splitters is also coupled to one of the N optical communication lines. The arrangement is such that the control means selectively activates/inactivates any of the fiber connections for respectively enabling/blocking transfer of data there-along; the control means thus ensures that each specific line of the N optical communication lines is always served by either one or another of two different modules.
US08457480B1
A photography station operates to capture digital images of a subject with at least one digital camera. The photography station includes foreground lighting and background lighting. The foreground lighting is configured to illuminate the subject, while the background lighting is configured to illuminate a background. The photography station includes a computing device having a setup module operable to perform tests to check a configuration of the photography station, and a photography module operable to capture digital images of the subject with the digital camera. In some embodiments, the tests performed by the setup module include a plurality of initial checking operations and a plurality of background processing operations.
US08457476B2
A multimedia signal processing system utilizes an easily manipulated, low-cost storage and display system that allows the user to view a television program and instantly review previous scenes within the program. The invention also allows the user to store selected programs while simultaneously watching or reviewing another. A versatile system architecture enables providing the invention in multiple configurations, each adapted to receive input signals from a different source. At the highest level, the system includes an input section and an output section. Across all configurations, the output section remains substantially the same, while the input section varies according to the signal type and the source. Thus, several configurations are provided, each one requiring only minor system board modifications. The system architecture thus simplifies the design and manufacturing challenge presented by producing units to serve different markets, such as digital satellite, digital cable and analog cable.
US08457468B2
The invention concerns a method for embedding video annotation data into a coded video stream. The method comprises the step of —encapsulating said video annotation data into a unit, so-called video annotation unit, of the coded video data stream which format corresponds to at least one format used for sending the associated video data, —inserting an identifiable synchronizing code enabling the identification of said video annotation unit into the video data stream.
US08457462B2
A multi-core optical fiber includes: a plurality of core portions; and a cladding portion positioned around the plurality of core portions and including, in a cross section of the cladding portion, a flat portion in at least a part of an outer periphery of the cladding portion and a remaining portion of the outer periphery that is circular, the cross section being perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the cladding portion.
US08457454B1
An optical multi-chip module (MCM) is provided. A printed circuit board (PCB) overlies a package bottom and has die contact regions, each having at least one electrical interface. A first die contact region is formed in a PCB top surface recess, and an optical component die has a bottom surface with an area about matching the PCB top surface recess. The optical component die has an optical port with microlens. An electrical component die has a bottom surface with at least one electrical interface connected to the second die electrical interface, which is connected to the first die electrical interface via a PCB trace. A wire bond is connected between the electrical component die and a package interconnection lead. A cover assembly connector has an optical port with a microlens, configured to communicate with the optical component die optical port, and a fiber port to accept an optical fiber.
US08457446B2
An image retrieval apparatus includes a designation unit configured to designate a query area of an image based on a user's designation operation, a display unit configured to display an area where a local feature amount is difficult to be extracted in the query area designated by the designation unit as a feature non-extractable area, and a retrieval unit configured to retrieve, based on a local feature amount extracted from an area which is not displayed as the feature non-extractable area in the query area by the display unit, image feature data with which a local feature amount and the image are associated and which is stored in a storage device.
US08457445B2
An image-scaling-down method for scaling down a pixel block of an image component is provided. The pixel block includes a plurality of sub-blocks and each sub-block includes m number of non-processed pixel data where m is a positive integer. The image-scaling-down method comprises: determining a scaling down factor wherein m divided by n is the scaling down factor and n is a positive integer less than m; and calculating n number of processed pixel data in each sub-block by using the scaling down factor and the m number of the non-processed pixel data, wherein the combination of the n number of the processed pixel data of the sub-blocks corresponds to the image component.
US08457440B1
A method for coherence noise filtering in an optical coherence tomography system comprises generating a background image containing coherence noise, generating a sample image, generating composite pixel values from pixel values in the background image based on the mean pixel values from lines in the background image, and subtracting the composite pixel values from complex pixel values in the sample image.
US08457439B2
A system and method of the present disclosure provides a region based error diffusion algorithm or function for reducing artifacts in images. The system and method utilizes knowledge of a region of interest (ROI) in an image and applies effects like dithering or error diffusion to the area or region that shows the artifacts, e.g., a banding phenomenon. The system and method provide for defining a region in at least one first image, the defined region having at least one artifact, tracking the defined region to at least one second image, and applying an error diffusion function to the defined region to mask the at least one artifact in the at least one first and second images.
US08457433B2
Methods and systems for image noise filtering are provided. One method of image noise filtering includes generating a plurality of sub-images of a digital image, applying a noise filter with small support to each sub-image, and generating a filtered digital image by merging the filtered sub-images. Another method of image noise filtering includes receiving a digital image including a plurality of color channels in the Bayer domain, applying a strong noise filter to each color channel to generate filtered color channels, computing a luminance image from the digital image, applying a weak noise filter to the luminance image to generate a filtered luminance image, computing a luminance recovery factor map using the luminance image and the filtered luminance image, and computing output color channels of the digital image using the filtered color channels and the luminance recovery factor map.
US08457432B2
Various embodiments create a source image from a web page and then process the source image effective to remove left and/or right border areas so that a reduced-size web page image created from the source image has a better chance of capturing relevant content for a viewer. In at least some embodiments, image processing techniques are utilized to identify repeating patterns of pixels along left and/or right border areas of a source image. The image processing techniques can process individual rows of pixels looking for patterns of pixel color values. Identified patterns of pixel color values are noted and then subsequently used to remove regions of the source image in which repeating patterns occur. Having removed these regions from a source image, the source image can be reduced in a manner directed to improving information density contained in a reduced-size web page image created from the source image.
US08457428B2
Even in a case where there are a plurality of syntax elements, the invention reduces influence of the number of syntax elements and realizes high-speed encoding. An apparatus comprises N number of codes generation units arranged in parallel, which are configured to generate codes, including one or more codes, based on a transform coefficient; N number of first code concatenation units arranged in parallel, each of which is configured to concatenate the codes, respectively generated by the N number of codes generation units, for generating a code stream; N number of storage units arranged in parallel, each of which is configured to store the N number of code streams inputted from the N number of first code concatenation units; and a second code concatenation unit configured to read each of the code streams, which are stored in the N number of storage units, and concatenate the read code streams.
US08457424B2
A method for testing a motion vector is described, which has: provision of at least one item of motion information assigned to the image sequence; storing a first image section of the first image in a first buffer memory and storing a second image section of the second image in a second intermediate memory, whereby a position of the first image section in the first image and a position of the second image section in the second image have reciprocal offset, which is dependent on the at least one item of motion information; determining a first image block in the first image section and a second image block in a second image section using the motion vector; comparing the contents of the first and of the second image block.
US08457418B2
A method includes receiving image data, generating a low-pass image and a high-pass image from the image data, applying dynamic range compression to the low-pass image and not the high-pass image, and adding the high-pass image to the low-pass image after dynamic range compression to create an output image.
US08457396B2
A method of compressing a digital image defined by a plurality of pixel values in each of one or more channels includes adjusting each pixel value in each of the one or more channels by an average pixel value for that channel. The method further includes splitting each adjusted channel into one or more image blocks, and converting each image block into a frequency block that is a frequency-domain representation of that image block.
US08457391B2
The invention discloses a detecting device for specific subjects and a learning device and method thereof. The detecting device for specific subjects includes an input unit, one or more strong classifying units, a storage unit and a judging unit, wherein the input unit is used for inputting images to be detected; the strong classifying units are used for carrying out strong classification to the image, each strong classifying unit includes one or more weak classifying units, and the weak classifying unit carries out weak classification to the image with a weak classifying template; the storage unit stores the weak classifying template used by the weak classifying unit; and the judging unit judges whether or not the image contains specific subjects according to the classification result of the strong classifying unit. The detecting device for specific subjects also includes an incremental sample input unit and a learning unit, wherein the incremental sample input unit is used for inputting data for incremental learning, namely for inputting an incremental learning sample, which is data undetected and wrongly detected by the detecting device or other detecting devices for specific subjects; the learning unit is used for updating the weak classifying template stored in the storage unit according to the incremental learning sample inputted by the incremental sample input unit.
US08457388B2
A method and a system for searching for a global minimum are provided. First, a subclass of a plurality of space points in a multidimensional space is clustered into a plurality of clusters through a clustering algorithm, wherein each of the space points is corresponding to an error value in an evaluation function. Then, ellipsoids for enclosing the clusters in the multidimensional space are respectively calculated. Next, a designated space corresponding to each of the ellipsoids is respectively inputted into a recursive search algorithm to search for a local minimum among the error values corresponding to the space points within each designated space. Finally, the local minimums of all the clusters are compared to obtain the space point corresponding to the minimum local minimum.
US08457377B2
Automated spine localizing, numbering and autoprescription system enhances correct location or diseased or injured tissue, even allow multi-spectral diagnosis. Externally located this tissue is facilitated by an integrated self adhesive spatial reference and skin marking system that is designed for a variety of modalities to include MRI, CT, SPECT, PET, planar nuclear imaging, radiography, XRT, thermography, optical imaging and 3D space tracking. The device ranges from a point localizer to a more multifunctional and complex grid/phantom system. The specially designed spatial reference(s) is affixed to an adhesive strip with corresponding markings so that after applying the unit to the skin/surface and imaging, the reference can be removed leaving the skin appropriately marked. The localizer itself can also directly adhere to the skin after being detached from the underlying strip. A spine autoprescription process performs image analysis that is able to identify vertebrae and discs even in the presence of abnormalities.
US08457373B2
A method for registering 2-dimensional (2D) images with 3-dimensional (3D) images includes receiving a 2D reference image and a 3D moving image, initializing a registration parameter matrix that rigidly transforms the domain of the moving image, randomly sampling a set of registration parameter matrices in a neighborhood of the initial registration parameters, estimating a cost function for each of the randomly sampled parameter matrices, calculating a distance from each randomly sampled parameter matrix to the initial registration parameter matrix, calculating a mean shift vector from the estimated cost functions and distance, and updating the initial registration parameter matrix from the mean shift vector.
US08457340B2
A narrow profile speaker unit comprises at least one speaker outputting sound towards an internal surface and through a duct with an output terminus, such as a slot, having a narrow dimension, effectively changing the cross-section of the speaker's audio output wave. A pair of speakers may face one another, outputting sound towards a common output slot. Multiple pairs of speakers may be used to form an inline speaker unit for increased sound output. A slotted speaker unit may include multiple speakers facing the same direction, towards a ground plane or reflecting surface, and having parallel apertures for allowing sound radiation. The speaker units may be integral with or attached to electronic appliances such as desktop computers or flatscreen devices, or may be used in automobiles or other contexts.
US08457339B2
A loudspeaker assembly includes a first shell, a second shell, and a loudspeaker embedded in the first shell. Together the first shell and the second shell enclose a sound chamber. At least one of the first shell and the second shell can be folded to adjust the size of the sound chamber.
US08457336B2
An in-canal hearing device includes a receiver, battery, and microphone assembly with a housing. The housing has an air and sound opening which is covered with a structure to inhibit the entry of cerumen and moisture. The structure may be in the form of an end cap having passages with walls which are both hydrophobic and oleophobic to prevent the entry of water, cerumen and other liquids. The structure may also include a flexible tube or a rigid perforated shell surrounding the passages that inhibit the deposition of solid cerumen and other debris onto the passages.
US08457335B2
There is provided an environment adaptive type hearing aid capable of reducing the erroneous estimation of an ambient environment or the unnecessary changeover of a hearing aid process. The environment adaptive type hearing aid includes an input section (110) that inputs an ambient sound, a scheduled environment referring section (180) having a scheduled environment table (270) to store a scheduled environment candidate corresponding to an ambient environment other than the ambient sound set in advance for the hearing aid, an environment estimating section (200) that estimates an ambient environment candidate of the hearing aid on the basis of the ambient sound and estimates an estimation ambient environment on the basis of the ambient environment candidate and the scheduled ambient environment candidate, a hearing ability compensation system determining section (220) that determines a compensation system for the hearing aid on the basis of the estimation ambient environment, a hearing ability compensating section (130) that processes the ambient sound on the basis of the determined compensation system, and an output section (150) that outputs the processed ambient sound as an output sound.
US08457329B2
A sub-console 1200 has a lower channel strip group 40 on a front panel 1202, and an upper channel strip group 42 on a rear panel 1206. Left and right displays 52 and 54 are provided between the upper and lower channel strip groups 42 and 40. Either one of the parameter of the upper and lower channel strip groups 42 and 40 is displayed on the left and right displays 52 and 54. With this structure, the width of the sub-console 1200 can be reduced, and the positional correspondence relationship between the respective channel strip groups and the left and right displays 52 and 54 can be maintained. Accordingly, a high operability can be realized.
US08457324B2
A directional sounder emits audible outputs in a first direction. Audible outputs in a second direction are canceled. Two transducers can be carried in a common housing configured to emit outputs in the first and second directions respectively.
US08457318B2
In service access networks having different key hierarchies that provide broadcast service to a mobile terminal, when switching from a first service access network, from which the mobile terminal receives the data of the broadcast service in an encrypted manner by a first data content encryption key, to a second service access network, from which the mobile terminal receives the data of the same broadcast service in an encrypted manner by a second data content encryption key, the mobile terminal receives a key of the hierarchy of the second service access network which is encrypted by a user-specific key of the first service access network.
US08457317B2
An archival storage cluster of preferably symmetric nodes includes a data privacy scheme that implements key management through secret sharing. In one embodiment, the protection scheme is implemented at install time. At install, an encryption key is generated, split, and the constituent pieces written to respective archive nodes. The key is not written to a drive to ensure that it cannot be stolen or otherwise compromised. Due to the secret sharing scheme, any t of the n nodes must be present before the cluster can mount the drives. Thus, to un-share the secret, a process runs before the cluster comes up. It contacts as many nodes as possible to attempt to reach a sufficient t value. Once it does, the process un-shares the secret and mounts the drives locally. Given bidirectional communication, this mount occurs more or less at the same time on all t nodes. Once the drives are mounted, the cluster can continue to boot as normal.
US08457315B2
Techniques for transmitting pilot and traffic data are described. In one aspect, a terminal may scramble its pilot with a scrambling sequence generated based on a set of static and dynamic parameters. The static parameter(s) have fixed value for an entire communication session for the terminal. The dynamic parameter(s) have variable value during the communication session. The terminal may generate a scrambling sequence by hashing the set of parameters to obtain a seed and initializing a PN generator with the seed. The terminal may then generate the pilot based on the scrambling sequence. In another aspect, the terminal may use different scrambling sequences for pilot and traffic data. A first scrambling sequence may be generated based on a first set of parameters and used to generate the pilot. A second scrambling sequence may be generated based on a second set of parameters and used to scramble traffic data.
US08457312B2
An apparatus in a video signal transmission system for measuring cable length and compensating for cable loss is described. A number of pilot signals of different frequencies are compressed into one of the three color signals during the vertical sync periods in a time-division manner. The vertical and horizontal sync signals are compressed into the other two color signals. The video signal is transmitted over a cable having at least three pairs of wires, each color signal being transmitted by one pair of wires. A pilot signal converting circuit obtains the levels of the pilot signals transmitted by the cable. A compensation control circuit averages the levels of the multiple pilot signals of different frequencies over a number of vertical sync periods, and generates compensation control signals based on the average level of the pilot signals. The compensation control signals are used to perform video signal compensation.
US08457311B1
In one aspect, a method includes: obtaining compressed video content within a video content processing module, a portion of a document structure of the compressed video content conforming to a predefined codec, the portion of the document structure including a plurality of video frames; decrypting the compressed video content in accordance with a digital rights management data encryption applied to the compressed video content; adding information in an extension frame associated with a portion of the document structure; and applying an encoding technique to content of one or more of the plurality of video frames after the decrypting, wherein the extension frame flags the applied encoding technique; and providing the compressed video content, including the encoded content, to a media player including a codec conforming to the predefined codec.
US08457310B2
A print system which are capable of inhibiting simultaneous use of the encrypted print and the box storage to thereby increase the security of print data. A host computer has an encryption function of encrypting print data, and issues a print job for the print data encrypted by the encryption function. A print server receives the issued print job, and has a decryption function of decrypting the encrypted print data of the received print job. A printer has a storage function of storing the print data decrypted by the decryption function, and outputs the stored print data. At least one of the host computer and the print server inhibits simultaneous use of the encryption function and the storage function.
US08457296B2
A system and method for processing multi-modal communications during a call session are provided. A call is received from a caller and assigned to an agent. A caller identification is assigned to the call. Voice communication from the call is processed and displayed. One or more text messages from the caller are received during the call. The caller identification is assigned to each of the text messages. The text messages are matched to the call using the caller identification and are displayed to the agent for review during the call.
US08457295B2
A call-ordering system and method enables convenient ordering in a call center transaction from a mobile phone. User profiles with identification data and a mobile phone number are matched to advertiser offers. Text messages are sent to the mobile phone numbers for matched users with a direct inward dialed (DID) number for response. Upon receiving an incoming call to the DID number from a responding user, an OfferRouter uses the caller and DID numbers to retrieve identification data for the user and offer data for the advertiser offer. The incoming call is then routed to a call center associated with the advertiser offer and the retrieved data are pushed to the call center's terminal system for pre-filling a transaction record for the offered item. The system may also be operated in tandem with a hotel guest registration system to register traveler profiles, the hotel's purchase management system to bill call center transactions to a guest's hotel bill, and the hotel's networked TV system to give guests an option to respond to an offer by using signals sent from the TV remote control unit to complete a transaction.
US08457288B2
Included are embodiments of systems and methods for providing information. At least one embodiment of such a method includes facilitating establishment of a communication between a user on a communications device and an interface server, the interface server being configured to provide data related to an information tree to the user, the information tree being configured with a plurality of options. Some embodiments include facilitating navigation of a user through the information tree and receiving a first version of a marker from the user, the marker being configured to mark at least one position in the information tree. Still some embodiments include associating the received first version of the marker with a position in the information tree.
US08457285B2
There is provided a communication device including a first communication unit configured to communicate with a first device having a telephone function through a first network; a second communication unit configured to communicate with a second device having a function of reproducing sound, through a second network; a data storage unit configured to store an incoming message as sound data; a sound data transmission unit configured to transmit the sound data to the second device in response to a request from the second device; a reproduction recordation unit configured to register the sound data which has been transmitted to the second device, as reproduced sound data; a reproduction judgment unit configured to judge whether the sound data is registered as reproduced sound data; and a sound data information transmission unit configured to transmit sound data information concerning the sound data judged not to be registered as reproduced sound data.
US08457282B2
An x-ray tube is described that includes components for increasing x-ray image clarity in the presence of a moving x-ray source by modifying focal spot characteristics, including focal spot size and focal spot position. In a first arrangement a static focal spot is moved in a direction contrary to the movement of the x-ray source so that an effective focal spot position is essentially fixed in space relative to one of the imaged object and/or detector during a tomosynthesis exposure. In a second arrangement, the size of the static focal spot is increased, and the resulting increase in tube current reduces the exposure time and concomitant blur effect. The methods may be used alone or in combination; for example an x-ray tube with a larger, moveable static focal spot will result in a system that fully utilizes the x-ray tube generator, provides a high quality image with reduced blur and, due to the decrease in exposure time, may scan the patient more quickly.
US08457281B2
A method for producing a multilayer coating (17) for reflecting radiation in the soft X-ray or EUV wavelength range on an optical element (8, 9) operated at an operating temperature (TOP) of 30° C. or more, including: determining an optical design for the multilayer coating (17) which defines an optical desired layer thickness (nOP dOP) of the layers (17.1, 17.2) of the multilayer coating (17) at the operating temperature (TOP), and applying the layers (17.1, 17.2) of the multilayer coating (17) with an optical actual layer thickness (nB dB) chosen such that a layer thickness change(nOP dOP−nB dB) caused by thermal expansion of the layers (17.1, 17.2) between the coating temperature (TB) and the operating temperature (TOP) is compensated for. Also provided are an associated optical element (8, 9) and a projection exposure apparatus having at least one such optical element (8, 9).
