US08457883B2
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: sending a meeting proposal to a participant calendar with the meeting proposal having a meeting location and a meeting start time; determining a prior location from the participant calendar; calculating a participant travel time for traversing between the prior location and the meeting location; and scheduling the meeting proposal on the participant calendar based on the participant travel time not exceeding the meeting start time for displaying on a device.
US08457879B2
The invention relates to a housing for protecting an electronic device (1) to be fitted to a motor vehicle, the housing comprising a plurality of shells (2, 3) forming a front (2) and a cap (3), these being assembled together to define jointly an enclosure (4) for housing an electronic card (1) provided with remote connectors (13), wherein at least one first shell (3) is formed from at least two elementary shells (18) and said first shell (3) includes, molded into it, at least one mobility means allowing relative movement between the elementary shells. The first shell (3) is formed in one piece, the two elementary shells (18) are situated side by side, each comprising a window for the passage and/or reception of a connector (13), and said mobility means comprises an elastically deformable member (26).
US08457874B2
The invention, in one aspect, features a fuel and vehicle monitoring method. The method includes receiving, via a first processor, a first odometer value and a first fuel acquisition value for a vehicle at a first instance. The method also includes determining, with a second processor, whether the first odometer value satisfies a predetermined criterion. The method also includes forecasting a first future fuel economy value for the vehicle based on the first odometer value and the first fuel acquisition value and a plurality of previously received odometer values and fuel acquisition values if the predetermined criterion is satisfied, or the plurality of previously received odometer values and fuel acquisition values if the predetermined criterion is not satisfied.
US08457871B2
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for identifying a plurality of locations for each of a plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate a cell phone within the plurality of automobiles, calculating a vehicle speed for each of the plurality of automobiles using the first and second locations already identified, and creating a traffic condition measure for a route in proximity to the first and second locations. The computer program product may repeat this process in real-time to calculate a real-time traffic condition measure that may be a traffic density measure the computer program product may use to predict a travel time, and may display the real-time traffic condition measure on the user's cell phone along with product availability data from a store or stores in proximity to the route and can include where such stores are located with the roadway presentation.
US08457870B2
A method for the operation of a driver assistance system of a vehicle (C1, C2), particularly of a motor vehicle and/or a commercial vehicle is provided. A message produced by a central computer (ZR), the message having traffic data (VD) and a confidence parameter (CL) which represents a measure for the reliability of the traffic data (VD) is received by a computer (R1, R2) of the vehicle (C1, C2). According to the magnitude of the confidence parameter, the transmission of a traffic status message (VZD), having at least one time stamp as well as coordinates of the vehicle (C1, C2), is directed to the central computer.
US08457863B2
The invention relates to a method for adjusting injection, combustion and/or post-treatment parameters of an internal combustion engine with auto-ignition, characterized in that it comprises a step of determining the content and the type of biofuel present in the fuel feeding the injection system. The invention also relates to a motorization system and equipment for implementing this method, implementing a sensor for determining the content and the type of biofuel present in the fuel feeding the injection system.
US08457857B2
A first stroke sensor and a second stroke sensor in a braking control device detect the pedal depression amount. A brake ECU calculates a target wheel cylinder pressure by utilizing the detected pedal depression amount, and increases/decreases the wheel cylinder pressure by controlling the hydraulic actuator so as to achieve the calculated target wheel cylinder pressure. The brake ECU determines whether the brake pedal has been sharply depressed, by utilizing the pedal depression amount detected within a range thereof that is smaller than the pedal depression amount. If it is determined that the brake pedal has been sharply depressed, the brake ECU relaxes the restriction on the hydraulic pressure gradient at the time of increasing the wheel cylinder which is imposed when the brake pedal has not been sharply depressed.
US08457856B2
A method estimates parameters for a self-energized brake mechanism having a moving part, a brake pad, a brake disc, a caliper, and a wedge profile. The method includes the following acts: applying the same actuator force to the brake mechanism and simultaneously to a dynamical model of the brake mechanism; calculating deviations based on measured state variables of the brake mechanism and simulated state variables of the dynamical model; and producing the estimated parameters by online minimization. A device is provided for executing the method.
US08457846B2
A seat actuation control system includes at least one seat having a plurality of seat devices and a plurality of control modules interconnected over a communication bus. Each module is associated with a corresponding seat control device and is configured to control its corresponding seat device. Each module includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions therein which include receiving a status packet from each of the other control modules over the communication bus, processing the status packet for updating the overall system status, and actuating the seat device based on the overall system status. The program instructions further include determining status of the corresponding seat device, generating a status packet including the status information, and broadcasting the status packet to the other modules over the communication bus.