US08457280B2
An X-ray diffraction contrast tomography system (DCT) comprising a laboratory X-ray source (2), a staging device (5) rotating a polycrystalline material sample in the direct path of the X-ray beam, a first X-ray detector (6) detecting the direct X-ray beam being transmitted through the crystalline material sample, a second X-ray detector (7) positioned between the staging device and the first X-ray detector for detecting diffracted X-ray beams, and a processing device (15) for analysing detected values. The crystallographic grain orientation of the individual grain in the polycrystalline sample is determined based on the two-dimensional position of extinction spots and the associated angular position of the sample for a set of extinction spots pertaining to the individual grain.
US08457277B2
A radiosurgery system is configured to deliver a therapeutic dose of radiation to a target structure in a patient. The target tissues are placed in a global coordinate system based on ocular imaging. The target tissues inside the global coordinate system lead to direction of an automated positioning system that is directed based on the target tissues within the coordinate system. A treatment plan is utilized in which beam energy and direction and duration of time for treatment is determined for a specific disease to be treated and/or structures to be avoided. A fiducial marker is used to identify the location of the target tissues. The device automatically turns off with excessive movement outside of alignment along an axis of the eye. Radiodynamic therapy is described in which radiosurgery is used in combination with other treatments and can be delivered concomitant with, prior to, or following other treatments.
US08457272B2
At least one embodiment the present invention a plurality of unit circuits connected in multiple stages, to normal operation when the unit circuits are simultaneously turned on to output high-level output signals. When a shift register malfunctions, so that output signals provided by previous- and subsequent-stage unit circuits are simultaneously set to high level, malfunction restoration circuits and included in a unit circuit detect the malfunction in at least one embodiment. The malfunction restoration circuit provides a high voltage to a node, thereby forcibly pulling down an output signal. Also, the malfunction restoration circuit forcibly discharges another node, so that a charge accumulated in a capacitance is released. As a result, the shift register in malfunction can be instantaneously restored to normal operation. At least one embodiment of the present invention is suitable for driver circuits or suchlike of display devices and imaging devices.
US08457269B2
A clock and data recovery (CDR) architecture which includes a frequency detector, a phase detector, a phase charge pump circuit, a frequency charge pump circuit and a voltage controlled oscillator is provided. The phase detector is configured to only include four AND gates to receive and evaluate the intermediate signals, generated by the frequency detector, and accordingly generate a phase control signal. The voltage controlled oscillator is configured to output a plurality of clock signals with different phases according to the current signals outputted from the phase and frequency charge pump circuits, and select at least one of the plurality of clock signals with different phases for sampling a data signal.
US08457268B2
There is provided a communication system that includes master and slave communication ECUs. The master communication ECU sends a clock signal to a clock communication line, with which the communication ECUs synchronize with each other when sending and receiving data. The master and slave communication ECUs then receive the clock signal through the clock line. The ECUs use the received clock signal as a reference timing, which is designated as a transmission/reception reference, and send or receive data to/from data communication lines.
US08457261B1
Functionality can be implemented for automatic gain control (AGC) in a wireless network device to determine whether to change the gain of the wireless network device based on determining the strength of an RF signal. At various time instants, the strength of the RF signal can be compared against different thresholds to determine the presence of and severity of the saturation of the RF front end. The gain settings can be adjusted based on comparing the strength of the RF signal with a set of thresholds. This can help the wireless network device receive RF signals with little or no distortion, and can minimize RF saturation, gain compression, false detection and other performance degradation at the wireless network device.
US08457259B2
A method for partitioning gain for a wireless radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) is provided. The method includes receiving an overall gain at the RFIC from a baseband controller that is coupled to the RFIC. The overall gain is then partitioned in the RFIC.
US08457256B2
Methods and systems to compute likelihood measures of demodulated, complex-coordinate data points, to and dynamically scale the likelihood measures as a function of a channel statistic, and to decode the data points from the scaled likelihood measures. Likelihood measures may be computed relative to all points, or a subset of points of a reference constellation, such as a subset of one or more nearest constellation points. Likelihood measures may be scaled as a function of a channel frequency response variance amongst a plurality of carriers, such as carriers of an OFDM signal, and/or as a function of a channel impulse response variance.
US08457255B2
A method of improving sensitivity in the demodulation of a received signal by a receiver over an arbitrary measurement time epoch, said method comprising the steps of correlating said received signal with a local replica of pseudo noise code in a coherent fashion creating a correlation signal and utilizing a Viterbi phase state keying trellis demodulation with a variable resolution of phase states over 0 to 360° to demodulate the radio frequency phase trajectory of said correlation signal throughout the measurement time epoch for improving sensitivity in the demodulation of a received signal.
US08457251B2
A system and method for spreading and de-spreading a signal at an antenna. A Direct Spatial Antenna Modulation (DSAM) system makes use of the spatial characteristics of a radiating antenna structure to directly alter a signal transmitted or received by the radiating structure. When used for transmitting data, a data stream maps a signal to different spatial points of excitation in the antenna structure, where each chosen configuration has different radiating characteristics including phase, amplitude, and polarization, which can be used to represent data symbols. A code spreading sequence is applied to switch the output of the DSAM antenna to spatial points in the antenna to spread an input signal. The code spreading sequence is applied to an antenna to de-spread a previously spread signal. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this Abstract.
US08457247B2
In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for communicating main and auxiliary data over a transmission medium is provided, the method comprising: generating a low-frequency output pattern using a high-frequency oscillator, wherein the low-frequency output pattern contains the auxiliary data encoded in a first scheme, wherein the first scheme resembles an output pattern that would be generated by a low-frequency oscillator; sending the low-frequency output pattern through a transmitter to be transmitted over the transmission medium; generating a high-frequency signal using a high-frequency oscillator, wherein the high-frequency signal contains the main data encoded in a second scheme different than the first scheme; and sending the high-frequency signal through the transmitter to be transmitted over the transmission medium.
US08457237B2
A method of power control in a wireless communication system wherein blocks are transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver on multiple wireless transport channels. The method comprises comparing a target signal quality value with a received signal quality value and providing the results of the comparing step to the transmitter to adjust transmit power based on the comparing step. A corresponding receiver is also provided.
US08457230B2
A method and system for a reconfigurable orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) chip supporting single weight diversity are provided. The reconfigurable OFDM chip may be configured to process signals such as IEEE 802.11, 802.16, and digital video broadcasting (DVB). The OFDM chip may generate channel weights to be applied to signals received in receive antennas. The weighted signals may be combined into a single received signal and channel estimates may be generated from the single received signal. Updated channel weights may be generated from the generated channel estimates. Updates to the channel weights may be performed dynamically. The configurable OFDM chip may be utilized to provide collaborative cellular and OFDM-based communication. The reconfigurable OFDM chip and the cellular chip may communicate data and/or control information via a memory coupled to a common bus.
US08457219B2
Included are embodiments for self protection. At least one embodiment includes Self-protection Unit for protecting a signal that includes a first receiving component configured to receive data, the received data being received as at least one frame and a subframing component configured to subframe at least a portion of the received data, wherein subframing includes converting the at least one into a plurality of subframes. Some embodiments include a subframe interleaver component configured to interleave at least a portion of the subframes.
US08457213B2
A video system includes a decoder and a scaler. The decoder tracks a video signal, generates a synchronization signal and a frequency offset signal, decodes the video signal, and outputs a decoded signal in accordance with the synchronization signal. The scaler generates a frequency control signal in accordance with the frequency drift signal, generates an output clock signal in accordance with the frequency control signal, generates a scaled signal in accordance with the decoded signal, and outputs a display signal in accordance with the scaled signal and the output clock signal.
US08457209B2
An image decoding method includes decoding encoded image data to generate a decoded image signal including a luma signal and a chroma signal. The method further includes scaling, when a reference field is a top field while a current field is a bottom field for motion estimation and when the decoded image signal is in a format in which the number of chroma pixels is vertically different from the number of luma pixels, a chroma motion vector of the chroma signal by mv/2+¼, where mv is a vertical component in a luma motion vector of the luma signal. The method also includes performing motion compensation of the decoded image signal using the scaled chroma motion vector.
US08457201B2
The present invention relates to a method for conducting interlayer texture prediction in encoding or decoding of video signal. The present method constructs a pair of frame macro blocks from a single field macro block or vertically-adjacent two field macro blocks of a base layer, and using texture information of the constructed pair of frame macro blocks in interlayer texture predication of a pair of frame macro blocks of a current layer.
US08457196B2
The present invention relates to method for image visual effect improvement of video encoding and decoding. The method at an encoder comprises enhancement process of image boundary information, adaptive brightness transformation process, and adaptive enhancement process of chrominance information. The method at a decoder comprises adaptive enhancement of boundary information based on the block statistical characteristic, adaptive brightness transformation process, and adaptive enhancement process of the chrominance information. Based on characteristics of the image source at the encoder and the decoder, the present invention uses brightness space processing technology to eliminate blocking artifacts, enhance high frequency information and improve brightness information distribution, so as to improve brightness information of the image in one aspect, and uses the chroma space processing technology to enhance color effect of the image in the other aspect, and finally, the objective of improving visual effect of the image is achieved.
US08457186B2
In the example embodiments, test signals sent from a transmitting system are received at a receiving system. The receiving system generates a determination signal indicating, in one embodiment, whether received signals have a desired relationship with respect to a clock signal at the receiving system. Timing of the clock signal or timing for transmitting signals may be adjusted based on the determination. In another embodiment, the receiving system generates a determination signal indicating whether the pulse width of a lone pulse signal equals a desired time interval. Equalization or pre-emphasis is controlled based on the determination signal.
US08457183B2
The present invention discloses a method for adjusting a tunable compensation filter within a communication device. The method includes the following steps: generating at least a detecting signal according to at least a pole of the tunable compensation filter; generating a transmitted signal according to the detecting signal; receiving the transmitted signal via a loop switch; generating a filtered signal by filtering the transmitted signal; generating a received signal by compensating the filtered signal; generating at least an indicating signal by comparing the detecting signal with the received signal; and determining whether to adjust at least a coefficient of the tunable compensation filter or not according to the indicating signal.
US08457179B2
Devices, methods, and systems for building monitoring are described herein. One or more embodiments include a first transceiver coupled to a first phase of a power system of a building and configured to receive and send data over the first phase of the power system, a second transceiver coupled to a second phase of the power system and configured to receive and send data over the second phase of the power system, and a switch coupled to the first and second transceivers of the power system and configured to route data between the first and second transceivers of the power system.
US08457177B2
A GPS receiver acquires carrier frequency and Gold code phase using short segments of a received GPS signal. In one embodiment, a 1-ms segment of the GPS signal is transformed to the frequency domain. This is multiplied by a frequency representation of the Gold code. The resulting product is converted to the time domain, and a peak is detected. The location of the peak corresponds to the code phase. If no peak is located, the carrier frequency is changed. Full- and half-bin steps in carrier frequency are considered. Processing gain is achieved by using longer segments of the input signal, for example 4 or 16 ms and integrating 1-ms segments. Considerations are provided for compensating for the effects of a transition, should it occur in the short segment of the GPS signal being processed. Integrations can be performed using non-coherent and coherent techniques. Adjustments are made for non-integral millisecond segment lengths.
US08457170B2
It is an object of the present invention to improve the confinement of the carriers within a VCSEL. As a general concept of the invention, it is proposed to integrate a phototransistor layer structure into the layer stack of the VCSEL.
US08457168B2
A semiconductor optical waveguide-A having an optical amplification function and a semiconductor optical waveguide-B having a light control function are integrated together on the same substrate. A facet of the semiconductor optical waveguide-A facing an isolation trench and a facet of the semiconductor optical waveguide-B facing the isolation trench are configured as a composite optical reflector/optical connector using an optical interference. The facet of the semiconductor optical waveguide-A achieves an optical reflectivity not higher than the reflectivity corresponding to a cleaved facet and not smaller than several percent, and an optical coupling coefficient of not lower than 50% between the semiconductor optical waveguide-A and the semiconductor optical waveguide-B.
US08457155B2
There is disclosed methods and apparatuses for multi-view video transmission and reception. The method comprises receiving a first sequence of pictures from a first view; and receiving a second sequence of pictures from a second view. The first sequence of pictures and the second sequence of pictures are divided into a first period of pictures and a second period of pictures, wherein no picture in the second period of pictures precedes any picture in the first period of pictures in output order. At least a third sequence of pictures is obtained of at least one view between the first view and the second view covering the first period of pictures. Said at least the third sequence of pictures and a first set of pictures of the first sequence of pictures and the second sequence of pictures that belong to the second period of pictures are encoded.
US08457154B2
A method of operating a mobile wireless network ensures proper function of protocol entities during the transmission of data units between two wireless stations. User data is assembled by a first convergence protocol layer of the first wireless station into at least one first data unit, particularly a packet data unit, before transmission to a second convergence protocol layer of a second wireless station, particularly on the same protocol level, with the user data being supplied to the first convergence protocol layer by at least one user in a network layer. At least one protocol entity of the first convergence protocol layer is configured as a function of a configuration request received by the second wireless station, in order to form the at least one first data unit from the data received from the at least one user and to transmit it through a carrier to a link control layer.
US08457153B2
The practical transmission range of an electrical cable can be extended by converting between electrical and optical signals using an HDMI-optical converter that receives an SFP+ optics transceiver. A pair of SFP+-based HDMI adapters/extenders can connect to a pair of HDMI cables, where one of the HDMI cables is connected to an HDMI Source and one of the HDMI cables is connected to an HDMI Sink. Each of the SFP+-based HDMI cable extenders can terminate with an SFP+ port to house a hot pluggable SFP+ transceiver. The apparatus can transmit 10 G video data to the distance that is supported by the SFP+ product.
US08457151B2
In a method for mapping an operating frequency band of a mobile station device in a mobile communication system, an operating frequency band position at the time of idle mode of respective mobile station devices is arranged so as to be distributed throughout a unique frequency bandwidth of a base station device.
US08457150B2
A method and apparatus for notifying status of an MN in a WLAN system using VLC are provided, in which an AP allocates a first predetermined number of time slots per frame as unallocated slots, for status notification of an initially accessing MN and allocates a second predetermined number of time slots per frame as reserved slots, for status notification of an initially accessing MN and uplink data transmission of an MN, and the MN transmits a visible light signal carrying status information about the MN in one of an unallocated slot and a reserved slot, if the MN initially accesses the AP.
US08457143B2
A lossless handover method in vehicular wireless networks is disclosed which is capable of reducing a handover delay and reducing overhead caused by duplicate address detection (DAD) for a new Care-of-Address (CoA) by dividing a handover process into handover at road-sections and handover at intersections. In the handover method, a vehicle continues to use an original CoA configured at an original access router at road-sections even though an AR is changed, thereby reducing a handover delay. A new CoA is configured only at intersections to reduce a binding update time of a home agent which is remotely present in an external network at road-sections. When performing the DAD for a new CoA at intersections, since the vehicle performs the DAD as a background process while performing communication using an original CoA, overhead caused by the DAD can be reduced.
US08457139B2
Systems, methods, and computer readable media for loose coupling media resource function controllers (MRFCs) and media resource function processors (MRFPs) are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for loose coupling MRFCs and MRFPs. The method includes providing one or more MRFPs having media processing resources simultaneously usable by a plurality of MRFCs, and at one of the MRFPs, allowing a plurality of MRFCs to simultaneously use the media processing resources of the MRFP.
US08457138B1
A communication system for propagating a congestion notification of a frame relay network through a packet network has a first interworking function (IWF). In addition, the system has a second IWF, the second IWF receives a first frame from a first frame relay node, the first frame having payload data and a header, the header comprising a frame relay congestion notification. The second IWF de-encapsulates the payload data from the first frame and encapsulates the payload data thereby forming a data packet compatible for transmission via the packet network. In addition, the second IWF transmits continuity check messages (CCMs) and the data packet via the packet network to the first IWF and controls at least one of the CCMs such that the frame relay congestion notification is propagated to the first IWF.
US08457128B2
There is disclosed a method of capturing packets and packet receivers to capture packets. A plurality of packets may be received form a network. A timestamp may be attached to each received packet. The timestamped received packet may be distributed among a plurality of capture engines. Each of the plurality of capture engines may store, in a respective capture memory of a plurality of capture memories, at least some timestamped received packets determined to match one or more of a plurality of predetermined capture criteria. A list in timestamp order of contiguous packets stored in the plurality of capture memories may be prepared.
US08457127B2
A method for reducing multicast traffic over a network is described. A control request is received. A first ranking indicator associated with the control request is compared with a second ranking indicator associated with a node that received the control request. A first response to the control request is generated. The first response is stored in a queue. A second response associated with the control request is received. The first response is removed from the queue without being sent to the network.
US08457117B1
A system for determining static, dynamic and intelligent Virtual Route Forwarding routing for services traffic includes a data device and a network processing device. The network processing device is configured to: receive a data transmission from the data device, analyze the data transmission to identify a data characteristic other than a source or destination associated with the data transmission, create a packet, determine a transmission identifier associated with the data characteristic, and transmit the packet through a network path corresponding to the transmission identifier.
US08457108B1
The present invention enables a capability for packet-switched network service providers, e.g., VoIP network service providers, to monitor the CPE application usage of their subscriber to ensure that changes to the network do not interfere with these applications and to potentially provide changes to the network to enhance these premise based applications. Monitoring software will be installed in the CPE to monitor upgrades and features installed by the end users so that any potential impact to these applied applications can be assessed before a VoIP network upgrade is carried out.
US08457104B2
A method for synchronizing the direct mode TDMA transmission of a set of radios by following a selected radio as the leader includes: receiving, by a radio, a communication from an other radio; identifying, by the radio, a leader according to a leadership election rule using the received communication from the other radio and a current leader information; setting, by the radio, the identified leader as its leader; and synchronizing, by the radio, a time slot boundary with a time slot boundary defined by the leader.
US08457092B2
A quick paging channel in a random access wireless communication system includes at least one bit in a quick paging frame identifying the presence of a paging message for an access terminal or group of access terminals. The quick paging bits identifying the presence of a paging message for a first access terminal is encoded with one or more quick paging bits corresponding to one or more additional access terminals to produce one or more forward error correction bits. The jointly encoded quick paging bits are broadcast to the access terminals by time division multiplexing the quick paging frame with additional frames of information.
US08457088B1
An example embodiment includes an apparatus. The apparatus includes piconet logic for establishing a multi-level piconet hierarchy having a top level piconet and a lower level piconet(s). The top level piconet includes the apparatus and a master controller(s). The apparatus is a master device in the top level piconet. Master controllers are slave devices in the top level piconet. A lower level piconet includes a master controller and a sub-controller(s). Master controllers are masters in the lower level piconet. Sub-controllers are slave devices in the lower level piconet. The apparatus includes time division multiplexing logic to solicit and control aggregated communication with master controllers. The aggregated communication comprises data from the master controller and data from a sub-controller(s). The apparatus includes de-aggregation logic to receive the aggregated communication and to separate data.
US08457078B2
Determining and simultaneously using a circuit for a mobile device couple to a base station, the circuit may comprise an identification signal detector for receiving a first identification signal corresponding to a first module and a second identification signal corresponding to a second module in the mobile device. The circuit may comprise a receiver for receiving a plurality of signals from the base station; said plurality of signals is configured to set up communication between the mobile device and the base station. The circuit may comprise a calculator for calculating a plurality of parameters in response to the first identification signal, second identification signal and said plurality of signals received from said base station. The circuit may also comprise a processor for attaching the first and second module to the base station simultaneously in response to a plurality of slots by time multiplexing and the plurality of parameters.
US08457075B2
Systems and methods are provided for processing wireless signal components for a mobile wireless access broadband service. This can include processes for defining a protocol that controls whether to invoke a tune away component to determine an alternative wireless communications path. This can include defining one or more tune away parameters for the tune away component. The process can then automatically select the alternative wireless communications path based in part on the tune away procedure and at least one of the tune away parameters.
US08457071B2
In one embodiment, a system including a memory capable of storing data and a processor is disclosed. The processor is configured for using the data such that the system can request from a source gateway subscription information related to a plurality of multicast video streams subscribed by the source gateway upon receiving a handoff request from a mobile device transitioning from a source region to a target region, wherein the handoff request contains information related to the source gateway. The processor is further configured for using the data such that the system can subscribe to at least a subset of the plurality of multicast video streams before the requested handoff is complete.
US08457070B2
An Inter-RAT handover method is disclosed. A method for supporting an Inter-RAT handover by an IEEE 802.16m MS includes performing, by the MS, pre-registration in an Inter-RAT target BS using a tunneling, if a channel quality of an Inter-RAT neighbor cell is higher than a pre-registration threshold, and transmitting a handover request message for a handover to the target BS to a serving BS, if a channel quality of the neighbor cell is equal to or higher than a handover threshold during a time duration in a scanning of the neighbor cell and a channel quality of the target BS is equal to or higher than that of the neighbor cell. This handover method reduces a time required for a handover from an IEEE 802.16m network to a Non-802.16m network, provides a seamless service, supports a rapid recovery in case of a radio link failure, and increases handover reliability.
US08457066B2
A method and apparatus of feedback signaling using a high speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH) includes transmitting to a first cell a first uplink feedback signal that includes channel quality information (CQI) associated with the first cell. A second uplink feedback signal that includes CQI information associated with a second cell is transmitted to the second cell.
US08457061B2
A method and apparatus for adaptively obtaining bandwidth requests in a broadband wireless communication system. The method and apparatus includes dynamically varying technique combinations enabling a plurality of users to efficiently request bandwidth from a shared base station. A user may “piggyback” a new bandwidth request upon, or set a “poll-me bit” within, presently allocated bandwidth. A base station may poll users, individually or in groups, by allocating unrequested bandwidth for new requests. Polling may respond to a “poll-me bit,” and/or it may be adaptively periodic at a rate based on communication status parameters, such as recent communication activity and connection QoS levels Group polling permits a possibility of collisions. Polling policies may be established for dynamically varying user groups, or may be determined for each user. Dynamic selection of appropriate polling techniques makes use of efficiency benefits associated with each technique.
US08457057B2
Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to an example embodiment, a technique may include participating in an automatic repeat request (ARQ)-enabled service flow between first and second wireless stations, wherein each transmitted MAC (media access control) protocol data unit (PDU) is partitioned into one or more ARQ-blocks, with each ARQ-block, except a last ARQ block of a MAC PDU, having a fixed size equal to an ARQ-block-size, negotiating a change to the ARQ-block-size for the service flow via a request and response message exchange. In another embodiment, a technique may include transmitting an ARQ block size change request for a service flow from a first wireless station to a second wireless station, the ARQ block size change request including one or more parameters relating to a new ARQ-block-size for the service flow; receiving, at the first wireless station from the second wireless station, an ARQ block size change response for the service flow in response to the transmitting the ARQ block size change request; and implementing the new ARQ-block size for the service flow based on the received ARQ block size change response.
US08457056B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate power distribution and data allocation in a multi-carrier wireless communication system. A portion of transmit power can be pre-allocated to an anchor carrier to support non-scheduled data flows. Remaining power is split among all carriers, including the anchor carrier, after pre-allocation. Data from one or more flows, scheduled and non-scheduled, are allocated to the carriers in accordance with priorities associated with the one or more flows. Allocation of data can be performed sequentially starting with a non-anchor carrier. In addition, non-scheduled data flows can be restricted to the anchor carrier.
US08457055B2
A disclosed radio base station is used in a mobile communication system employing a single carrier scheme for uplink and includes a scheduler configured to allocate radio resources such that a first control channel accompanying an uplink data channel is transmitted using the same frequency band allocated to the uplink data channel and a second control channel, which is to be transmitted regardless of presence or absence of the uplink data channel, is transmitted using a dedicated frequency band reserved for the second control channel if no frequency band is allocated to the uplink data channel; and a reporting unit configured to report scheduling information indicating the allocation results to a user device. The scheduler is configured not to allocate the radio resources to the uplink data channel of the user device in a unit transmission period reserved for transmission of the second control channel of the user device.
US08457053B2
A router is operative to perform the following actions for each one of a plurality of wireless mobile devices operating in a wireless network. The router transmits to the wireless mobile device a number of data packets matched for a window size. The router changes the window size for the wireless mobile device based on whether a round trip time for communicating the data packets is within a threshold value. The router will update the threshold value based on the round trip times associated with traffic communicated via the router for all of the wireless mobile devices.
US08457029B2
Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory may include computer-executable code that, when executed by the processor, is configured to cause the apparatus to send a message to a node in wireless communication with the apparatus, the message indicating a transition by the apparatus from multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) to single-input single-output (SISO), and transition from wireless MIMO communication with the node to wireless SISO communication with the node after sending the message to the node.
US08457028B2
A method for providing a superior quality of service for multicast data streams delivered over a wireless local area network. As Internet Protocol multicast data streams are received by an access point, the access point observes Internet Group Multicast Protocol registration messages to determine which of its associated stations subscribe to each multicast data stream. The access point then determines which of the multicast data streams it receives have only active subscribing stations as opposed to those data streams having at least one associated station operating in power-save mode. The access point will automatically transmit each multicast data stream having only active subscribers immediately to the associated active stations, while buffering the multicast data stream for which there is at least one associated station operating in power-save mode.
US08457024B2
An information processing device includes a plurality of elements that perform processing independently of each other; and a front end that controls the plurality of elements, is shared by the plurality of elements, and performs near-field communication with an external device. The front end gives different time slots for communication to the plurality of elements at the time of activation.
US08457019B2
Mechanisms are provided for conference call communication in a virtual world environment. The mechanisms establish a hybrid conference call by establishing a hybrid conference call communication connection between a data based communication conference call server, that handles data based communications with client computing devices, and a telephone conference call server, that handles telephone protocol communications with telephone devices external to the virtual world environment. Communications between client computing devices and telephone devices are converted from data based communications to telephone protocol communications and vice versa using a data based communication conference call server and a telephone conference call server.
US08457010B2
Some embodiments provide a capacity management agent that modifies content requests to adjust bandwidth consumption when streaming requested content from a content provider to a requesting user. The modifications include modifying a URL or header information of the request. The agent performs a process that receives a request for content of a content provider. The process identifies a parameter of the carrier network and modifies the request when the parameter satisfies a threshold. The process passes the request to the content provider and the content provider provides content that consumes a first set of resources in response to an unmodified request and a second set of resources in response to a modified request. When the parameter identifies congestion, the first set of resources is greater than the second set of resources. When the condition parameter identifies underutilization, the first set of resources is less than the second set of resources.
US08457006B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to diagnosing problems in a dual stack network supporting Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6). Inventoried information can be retrieved from an inventory system in response to a problem associated the dual stack network. It can be determined whether a mismatch exists between live customer address information associated with a customer edge router and the inventoried information. A notification can be generated in response to determining whether a mismatch exists. The notification includes information representing a cause of the problem and resolution of the problem.
US08457005B2
A system and method is presented for establishing relayed communications involving (1) sending a request message from a source node to a destination node through a plurality of intermediate nodes, (2) receiving the request message at the destination node, and (3) sending an acceptance message from the destination node to the source node through at least a subset of the intermediate nodes, wherein an intermediate node relays the request or acceptance message by receiving the message and re-transmitting the message, and wherein the intermediate node is capable of receiving the message from more than one other intermediate node.
US08456995B2
A packet transport system to which the present invention is applied includes an edge node accommodating an access network at an edge, and a core node of carrying out a processing of assorting a frame gathered from a plurality of the edge nodes, the edge node provides a label to the frame flowing in from the access network, and the packet transport system transmits the frame in reference to the label. The edge node includes a priority information providing portion of changing a piece of priority information provided to the frame flowing in from the access network in accordance with a congested state of the core node, and a priority previously set to a path specified by the label.
US08456990B2
An initiator node adapted to provide quality of service (QoS) for an Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) environment is provided. The initiator node including an iSCSI initiator comprising a QoS shaper, the QoS shaper for shaping one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs) according to QoS policies and providing shaped PDUs, and a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) layer for receiving the shaped PDUs from the iSCSI initiator and comprising a QoS marker for marking the shaped PDUs according to the QoS policies, wherein the PDUs are command PDUs and wherein the shaper shapes the command PDUs before the command PDUs receive command sequence numbers.
US08456986B2
A load balancing communications network configured to communicate with multiple data terminals includes: a first data terminal and a second data terminal; a gateway including: a source data receiver module adapted to receive first source data representing video content and second source data representing broadband data content; a pre-coder module adapted to pre-code the first source data using pre-coding schemes to generate sets of representation data; and an ACM module adapted to associate the sets of representation data with coding and modulation schemes; and a transceiver module adapted to generate a first transmission by applying the coding and modulation schemes to the sets of representation data, generate a second transmission from the second source data, and communicate the first transmission to the first data terminal and the second transmission to the second data terminal over a satellite link.
US08456985B2
The vehicle crew communication system provides up to sixty wireless headsets that can be used with one base station, a range of 1600 feet from the base station for operation of the headsets, full duplex operation communication over digitally encrypted DECT protocol links from one base station to a plurality of headsets, pairing of each headset to a particular base station, use of wireless technology inside and outside of the vehicle, automatic channel and link selection to transparently avoid interfered-with channels and links, removal of the need to manually select a channel on the headset, and the combination of the noise-cancelling microphone with noise threshold, noise attenuation, and line echo cancellation tuned to intercom parameters. The invention may be used with or without a vehicle.
US08456978B2
The present invention provides an objective lens, an optical head apparatus, an optical information apparatus, and an information processing apparatus that improve focal position detection accuracy. In order to reproduce information from an optical disk (28), an objective lens (25) collects a diffracted ray (15X) having a longer focal length, out of two diffracted rays (15X, 15Y), on an information recording surface (28L) via a base (28S) of the optical disk (28), and a distance (DF3) between the focal positions of the two diffracted rays (15X, 15Y) when the diffracted ray (15X) having a longer focal length is collected on the information recording surface (28S) is longer than double the distance (WD2) between the surface (25A) of the objective lens (25) and the surface (28A) of the base (28S) along the optical axis.
US08456974B2
The present invention achieves tracking servo using a recording signal on a grooveless optical disc. Trial writing signals are written by using multiple recording conditions, and a recommended recording condition having favorable qualities of a reproduction signal and a tracking error signal is determined based on the trial writing signals. Then, recording is performed by using the recommended recording condition. In addition, by using a recording condition determined based on an optimum power control performed prior to the recording, signals are recorded adjacent to each other in at least two tracks. Signals are recorded by using the determined recording condition under which a tracking error signal quality obtained from the recording signal matches a desired value of a tracking error signal quality of the medium.
US08456972B2
Upon receiving a request to allocate a storage region, a storage device may initialize the contents of the storage device to default values (e.g., zero) in order to avoid problems arising from unknown data stored in the locations of the storage region (e.g., upon writing a data set to a location involved in a mirroring relationship, uninitialized data in the corresponding mirror location may result in a mismatch that jeopardizes the written data). However, initializing the storage device may be time-consuming and inefficient. Instead, a usage bitmap may be generated that, for respective location sets of the storage region, indicates whether values exist in the location. A read request may be fulfilled by examining the usage bitmap to determine whether values exist in the specified location, and if not, the default value may be returned without accessing the storage device. Other efficiencies may also be achieved using the usage bitmap.
US08456968B1
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head includes: a main pole and a plasmon generator disposed to align along the direction of travel of a recording medium; a first heat sink layer having two portions that are located on opposite sides of the plasmon generator in the track width direction; a second heat sink layer having two portions that are located on opposite sides of the main pole in the track width direction; and a nonmagnetic layer disposed between the plasmon generator and the main pole. The first and second heat sink layers are each made of SiC or AlN. The nonmagnetic layer is made of a material that is lower in thermal conductivity at 25° C. than alumina.
US08456958B2
A capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) array includes an improved elementary aperture for imaging operations. The transducer can be of a linear, curved linear, annular, matrix or even single surface configuration. The elementary apertures thereof are formed by a specific arrangement of capacitive micromachined membranes (CMM) so as to exhibit ideal acoustical and electrical behavior when operated with imaging systems. The CMM arrangements can be either conventional where the element transducers of the array are uniformly shaped by predefined CMMs in a manner such as to exhibit acoustic behavior similar to a piezoelectric transducer, or can be more sophisticated, wherein each element transducer is formed by a specific combination of different CMMs (i.e., of a different size and/or shape) so as to provide the transducer with built-in acoustic apodization that can be implemented in the azimuth and/or elevation dimension of the device.
US08456955B2
A housing for a phased array monostatic sodar system with a transducer array that sequentially emits and receives a set of sound beams along different primary axes. The housing includes an enclosure having a plurality of sidewalls, each sidewall of the plurality of sidewalls having an inner surface, the enclosure configured to emit and receive the set of sound beams. Each inner surface of each sidewall of the plurality of sidewalls defines at least a partially elliptical cross-section configured to substantially envelop at least a portion of an angled, conical sound beam of the set of sound beams.
US08456953B2
A method for generating an illumination map. The method includes receiving an earth model that represents one or more properties of the earth. The method then includes receiving a target area in the earth model and propagating one or more wavefields from the target area to a potential seismic data acquisition region in the earth model. After propagating the wavefields, the method includes decomposing the propagated wavefields into one or more subsets of the propagated wavefields and creating the illumination map based on the subsets of the propagated wavefields. The illumination map may indicate one or more contributions of one or more synthetic source and receiver pairs for illuminating the target area in the earth model. The method may then include creating a seismic survey design based on the contributions.
US08456948B2
A technique includes obtaining first measurements acquired by sensors of a towed seismic streamer, which are indicative of an inclination of the streamer. Based at least in part on the measurements, a shape of the streamer while in tow is determined.
US08456945B2
A method, apparatus, computer chip, circuit board, computer and system are provided in which data is stored in a low-voltage, maskable memory. Also provided is a computer readable storage device encoded with data for adapting a manufacturing facility to create an apparatus. The method includes storing a data value in a memory cell in a storage device if a first access parameter associated with the memory cell matches a first pre-determined value and if a second access parameter associated with the memory cell matches a second pre-determined value. The method also includes maintaining a data value in the memory cell in the storage device if the first access parameter differs from the first pre-determined value. The apparatus includes a first and second pair of access parameter ports operatively coupled together and associated with a first and second access parameter respectively. The first and second pair of access parameter ports may be adapted to allow access through the first and second pair of access parameter ports if the first access parameter matches a first pre-determined value, and if the second access parameter matches a second pre-determined value.
US08456942B2
A regulator for regulating a charge pump is provided. The regulator includes a comparator having a first input end capable of receiving a first voltage and a second input end capable of receiving a second voltage for determining enabling or disabling the charge pump. The first voltage is associated with an output voltage of the charge pump. The second voltage is associated with an internal power voltage and a reference voltage Vref.
US08456938B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for managing a non-volatile memory (“NVM”), such as a flash memory. To prevent data errors due to leakage effects, the NVM may be refreshed. For example, a reserved portion of the NVM may be selected, and a predetermined pattern can be stored into the reserved portion. The reserved portion can then be monitored for storage deterioration over time. After determining that storage deterioration of the reserved portion has occurred, the NVM can be refreshed. In some embodiments, a controller can attempt to distinguish data errors due to leakage effects from data errors due to disturb issues.
US08456934B2
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device includes a first and second integrated circuit (IC) die. The first integrated circuit die has test circuitry to generate redundancy information. The second integrated circuit die is coupled to the first integrated circuit die in a packaged configuration including primary storage cells and redundant storage cells. The second integrated circuit die further includes redundancy circuitry responsive to the redundancy information to substitute one or more of the primary storage cells with one or more redundant storage cells.
US08456919B1
A method includes providing data including hard bit data and soft bit data to a rank modulation decoder.
US08456912B2
A nonvolatile memory device includes a page region including a plurality of normal cells and a plurality of auxiliary cells, a detecting unit configured to output a pass signal when at least one cell is programmed with a voltage higher than a reference voltage among program target cells of the page region, a count storing unit configured to store a count in the plurality of auxiliary cells during a first program operation for the page region, wherein the count indicates a total number of program pulses applied to the at least one cell until the pass signal is outputted from the detecting unit, and a voltage setting unit configured to set a program start voltage for a second program operation of the page region based on the count stored in the plurality of auxiliary cells.
US08456911B2
A first read pass voltage is determined and optimized for cycled memory. One or more starting read pass voltages are determined for one or more dies. The system dynamically calculates a current read pass voltage based on the number of program/erase erase cycles, the first read pass voltage and the respective starting read pass voltage. Data is read from one or more non-volatile storage elements using the calculated current read pass voltage.
US08456906B2
An operation method for a memory device having a plurality of memory cells includes: reading the plurality of memory cells by a first word line voltage to get a first number of a first logic state; reading the plurality of memory cells by a second word line voltage to get a second number of the first logic state, the second word line voltage different from the first word line voltage; and using the second word line voltage as a target word line voltage if the first number of the first logic state is equal to the second number of the first logic state.
US08456899B2
A method for operating a memory array device, includes initiating a write “0” state in the device, wherein the initiating the write “0” state includes inducing a first voltage in a word line of the device; and inducing a second voltage in a first bit line (BLTE) of the device.
US08456898B2
Techniques and magnetic devices associated with a magnetic element that includes a fixed layer having a fixed layer magnetization and perpendicular anisotropy, a nonmagnetic spacer layer, and a free layer having a changeable free layer magnetization and perpendicular anisotropy.
US08456897B2
A multi-state current-switching magnetic memory element has a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ), for storing more than one bit of information. The MTJ includes a fixed layer, a barrier layer, and a non-uniform free layer. In one embodiment, having 2 bits per cell, when one of four different levels of current is applied to the memory element, the applied current causes the non-uniform free layer of the MTJ to switch to one of four different magnetic states. The broad switching current distribution of the MTJ is a result of the broad grain size distribution of the non-uniform free layer.
US08456892B2
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor integrated circuit includes first and second resistance change type memory element and first and second switches. The first resistance change type memory element includes a first terminal connected to a first power supply and a second terminal connected to a first node. The second resistance change type memory element includes a third terminal connected to the first node and a fourth terminal connected to a second power supply. The first switch includes one end of a first current path connected to a first program power supply and the other end of the first current path connected to the first node. The second switch includes one end of a second current path connected to the first node and the other end of the second current path connected to a second program power supply.
US08456885B2
A random access memory circuit includes a plurality of pixels, each having a light sensitive area and a light blocking layer arranged over at least each of the light sensitive areas. In an alternative embodiment, the circuit includes a plurality of memory elements for storing data. Each memory element may comprise a bit node formed between a photodiode, having a light arranged over the photodiode, and a switching element, where data may be stored. The circuit may also include a plurality of reading and writing circuits for reading and writing data to and from the memory cells.
US08456883B1
CMOS devices are provided in a substrate having a topmost metal layer comprising metal landing pads and metal connecting pads. A plurality of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures are provided over the CMOS devices and connected to the metal landing pads. The MTJ structures are covered with a dielectric layer that is polished until the MTJ structures are exposed. Openings are etched in the dielectric layer to the metal connecting pads. A seed layer is deposited over the dielectric layer and on inside walls and bottom of the openings. A copper layer is plated on the seed layer until the copper layer fills the openings. The copper layer is etched back and the seed layer is removed. Thereafter, an aluminum layer is deposited over the dielectric layer, contacting both the copper layer and the MTJ structures, and patterned to form a bit line.