US08457842B2
A power steering system for a motor vehicle includes a rack and pinion assembly in which the teeth of the pinion are engaged with the teeth of the rack. The power steering system further includes magnets (e.g., permanent magnets or electromagnets) connected to the rack, as well as magnets (e.g., permanent magnets or electromagnets) connected to a rack tube. A varying maglev (i.e., magnetic levitation) force obtained by controlling current flowing through at least some of the magnets (e.g., by varying duty cycle of pulse-width-modulation through an electronic control unit) provides steering assistance for the motor vehicle employing the power steering system. A power steering system includes first and second steering elements, magnets connected to the steering elements, and a controller configured to obtain speed information and steering position information and to control the activation of the magnets in response to the speed information and steering position information.
US08457834B2
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an abnormality judgment device including: a change amount calculator configured to calculate a change amount between currently-obtained and previously-obtained steering angles; a storage section configured to store a threshold value; a reference setting section configured to set a reference steering angle; an incrementing section configured to continue gradually incrementing the threshold value after the change amount exceeds the threshold value, for a judgment time; a deviation comparator configured to compare an absolute deviation between the currently-obtained steering angle and the reference steering angle with the threshold value, and to count a counter when the absolute deviation exceeds the threshold value; and a judgment section configured to judge that the steering angle sensor is abnormal when the counter reaches a predetermined value.
US08457827B1
A vehicle configured to operate in an autonomous mode could determine a current state of the vehicle and the current state of the environment of the vehicle. The environment of the vehicle includes at least one other vehicle. A predicted behavior of the at least one other vehicle could be determined based on the current state of the vehicle and the current state of the environment of the vehicle. A confidence level could also be determined based on the predicted behavior, the current state of the vehicle, and the current state of the environment of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the confidence level may be related to the likelihood of the at least one other vehicle to perform the predicted behavior. The vehicle in the autonomous mode could be controlled based on the predicted behavior, the confidence level, and the current state of the vehicle and its environment.
US08457824B2
A vehicle is provided having an electric machine and a speed detector coupled to the electric machine. A controller is coupled to the speed detector. The controller may analyze the integrity of communication between the speed detector and the controller based on a frequency signal provided with the speed detector.
US08457822B2
A method for controlling a hybrid power unit with power bypass for an automobile including at least two driving wheels, wherein the power unit includes a thermal engine, at least two electric machines, and an infinitely variable transmission mechanically connecting the thermal engine, the two electric machines, and the driving wheels. In the method, an initially stopped thermal engine is brought, in an independent manner and in plural operation phases, to a rotation speed that is sufficient for participating in propulsion of the vehicle, the vehicle moving under action of the electric machines.
US08457819B2
One or more embodiments of a computer readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon for operating a vessel are provided. The computer readable medium can include computer instructions for monitoring a DC source; computer instructions for determining the most efficient power source to power a vessel; computer instructions for controlling an AC power source to allow transfer of power solely from the DC power source to power the vessel, transfer of power solely from the AC power source to power the vessel; or transfer of power from both the AC power source and the DC power source to power the vessel; computer instructions to determine when the DC power source is at a predetermined level; and computer instructions for controlling auxiliary devices of the vessel.
US08457815B2
A rail appliance communication system includes: an equipment management device capable of being coupled with a conductive pathway extending along a track that a rail vehicle travels along; and an appliance communication device capable of being coupled with a rail appliance disposed proximate to the track, the appliance communication device and the equipment management device configured to communicate a data signal with each other through the conductive pathway. A method for communicating with a rail appliance includes: coupling an equipment management device with a conductive pathway that extends along a track that a rail vehicle travels along; and coupling an appliance communication device with the rail appliance disposed proximate to the track; wherein the equipment management device and the appliance communication device communicate a data signal through the conductive pathway.
US08457813B2
A system for predicting the movement of a surface for autonomous landing of unmanned aerial vehicles thereon. At least two beam emitters are each movable to measure along at least one line on the surface. The lines measured by the two beam emitters are crossed so that they have at least one point of intersection in common. A control module. A detector is configured to detect reflected beams. A processor is configured to process measurements including estimating continuously a plane to the surface by measurements during a time interval. A storage module is configured to store the processed measurements.
US08457812B2
A method and system for resolving existing and potential traffic conflicts that may occur during take-off and landing in aviation that includes means of monitoring movements on the runway, its approaches and environs to determine whether a conflict or potential conflict exists, means to resolve a conflict and to generate an output pertaining to this resolution.