US08456863B2
A hybrid service device, which can be embedded in a wall, includes a control module disposed on a first circuit board, a transmission functional module disposed on a second circuit board, and a service module disposed on a third circuit board. The control module includes a first circuit board connector and a socket, wherein the second circuit board is pluggable disposed on the socket, such that the first circuit board and the second circuit board are substantially parallel and the control module is electrically connected with the transmission functional module. The service module includes a second circuit board connector, wherein the third circuit board is pluggable connected with the first circuit board connector. The hybrid service device is connected with a first signal transmission line from the wall for receiving a transmission signal with a first format, and the hybrid service device selectively transform the first format to a second format and then transmits the transmission signal with the second format to an external access equipment by wired/wireless transmission.
US08456862B2
A device includes a mounting apparatus and a supporting apparatus. The mounting apparatus includes a fixing bracket, an engaging member slidably mounted to the fixing bracket, and an operation member mounted to the engaging member. The fixing bracket defines first and second engaging holes. The supporting apparatus includes a connecting bracket detachably mounted to the fixing bracket. The fixing bracket defines a connecting hole. The connecting bracket comprises a hook. The engaging member comprises a stop piece. The operation member forms a projection. When the engaging member is slid to engage the projection into the first engaging hole, the stop piece moves away from the connecting hole and the first hook extends through the connecting hole. The engaging member is slid to engage the projection in the second engaging hole, the stop piece moves between the connecting hole and the hook to engage with the hook.
US08456851B2
A flex circuit having conductive traces formed on only one side of a base film for attaching to both sides of a DITO touch sensor panel is disclosed. By having conductive traces formed on only one side of the base film, the number of process steps and fabrication cost can be reduced because only a single etching step is needed. Furthermore, because the flex circuit is thinner, the resultant space savings can be utilized for other features in a device without enlarging the overall device package.
US08456850B2
Provided is a memory card. The memory card includes interconnection terminals for electric connection with an external electronic machine. The interconnection terminals may be spaced from the front side of the memory card by a distance greater than the lengths of the interconnection terminals. Alternatively, the memory card may include other interconnection terminals between its front side and the former interconnection terminals. The former and latter interconnection terminals may be used for electric connection with different kinds of electronic machines.
US08456848B2
A computer enclosure includes a shell body, and an expansion card retention assembly. The shell body includes a main chassis, and a side wall perpendicular to the main chassis. The side wall defines an elongated through hole extending along a first direction perpendicular to the main chassis. The expansion card retention assembly includes a first and second expansion frames fixed on the side wall. The first expansion frame includes a main board with a length in the first direction less than that of the through hole, and is configured for fixing a first expansion card. The second expansion frame includes an elongated main plate extending along the first direction, and a first support platform perpendicularly extending from an end of the main plate. The main plate and the first support platform are configured for matingly engaging with an expansion card bracket of a second expansion card.
US08456847B2
A mobile terminal includes: a display unit that displays information; and a frame that fixedly surrounds the display unit and is fixed to a terminal case, wherein the frame includes at least one supplementary module mounting unit allowing a supplementary module that performs a different function from that of the display unit to be integrally mounted thereon. A supplementary module different from the display unit is integrally mounted on a frame constituting a display assembly, so handling and assembling can be facilitated and production cost can be reduced.
US08456842B2
An exemplary electronic device includes a shell, a mother board and a metal sheet disposed at an inner side of the shell, an electronic apparatus fixed on the mother board, and a heat conducting plate thermally connecting the electronic apparatus with the metal sheet. The metal sheet is located between the shell and the mother board to shield electro magnetic interference from the electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus generates heat when working. The electronic apparatus is located between the mother board and the metal sheet, and is spaced from the metal sheet.
US08456838B2
Arc resistant enclosures for dry-type transformers. More particularly, transformer enclosures having one or more arc-resistant features, including arc channels, arc fault dampers, and arc fault plenums, and methods for providing same.
US08456836B2
A lock includes an assembly of a slot engaging member insertable in a slot of a piece of equipment being locked, such as a portable or desktop computer, a laptop, notebook or other handheld electronic device, a monitor, a television/video screen, a video game, an electronic instrument such as an oscillator or a medical centrifuge or other analytical device, or the like. A rotatable locking member engages an anchor sub-assembly having a rotatable element, wherein the rotatable element communicates with a spring force urging against the rotatable locking member. The rotatable locking member is alternately movable in and out of the slot in which it is inserted, and the locking element is rotatable by finger force overcoming said spring force against the locking member, wherein the lock is locked without use of a tool.
US08456832B1
A data storage drive carrier configured for insertion into 2U or 3U slots of an electrical chassis. The carrier has a pair of opposing side members, at least one of the members being a flexible, inwardly bowed member and front and back members. A first side member is fixedly attached to the front member to form a rigid L-shaped portion of the carrier; and a second side member and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion. The second one of side members and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion at first ends and second ends thereof are attached to together to form a closed frame after receiving therein the drive. A light pipe is disposed within a groove formed in one of the side members, one end of the pipe being disposed adjacent to a light source of a rearward interposer to receive optical signal emitted by the source and an opposite end disposed adjacent a front end of the carrier.
US08456831B1
A mounting apparatus for a hard disk drive includes a bracket and a resilient plate. The bracket includes a first and a second side plates each defining two slanted first notches, and two first slots respectively extending from rear ends of the first notches. The resilient plate is slidably mounted to the first side plate. A front end of the resilient plate defines a slanted second notch, and a semicircular second slot extending from a rear end of the second notch. When the resilient plate is at a first position, the second notch and the second slot respectively align with one of the first notches and a corresponding first slot of the first side plate. When the resilient plate is slid to a second position, the second slot aligns with a rear end of said corresponding first slot, and the second notch is staggered from the corresponding first notch.
US08456821B2
A server includes two opposite brackets and a keyboard module. The keyboard module includes a supporting board fixed between the brackets and a keyboard slidably mounted on the supporting board.
US08456813B2
An optical disc reproduction apparatus includes a main body, a display unit, a two-axis hinge, and a battery pack. The two-axis hinge has a joint member to connect the two-axis hinge to the main body. The main body has not only a hinge mounting-housing portion to attach and house the joint member of the two-axis hinge but also a housing recess to house a battery housing of the battery pack on right and left sides of the hinge mounting-housing portion on a back end. The battery pack has a U-shaped recess in a center. The recess is located in a position corresponding to the hinge mounting-housing portion in the main body and has a width larger than that of the hinge mounting-housing portion in a rightward-leftward direction.
US08456812B2
An electronic device housing includes a bottom housing, a support frame, a display panel, and a side frame. The bottom housing includes a base plate and four sidewalls extending from a periphery of the base plate. The support frame is welded to the sidewalls of the bottom housing. The support frame is received in the bottom housing and made up of at least two support plates, two ends of each are welded to ends of the adjacent support plates. The support frame forms at least two welding lines at joints of the at least two support plates, and each welding line corresponds to a middle portion of one sidewall. The display panel is positioned on the support frame sandwiched between the support frame and the side frame. The side frame is connected to a top edge of the bottom housing.
US08456800B2
A multilayer ceramic electronic component comprises an element body obtained by stacking dielectric layers (thickness t1) and electrode layers (thickness t2). The dielectric layer includes a compound expressed by ABO3 (A includes Ba, and may include Ca or Sr; and B includes Ti, and may include Zr or Hf), and includes 0.75 to 2.0 moles of MgO, 0.4 to 1.0 mole of an oxide of Y, Dy, Ho and the like in terms of the oxide, and 0.4 to 0.8 mole of SiO2 per 100 moles of the compound. A segregation phase containing Mg is formed in at least a part of an electrode missing portion. Line coverage of the electrode layer is 60 to 90% and relations of 0.3 μm≦t1≦2.0 and 0.3 μm≦t2<1.0 μm are fulfilled.
US08456788B2
A protection system includes a baseboard management controller (BMC), N fans, a power on unit, a power supply, and a switching unit. The switching unit includes an AND gate, a transistor, and a first resistor. During operation the fans each output an operating signal to the BMC. The BMC counts the operating signals received. When the count is less than N, the power-off pin outputs a low level signal, so that the output pin of the AND gate outputs a low level signal, and the transistor turns off. The power supply then receives a high level signal and stops supplying power.
US08456776B1
A disk drive includes a head gimbal assembly with a laser light source that is disposed on a back face of the slider (opposite an air bearing surface). The laser light source is attached to the flexure tongue. The flexure includes a plurality of bends that offset a flexure bond pad shelf from a flexure tongue by an offset distance (measured in a direction that is normal to the air bearing surface). The offset distance may be approximately equal to the thickness of the laser light source. A plurality of flexure bond pads on flexure bond pad shelf is electrically connected to respective ones of a plurality of head bond pads.
US08456772B2
Disclosed is a piezoelectric actuator which has an improved driving force or drive efficiency. Specifically disclosed is a piezoelectric actuator which is provided with: a plurality of piezoelectric members which have a first piezoelectric element capable of being displaced in a first direction and a second piezoelectric element capable of being displaced in a second direction intersecting the first direction, and which are divided into a plurality of groups; a relative movement member which has a contact surface that is in contact with the piezoelectric members, and which moves relatively to the piezoelectric members in the first direction; and a drive unit which, when piezoelectric members of one group among the plurality of groups are in contact with the contact surface, drives the first piezoelectric element of the piezoelectric members.
US08456767B2
Provided is a high-performance objective optical system which is compatible with a high-pixel-count image acquisition device, in which focusing can be achieved according to a change in object point distance and which has sufficient depth of field at the individual object point distances. Provided is an objective optical system (1) including, in order from an object side, a first group (G1), a second group (G2), and a third group (G3), in which the first group (G1) includes, in order from the object side, a plano-concave lens (L1) and a meniscus lens (L2) whose convex surface is towards an image side and in which the second group (G2) includes a positive meniscus lens whose convex surface is towards the object side and moves in the direction of an optical axis to perform focusing.
US08456761B2
A lens system includes a first lens with negative refraction power, and a second lens with positive refraction power. The first lens includes a surface facing the image side having an optical portion. The lens system satisfies the formulas: (1) Y/Z<1.10;(2) G1R1/F1<−3.10; and (3) G2R2/F2>1.49, wherein Y is a distance between an end point of the optical portion and a center point of the optical portion along a direction perpendicular an optical axis, Z is a distance between the end point of the optical portion and the center point of the optical portion along the optical axis, F1 and F2 are the focal lengths of the first and second lenses, respectively, G1R1 and G2R2 respectively denote the radius of curvatures of a surface of the first lens facing the object side and another surface of the second lens facing the image side.
US08456759B2
A lens system includes a first to fifth lenses. The second and fifth lenses have negative refractive power and the others have positive refractive power. The lens system satisfies: D/TTL>1.05; Z/Y>0; G3R1/F3>G1R1/F1>0; G1R2/F1
US08456752B2
An interchangeable lens unit comprises a second lens group unit, a focus lens unit, a fourth lens group unit, a zoom ring unit, and a focus motor. The zoom ring unit mechanically transmits operational force inputted to a zoom ring to the second lens group unit and the fourth lens group unit. The focus motor electrically drives the focus lens unit in the Z axis direction with respect to the second lens group unit. When the zoom ring is operated in a state in which no power is being supplied to the focus motor, a gap is always ensured in the Z axis direction between the focus lens unit and the second lens group unit.
US08456746B2
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, which does not move for zooming, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, which moves during zooming, a third lens unit having a negative refractive power, which moves during zooming, an aperture stop, and a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power, which does not move for zooming. The fourth lens unit includes a first lens sub-unit, a focal length conversion optical system configured to be inserted into or removed from an optical path, and a second lens sub-unit. A focal length of the second lens sub-unit, a distance from the aperture stop to a lens surface at the most object side of the second lens sub-unit, and an F-number of the entire zoom lens at a wide-angle end are appropriately set.
US08456736B2
To avoid harmful nonlinear effects in the amplification of short optical pulses, an initial pulse is divided into a sequence of lower-energy temporally spaced pulses that are otherwise identical to the original pulse. The low-intensity pulses are amplified and then recombined to create a final amplified output pulse.
US08456734B2
A wavelength conversion laser light source having: a laser medium which generates a fundamental wave light; a laser resonator for causing laser oscillation of the fundamental wave light; a wavelength convertor which is provided with a wavelength converting region to convert the fundamental wave light under the laser oscillation by means of the laser resonator into converted light of a different wavelength; and an excitation laser light source for exciting the laser medium, wherein the laser resonator has at least one reflecting surface which reflects the fundamental wave, and a first reflecting element which is provided on an end surface of the wavelength convertor to reflect the fundamental wave light; the wavelength converting region is situated between the at least one reflecting surface and the first reflecting element; the wavelength convertor has a periodic first polarization reversal structure formed in the wavelength converting region, and a non-converting region formed between the first reflecting element and the wavelength converting region; and the non-converting region does not convert the fundamental wave light into the converted light.
US08456724B2
A biaxial scanning mirror for an image forming apparatus includes a first wafer, a second wafer, and a spacer. The first wafer includes a mirror unit, a rectangular rotating unit, a permanent magnet, and a magnetically permeable layer. The second wafer has at least two cores each surrounded by a planar coil applied with an AC current for switching magnetic polarization of the cores such that the cores are attracted to or repelled from the rotating unit alternatively, thereby driving the rotating unit to rotate.
US08456720B2
What is disclosed is a novel system and method to reduce noise induced by color mixing in a color management system. At least one device color recipe is obtained for a target spot color. The recipe is defined for a color marking device and defines a range of marking device color values for a target L*a*b color value. Next, a minimal value and a maximum value of each color value in the range of color values for said target L*a*b color value are identified. An iterative process of searching is performed until the printed color test patch produces a visually acceptable smoothness while matching color accuracy. This iterative process includes generating at least one additional new device color recipe from color values within the range of color values. At least one of the new device color recipes is selected and provided to the color marking device for rendering.
US08456696B2
A printing control method including receiving a command to print an XML paper specification (XPS) file; determining whether the XPS file contains a preset tag; separating a page to which the preset tag is attached from the XPS file, and converting the separated page into page description language (PDL) data; and transmitting the XPS file from which the page has been separated and the PDL data to an image forming apparatus, and a printing control terminal device and an image forming apparatus to execute the printing control method.
US08456694B2
An automated method for proofing a page for color discriminability problems includes converting a first color of a first object appearing on the page and a second color of a second object appearing on the page to coordinates of a color naming system. The method includes identifying a first color name of the first color and a second color name of the second color based on the coordinates. The method includes identifying whether the first color and the second color are discriminable based on the first color name and the second color name.
US08456693B2
The present invention provides an image-processing apparatus, including: a corrected value calculating unit configured to calculate corrected values by adding error values diffused from a pixel neighboring a pixel currently being processed respectively to a plurality of input values corresponding to the pixel currently being processed; a total value calculating unit configured to calculate a total value of all corrected values; a quantizing unit configured to quantize the total value; a distributing unit configured to calculate a plurality of output values corresponding to the plurality of input values by distributing the quantized value according to a ratio between each of the corrected values and the total value; and an adding unit configured to calculate respective difference values between the plurality of output values and the plurality of corrected values, and to add the calculated difference values to corrected values.
US08456692B2
A print controlling apparatus is provided having a direct print function for receiving and printing an electronic document on a printing region of a record medium. The apparatus includes a first obtaining section for obtaining page size information indicating the page size of the received electronic document, a second obtaining section for obtaining medium size information indicating the medium size of the record medium, a comparing and judging section for judging whether the page size information matches with the medium size information upon comparing the page size information with the medium size information, and a controlling section for generating inside region printing data corresponding to the printing region from inside region image data corresponding to the printing region of the recording medium among the received image data where the page size information matches with the medium size information, for preventing the electronic document from being unnecessarily reduced.
US08456691B2
A dynamic imposition system provides for the printing of variable length documents onto a predefined number of pages. The more important pages in the document can be printed at their default size and resolution while less important pages can be automatically scaled down and printed at half size or less. The system automatically assigns ranks to the page descriptions in a print job based on each page's importance and then assigns one or more allowable impositions to each page description. The system then selects the imposition specifications that permit the imposition of the document onto a predetermined number of sheets. The document can then be imposed and printed in accordance with the selected imposition specifications.
US08456687B2
The image rotation apparatus includes a first storage unit adapted to store compressed image data, and a decompression unit adapted to decompress the image data read out from the first storage unit, and segments the image data obtained from the decompression unit into a plurality of areas. The apparatus further includes a second storage unit adapted to sequentially perform a rotation process on the image data of segmented area, and store the rotated image data, a compression unit adapted to compress the image data of each area read out from the second storage unit, and a third storage unit adapted to sequentially store the image data of each area obtained from the compression unit. There is provided the image data processing apparatus having the above configuration, which rotates the image data while reducing the storage capacity of the buffer memory for storing the image data.
US08456686B2
According to this invention, the date range can be intuitively designated by designating up, down, left, and right directions, and images stored in a storage medium can be easily restricted to images which may be subjected to printing. In order to restrict images stored in a memory card on the basis of the date, a region for inputting the start date of the date range is displayed at the upper portion of a display window on a display device, and a region for inputting the end date is displayed at the lower portion. One of the regions is designated and selected with up and down direction keys. A date in the selected region is changed with left and right direction keys. Images having storage dates between the start date and the end date are decided as printing target candidates.
US08456677B2
An image information transmission device includes a registration unit, a storage unit, a determination unit, and an image information transmission unit. The registration unit registers an image information transmission instruction describing a destination number specifying a destination of image information and an abbreviated number corresponding to the destination number. The storage unit stores the destination number and transmission setting information used for transmitting the image information to the destination specified by the destination number. The determination unit determines whether or not the destination number described in the image information transmission instruction is contained in the destination number. The image information transmission unit transmits the image information.
US08456676B2
An image processing apparatus provided with a reader for reading an original image, a connection unit for connection with a network to which plural computers are connected, and a transfer unit for transferring the image data, read by the reader, to a computer through the connection unit, the apparatus comprising a specifying unit for specifying a desired one among the computers connected through the connection unit, and a designation unit for designating image reading by the reader, wherein the transfer unit is adapted to transfer the image data, read by the reader in response to the designation by the designation unit, to a computer specified by the specifying unit.
US08456672B2
A document submission management system calculates predicted values of the amount of consumption of consumables used for printing processing according to an order from a user, estimates the cost of the printing processing based on the predicted values, and transmits the estimated cost to a client terminal of the user. A user interface allowing placement of an order briefly displays the cost for a print option. For the cost estimate, the cost of printing form data used in printing processing is registered in advance in a memory in the document submission management system, so that time required for the calculation of the estimate is reduced.
US08456662B2
An approach is provided for implementing locked printing on a printing device with control of the display of multiple versions of locked print data. The printing device includes a locked print process that determines whether the names of two or more locked print jobs stored at the printing device are the same. In response to determining that the respective names of the print jobs are the same, the locked print process causes to be displayed, on the user interface, a group print job name representing the two or more print jobs, instead of causing to be displayed the names of the print jobs individually. Embodiments also include printing the print data of a selected print job when a user requests that the print data associated with the group print job name be printed, and allowing a user to view the print jobs associated with the group print job name.
US08456661B2
The authentication printing technique of the invention obtains attachment information regarding attachment of a preset device, such as a hard disk drive, to a printing apparatus. In response to a request for a printing operation with the printing apparatus, the authentication printing technique refers to the obtained attachment information and restricts an authentication printing process according to the attachment information of the preset device. The authentication printing process externally receives print data and prints the received print data on completion of a preset authentication operation. This arrangement effectively reduces the potential for leakage of information from the device attached to the printing apparatus.
US08456658B2
An image processing system includes an information processing apparatus and one or a plurality of image processing apparatuses that can be connected to the information processing apparatus via a network. A function whose function set value is to be displayed on a function setting screen is identified from identifying information included in screen information made by the information processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus includes an identifying information storage part in which identifying information of a function is stored, and of the functions whose identifying information is stored, all function set values of the identified function are displayed on a display part in a mode that can be selected by a user.