US08457811B2
The invention relates to a device for system diagnosis of an aircraft. The device includes: means for the monitoring of equipment of the system, the means for emitting messages of observations on the basis of effects produced by equipment; means for the determination of a set of observations on the basis of the messages of observations arising from the monitoring of a log of the messages of observations and of a model representing a current state of the system; means for the determination of indictments on the basis of observations of the set of observations and of a behavioral model of the system, the indictments being logical relations between operating modes of equipment having produced effects; and means for the determination of maintenance operations on the basis of the indictments.
US08457810B1
A method and system for application of a compound steering law for efficient low thrust transfer orbit trajectory for a spacecraft are disclosed. The method involves calculating, with at least one processor, a desired orbit for the spacecraft. The method further involves calculating a velocity change required to achieve an orbit eccentricity and a velocity change required to achieve a semi-major axis, both of which correspond to the desired orbit for the spacecraft. Also, the method involves calculating the direction of the vector sum of the velocity change required to achieve the orbit eccentricity and the velocity change required to achieve the semi-major axis. Further, the method involves firing at least one thruster of the spacecraft in the direction of the vector sum in order to change the current orbit of the spacecraft to the desired orbit for the spacecraft, thereby changing the orbit eccentricity and the semi-major axis simultaneously.
US08457808B2
An automatic delivery system for an infrastructure comprising passenger transportation, freight delivery, electrical grid, oil, gas, water pipelines, communication, sewer removal, etc. The automation at the current state of technology is mostly achieved by enclosing the delivery system inside of an enclosure for achieving automatic weather independent transportation and eliminating costs related to protecting the aforementioned infrastructure components from outside elements. In addition, the system is simple enough to avoid traffic and collisions automatically by processing in real time just a single piece of information: a location of each vehicle; as the result, the system is inexpensive since no hardware is necessary for between-vehicles communications, for road condition detection, for GPS, etc. Plus every person will be able to use transportation on-demand with or without sharing a commute and at a desired comfort level including but not limited to entertainment, exercise, working on the go, etc.
US08457804B2
A control unit of a system stabilizing device uses a fluctuation detecting block (70A) to determine fluctuation components included in the active component and reactive component currents of a system current. The fluctuation detecting block (70A) is composed of a low-pass filter (71) for noise removal having first order lag characteristics with a time constant of T1, a low-pass filter (72) for setting a fluctuation detection time having first order lag characteristics with a time constant of T2, a subtracter (73) which performs subtraction between the output signals of the filter (71) and the filter (72) and outputs the difference, an amplifier (74) for amplifying the output of the subtracter (73), a rating limiter (75) for limiting the output of the amplifier, and an overcompensation inhibiting unit (200) which changes T4 to a smaller value when the rating limiter (75) performs a limiter action.
US08457797B2
According to an aspect of the disclosure, a system and method includes a network device disposed at a first site, wherein the network device is capable of being altered, and a network device disposed at a second site, wherein the network device is also capable of being altered. A proximity detection module is configured to initiate altering an operating condition of each of the network devices in response to a proximity detection of a location reporting device associated with each of the sites.
US08457791B2
A method for maneuvering an articulable robotic arm includes monitoring a position of a dynamically moveable workpiece. Individual motion segments are iteratively executed to control the articulable robotic arm to position the end-of-arm tool contiguous to the workpiece and corresponding to an initial position of the end-of-arm tool, an initial position of the workpiece and an iteratively determined updated position of the workpiece.
US08457783B2
Methods and systems for programmed dispensation of consumable compositions are provided.A method for administering a consumable composition may comprise one or more of the following steps: (a) dispensing a dose of a consumable composition according to a programmed dosing schedule; and (b) communicating an aspect of the consumable composition to a system associated with a monitoring entity.A method for administering a consumable composition may comprise one or more of the following steps: (a) dispensing a dose of a consumable composition according to a programmed dosing schedule; and (b) controlling the functionality of a device according to an aspect of the consumable composition.A system for administering a consumable composition may comprise one or more of the following: (a) means for dispensing a dose of a consumable composition according to a programmed dosing schedule; and (b) means for communicating an aspect of the consumable composition to a system associated with a monitoring entity.A system for administering a consumable composition may comprise one or more of the following: (a) means for dispensing a dose of a consumable composition according to a programmed dosing schedule; and (b) means for controlling the functionality of a device according to an aspect of the consumable composition.
US08457779B2
A multi-track handling and storage apparatus includes at least two main tracks, at least two cranes and an intelligent integrated logic system. The main tracks are arranged separately, and every two adjacent main tracks are connected by at least one switching track. Bottoms of the cranes are slidably disposed on the main tracks. The intelligent integrated logic system includes a command receiving unit, a database unit, an analyzing unit, a crane dispatching unit and a route selection unit which are integrated with each other. The above-mentioned main tracks, switching tracks and cranes are controlled by the units of the intelligent integrated logic system. The present invention further provides a multi-track handling and storage method.
US08457759B2
System and methods for adjusting electrical therapy based on impedance changes are disclosed herein. A method in accordance with a particular embodiment includes applying a therapeutic electrical signal to a patient via an implanted portion of a patient stimulation system that includes a signal delivery device in electrical communication with a target neural population of the patient. The electrical signal is delivered in accordance with a signal delivery parameter having a first value. Using the implanted portion of the patient stimulation system, a change in an impedance of an electrical circuit that includes the signal delivery device is detected. Based at least in part on the detected impedance change, the method can further include automatically adjusting the value of the signal delivery parameter from the first value to a second value different from the first, without human intervention.
US08457751B2
A device for carrying out a cosmetic method or treating skin ageing and the method comprising the following steps: a) connecting an electronic device, able to generate high frequency electric current waves having a distorted sinusoidal wave form by the presence of harmonics, to one or more electrodes of essentially laminar shape; b) applying said one or more electrodes on the skin surface in the area to be treated; c) activating said electronic device in order to transfer said current waves to said one or more electrodes and to maintain said device activated for a predetermined time; d) deactivating said device and removing the electrodes from the contact with the treated area.
US08457750B2
The invention is directed to controlling therapy delivery based on a relative motion between a first and second activity sensor. The relative motion between the activity sensors is representative of the relative motion between the locations of the body of the patient at which the respective activity sensors are located. The use of relative motion, however, may substantially remove motion experienced by both the activity sensors, e.g., motion caused by the environment in which patient is located, thus providing a new reference frame from which to analyze the motion measurements. The relative motion may be used to detect a condition of a movement disorder and/or control delivery of the therapy delivered to patient to treat or reduce the condition.
US08457749B2
A method includes evoking and recording the response of a trigeminal reflex in the presence and absence of occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) to determine whether, and to what extent, ONS modulates the trigeminal reflex. If the ONS modulates the trigeminal reflex, e.g. to a sufficient degree, the subject may be considered a candidate for ONS for treatment of headache.
US08457747B2
We disclose a method of providing an electrical signal to a cranial nerve of a patient for treating a medical condition, comprising providing an electrical signal generator, coupling at least a first electrode to a cranial nerve of the patient and to the electrical signal generator, generating an electrical signal with the electrical signal generator, and applying the electrical signal to the cranial nerve, using the at least a first electrode, for a duration less than a cardiac period of the patient and during the cardiac period of the patient. We also disclose an implantable medical device capable of implementing the method.
US08457746B2
An aspect relates to a system for providing baroreflex stimulation. An embodiment of the system comprises a cardiac activity monitor to sense cardiac activity and provide a signal indicative of the cardiac activity, and a baroreflex stimulator. The stimulator includes a pulse generator and a modulator. The pulse generator provides a baroreflex stimulation signal adapted to provide a baroreflex therapy. The modulator receives the signal indicative of the cardiac activity and modulates the baroreflex stimulation signal based on the signal indicative of the cardiac activity to change the baroreflex therapy from a first baroreflex therapy to a second baroreflex therapy.
US08457745B1
A therapeutic waveform for neurophysiologic treatment of conditions associated with function of ionic channels of beta cells of the pancreas includes a positive part having a pulse width of 40 to 60 milliseconds having a positively pointing segment, and includes a negative part dropping sharply negatively following the positive part. The negative drop is 75 to 90 percent of the peak-to-peak voltage of the waveform at about 10 to 100 volts AC. A negative spike-like first aspect of the negative part exhibits a pulse width of 40 to 60 milliseconds but afterwards gradually approaches a neutral voltage level of the waveform. The first aspect of the negative part of the waveform is followed by a second aspect which more slowly approaches the neutral level over a period of 100 to 200 milliseconds, before the next waveform. The current of the waveform is 300 to 1000 micro-amperes.
US08457731B2
An evaluation of consciousness during the application of anesthetic evaluates causal propagation of neural activity in response to a localized stimulus, for example, by transcranial magnetic stimulation. A longer duration of invoked activity and a greater spatial dispersion of the invoked activity or greater complexity are matched to greater wakefulness comporting with a theory of consciousness as cortical integration of information moderated by intraneural communication.
US08457727B2
A method of analyzing myocardial instability includes obtaining a physiological parameter representative of myocardial behavior over a set of cardiac cycles and determining reversal points in the physiological parameter over the set of cardiac cycles. The method also includes identifying myocardial instability based on the reversal points in the physiological parameter. A reversal point may correspond to a value of the physiological parameter, during a current cardiac cycle, that exceeds or is less than the values of the physiological parameter during prior and subsequent cardiac cycles. Optionally, the method includes calculating differences between values of the physiological parameter for consecutive cardiac cycles and detecting the reversal points when a current difference exceeds or is less than differences for prior and subsequent cardiac cycles.