US08456657B2
A facsimile device includes a communication unit, an analysis unit, and a printing unit. The communication unit is configured to receive, as reception data, both print-scheduled data to be printed and transfer-scheduled data to be transferred to an external device. The analysis unit is configured to analyze a target data portion of the reception data that requires an analysis in order to form an image. The printing unit is configured to print a printable part of the reception data. If at least one of a first error indicating that the communication unit did not receive part of the transfer-scheduled data as the reception data and a second error indicating that the analysis unit has failed in analyzing part of the target data portion corresponding to the transfer-scheduled data has occurred, the printing unit refrains from printing the reception data corresponding to the transfer-scheduled data.
US08456656B2
A method for setting function options and a multi function peripheral (MFP) using the same are provided. The MFP at least includes an image sensor and an option switch, wherein the option switch includes a sliding groove and a shift lever, and the shift lever is disposed in sliding way in the sliding groove. The method includes using the image sensor to obtain an option image of the option switch; judging a corresponding position relating to the shift lever in the option image; and setting a peripheral function according to a function option corresponding to the corresponding position.
US08456655B2
A scanning apparatus includes a transparent platen on which an item can be placed for scanning; a light source configured to emit light through the transparent platen to reflect off the item; a photosensor array that is movable to receive light reflected from successive portions of the item and convert the reflected light into electrical signals; a controller for providing digitized data from the electrical signals to form a digitized image of the item; and a lid including a first position such that the lid covers the transparent platen; a second position such that the lid does not cover the transparent platen; and a door that is configured to expose a portion of the transparent platen when the lid is in the first position.
US08456654B2
A redaction process (10) to enable a user to redact an electronic document on a computer. The redaction process (10) includes the steps of converting a copy of the original electronic document file (14) from its native format into the format of an electronic image file. The user may redact sections of the electronic image file, and save the redacted electronic image file in electronic file format.
US08456646B2
A vision recognition system is provided for use with a high speed, automatic produce labeling machine. The system uses laser profiling to direct a sheet of light transversely to the longitudinal axis of a produce feed conveyor. The sheet of light periodically impacts, and generates laser profiles of, the surfaces of the produce items, such as pears, being fed by the conveyor to one or more labeling machines. The laser profiles are used to generate real world (x,y) coordinates of the domes of the incoming produce items, which are passed to the labeling machine or machines. Real world height (or z) coordinates may also be created and passed to the labeler.
US08456640B2
Apparatus and methods for measuring reflectance of optical laser components are disclosed. In one embodiment, when the reflectance of the test optical laser component is higher than 98%, a cavity ring-down (CRD) technique based configuration is employed to measure the reflectance of the test optical laser component. On the other hand, when the reflectance of the test optical laser component is lower than 98% or there is no measurable CRD signal, by removing the output cavity mirror in the CRD apparatus, a photometric configuration is formed to measure the reflectance. The switching between the two techniques can be achieved by removing or inserting the output cavity mirror of the ring-down cavity in the CRD apparatus.
US08456629B2
Spectroscopic measurements are described based on light-molecule interaction in response to a resonant rate optical pulse train so that a Raman spectrum is reflected containing at least two types of vibrational mode information (e.g., vibrational frequency, and vibrational phase relaxation) on the molecules comprising the object. A pump optical pulse train generation means is configured for generating an optical pulse train having an arbitrary repetition rate which is directed through irradiation means to the sample object. Light from the sample object is collected and vibrational coherence is detected for the sample object. The sample is tested across a plurality of different repetition frequencies. The detected information can be compared with data from other known samples from within a database when analyzing the information collected.
US08456620B2
Various implementations of enabling spectroscopy on infrared (IR) sensors are disclosed. The disclosed implementations may include an array of resonant absorbers that may facilitate spectroscopy, such as, for example, IR related spectrometry.
US08456615B2
An optical system, such as an illumination system, includes an optical arrangement having at least one optical element and at least one heat dissipation element configured to at least partially dissipate thermal energy generated in the optical element(s) to the outside environment of the optical system. The heat dissipation element(s) is(are) arranged without direct contact with the optical element(s).
US08456610B2
A liquid containment system is used for a liquid immersion lithography apparatus in which a substrate is exposed through liquid between an optical member of a projection system and the substrate. The liquid containment system includes a liquid containment member which confines the liquid, the liquid containment member including a removing inlet which removes the liquid from a gap between the liquid confinement member and the substrate. The liquid containment system also includes an actuator by which the liquid containment member is moved.
US08456591B2
A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel, and a backlight which is arranged on a back surface of the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the backlight includes a plurality of optical sheets, and at least one optical sheet is displaced so as to adjust a viewing angle.
US08456590B2
An optical sheet is structured to have a translucent substrate 12, an optical element 16 provided on one surface S1 of the translucent substrate 12, on which a plurality of unit prisms 14 or unit lenses are arranged, and a light diffusion layer provided between the one surface S1 and the optical element 16 and/or on another surface S2 of the translucent substrate 12, and at least one of the light diffusion layer 18 includes gap parts 22 as a light diffusion element. At this time, the gap parts 22 is preferably in an approximately oval shape oriented in a uniaxial direction in plan view.
US08456586B2
An electronic device housing may have upper and lower portions that are attached with a hinge. At least one portion of the housing may have a rear planar surface and peripheral sidewalls having edges. A display module may be mounted in the housing. The display module may have glass layers such as a color filter glass layer and a thin-film transistor substrate. The color filter glass layer may serve as the outermost glass layer in the display module. The edges of the display module may be aligned with the edges of the peripheral housing sidewalls to create the appearance of a borderless display for the electronic device. The display module may be provided with an opening that allows a camera or other electronic components to receive light. Traces may be provided on the underside of the thin-film transistor substrate to serve as signal paths for the electrical components.
US08456584B2
A liquid crystal display device strengthens an adhesive force of an electrostatic prevention means without increasing a thickness of the liquid crystal display device by bending part of the bottom cover thereof into a “C”-shape, thereby securing a space for adhering an upper indium tin oxide (ITO) of the color filter substrate and the electrostatic prevention means, in a small-sized model having an in-plane switching (IPS) mode liquid crystal panel, and the liquid crystal display device may include a liquid crystal panel configured with a color filter substrate and an array substrate to display an image; a backlight assembly provided at a rear surface of the liquid crystal panel to supply light to the liquid crystal panel; a support main for accommodating and fixing the liquid crystal panel and the backlight assembly; a bottom cover fastened to the support main to include at least one bending portion in which part thereof is bent in a “C”-shape; and a electrostatic prevention means adhered to cover part of an upper ITO of the liquid crystal panel including the bending portion of the bottom cover.
US08456583B2
A liquid crystal display device according to the present invention includes: a plurality of pixels that are arranged in rows and columns so as to form a matrix pattern; and TFTs (TFT-A, TFT-B and TFT-C), source bus lines, gate bus lines and CS bus lines (CS-A and CS-B), which are associated with the respective pixels. Each pixel includes at least three subpixels (SP-A, SP-B and SP-C) with liquid crystal capacitors that are able to retain mutually different voltages. By supplying a signal (CS-A or CS-B) that makes two of the at least three subpixels display mutually different luminances at least at a certain grayscale tone from the source, gate and CS bus lines to each pixel, the at least three subpixels are able to display mutually different luminances.
US08456581B2
A liquid crystal display includes an array substrate which includes a plurality of signal lines, a plurality of scanning lines, a plurality of auxiliary capacitive lines, a plurality of pixels, an auxiliary capacitive line driving circuit, a logic circuit, a first auxiliary capacitive voltage supply line, a second auxiliary capacitive voltage supply line, and a power supply line, an opposite substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. Each of the pixels includes a switching element, a pixel electrode, and an auxiliary capacitive element. A first common line and a second common line are connected to each other on one end side and are in a non-connected state in parts other than the part on the one end side. A common voltage is supplied to the first common line and the second common line from the one end side.
US08456577B2
The method and apparatus for generating an adaptive chroma key includes taking into consideration foreground object information during the creation of a composite scene. The luminance and chrominance of an area of interest between a foreground key and a background scene are considered and accounted for during the created of the composite scene.
US08456573B2
An apparatus and a method for providing a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) service using a digital TeleVision (TV) and an external device are provided. It is determined whether a received broadcast channel supports a Multi Mode Service (MMS), and if so, one of subchannels included in the broadcast channel is set to a main channel. The digital TV reproduces a broadcast signal via the main channel, and broadcast signals of subchannels excluding the main channel are transmitted to at least one external device in communication with the digital TV.
US08456566B2
A focus range is determined on the basis of an object distance, focal distance, and aperture value, after an autofocus operation. When SW2 is operated, an exposure is performed only during a period that a displacement of a blur in an optical-axis direction is within the focus range. If an exposure time for one exposure does not reach an exposure time to obtain an optimum exposure, a plurality of exposures are performed until a total exposure time reaches the exposure time to obtain the optimum exposure. When the plurality of exposures are performed, a plurality of images obtained are combined to generate an image with the optimum exposure.
US08456560B2
A method includes forming optical lenses on an ICD at the wafer level, rather than attaching a separate lens assembly. The lenses may be formed as an array of individual lenses or as multiple, e.g., two, arrays of individual lenses. The array of lenses may be coupled to an array of ICDs. The ICDs and individual lenses in the array assembly may be singulated to form individual digital camera modules. Additionally or alternatively, the ICDs and individual lenses may be singulated in separate steps.
US08456556B2
A sensing pixel array is provided and includes a plurality of pixels disposed in an array. Each pixel operates during an exposure period and a readout period and generates a readout signal. Each pixel includes a sensing unit and a sampling unit. The sensing unit senses light to generate a sensing signal during the exposure period. The sampling unit samples the sensing signal to generate a sensing output signal which serves as the readout signal during the readout period. During the exposure period, the sampling unit acts as a memory unit for storing an input signal and outputting an accessed output signal which serves as the readout signal.
US08456552B2
An image pickup unit includes an image pickup lens, a lens array disposed on an image formation plane of the image pickup lens, and an image pickup device having a plurality of pixels arranged two-dimensionally along first and second directions intersecting each other. The lens array includes a plurality of lens sections each being assigned to a region of m- by n-pixel in the image pickup device, where each of m and n is an integer of 1 or more, and m is different from n.
US08456538B2
A digital camera can employ logic to delay capturing a still image after a person has operated the control button until such time as predetermined subject criteria are met, e.g., the subject is smiling with eyes open, three or more players are in the field of view to ensure a good action shot, etc.
US08456536B2
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus that includes a sightline detection unit that detects the line of sight of a subject directed toward an imaging device in a captured image captured by the imaging device and containing at least one subject and a sightline indicating unit that clearly indicates, in correspondence to each subject, whether or not the line of sight of the subject directed toward the imaging device has been detected based upon sightline detection results provided by the sightline detection unit.
US08456535B2
An imaging apparatus communicates with a second imaging apparatus connected to the imaging apparatus via a network, and analyzes a photographing frequency of the second imaging apparatus by receiving information indicating that the second imaging apparatus has performed photographing. When the analyzed photographing frequency exceeds a predetermined value, the imaging apparatus changes setting regarding image data to be recorded.
US08456531B2
Video alignment and calibration, which is needed for video quality measurement in full-reference mode, is performed continuously on the videos being measured to account for alignment parameters that may change over time. With this technique, the quality of video files and/or live video streams can be measured in full-reference mode in real-time. During video alignment, the temporal and spatial offsets, as well as any spatial, luminance or color transformations between the two videos are measured; during video calibration, the video frames are adjusted for these offsets and transformations so that the video quality can be measured correctly.
US08456527B2
An object is detected in images of a live event by storing and indexing templates based on representations of the object from previous images. For example, the object may be a vehicle which repeatedly traverses a course. A first set of images of the live event is captured when the object is at different locations in the live event. A representation of the object in each image is obtained, such as by image recognition techniques, and a corresponding template is stored. When the object again traverses the course, for each location, the stored template which is indexed to the location can be retrieved for use in detecting the object in a current image. The object's current location may be obtained from GPS data from the object, for instance, or from camera sensor data, e.g., pan, tilt and zoom, which indicates a direction in which the camera is pointed.
US08456525B2
Provided are an apparatus for controlling a digital image display apparatus having a tuner and a DVR system, and a method thereof. According to the apparatus, a visitor history is selectively stored only when a user is absent or a movement of a visitor is detected using the digital image display apparatus having the DVR system. Accordingly, not only unnecessary images are not stored, but also a function of an image display device is performed and simultaneously images transmitted from a movement shooting unit mounted separately from the digital image display apparatus can be selectively recorded in order to detect a movement of an object. Therefore, the image display apparatus can be more efficiently utilized.
US08456521B2
A triangulation camera device includes a light source device being adapted for generating illumination light to be directed onto an object under investigation and including a light source with an optical pattern generator and a first aperture being arranged along a first optical axis, a detector device being adapted for sensing reflection light reflected by the object and including a detector camera and a second aperture being arranged along a second optical axis, and an imaging optic having imaging lenses being adapted for imaging the illumination light onto the object and for collecting the reflection light, said imaging optic having a third optical axis, wherein the first, second and third optical axes are arranged in parallel and displaced relative to each other and the first and second apertures are arranged with a telecentric configuration relative to the imaging optic such that the illumination light and the reflection light are capable of forming a parallel illumination light bundle and a parallel reflection light bundle, resp., on the object side of the imaging optic, said illumination light bundle and said reflection light bundle having a predetermined projection angle, and the imaging lenses are tilted relative to the third optical axis such that surface reflections of the imaging lenses are directed toward ranges outside the second aperture.
US08456519B2
A video display apparatus includes pixels arranged in lines, a scanning signal transferor that supplies scanning signals to the pixels, and a data signal transferor that supplies a video signal to the pixels. A first controller supplies the video signal to the data signal transferor and causes the scanning signal transferor to supply a first scanning signal that corresponds to a first picture to the lines in the display from a head line to a final line and a second scanning signal that corresponds to a second picture subsequent to the first picture to the lines in the display from the final line to the head line.
US08456514B2
A 3D display device with controllable device for tracking visibility regions is disclosed, and includes a controllable device for tracking a visibility region, generated by way of superposition of light source images, in a observer plane of the display device. In preferred embodiments, the cladding of a waveguide comprises at least one material with optical properties of an anisotropic liquid, or at least two materials with optical properties of an isotropic liquid; a matrix arrangement of control electrodes defines multiple positions to be generated for local exit points in the cladding of the waveguide at which the total reflection is locally cancelled; and a system controller modifies positions of the output coupling points for superposing the output-coupled light through the lens array to the visibility region by displacing an output coupling point, or by switching off one output coupling point and switching on another one.
US08456511B2
A method and apparatus for image reproduction using output prediction is provided. The method includes converting color information of a first color space input to an image display device into color information of a second color space in which a sampled viewing environment of an output object by a printing device has been reflected; selecting a specific color distortion region according to a difference between an actual viewing environment and the sampled viewing environment of the converted second color space, and compensating a color component of the selected specific color distortion region; and converting corrected color information of the second color space which has been created through the compensation into corrected color information of the first color space, and outputting the corrected color information of the first color space through the image display device.
US08456508B2
Some embodiments provide an architecture for establishing multi-participant audio conferences over a computer network. This architecture has a central distributor that receives audio signals from one or more participants. The central distributor mixes the received signals and transmits them back to participants. In some embodiments, the central distributor eliminates echo by removing each participant's audio signal from the mixed signal that the central distributor sends to the particular participant.
US08456486B2
An image processing apparatus includes an information converting unit and an output unit. The information converting unit converts information into an information expression image formed by a dot arrangement pattern in which information is expressed by arranging a given number or less of dots in a unit display area which is an information unit. The output unit arranges the converted information expression image. The output unit superimposes the converted information expression image on image information. The output unit outputs the superimposed information expression image. In the dot arrangement pattern, the arrangement of the dots is determined so that the number of the dots denoting 1 or 0 of a bit sequence of a given error correction code word is a subset equal to or smaller than the given number, and the dot arrangement pattern is readable by a machine.
US08456481B2
A method of organizing memory for storage of texture data, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, includes accessing a size of a mipmap level of a texture map. A block dimension may be determined based on the size of the mipmap level. A memory space (e.g., computer-readable medium) may be logically divided into a plurality of whole number of blocks of variable dimension. The dimension of the blocks is measured in units of gobs and each gob is of a fixed dimension of bytes. A mipmap level of a texture map may be stored in the memory space. A texel coordinate of said mipmap level may be converted into a byte address of the memory space by determining a gob address of a gob in which the texel coordinate resides and determining a byte address within the particular gob.
US08456480B2
In a single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) processor having multiple lanes, and local memory dedicated to each lane, a method of processing an image is disclosed. The method comprises mapping consecutive rasters of the image to consecutive lanes such that groups of consecutive rasters form image strips, and vertical stacks of strips comprise strip columns. Local memory allocates memory to the image strips. A sequence of functions is processed for execution on the SIMD processor in a pipeline implementation, such that the pipeline loops over portions of the image in multiple iterations, and intermediate data processed during the functions is stored in the local memory. Data associated with the image is traversed by first processing image strips from top to bottom in a left-most strip column, then progressing to each adjacent unprocessed strip column.
US08456464B2
A method for driving a liquid crystal display monitor including a display panel with a plurality of pixels includes receiving image data which includes a plurality of image signals corresponding to the plurality of pixels, initiating a column inversion procedure for driving the display panel to display the image data, comparing the plurality of image signals during the column inversion procedure to generate a comparison result, and deciding whether to initiate a charge sharing function of the plurality of pixels according to the comparison result.
US08456460B2
The present invention provides a sensor element including two diode elements connected in series to each other, and a capacitive element having one end connected to a junction point between the two diode elements. Each of the diode elements includes a semiconductor layer having a p-type semiconductor region and an n-type semiconductor region facing each other in an in-plane direction, an anode electrode connected to the p-type semiconductor region, a cathode electrode connected to the n-type semiconductor region, a gate insulting film adjoining the semiconductor layer in a stacking direction, and a gate electrode facing the semiconductor layer with the gate insulating film in between.
US08456458B2
A display system for generating three-dimensional images includes a liquid crystal panel, a driving voltage generation circuit, and a liquid crystal lens. The liquid crystal panel is used for receiving a three-dimensional image signal. The driving voltage generation circuit is used for generating a set of square-wave voltages and a direct current voltage alternately according to the three-dimensional image signal. The liquid crystal lens is used for adjusting refraction angles of a plurality of liquid crystals of the liquid crystal lens to output a three-dimensional image according to the set of square-wave voltages and the direct current voltage.
US08456456B2
A dongle for coupling a signal source device and a signal sink device is disclosed. The dongle includes an interface receptacle, a display port interface plug, a repeater, a low-dropout regulator and an impedance unit. The interface receptacle is a DVI receptacle or a HDMI receptacle. The repeater is electrically connected between the interface receptacle and the display port interface plug to enhance signals. The low-dropout regulator includes a power input end and a power output end. The power input end is electrically connected to the interface receptacle, and the power output end is electrically connected to the display port interface plug. The impedance unit is electrically connected between the power output end of the low-dropout regulator and the interface receptacle. The signal source device may output the display port signal needed by the signal sink device according to the function of the dongle.
US08456454B2
A display panel is disclosed, which includes a substrate, a shift register array, plural scan lines, a compensating circuit, a first repair line, and a second repair line. The shift register array having plural shift registers is disposed on a non-display area of the substrate. The scan lines connect to the shift registers respectively to drive plural display units. The first repair line and the second repair line are connected to the compensating circuit and bridged over two ends of each scan line in the non-display area, respectively.
US08456451B2
A touch system comprises a touch surface and at least one camera acquiring images of the touch surface. A pointer contact data generator generates pointer position data in response to pointer contact with the touch surface, the pointer position data representing where on the touch surface pointer contact is made. A processor communicates with the at least one camera and the pointer contact data generator. The processor analyzes acquired images to determine the type of pointer used to contact the touch surface, and processes the pointer position data in accordance with the determined type of pointer. In the preferred embodiment the processor distinguishes between pointer tip touch surface contacts, pointer backend touch surface contacts and finger touch surface contacts. A writing function is invoked in response to pointer tip touch surface contacts. An erase function is invoked in response to pointer backend touch surface contacts. Mouse events are generated in response to finger touch surface contacts.