US08457725B1
An implanted device which includes a vibrator having a drive motor and a drive circuit. An accelerometer is connected to the vibrator and senses alarm test data related to the displacement of the vibrator. A power source provides electricity to the implanted device and a processor is configured for bi-directional wireless communication. The processor is configured for receiving a command from an external device for performance of an alarm test and the processor analyzes the alarm test data for generating test results.
US08457717B2
Motion artifacts and patient dose during 4D CT imaging are reduced by adaptive control of data acquisition. The respiration signal (310) and CT data acquisition (340) are linked, such that ‘bad’ data from erratic breathing cycles that cause artifacts is not acquired by pausing CT data acquisition (360) when erratic breathing is detected, and not resuming CT data acquisition until steady-state respiration is resumed. Training data is used to develop a tolerance envelope for a respiratory signal such that for erratic breathing cycles the respiratory signal is not within the tolerance envelope (330).
US08457713B2
A medical treatment system is provided. The medical treatment system includes a medical imaging unit and a mobile display device mechanically disconnected from the medical imaging unit, a control unit, an input device. A data transmission device is operable to transmit data recorded by the medical imaging unit to the mobile display device. A vehicle supports the mobile display device and includes a drive unit. The control unit, operating in conjunction with the input device, is operable to control the display device and the drive unit.
US08457705B2
Methods and systems for controlling a prosthesis using a brain imager that images a localized portion of the brain are provided according to one embodiment of the invention. The brain imager provides motor cortex activation data by illuminating the motor cortex with near infrared light (NIR) and detecting the spectral changes of the NIR light as passes through the brain. These spectral changes can be correlated with brain activity related to limbic control and may be provided to a neural network, for example, a fuzzy neural network that maps brain activity data to limbic control data. The limbic control data may then be used to control a prosthetic limb. Other embodiments of the invention include fiber optics that provide light to and receive light from the surface of the scalp through hair.
US08457699B2
A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, a substrate carried by the portable housing, and wireless communications circuitry carried by the substrate. The mobile wireless communications device may also include at least one an antenna assembly carried by the substrate and coupled to the wireless communications circuitry. The at least one antenna assembly may include an electrically conductive base conductor having a first rectangular base portion and a second rectangular base portion offset therefrom. The first and second base portions may be coupled at respective diagonally opposing corners thereof and having an antenna feed defined along an outer portion of one of the first and second rectangular base portions. The at least one antenna assembly may include at least one electrically conductive arm extending along at least one side of one of the first and second rectangular base portions and spaced apart therefrom.
US08457697B2
An antenna arrangement comprising an input/output connection and a first and a second tuning network with different transfer functions. The arrangement additionally comprises an antenna and a switch for connecting the input/output connection of the arrangement to one of said tuning networks, with a second switch for connecting the antenna of the arrangement to the tuning network to which the input/output connection of the arrangement has been connected. The arrangement comprises a sensor for sensing a form factor of the arrangement or of an apparatus in which the arrangement is used, and said sensor can be used for influencing said first and second switches, so that a device which has been connected to the arrangement may be connected to the antenna via a tuning network optimal for the current form factor of the arrangement.
US08457690B2
A mobile terminal having multiple functions allows the user easy operation of a function that they desire. The mobile terminal has first, second, third, and fourth housings. The housings each have front side and back side and have at least an input section or a display section on the front side. The housings are circularly arranged so that the front side of each housing is on the outer side and are connected with each other so that adjacent housings are foldable to each other facing back to back. Preferably, the housings are connected together such that the first and second housings are connected together, the second and third housings are connected together, the third and fourth housings are connected together, and the fourth and first housings are connected together.
US08457680B1
A method in a transmitter including a transmission chain and a Power Amplifier (PA), includes storing calibration data relating a plurality of specified output power levels of the transmitter to respective PA control voltages for application to the PA and respective gain levels for application to the transmission chain that cause the transmitter to output signals at the specified output power levels. A target output power level is specified, and an actual control voltage is applied to the PA. The actual control voltage is derived from a specified target control voltage depending on the target output power. A modified gain level which, when applied to the transmission chain while the PA is controlled with the actual control voltage, causes the transmitter to output the signals at the target output power level, is computed based on the calibration data. The modified gain level is applied to the transmission chain.
US08457679B2
Systems and methods of performing power control in combination with AMC are provided. AMC is performed on the basis of an AMC parameter such as CINR. Once the AMC is set to a highest available AMC for transmission to a given receiver, if the CINR indicates that the highest AMC could be transmitted with less transmit power, the power is reduced. For receivers that are not receiving the highest available AMC for that receiver, they may have their transmit power increased.
US08457677B2
A transmission power control device is able to capture the serving sector measurement information of a mobile station with respect to a serving sector and the neighboring sector measurement information of the mobile station with respect to a neighboring sector. The transmission power control device selects a power control mode based on a decision as to whether or not the neighboring sector measurement information has been captured in an applied time in the past. The power level of a mobile station is determined based on the selected power control mode. Thus, it is possible to reduce inter-cell interference and inter-sector interference because the power level of a mobile station is determined in light of communication environments, even though the mobile station is connected with a base station in an LTE-based communication system which cannot always detect the neighboring sector measurement information.
US08457674B2
Methods, protocols and systems for communicating in a multi-hop wireless mesh network may include explicitly providing information relating to backhaul wireless link qualities in multi-hop wireless mesh network to next generation subscriber stations in a first mode. In a second mode, embodiments are configured to implicitly provide indicia of multi-hop wireless link qualities to legacy subscriber stations by adjusting a transmit power of frames sent to the legacy subscriber stations. Other embodiments and variations are described in the detailed description.
US08457672B2
Wireless client devices within a wireless network exchange data with other wireless devices during particular time slots determined by the network. More particularly, the system generates and wirelessly broadcasts synchronization information to the client devices, where the synchronization information contains individual masks to be applied to bit fields of individual client devices, where said time slots are determined in accordance with the masked bit fields. In such a manner, client devices can be coordinated to communicate with the system in a dynamic real-time tiered manner.
US08457667B2
Provided are a method for managing radio resources according to a type of data and user equipment using the same. In the method, a paging message may be received from a radio access network. A cause of the paging message may be determined. A timer may be set for releasing radio resources according to the determined cause of the paging message. When the timer expires, radio resources may be released.
US08457664B2
An apparatus for providing communication routing information for a subscriber in a mobile communications network, the subscriber being registered with at least one communication delivery network node, comprising: receiver for receiving a request for communication routing information for a subscriber from a network entity, wherein the communication routing information comprises the network routing address of the communication delivery network nodes which the subscriber is registered with; means for determining the capabilities of the network entity, the capabilities comprising the number of communication delivery network node routing addresses manageable by the network entity; identifier for identifying the at least one communication delivery network node the subscriber is registered with; comparator for comparing the number of communication delivery network node routing addresses manageable by the network entity with the number of communication delivery network nodes with which the subscriber is registered; and transmitter for delivering communication delivery network node routing information for the subscriber to the network entity wherein the number of communication delivery network node routing addresses provided to the network entity does not exceed the routing capabilities of the network entity.
US08457654B1
This disclosure is directed to providing directional feedback to a user. For example, this disclosure describes techniques for determining at least one characteristic of a device in space. For example, a device may be configured to determine, using one or more sensors, one or more characteristics of the device in space. For example, the device may be configured to determine one or more of a direction, and/or geographical position of the device as pointed by a user in space. The device may compare one or more of the determined one or more characteristics of the device in space to a desired destination or path specified by the user, and provide the user with directional feedback if the determined one or more characteristics of the device in space are consistent with the desired destination or path.
US08457641B2
The disclosed mobile communication method is a mobile communication method in a mobile communication system, wherein at least a part of a macro-cell (#A), with which first broadcast information is transmitted at a first frequency, and a femto cell (#a), in which second broadcast information is transmitted at a second frequency, overlap geographically. The method has step in which a wireless base station (#a) for a femto cell that manages the femto cell (#a) detects the first broadcast information, step in which the wireless base station (#a) for a femto cell transmits guiding broadcast information at a first frequency in response to detection of the first broadcast information, and step (C) in which a mobile station (UE #1) that is communicating in the macrocell (#A) performs handover to the femto cell (#a) when the guiding broadcast information is detected.
US08457634B2
Apparatus and method for an efficient handover of at least one user equipment from a first access node to at least one further access node of a plurality of access nodes in a telecommunications system, said method comprising the steps of: said first access node, upon reception of a handover request from said user equipment, preparing a group of further access nodes of said plurality as possible target access nodes, upon attachment of said user equipment to said one further access node, said one further access node transmitting a message to said first access node, and upon reception of said message by said first access node, said first access node transmitting a further message to said possible target access nodes.