US08456450B2
An AC-to-DC adapter may be provided in order to increase the sensitivity of a touch-sensitive surface. Such an AC-to-DC adapter may include a rectifying circuit to rectify incoming AC signals. The rectifying circuit may take the form of a diode bridge network that includes four diode branches. Stabilization circuits may be provided in parallel with each diode branch in order to decrease the impedance of the diode bridge network during particular periods of operation. The stabilization circuits may be configured such that the impedance of the diode bridge network is substantially constant during all periods of operation. As a result, the impedance of the AC-to-DC adapter may be relatively constant during all periods of operation. In turn, the sensitivity of a touch-sensitive surface of a device being powered by such an AC-to-DC adapter may increase.
US08456448B2
A light-tactility conversion system is provided which includes a light emitting device including an illumination unit capable of emitting light at a same time to a plurality of illumination areas in different illumination patterns, and an illumination control unit for controlling the illumination unit and making the illumination unit project an image, and also for controlling the illumination patterns in units of pixels of the projected image and making the illumination unit emit light to specific illumination areas in specific illumination patterns, and a vibration device including an illumination pattern detection unit for detecting an illumination pattern of light received from the light emitting device, and a vibration control unit for generating a vibration pattern corresponding to the illumination pattern detected by the illumination pattern detection unit and vibrating an oscillator in the vibration pattern.
US08456441B2
A selective input system and associated method is provided which tracks the motion of a pointing device over a region or area. The pointing device can be a touchpad, a mouse, a pen, or any device capable of providing two or three-dimensional location. The region or area is preferably augmented with a printed or actual keyboard/pad. Alternatively, a representation of the location of the pointing device over a virtual keyboard/pad can be dynamically shown on an associated display. The system identifies selections of items or characters by detecting parameters of motion of the pointing device, such as length of motion, a change in direction, a change in velocity, and or a lack of motion at locations that correspond to features on the keyboard/pad. The input system is preferably coupled to a text disambiguation system such as a T9® or Sloppytype™ system, to improve the accuracy and usability of the input system.
US08456436B2
An input-mode determination unit determines an input mode to be a graphic mode in the case where the number of sets of coordinates included in a coordinate sequence stored in the coordinate-sequence storage unit is smaller than a predetermined number and points represented by the coordinates are within a predetermined distance range, and otherwise, determines the input mode to be a curve mode. A line-to-draw sequence generation unit generates a line-to-draw sequence according to the input mode which the input-mode determination unit has determined to be.
US08456435B2
A method of controlling an electronic device that has a touch-sensitive display includes detecting a touch at an area associated with a character displayed on the touch-sensitive display, adding the character to a character string, identifying, from stored data, objects that at least partially match the character string, determining a next character of ones of the objects identified to yield a set of next characters, increasing a size of an area associated with each character of the set of next characters, and reducing the size of the area associated with each character of the set of next characters with time absent detection of a further touch.
US08456434B2
Provided are a touch sensor and a method of operating the same. The touch sensor includes: a pulse signal generator for generating a pulse signal of which pulse width is calibrated in response to a control code; a pulse signal transmitter for transmitting the pulse signal when a touch object is out of contact with a touch pad and stopping transmitting the pulse signal when the touch object is in contact with the touch pad; a pulse signal detector for detecting the pulse signal transmitted through the pulse signal transmitter; and a controller recognizing a non-contact state and adjusting the control code to calibrate the pulse width of the pulse signal when the pulse signal detector detects the pulse signal. In the above-described configuration, the contact of the touch object with the touch pad can be sensed more precisely, and the occurrence of a malfunction in the touch sensor due to changed operating conditions can be prevented. As a result, the operating reliability of the touch sensor can be enhanced.
US08456433B2
The present invention provides a signal processing apparatus and a signal processing method of a man-machine interface. The signal processing method comprises steps of: receiving a first touch signal; recognizing an object corresponding to the first touch signal; determining whether a second touch signal is received while receiving the first touch signal; and selecting the object corresponding to the first touch signal when receiving the second touch signal.
US08456427B2
A capacitive touchpad comprised of drive electrodes and at least one sense electrodes disposed on or within an insulating substrate material, wherein an electrically floating capacitive coupler is disposed adjacent to both the drive electrodes and the sense electrode to thereby enhance signal coupling between the drive electrodes and the sense electrode caused by introduction of a pointing object.
US08456420B2
Many embodiments may comprise logic such as hardware and/or code to implement user interface for traversal of long sorted lists, via audible mapping of the lists, using sensor based gesture recognition, audio and tactile feedback and button selection while on the go. In several embodiments, such user interface modalities are physically small in size, enabling a user to be truly mobile by reducing the cognitive load required to operate the device. For some embodiments, the user interface may be divided across multiple worn devices, such as a mobile device, watch, earpiece, and ring. Rotation of the watch may be translated into navigation instructions, allowing the user to traverse the list while the user receives audio feedback via the earpiece to describe items in the list as well as audio feedback regarding the navigation state. Many embodiments offer the user a simple user interface to traverse the list without visual feedback.
US08456400B2
A liquid crystal device including a plurality of scanning lines, a plurality of data lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes, a capacitor electrode, a control circuit, a scanning line driving circuit, and a data line driving circuit.
US08456399B2
A liquid crystal display that is unsusceptible to the effect of a pixel potential during writing of data to a memory, allowing a large margin to be provided against variation in characteristics of transistors forming a pixel circuit, and a portable terminal having the liquid crystal display. In a pixel circuit including a memory circuit (25), separate paths are provided for writing image data from a signal line (16-i) to the memory circuit (25) via a data-write switch (24) and for reading image data held in the memory circuit (25) out into a liquid crystal cell unit via a data-read switch (27). Furthermore, image data are read via a data-read buffer (26). Accordingly, when image data is written to the memory, data held in the memory circuit (25) is not affected by a pixel potential. Thus, a large margin can be provided against variation in the characteristics of the transistors forming the pixel circuit, serving to avoid variation in picture quality due to the variation in the transistor characteristics.
US08456398B2
A liquid crystal display module including a liquid crystal display having a plurality of liquid crystal cells, a plurality of switches and a common connection, each liquid crystal cell being connected between a respective switch and a common connection. The common connection includes strips, each extending in a first direction and the strips being arranged side-by-side in a second direction. The liquid crystal cells are arranged in rows, each row being along and connected to a strip. The liquid crystal display has gate lines, each gate line operating a respective plurality of the switches. For dot inversion, each gate operates switches connected to respective liquid crystal cells of two adjacent rows. For each row, a first set of alternate liquid crystal cells are connected to respective switches operated by a respective gate line and a second set of interspersed liquid crystal cells are connected to respective switches operated by another respective gate line.
US08456396B2
A first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor are provided. In the first transistor, a first terminal is electrically connected to a first wiring; a second terminal is electrically connected to a gate terminal of the second transistor; a gate terminal is electrically connected to a fifth wiring. In the second transistor, a first terminal is electrically connected to a third wiring; a second terminal is electrically connected to a sixth wiring. In the third transistor, a first terminal is electrically connected to a second wiring; a second terminal is electrically connected to the gate terminal of the second transistor; a gate terminal is electrically connected to a fourth wiring. In the fourth transistor, a first terminal is electrically connected to the second wiring; a second terminal is electrically connected to the sixth wiring; a gate terminal is connected to the fourth wiring.
US08456384B2
A plasma display device is disclosed. The plasma display device includes a plasma display panel (PDP), a printed circuit board assembly (PBA), and a flexible printed circuit (FPC) electrically connecting electrodes of the PBA and the PDP. In some embodiments, the FPC is formed of two films with signal lines therebetween and electrodes on opposite sides.
US08456379B2
A system that includes environmental controls is described that at least enhances the experience of giving or viewing a presentation. During a presentation, multiple controls are available which enable the presenter to have direct control of the presentation environment. The system, for example, makes it easier to give presentations, both public and private, using computer-aided text, images, and sounds. Using this system, it is possible, for example, for presenters to practice a presentation before actually giving it, to transmit a presentation, either pre-recorded or live, from a remote location(s), to record a presentation for later distribution, to view a pre-recorded or live presentation from a remote location(s), or to upload a video or audio message to a website. This system includes a combination of, for example, an exemplary integrated information presentation device, an Integrated Presentation Environment Assembly with Controls, an information display device system, a stylus, and a remote control.
US08456372B2
A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable handheld housing, and a wireless transceiver carried by the housing. A pair of an antennas are positioned in side-by-side relation preferably in the upper portion of the portable handheld housing. A human interface diversity controller is connected to the wireless transceiver to preferentially operate with the plurality of antennas based upon a relative position of the portable handheld housing with respect to a hand of a human user. The device can select or weight the antennas based upon the position of the device when being held by a user.
US08456366B2
A communications structure may include a ground plane, a ground conductor electrically coupled to the ground plane and extending from the ground plane, and a feed conductor. A first antenna branch may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor, with an electrical coupling between the first antenna branch and the ground conductor being spaced apart from an electrical coupling between the ground plane and the ground connector. A second antenna branch may be electrically coupled to the feed conductor, with the first and second antenna branches being spaced apart. In addition, a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and/or receiver may be provided with the ground plane and the feed conductor being electrically coupled to the RF transmitter and/or receiver.
US08456362B2
There is provided a receiving apparatus including a plurality of receiving antennas, each of which receives a radio signal in which sub-carriers of different frequencies are multiplexed, a phase calculation unit that calculates a phase difference of each radio signal received by the plurality of receiving antennas from that of a reference signal for each of the sub-carriers contained in the radio signals, and a path difference calculation unit that calculates a path difference, which is a difference of distances from a transmitting antenna from which the radio signals are transmitted to any two receiving antennas of the plurality of receiving antennas, based on the phase difference calculated by the phase calculation unit.
US08456359B2
A method of communicating satellite tracking information among a network of global navigation satellite system receivers is described. The method includes determining at a first GNSS receiver which satellites in a constellation of satellites have been continuously tracked over a preceding selected time period, and for each such satellite determining its elevation with respect to the zenith. Only the elevation value for the lowest satellite in the set of satellites for which all satellites of higher elevation values have been continuously tracked over the selected time period is then transmitted to the second GNSS receiver. That receiver can then reconstruct the set of satellites which have been continuously tracked.
US08456358B2
A method for operating a wireless transmitter and a global navigation satellite (“GNSS”) receiver coexistent in a mobile wireless device. A mobile wireless device includes a GNSS receiver and a wireless networking system. The wireless networking system includes a wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter provides a first interference level signal to the GNSS receiver. The first interference level signal indicates a level of interference that the GNSS receiver can expect due to operation of the transmitter. A priority signal is asserted if the processing of navigation signals in the GNSS receiver takes precedence over wireless transmitter transmissions.
US08456354B2
A method for determining a position using a GNSS system having a plurality of GNSS satellites and one or more augmentation systems, which method includes the steps of obtaining a code or phase measurement from the GNSS satellite signals, generating measurement groups, and generating corrected measurement groups by applying code or phase corrections from the augmentation systems, and applying combinations of the corrected measurements in a filter which outputs a position and ambiguity estimate.
US08456344B1
Method and apparatus for generating a target frequency having an over-sampled data rate using a system clock having a different frequency are disclosed. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the circuit includes, a digital phase locked loop coupled to the system clock. The digital phase locked loop including an oscillator output and an oscillator input. The circuit further comprises an extra pulse eliminator coupled to the oscillator output. The extra pulse eliminator includes an extra pulse eliminator output. One or more frequency dividers may be coupled to an extra pulse eliminator output.
US08456339B2
A delta sigma analogue to digital converter comprising: an integrator having first and second differential inputs for receiving an input analogue signal, the integrator having differential outputs; a quantiser having first and second differential inputs which receive signals output by the integrator, and an output which provides a digital output signal of the delta sigma analogue to digital converter, and a digital to analogue converter. The digital to analogue converter has an input which is connected to an output of the delta sigma analogue to digital converter, and first and second differential outputs. The first output of the digital to analogue converter is connected to the first input of the integrator such that if the second output of the digital to analogue converter is not connected to the second input of the integrator and the second input of the integrator is connected to a fixed reference voltage the delta sigma analogue to digital converter is able to operate in a single-ended mode.
US08456334B2
A variable-length code decoding apparatus has a first table storing part capable of converting the variable-length codes into first decoded data comprising successive zeros, a second table storing part capable of converting a variable-length code and for which corresponding decoded data comprises no zeros, a third table storing part capable of converting a variable-length code comprising a code length of N and for which corresponding decoded data comprises no zeros or capable of converting a combination of the variable-length codes, a bit shifting part configured to shift the input bitstream by a specific number of bits, a fourth table storing part capable of converting a variable-length code at a header of the bit-shifted input bitstream into fourth decoded data, a combining part configured to combine the second or the third decoded data and the fourth decoded data.
US08456313B2
This invention is a nuclear radiation-warning detector that measures impedance of silver-silver halide on an interdigitated electrode to detect light or radiation comprised of alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays, X rays, and/or neutrons. The detector is comprised of an interdigitated electrode covered by a layer of silver halide. After exposure to alpha particles, beta particles, X rays, gamma rays, neutron radiation, or light, the silver halide is reduced to silver in the presence of a reducing solution. The change from the high electrical resistance (impedance) of silver halide to the low resistance of silver provides the radiation warning that detected radiation levels exceed a predetermined radiation dose threshold.
US08456311B2
An assembly includes a mount (10) and a sensor (30), in particular a rain/light sensor for a motor vehicle, the mount (10) including at least two abutments (12) for a clamping bracket (50), wherein at least one clamping bracket (50) is hinge-fitted to the sensor (30) at two bearing points, the clamping bracket (50) being adapted to swivel between a mounting position and a clamping position, in which it urges the sensor (30) against the mount (10) with a pretensioning force.
US08456309B2
This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for predicting heart failure decompensation using within-patient diagnostics. A method comprises detecting an alert status of each of one or more sensors; calculating an alert score by combining the detected alerts; and calculating a composite alert score, the composite alert score being indicative of a physiological condition and comprising a combination of two or more alert scores.
US08456293B1
Techniques are described for using sensor data derived from a monitoring system to drive personalized content. Sensor data captured by a monitoring system may be used to determine attributes of users of the monitoring system and/or attributes of a property monitored by the monitoring system. The determined attributes may be used to select content to present to users of the monitoring system. Content presentation may be made through the monitoring system and may be triggered based on events detected by the monitoring system.
US08456290B2
An in-vehicle image display apparatus for use in a vehicle is provided which includes a state detecting device that detects a state of surroundings of the vehicle; a display device that is provided at least in an entire front window section of the vehicle and capable of displaying information over the entire window section; an image generating device that generates image data for displaying a image of surroundings of the vehicle on the display device based on detection results from the state detecting device; and a display control device that makes the display device display an image represented by the image data generated by the image generating device.
US08456289B2
An apparatus and a method for providing a haptic function in a portable terminal are provided. The method for providing the haptic function in the portable terminal includes determining information which denotes a movement of the portable terminal, generating a haptic data to stimulate a user's tactile sense according to the information and generating a vibration corresponding to the haptic data.
US08456287B2
An indicator system for use on a medicine bottle to indicate the times and dates of the last dosage taken and the next dosage to be taken, including means for registering time and date when the bottle is opened and then closed.
US08456283B2
A device for operating an RFID writing/reading device with transmitted signal suppression includes the RFID writing/reading device and a reflection modulator. The RFID writing/reading device includes a transmitter, a receiver with a signal processor, a directional coupler with a first, a second, a third and a fourth port, and an antenna. The reflection modulator is connected to the fourth port of the directional coupler. The reflection modulator includes a first setting element and a second setting element. The reflection modulator is configured to reflect a copy of a transmitted signal from the RFID writing/reading device, the amplitude and phase of which copy have been weighted, to the directional coupler. The directional coupler is configured to add the weighted copy of the transmitted signal to a received signal from the antenna in the directional coupler.
US08456281B2
The present invention provides a non-contact IC medium communication device (1) capable of detecting a non-contact IC medium (25) in a desired area with a simple configuration, by obtaining, from each of separate read areas, identification information of the non-contact IC medium that exists within the read area and a signal level of a reception signal received from the non-contact IC medium, the identification information and the signal level being associated with each other, performing difference operation or division with respect to respective signal levels of reception signals from the separate read areas, for each of the identification information, to obtain a composite signal level, and extracting the identification information whose composite signal level falls within a predetermined threshold range. The present invention further provides a method thereof, a program thereof, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the program.
US08456279B2
A CE device for, e.g., displaying the time can incorporate an accelerometer to provide various features and enhancements. For example, using position derived from the accelerometer, the signal strength of a wireless access point (AP) can be mapped in a house.
US08456277B2
A locking cylinder is proposed for installation in a lock, with a locking element for actuating a lock bolt or the like, and an actuating element, preferably a knob, wherein the actuating element is normally disengaged from the locking element, and with a coupling for connecting the locking element to the actuating element after receiving an identification code from an associated transponder.An electromechanical converter is associated with the actuating element, which converter converts an actuation of the actuating element into electrical energy which is used to support the wireless communication with the transponder and/or the engaging of the coupling when a valid identification signal is received.
US08456274B2
A method for automatic electronic authorization for entry into a geographic area based on detection of a mobile station operable on a Global System for Mobile communications network, comprises: transmitting, by a transmitter associated with a toll base station, a signal indicating the presence of the toll base station; detecting, by a receiver associated with the toll base station, a request by a mobile station to connect to the toll base station; transmitting, by the transmitter, an identity request signal to the mobile station; detecting an identity response signal that identifies the mobile station; determining the identity of a subscriber associated with the mobile station based on the detected identity response signal and authorizing the subscriber to enter the geographic area based on the determined subscriber identity.
US08456273B2
A chip resistor device includes: a dielectric substrate that has top and bottom surfaces and two opposite edge faces interconnecting the top and bottom surfaces; two electrodes that are formed on two opposite sides of the dielectric substrate and that cover the edge faces and parts of the top and bottom surfaces; a resistor layer that is formed on one of the top and bottom surfaces of the dielectric substrate between the electrodes and that is brought into contact with the electrodes; and a heat conductive layer that is disposed on the resistor layer oppositely of the dielectric substrate and between the electrodes, that contacts the resistor layer and the two electrodes, and that has a higher resistance than that of the resistor layer. A method for making the chip resistor device is also disclosed.
US08456272B2
An electric line comprising: at least one conducting substrate including at least two heating fields of different width, at least one shared contacting device, wherein the conducting substrate includes a coating material disclosed on the conducting substrate that forms the at least two heating fields, and the same coating material is disposed on the at least two heating fields, and wherein an electrical conductivity of the coating material on one of the at least two heating fields is different than a second one of the at least two heating fields of different width so that upon application of the coating material on the at least two heating fields, each of the at least two heating fields have an identical electrical resistance, and wherein the at least one shared contacting device connects the at least two heating fields to an electrical potential by one or more connection lines.
US08456268B2
The present disclosure provides a magnetic coil assembly for suppressing the generation of broken wire in a coil as well as reducing a winding time, the magnetic coil assembly according to the present disclosure comprise a bobbin; a magnetic coil wound around the bobbin; a pair of terminals fixedly installed at the bobbin; a first coil fixing protrusion portion extended from the terminal to fix a starting end portion of a first coil half which is a half of the entire length of the magnetic coil; a second coil fixing protrusion portion extended from the bobbin to fix a starting end portion of a second coil half which is the remaining half of the magnetic coil, and fix an terminal end portion of the first coil half; and a third coil fixing protrusion portion extended from the terminal to fix a terminal end portion of the second coil half.
US08456267B2
A composite transmission line transformer includes at least one core, a first port, a second port, and one or more pairs of transmission lines wound about the core(s). Each transmission line is in signal communication with the first port and the second port. For each pair, the transmission lines are interconnected in series at the first port and at the second port such that the first port and the second port are DC-isolated from each other.