US08457631B2
A wireless communications system includes a radio network facilitating wireless communications with a wireless subscriber unit, a dispatch application server providing dispatch communications services to the subscriber unit via the radio network, and an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) infrastructure including a Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) and a Serving-CSCF (S-CSCF). The P-CSCF notifies the dispatch application server of subscriber unit registration events, allowing the dispatch application server to provide dispatch communications services without initiating a separate registration process. Dispatch communications are routed between the wireless subscriber unit and dispatch application server through the P-CSCF, bypassing the S-CSCF of the IMS infrastructure.
US08457629B2
An apparatus and method for providing service status information based on an access class restriction list in a mobile communication system. The method includes checking whether there is same information between the access class restriction list included in system information blocks that a user equipment receives from a network and access class restriction information pre-stored in the user equipment. The same information is provided when there is the same information. The same information is transmitted to a service end and/or displayed thereon.
US08457625B2
A mobile communication system including base stations, wherein each base station includes: a report unit which exchanges a current target value of communication quality for a mobile station with other base stations; a comparison unit which compares a current target value of a current station with target values of the other base stations; and a management unit which changes the current target value based on the comparison result of the comparison unit.
US08457622B2
A remote asset management system comprising a network of programmable wireless modules, each having an antenna and an identification module and configured to communicate via a radio communication protocol. The system further includes a plurality of assets each linked to one of the wireless modules and configured to be managed by the linked wireless module. A remote system server service platform is configured to receive remote asset data from the wireless modules, pass the remote asset data to and from the wireless modules, send messages to at least one of the wireless modules, monitor the wireless modules by requesting and receiving current mode information, and remotely program the wireless modules. A data processing module located within the wireless module(s) and configured to process messages received by the wireless module, authenticate said message, analyze authenticated messages, and carry out asset management instructions included in the message.
US08457621B2
An identity module includes a memory and a processor. In the memory are stored installation code for installing in the memory a customization suite that associates the identity module with a communication services provider and communication code that, in combination with the customization suite, supports communication by a host of the identity module using services of the communication services provider. The processor executes the installation code to install the customization suite and then executes the communication code in support of the communication. Preferably, no portion of any such communication suite is stored initially in the identity module. The host requests the customization suite from a server that includes a communication interface for communicating with the host, a memory wherein is stored code for providing substantially the entire customization suite to the host, and a processor for executing the code.
US08457611B2
A file edit method and apparatus that allows editing and utilizing various audio files stored in the mobile terminal in an intuitive manner are provided. An audio file edit method for a mobile terminal includes executing an audio file edit application in response to a touch event detected on a touch screen, selecting at least one audio file to be edited by means of the audio file edit application in response to a touch event detected on the touch screen, displaying an oscillation graph representing the at least one audio file within an oscillation window, selecting a part of the oscillation graph in response to a touch event detected on the touch screen, and displaying the selected part of the oscillation graph within an edit window.
US08457609B2
A method and system for establishing a service relationship between a mobile communication device and a mobile data server for connecting to a wireless network are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, an Internet browser receives a request to establish a service relationship between a mobile communication device and a mobile data server. A device identifier and device capability data is received from the mobile communication device. Service data for the mobile communication device is received from a mobile data administration server in accordance with the device identifier and device capability data, which is then stored in a memory of the mobile communication device.
US08457606B2
Methods and systems are provided to connect telephone calls, such as international phone calls, using data and telephone networks of a mobile communication device such as a cellular phone. A routing engine determines from the available communications interfaces (e.g., a cellular voice interface, a cellular data interface, and non-cellular data interfaces such as WiFi and WiMax) and from a set of user preferences what type of routing should be used for an outbound call. For example, call routing can be performed using VoIP calls over non-cellular networks, VoIP calls over cellular data networks, voice calls using substitute number termination, voice calls using calling card routing, voice calls using bridge-based calling and conventional cellular voice calls.
US08457604B2
Various embodiments for providing enhanced content sharing on mobile computing devices are described. In one or more embodiments, a mobile computing device may display content and send messages of different types. The mobile computing device may include a content sharing interface to prompt a selection of a recipient for content. The selected recipient may be associated with at least one transport mechanism. The mobile computing device may format the content according to a transport mechanism associated with the selected recipient, open the formatted content in a compose view for the transport mechanism, and to send the formatted content to the selected recipient. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08457600B2
An electronic device sets an identifier for each contact stored in a phone book, automatically creates a short message which contains the identifier according to a preset message template, and sends the short message to a phone number of the contact to inform the contact of the identifier. In response to receiving a call from a contact, the device prompts the contact to input an identifier, and detects if one or more push-button signals have been received from the contact by a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) decoder. If no push-button signal has been received, the device determines the contact fails validation. Otherwise, the DTMF decoder decodes the received one or more push-button signals to determine data information input by the contact, and then the device determines if the contact passes the validation by determining the data information matches an identifier of the contact that is stored in the phone book.