US08456253B2
The invention relates to a microstrip coupler for coupling a radio frequency, RF, wave into a waveguide. The microstrip coupler comprises a conductive microstrip line having a broadened end portion, and a non-conductive slot (105) following the broadened end portion to form an antenna for irradiating the RF wave.
US08456251B2
An adjustable-frequency oscillator, is formed by two looped systems, functioning at the same frequency but the signals are phase shifted by 90°. Each looped system includes a phase shift device, an active element providing the gain and a resonator having a fixed phase-frequency characteristic. As the phase shift in each loop is imperatively a whole multiple of 2π, the phase shift added in each loop by the phase shift device entails that each resonator introduces a complementary phase shift to comply with the oscillation criterion. This complementary phase shift is produced at a frequency defined by the resonator, this then defining the frequency of oscillation. The frequency is adjusted by two phase shift stages, which carry out the analogue multiplication of the signals coming from the two looped systems by control voltages and the summing of these products.
US08456250B2
Methods and apparatus for tuning devices having resonators are described. Phase shifters are included in the circuits and used to shift the phase of the output signal(s) of the resonators. In some implementations, the phase shifters are configured in a feedback loop with the resonators. One or more of the apparatus described herein may be implemented as part, or all, of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS).
US08456242B2
A locked loop circuit includes an oscillator and an extrapolator. The oscillator generates an output signal in response to a control value. The extrapolator determines, based on a first state of the oscillator and a transfer function of the oscillator the control value for the oscillator to transition the oscillator to a second operating state.
US08456239B2
A power amplifier, which includes n+1 amplifying units coupled in parallel, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 0, third input ends VR(i) of the n+1 amplifying units are coupled to a power input VL, output ends D(i) of the n+1 amplifying units are coupled to a power input VH, and an output power of the power amplifier is in an increasing function relationship with a capacitance value obtained through accumulation of energy returning capacitors xC of the n+1 amplifying units. The power amplifier changes circuit impedance in a manner of controlling the parallel capacitance value by a switching digital signal, thereby controlling a magnitude of a returned power value and forming different output powers.
US08456235B2
The present invention is contrived to adopt a differential pair type amplifier circuit comprising a differential pair constituted by a first transistor receiving an input of a first signal and by a second transistor receiving an input of a third signal generated by outputting a second signal of which the voltage level is a power supply voltage. Elements requiring a matching are two transistors constituting the differential pair for the amplifier circuit. Because of this, the elements requiring a matching can be placed close to each other regardless of a layout between the amplifier circuits.
US08456229B2
A filter device includes a filter that separates a steady component and a non-steady component included in an input signal, a synthesis unit that synthesizes the separated steady component and the separated non-steady component according to a given ratio, and an evaluation unit that evaluates the magnitude of the amount of the non-steady component in the input signal, wherein the synthesis unit sets the given ratio to a first ratio in an instance in which the evaluation unit determines the amount of the non-steady component to be equal to or less than a predetermined reference, and sets the given ratio to a second ratio, in which the proportion of the non-steady component is less than that of the first ratio, in an instance in which the evaluation unit determines the amount of the non-steady component to be greater than the predetermined reference.
US08456226B2
Certain aspects of a method and system for a process sensor to compensate SoC parameters in the presence of IC process manufacturing variations are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include determining an amount of process variation associated with at least one transistor within a single integrated circuit. The determined amount of process variation may be compensated by utilizing a process dependent current, a bandgap current, and a current associated with a present temperature of the transistor. The process dependent current, the bandgap current and the current associated with the present temperature of the transistor may be combined to generate an output current. A voltage generated across a variable resistor may be determined based on the generated output current.
US08456223B2
An integrated circuit includes a main power rail, a ground power rail as well as a virtual main power rail and a virtual ground power rail. Combinatorial logic circuitry is connected to draw its power from the virtual main power rail and the virtual ground power rail. Signal value storage circuitry is connected to draw its power from one of the main power rail and the ground power rail with the other power connection being to a virtual rail. The integrated circuit has an operational mode, a retention mode and a power off mode. In the retention mode, the voltage difference across the combinatorial logic circuitry is a low power voltage difference insufficient to support data processing operations whereas the voltage difference across the signal value storage circuitry is higher and is sufficient to support signal value retention within the signal value storage circuitry.
US08456222B2
The present invention relates to an electronic device, which comprises: a first module, comprising an I/O pad for being an interface between the electronic device and an external device, and receiving a first bias source; a second module, coupled to the first module, comprising a register, and receiving a second bias source; and a signal converter, coupled between the first module and the second module. Wherein when one of the first and second bias sources is stable and the other is unstable, the signal converter outputs a first predetermined bias value to the first or second modules receiving the unstable bias source.
US08456219B2
A PWM mode for turning on and off two output transistors by an output of a high impedance circuit and a constant voltage mode for controlling voltages at two output terminals by an output of an op amp are provided. Then, the two modes are switched by a switching signal.
US08456215B2
A limiting amplifier and method are provided. In one implementation an apparatus includes a plurality of amplifier stages including a first amplifier stage and a last amplifier stage configured in a cascade arrangement, and a transconductance amplifier, wherein the first amplifier stage is configured to receive an input signal; the last amplifier stage outputs an output signal; the transconductance amplifier is configured receive a voltage signal from the last amplifier stage via a first resistor; and the transconductance amplifier is configured to output a current signal to an output node of the first amplifier stage via a second resistor in a negative feedback manner.
US08456210B2
A delay locked loop (DLL) is calibrated to obtain a measure of offset error in the DLL. The offset error is compensated for in normal operation. In an embodiment, a current corresponding to the measure of offset is forced into one of a pair of paths carrying error signals representing a phase-mismatch between a reference signal and a feedback signal. In another embodiment, additional delay corresponding to the measure of offset is introduced on one of the pair of paths. Offset error is thus largely removed in normal operation of the DLL. The DLL employs an amplifier in place of a charge pump to remove systematic offset errors due to a charge pump. A phase detector in the DLL is designed such that an overlap interval of error outputs of the phase detector is at least half the period of the reference signal, thereby lending to high-frequency operation.
US08456199B2
An integrated circuit, method of controlling power supplied to semiconductor devices, a method of designing an integrated circuit and a computer program product are disclosed. The integrated circuit comprises: a semiconductor device for handling data; a power source for powering said semiconductor device, said power source comprising a high voltage source for supplying a high voltage level and a low voltage source for supplying a low voltage level; a plurality of switching devices arranged between at least one of the high or low voltage sources and the semiconductor device. There is also a control device for controlling a first set of the plurality of switching devices to connect one of the high or low voltage sources to the semiconductor device and for controlling a second set of the plurality of switching devices to connect the one of the high or low voltage sources to the semiconductor device. At least some of the first set of the plurality of switching devices have a higher resistance when closed and providing a connection than at least some of the second set of the plurality of switching devices such that when the first set of the plurality of switching devices connect the semiconductor device to the one of the voltage sources the semiconductor device operates with a lower performance than when the second set of the plurality of switching devices connect the semiconductor device to the one of said voltage sources.
US08456189B2
A multi-mode differential termination circuit has a pair of differential input terminals for receiving external differential signals, a pair of series-connected load elements coupled between said differential input terminals, and an analog interface terminal coupled a common junction point of said load elements. A bias circuit is coupled to the common junction point of the load elements for selectively applying a bias voltage thereto in response to a digital control signal. A control input receives the digital control signal to activate the bias circuit.
US08456185B2
Independent assemblies are compliantly mounted to a force transfer mechanism to optically align and thermally couple a device under test (DUT) to a test apparatus. A first assembly includes an optical connector. The first assembly has an alignment feature and a first compliant interface. A second assembly includes a thermal control member and force transfer members coupled to a structure. A passage permits a portion of the arm of the first assembly to extend through the structure. The force transfer members provide respective seats for an additional compliant interface. The alignment feature engages a corresponding feature to align the optical connector with the DUT before the compliant interfaces compress under an external force. Compliant mounting of the assemblies accommodates manufacturing tolerances in the DUT so that contact forces on the DUT are relatively consistent and thereby enable consistent optical and thermal coupling between the test apparatus and the DUT.
US08456178B2
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention include methods and devices for the electromagnetic (inductive) measurement of the conductivity of liquids by immersing a sensor into the liquid, wherein the sensor includes at least 2 toroidal cores, one of said cores carrying an excitation coil and the other core carrying an induction coil. Exemplary methods include converting the induced current at the induction coil into an alternating square-wave voltage, followed by rectification. A sample-hold circuit may be employed to avoid the transition time of the alternating square-wave current conversion. The demodulated DC voltage is proportional to the conductivity of the measured liquid.
US08456171B2
It is aimed to provide a probe card test system and a relay driving test method for probe cards which can automatically and continuously perform tests without bringing needle tips into contact with a number of relays mounted on a probe card and by using a device. In a probe card test system for testing a probe card using a tester, the probe card includes a substrate having a first probe and a first relay connected to the first probe, a relay controller for the first relay and a first measurement channel for connecting the first relay and the first probe to the tester are further provided on the substrate. The tester includes a DC power supply, a control board for controlling the relay controller for the first relay, and a first measurement circuit connected to the first measurement channel, the DC power supply and a voltmeter. The first measurement circuit includes a first resistor having a predetermined time constant and a first changeover switch to be connected to the first measurement channel. The DC power supply and the first resistor are connected to the first changeover switch, and the first measurement channel is switchingly connected to the DC power supply or the first resistor by the first changeover switch.
US08456160B2
The gauss meter devices of the present invention are small, low power 3 axis field monitor board which detects DC to slow varying magnetic fields. The unit is designed to be embedded into a system which may be sensitive to magnetic fields and needs to continuously measure the magnitude of the field around it. The unit continuously monitors and logs magnetic fields on X, Y and Z axes and it also logs the vector summation of the X, Y and Z axes. The unit may be controlled and queried by wired serial communication means or by means of an integrated radio frequency (RF) transceiver. The RF transceiver may utilize a proprietary communication protocol or a standard wireless communication protocol such as ZigBee, Bluetooth or any of the IEEE communications standards. The many configuration settings of the device may be changed by the user by issuing commands to the device from an established command set. Novel use is made of solid state electronics to calibrate the unit digitally instead of by the traditional use of mechanical potentiometers, physical trimming of resistors and so forth. Therefore, the units may be calibrated by an automated system. All calibration and configuration data is stored in nonvolatile memory.
US08456159B2
A stabilized field sensor apparatus collects field data, in particular magnetic field data, with reduced motion noise. The apparatus includes a tear drop shaped housing, a tow frame in the housing, a plurality of vibration isolating dampers spaced around the frame, a base assembly mounted to the dampers, a support pedestal having a bottom end fixed to the base assembly and an upper free end, a single spherical air bearing connected to the upper free end of the pedestal, an instrument platform with a lower hollow funnel having an upper inside apex supported on the air bearing for a one point support, principal and secondary gyro stabilizers for maintaining pivotal and rotational stability, and at least one field sensor mounted to the instrument platform for collecting the field data while being stabilized against motion noise including vibration, pivoting and rotation from the base assembly, from the tow frame and from the housing. Stabilization of the instrument platform is enhanced by preserving accurate balance through a dynamic balancing system whereby small masses are moved under computer control to maintain the center of mass of the instrument platform at the center of rotation of the spherical air bearing. The dynamic stabilization process is made more precise by actively vibrating the instrument platform by a set of linear vibrators.
US08456155B2
A power amplifier includes: an input matching circuit including an inductor, the input matching circuit receiving an input signal and matching input impedances with each other; an amplifier amplifying the input signal that is passed through the input matching circuit; and a test circuit, wherein the test circuit includes: a capacitor connected to the inductor in the input matching circuit through first test switch; a negative resistance transistor provided between the inductor and first voltage source terminal with second test switch being interposed between the inductor and the negative resistance transistor; and a current source transistor provided between second voltage source terminal and the inductor, wherein, in testing, first and second test switches and the current source transistor are turned on to cause the inductor and the test circuit to form a oscillator and, in normal operation, first and second test switches and the current source transistor are turned off.
US08456141B2
A boost converter for high power and high output voltage applications includes a low voltage controller integrated circuit and a high voltage, vertical, discrete field effect transistor, both of which are packed in a single package on separate electrically isolated die pads.
US08456140B2
A power control apparatus for controlling a supply voltage for an associated circuit comprises a power input for receiving an input voltage and a power output for supplying the supply voltage to the circuit. A switch device is provided with a first terminal coupled to the power input, a second terminal coupled to the power output and a control terminal for receiving a sleep select signal. A control device selectively configures the switch device to act as either a power gating switch, in which the switch device is responsive to the sleep select signal to select whether or not to supply the input voltage to the power output; or a retention switch in which a voltage difference is formed between the power input and the power input and the switch device supplies a retention voltage to the power output, the retention voltage being different to the input voltage.
US08456136B2
A method and apparatus for battery gauging in a portable terminal are provided. In the battery gauging method, it is determined in a low-power mode whether a listening interval occurs for detecting the presence of a received signal. The remaining battery capacity is detected if the listening interval occurs. An interrupt signal is transmitted to the second processor, operating in a low-power mode, if the remaining battery capacity is less than or equal to a threshold. Upon receipt of the interrupt signal, the second processor wakes up to interrupt the power of the portable terminal.
US08456126B2
There is provided a motor control system and motor control method which can shorten settling time by restraining vibration and deviation relative to an advancing direction during operation. Moreover, according to the present invention, it is possible to cause a motor to be operated with an ideal track and, since it is possible to always monitor a present position, it is made easy to cause a plurality of axes to be synchronously operated. The motor control system is provided with a unit generating command waveforms from a jerk data which has significant effects on the vibration relative to the advancing direction, and a unit performing a real time real position control of regenerating future command waveforms according to a deviation amount, while always performing jerk-limit, whereby the vibration and the deviation relative to the advancing direction when the motor operates at high speed are restrained.
US08456122B2
A control circuit includes a current sensing circuit, an analog digital converter (ADC), an amplifying circuit, a processor, and a switching circuit. The current sensing circuit senses current supplied to an electronic device by a power supply and outputs a first voltage signal. The amplifying circuit amplifies the first voltage signal output from the current sensing circuit to a second voltage signal. The ADC converts the second voltage signal to a digital signal. The processor outputs pulse width modulation (PWM) signals according to the digital signal. The switching circuit receives the PWM signals to control a fan of the electronic device according to the PWM signals.
US08456121B2
A motor control device, which includes a main control portion configured to actuate a motor, which displaces a driven object between a first position and a second position in an acceleration control mode in which a rotation speed of the motor gradually increases, in a deceleration control mode in which the rotation speed of the motor gradually decreases, and in a constant speed control mode in which the rotation speed of the motor is maintained at a constant level, and a displacement interference detection portion detecting that the displacement of the driven object is interfered using an actual rotation speed, which is the actual rotation speed of the motor, and an ideal rotation speed of the motor, on which a control result by the main control portion including a feedback control is reflected.
US08456118B2
A cycle counter generates a cycle signal which indicates, in the form of a digital value, the cycle of Hall signals H+ and H− that indicate the position of a rotor of a motor to be driven. An up/down counter repeatedly alternates between counting “up” and counting “down” upon detecting phase transitions that occur in the Hall signals, and generates a digital driving waveform signal having a sloping region the slope of which is set according to the cycle signal. A D/A converter receives the driving waveform signal, and converts the driving waveform signal thus received into an analog voltage. A driving unit supplies a driving voltage to the motor according to the analog voltage thus received.
US08456109B1
A lighting system has a white light source and a color light source, a control circuit pulses the white and color light sources and changes relative duty cycles of the light sources to alter a color output of the lighting fixture, in response to a change in a control signal from a controller. A comparator compares a reference voltage relating to an aggregate current driving the light sources to a signal voltage relating to the periodic signal from a signal generator. The comparator controls a switch that controls one of the light sources. A duty cycle of the color light source varies inversely to a duty cycle of the white light source.
US08456106B2
A circuit for powering of a Light Emitting Diode (LED) string has a switching power converter. A brightness control circuit is coupled to the switching power converter to allow a duration of a conductive state of the power converter to exceed a duration of a conductive state of the LED string for maintaining a current magnitude in the LED string constant.
US08456098B2
Direct current circuits always require a voltage source consisting of a positive voltage and a ground. To power a plurality of a direct current circuit nodes one must traditionally supply a power supply line and a ground line to each circuit node. To simplify wiring, a single conductor system of powering a plurality of circuit nodes is disclosed wherein each circuit node has only two external connections and the circuit nodes are coupled in series. Specifically, each individual circuit node has an integrated circuit and a capacitor. A power circuit within the integrated circuit then directs current from an input into the capacitor to create a local power supply and shunts current from the input to an output when not directing current into the capacitor.
US08456095B2
An LED lamp with an integrated circuit, a rectifier, and a string of series-connected LEDs rectifies an incoming AC signal. The integrated circuit includes power switches that can separately and selectably short out a corresponding one of several groups of LEDs in an LED string across which the rectified AC signal is present. As the voltage across the string increases, the integrated circuit controls the power switches to increase the number of LEDs through which current flows, whereas as the voltage across the string decreases the integrated circuit controls the power switches to decrease the number of LEDs through which current flows. The flow of LED string current is broken to reduce flicker. Alternatively, a valley fill capacitor peaks LED current during the valleys of the incoming AC signal to reduce flicker. LED current is regulated to provide superior efficiency, reliability, power-factor correction, and lamp over-voltage, -current, and -temperature protection.
US08456092B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for light sources that use the photo-sensitivity of one or more colored LEDs to determine at least a portion of the emission spectrum of a white light source or other broad spectrum light emitter. As described herein, a white LED or other broad spectrum light emitter can be used as the light source, if desired, along with one or more additional colored LEDs, and the same colored LEDs can be used to emit light and to adjust a color point produced by the light source. Applications for the disclosed embodiments include but are not limited to general lighting, LCD backlighting, projectors, and direct emission displays such as OLEDs and digital billboards.
US08456086B2
An embodiment of the invention IS an array of microcavity plasma devices The array includes a first metal film electrode with a plurality of non-uniform cross-section microcavities therein that are encapsulated in oxide A second electrode is a thin metal foil encapsulated in oxide that is bonded to the first electrode A packaging layer contains gas or vapor in the non-uniform cross-section microcavities To make such device, photoresist is patterned to encapsulate the anodized foil or film except on a top surface at desired positions of microcavities A second anodization or electrochemical etching is conducted to form the non-uniform cross-section sidewall microcavities cavities After removing photoresist and metal oxide, a final anodization lines the walls of the microcavities with metal oxide and fully encapsulates the metal electrodes with metal oxide.
US08456085B2
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes a first substrate; a second substrate disposed to face the first substrate, an OLED disposed between the first and second substrates, and a sealant disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The organic light emitting diode emits light. The sealant seals a space between the first substrate and the second substrate. The organic light emitting diode is enclosed by the sealant and is spaced apart from the sealant by a predetermined gap. The OLED display further includes a scattering portion positioned at a seal area that covers the predetermined gap. The scattering portion scatters light incident into the scattering portion.
US08456084B2
A organic light-emitting device includes a substrate including at least a base material, at least one organic light-emitting element which includes (a) a pair of electrodes provided on the substrate and an organic compound layer disposed between the pair of electrodes, and (b) provides a light-emitting area, an inorganic sealing layer provided on the organic light-emitting element and the surface of the substrate, and an adhesion layer which is provided between the substrate and the inorganic sealing layer and only on the periphery of the light-emitting area for closely contacting the surface of the substrate and the inorganic sealing layer, and inhibits moisture from intruding at an edge of the inorganic sealing layer.
US08456083B2
One object is to provide a lighting device having a large irradiation range at low cost. One object is to provide a lighting device with improved light extraction efficiency at low cost. The lighting device includes a light-transmitting base, a first light-transmitting electrode formed over almost the whole area of a surface of the light-transmitting base, an EL layer over the first light-transmitting electrode, and a second electrode over the EL layer. The light-transmitting base has a cylindrical shape, a conical shape, a prismatic shape, or a pyramidal shape whose bottom surface is the surface of the light-transmitting base.
US08456082B2
An extended area uniform light source providing uniform luminance is taught for displays and other applications where the light emission can be planar or have curvature. The uniform light source is achieved using a combination of a blue light-emitting electroluminescent layer and a highly stable inorganic photoluminescent color conversion layer to tailor the color spectrum of the emitted light. The invention thus encompasses the uniform light source, displays incorporating the uniform light sources as well of methods of making such light sources and displays.
US08456078B2
A flexible display apparatus includes a flexible base film, and a light emitting device formed on the base film. A surface located on a light emitting surface side has a hardness higher than a hardness of a surface located on a rear surface side.
US08456065B2
Surface-mounted piezoelectric devices are disclosed, of which an exemplary device includes a tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece having a base portion and a pair of vibrating arms extending from the base portion. The device includes a package defined by a wall. The package includes a cavity accommodating the tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece and at least one columnar body situated between the vibrating arms in the cavity.
US08456062B2
A surface acoustic wave sensor device includes a main body and a liquid controller disposed external to the main body. The main body includes a sample chamber, a surface acoustic wave sensor connected to the sample chamber, a first disposal chamber connected to the surface acoustic wave sensor and channels connecting the sample chamber, the surface acoustic wave sensor and the first disposal chamber. The liquid controller controls flow of a sample through the main body.
US08456048B2
A stator assembly includes a segmented stator having stator portions. Each stator portion includes stator laminations having stator windings, spacer plates having a portion embedded within the stator laminations, and structural plates having a portion embedded within the stator laminations. The portion of each of the spacer plates and each of the structural plates has notch-like structures that create openings to allow a cooling medium to flow between the notch-like structures to provide radial cooling of the stator windings. Connectors are provided to connect the stator portions of the segmented stator together.
US08456040B2
A connection system for connecting an encoded domestic appliance feature module to a utility source and transferring a plurality of utilities between the encoded feature module and the utility source. The connection system includes a utility source that has a coupler capable of removably engaging an encoded domestic appliance feature module to the utility source. Also included is at least one encoded domestic appliance feature module that independently supplies one or more functionalities. Further included is an interface between the utility source and the feature module, where the interface includes a detection and recognition device that operates to detect when the encoded feature module is connected to the utility source, where one or more predetermined utilities are transferred between the utility source and the feature module based upon which feature module is connected to the utility source, and where the detection and recognition device may be a reed switch, a DIP switch, and a comparator circuit.
US08456020B2
A semiconductor package has: a first chip; and a second chip. The first chip has: an insulating resin layer formed on a principal surface of the first chip; a bump-shaped first internal electrode group that is so formed in a region of the insulating resin layer as to penetrate through the insulating resin layer and is electrically connected to the second chip; an external electrode group used for electrical connection to an external device; and an electrostatic discharge protection element group electrically connected to the external electrode group. The first internal electrode group is not electrically connected to the electrostatic discharge protection element group.
US08456014B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor device layer, a multilayered wiring section formed of a plurality of wiring layers and a plurality of interlayer insulating films on one surface of the semiconductor device layer, an external connection electrode formed on one of the plurality of wiring layers, and an opening formed in a concave shape extending from the semiconductor device layer to the multilayered wiring section so as to expose a surface of the external connection electrode; the opening has a larger opening diameter at an end farther from the external connection electrode than at the other end closer to the external connection electrode.
US08456011B2
A method of forming a metal semiconductor alloy that includes forming an intermixed metal semiconductor region to a first depth of a semiconductor substrate without thermal diffusion. The intermixed metal semiconductor region is annealed to form a textured metal semiconductor alloy. A second metal layer is formed on the textured metal semiconductor alloy. The second metal layer on the textured metal semiconductor alloy is then annealed to form a metal semiconductor alloy contact, in which metal elements from the second metal layer are diffused through the textured metal semiconductor alloy to provide a templated metal semiconductor alloy. The templated metal semiconductor alloy includes a grain size that is greater than 2× for the metal semiconductor alloy, which has a thickness ranging from 15 nm to 50 nm.
US08456009B2
A semiconductor structure includes a first metal-containing layer, a dielectric capping layer, a second metal-containing layer, and a conductive pad. The first metal-containing layer includes a set of metal structures, a dielectric filler disposed to occupy a portion of the first metal-containing layer, and an air-gap region defined by at least the set of metal structures and the dielectric filler and abutting at least a portion of the set of metal structures. The second metal-containing layer includes at least a via plug electrically connected to a portion of the set of metal structures. The conductive pad and the via plug do not overlap the air-gap region.
US08456004B2
A process is disclosed for high density indium bumping of microchips by using an innovative template wafer upon which the bumps are initially fabricated. Once fabricated, these bumps are transferred to the microchip, after which can be hybridized to another microchip. Such a template wafer is reusable, and thus provides an economical way to fabricate indium bumps. Reusability also eliminates nonuniformities in bump shape and size in serial processing of separate microchips, which is not the case for other indium bump fabrication processes. Such a fabrication process provides a way to form relatively tall indium bumps and accomplishes this without the standard thick photoresist liftoff process. The described process can be suitable for bump pitches under 10 microns, and is only limited by the resolution of the photolithography equipment used.
US08456003B2
There is provided a package substrate capable of controlling the degree of warpage thereof by improving the composition and formation of a post terminal and a method of fabricating the same. The package substrate includes a substrate having at least one conductive pad; an insulating layer provided on the substrate and having an opening to expose the conductive pad; a separation barrier layer provided on the conductive pad inside the opening and formed to be higher than the upper surface of the insulating layer along the side walls thereof; a post terminal provided on the separation barrier layer; and a solder bump provided on the post terminal.
US08456002B2
A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die and conductive layer formed over a surface of the semiconductor die. A first channel can be formed in the semiconductor die. An encapsulant is deposited over the semiconductor die. A second channel can be formed in the encapsulant. A first insulating layer is formed over the semiconductor die and first conductive layer and into the first channel. The first insulating layer extends into the second channel. The first insulating layer has characteristics of tensile strength greater than 150 MPa, elongation between 35-150%, and thickness of 2-30 micrometers. A second insulating layer can be formed over the semiconductor die prior to forming the first insulating layer. An interconnect structure is formed over the semiconductor die and encapsulant. The interconnect structure is electrically connected to the first conductive layer. The first insulating layer provides stress relief during formation of the interconnect structure.
US08455999B2
A method of forming an integrated circuit structure including providing a wafer comprising a front surface and a back surface, wherein the wafer comprises a chip; forming an opening extending from the back surface into the chip; filling an organic material in the opening, wherein substantially no portion of the organic material is outside of the opening and on the back surface of the wafer; and baking the organic material to cause a contraction of the organic material.
US08455994B2
The electronic module comprises a dielectric 1031 substrate having a first surface and a second surface and an installation cavity extending through the dielectric substrate and having a perimetrical side wall. The electronic module further comprises a first wiring layer 1032 on the first surface, a second wiring layer 1033 on the second surface, and a feed through conductor 1034 on the perimetrical side wall and electrically connecting at least one conductor in the first wiring layer to at least one conductor in the second wiring layer. There is also at least one IC inside the installation cavity. The electronic module further comprises a first insulating layer 1035 on the second wiring layer, a second insulating layer 1036 on the first wiring layer, and a third wiring layer 1037 on the first insulating layer. First microvias 1038 inside the first insulating layer make electrical connections between the second wiring layer and the third wiring layer. Second microvias 1039 electrically connect the IC to at least one of the second wiring layer and the third wiring layer. The electronic module comprises also a fourth wiring layer 1040 on the second insulating layer and third microvias 1041 inside the second insulating layer and making electrical connections between the first wiring layer and the fourth wiring layer.
US08455992B2
Provided is a semiconductor package and a method of fabricating the same. The semiconductor package includes: a package body including a plurality of sheets; semiconductor chips mounted in the package body; and an external connection terminal provided on a first side of the package body, wherein the sheets are stacked in a parallel direction to the first side.
US08455989B2
An electronic assembly includes a substrate including a die pad, where the die pad includes and an outer raised flat portion and a recessed portion that includes an inner recessed portion. A semiconductor die is directly on the outer raised flat portion and affixed to the die pad by a die attach material that is in the inner recessed portion. The die attach material is not on a top surface of the outer raised flat portion.
US08455988B2
An integrated circuit package system includes: forming an external interconnect; forming a terminal having a cavity adjacent to and downset from a portion the external interconnect; connecting a first integrated circuit with the external interconnect; and forming an encapsulation over the first integrated circuit with cavity filled with the encapsulation, the terminal extending from the encapsulation, and the external interconnect partially exposed from the encapsulation.
US08455985B2
An integrated circuit device includes a plurality of stacked circuit layers, at least one of the plurality of circuit layers including a composite interlayer insulation layer including laterally adjacent first and second insulating material regions having different mechanical strengths and dielectric properties and a plurality of circuit components disposed in the composite interlayer insulation layer. The first insulating material region may have a lower dielectric constant and a lower mechanical strength than the second insulating material region such that, for example, the first insulating material region may be positioned near signal lines or other circuit features to reduce capacitance while using the second insulating material region near a location that is susceptible to localized mechanical stress, such as a fuse location, an external connection bonding location or a scribe line location.
US08455984B2
A method of forming an integrated circuit structure comprises the steps of: providing a semiconductor substrate having a first side and a second side opposite the first side; forming a hole extending from the first side of the semiconductor substrate into the semiconductor substrate; filling the hole with conductive material; thinning the second side of the semiconductor substrate to a first predetermined thickness, so that the bottom of the hole does not protrude from the second side of the semiconductor substrate; and etching the second side of the semiconductor substrate to a second predetermined thickness, thereby exposing the bottom of the hole.
US08455982B2
An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate having a device region and an alignment region. A first material layer is disposed over the semiconductor substrate, and includes a device feature in the device region and a dummy feature in the alignment region. A dimension of the dummy feature is less than a dimension of an alignment detector. A second material layer is disposed over the semiconductor substrate, and includes an alignment feature in the alignment region. The alignment feature disposed over the dummy feature.
US08455980B2
The self heating of a high-performance bipolar transistor that is formed on a fully-isolated single-crystal silicon region of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure is substantially reduced by forming a Schottky structure in the same fully-isolated single-crystal silicon region as the bipolar transistor is formed.
US08455977B2
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for forming a one-time programmable metal fuse structure includes forming a metal fuse structure over a substrate, the metal fuse structure including a gate metal segment situated between a dielectric segment and a polysilicon segment, a gate metal fuse being formed in a portion of the gate metal segment. The method further includes doping the polysilicon segment so as to form first and second doped polysilicon portions separated by an undoped polysilicon portion where, in one embodiment, the gate metal fuse is substantially co-extensive with the undoped polysilicon portion. The method can further include forming a first silicide segment on the first doped polysilicon portion and a second silicide segment on the second doped polysilicon portion, where the first and second silicide segments form respective terminals of the one-time programmable metal fuse structure.
US08455966B2
Provided are transistor devices such as logic gates that are capable of associating a computational state and or performing logic operations with detectable electronic spin state and or magnetic state. Methods of operating transistor devices employing magnetic states are provided. Devices comprise input and output structures and magnetic films capable of being converted between magnetic states.
US08455959B2
Electronic apparatus and methods of forming the electronic apparatus include cobalt titanium oxide on a substrate for use in a variety of electronic systems. The cobalt titanium oxide may be structured as one or more monolayers. The cobalt titanium oxide may be formed by a monolayer by monolayer sequencing process such as atomic layer deposition.
US08455958B2
An insulated gate semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a drift layer on the substrate, a base layer on the drift layer, a ring-shaped gate trench dividing the base layer into a channel layer and a floating layer, an emitter region located in the channel layer to be in contact with a side surface of the gate trench, a well region located on the periphery of a cell area of the base layer and having a depth greater than a depth of the base layer, and a ring-shaped buffer trench located adjacent to and spaced from the gate trench in a length direction of the gate trench. An edge of the well region is located in an area enclosed by the buffer trench in the length direction of the gate trench.
US08455954B2
The present invention provides a wireless chip having high mechanical strength. Moreover, the present invention also provides a wireless chip which can prevent an electric wave from being blocked. In a wireless chip of the present invention, a layer having a thin film transistor formed over an insulating substrate is fixed to an antenna by an anisotropic conductive adhesive, and the thin film transistor is connected to the antenna. The antenna has a dielectric layer, a first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer; the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer has the dielectric layer therebetween; the first conductive layer serves as a radiating electrode; and the second electrode serves as a ground contact body.
US08455952B2
The present disclosure describes a semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate and a gate stack disposed on the semiconductor substrate. A first spacer element is disposed on the substrate abutting the first gate stack. In an embodiment, the first spacer element includes silicon nitride. A second spacer element is adjacent the first spacer element. In an embodiment, the second spacer element includes silicon oxide. A raised source and a first raised drain is provided laterally contacting sidewalls of the second spacer element. In an embodiment, a contact directly interfaces with the second spacer element.
US08455946B2
A lateral stack-type super junction power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; an epitaxial stack structure on the semiconductor substrate, having a first epitaxial layer and a second epitaxial layer; a drain structure embedded in the epitaxial stack structure and extending along a first direction; a plurality of gate structures embedded in the epitaxial stack structure and arranged in a segmental manner along the first direction; a source structure between the plurality of gate structures; and an ion well encompassing the source structure.
US08455944B2
A semiconductor device includes, on a semiconductor substrate, an active region surrounded by an STI region, a gate trench formed in one direction transverse to the active region, a gate insulating film formed on a side surface of the gate trench, an insulating film formed on a bottom of the gate trench and thicker than the gate insulating film, and a gate electrode having at least a part of the gate electrode formed in the gate trench. Portions of the semiconductor substrate present in the active region and located on both sides of the gate trench in an extension direction of the gate trench function as a source region and a drain region, respectively. A portion of the semiconductor substrate located between the side surface of the active region (the side of the STI region) and the side surface of the gate trench functions as a channel region.
US08455937B2
A first insulation film is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A first gate electrode is formed on the first insulation film. A second insulation film is formed on an upper surface and a side surface of the first gate electrode. A second gate electrode is formed on the second insulation film. The entirety of that part of the second gate electrode, which is located above the second insulation film formed on the upper surface of the first gate electrode, is a silicide layer. At least a portion of that part of the second gate electrode, which is located on the side surface of the first gate electrode, is a silicon layer.
US08455934B2
The invention relates to image sensors produced with CMOS technology, whose individual pixels, arranged in an array of rows and columns, each consist of a photodiode (PD1) associated with a charge storage region (N2) which receives the photogenerated charge before a charge readout phase. To eliminate the risk of introducing kTC-type noise into the signal, during the reset of the storage zone (N2) at the end of a readout cycle, the invention proposes that the storage zone be divided into two parts one of which (N2b), adjacent to the reset gate (G3), is covered by a diffused region (P2) of the same type of conductivity as the substrate in which the photodiode is formed, this region being brought to the fixed potential of the substrate, and the other (N2a) of which is not covered by such a region and is not adjacent to the reset gate.
US08455931B2
An electronic component includes a high voltage switching transistor encased in a package. The high voltage switching transistor comprises a source electrode, a gate electrode, and a drain electrode all on a first side of the high voltage switching transistor. The source electrode is electrically connected to a conducting structural portion of the package. Assemblies using the abovementioned transistor with another transistor can be formed, where the source of one transistor can be electrically connected to a conducting structural portion of a package containing the transistor and a drain of the second transistor is electrically connected to the second conductive structural portion of a package that houses the second transistor. Alternatively, the source of the second transistor is electrically isolated from its conductive structural portion, and the drain of the second transistor is electrically isolated from its conductive structural portion.
US08455918B2
An ESD protection device is manufactured such that its ESD characteristics are easily adjusted and stabilized. The ESD protection device includes an insulating substrate, a cavity provided in the insulating substrate, at least one pair of discharge electrodes each including an exposed portion that is exposed in the cavity, and external electrodes provided on a surface of the insulating substrate and connected to the discharge electrodes. Supporting electrodes obtained by dispersing conductive powder in an insulating material defining the insulating substrate are provided along a bottom surface and a top surface that define the cavity between the exposed portions of the at least one pair of discharge electrodes.
US08455914B2
A light emitting device including a second metal layer, a second conduction type semiconductor layer on the second metal layer, an active layer on the second conduction type semiconductor layer, a first conduction type semiconductor layer on the active layer, a first metal layer on the first conduction type semiconductor layer, an insulating layer being disposed on a peripheral portion of an upper surface of the second metal layer and being disposed under a lower surface of the second conduction type semiconductor layer, and a passivation layer on lateral surfaces of the insulating layer, the second conduction type semiconductor layer, the active layer and the first conduction type semiconductor layer, the passivation layer being on an upper surface of the second metal layer, wherein a lateral surface of the insulating layer is adjacent to a lateral surface of the second metal layer.
US08455900B2
A light-emitting device includes a light emitting structure comprising a lower layer of the first conductivity type, an active layer, an upper layer of the second conductivity type, a first electrode connected to the lower layer of the first conductivity type, a second electrode connected to the upper layer of the second conductivity type, and an optical member seeded in the light emitting structure. The optical member can include a plurality of particles substantially transparent and having a lower refractive index than the light emitting structure. A plurality of discontinuities are formed at the boundary of the optical member in the light emitting structure.
US08455896B2
The present invention provides an organic light emitting diode comprising a substrate, a first electrode provided on the substrate, one or more organic material layers provided on the first electrode, a second electrode provided on the organic material layer, and a light extraction layer provided on the top portion of the second electrode, and a method for manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting diode according to the present invention minimizes total internal reflection of the light emitted from a device to improve the light emitting efficiency.
US08455894B1
A high efficiency photonic-crystal light emitting diode comprises a flip-chipped stack of AlxInyGa1-x-yN layers, where 0≦x, y, x+y≦1. Each layer has a high crystalline quality, with a dislocation density below about 105 cm−2. The backside of the stack, exposed by removal of the original substrate, has a photonic crystal pattern for improved light extraction.
US08455875B2
A node dielectric and a conductive trench fill region filling a deep trench are recessed to a depth that is substantially coplanar with a top surface of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) layer. A shallow trench isolation portion is formed on one side of an upper portion of the deep trench, while the other side of the upper portion of the deep trench provides an exposed surface of a semiconductor material of the conductive fill region. A selective epitaxy process is performed to deposit a raised source region and a raised strap region. The raised source region is formed directly on a planar source region within the SOI layer, and the raised strap region is formed directly on the conductive fill region. The raised strap region contacts the raised source region to provide an electrically conductive path between the planar source region and the conductive fill region.
US08455868B2
An object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device with a novel structure in which stored data can be stored even when power is not supplied in a data storing time and there is no limitation on the number of times of writing. The semiconductor device includes a first transistor which includes a first channel formation region using a semiconductor material other than an oxide semiconductor, a second transistor which includes a second channel formation region using an oxide semiconductor material, and a capacitor. One of a second source electrode and a second drain electrode of the second transistor is electrically connected to one electrode of the capacitor.
US08455864B2
Method of manufacture of an electronic device, comprising providing a substrate comprising a semiconductor device stack, depositing a first material layer over the substrate, the first material layer being an insulating layer, depositing an active organic material layer over the first material layer, depositing a second material layer over the active organic material layer, the second material layer being an insulating layer.
US08455862B2
A semiconductor device includes a carbon layer disposed on a substrate, a gate stack disposed on a portion of the carbon layer, a first cavity defined by the carbon layer and the substrate, a second cavity defined by the carbon layer and the substrate, a source region including a first conductive contact disposed in the first cavity, a drain region including a second conductive contact disposed in the second cavity.
US08455860B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a substrate; a channel layer over the substrate, wherein the channel layer is formed of a first III-V compound semiconductor material; a highly doped semiconductor layer over the channel layer; a gate dielectric penetrating through and contacting a sidewall of the highly doped semiconductor layer; and a gate electrode on a bottom portion of the gate dielectric. The gate dielectric includes a sidewall portion on a sidewall of the gate electrode.