US08457598B2
A communications system comprising a radio access network for providing local wireless access for a mobile device and an authentication entity in a public land mobile network, wherein the authentication entity is arranged to authenticate the mobile device accessing the radio access network on the basis of authentication signalling between the authentication entity and the mobile device. The system includes a proxy entity via which transfer of the authentication signalling is arranged, and encapsulated transmission of the authentication signalling to and from the mobile device is arranged in messages of a cryptographic client-server transport layer encapsulation protocol between the mobile device and the proxy entity. The system provides encapsulated transfer of the authentication signalling to and from the authentication entity in messages of an AAA client-server protocol between the proxy entity and the authentication entity.
US08457586B2
A radio frequency circuit includes a transformer, a local oscillator, a first mixer, a second mixer, a first variable gain amplifier, and a second variable gain amplifier. The first mixer includes a first inductor that is coupled between a positive in-phase input and a negative in-phase input. The second mixer includes a second inductor that is coupled between a positive quadrature input and a negative quadrature input. The first and second inductors provide inductive loads and improve conversion gains of the first and second mixers respectively.
US08457579B2
A method for signal processing includes distributing an analog input signal to a plurality of processing channels. In each processing channel, the input signal is mixed with a respective periodic waveform including multiple spectral lines, so as to produce a respective baseband signal in which multiple spectral slices of the input signal are superimposed on one another. The baseband signal produced in each of the processing channels is digitized, to produce a set of digital sample sequences that represent the input signal.
US08457576B2
A cellular phone includes a first wireless transceiver that receives intermediate frequency (IF) signals. The IF signals are based on frequency modulated (FM) signals that have been tuned and down-converted from a radio frequency (RF) to an IF by a remote device. An FM processing module that receives the IF signals, that converts the IF signals to baseband signals, and that generates processed FM signals.
US08457574B2
A tuner front-end circuit for processing a radio frequency (RF) signal includes a first filter block that terminates the RF signal for unwanted frequency bands; a second filter block that provides selectivity within the unterminated signal by separating the unterminated signal into a plurality of separate signals, each of a different desired frequency band; and an amplifier block that amplifies each of the separate signals. One or more of the amplified separate signals can be provided to a tuner. The circuit can also include a daisy chain output block that provides the amplified separate signals to one or more additional tuners. One or more tracking filter blocks can also be included to provide further selectivity to the amplified separate signals and to reject signals at specific harmonics to prevent degradation of a signal-to-noise ratio. A method of processing an RF signal is also presented.
US08457571B2
An apparatus and method for controlling Transmit (Tx) power when a portable terminal performs human body communication with a counterpart portable device are provided. The apparatus includes a voltage manager for determining whether the Tx power needs to be changed based on an output voltage that is based on a current that varies according to a distance between an electrode of a portable terminal and an electrode of a counterpart portable terminal, and changes the Tx power according to a result of the determination.
US08457563B2
A calibration apparatus and method for supporting a Relay Station (RS) in a multiple antenna communication system are provided. The calibration method in the multiple antenna communication system which supports the RS includes, when a modem stage sends a downlink calibration signal, receiving, at a calibrator, the downlink calibration signal and estimating a downlink path channel, when the calibrator sends an uplink calibration signal, receiving, at the modem stage, the uplink calibration signal and estimating an uplink path channel, determining, at the modem stage, calibration coefficients per path not to generate a phase and amplitude difference with respect to the estimated uplink path channel and the estimated downlink path channel, and applying the calibration coefficients per path to corresponding antennas respectively.
US08457548B2
The relay devices store data received from an ECU connected to each of the relay devices in the first reception buffers, respectively. During a synchronizing period, the relay devices perform transmission and reception by mainline frames including attribute value groups mutually received from the ECUs. Data read out from the databases are transmitted to the ECUs. The databases are synchronized with one another only when the relay device receives the final frame from the relay device which received all the mainline frames and issues COMMIT.
US08457545B2
An information distribution and processing system contains a remote site, a sender and a receiving apparatus. The remote site contains a first set of digital data. The sender delivers a second set of digital data to the receiving device. In one embodiment of the present invention, the receiving device contain a timing device for automatically receiving the second set of digital data at predetermined times. The second set of digital data contains a first set of displayable data, a second set of displayable data, at least one non-displayable symbol, and at least one linking reference associated with the second set of displayable data. If desired, a user can select the second set of displayable data. The associated linking reference is sent to the remote site. The associated linking reference is used by the remote site to search for the additional information, and returns the requested information to the user.
US08457544B2
A recommender system and method including receiving a request identifying at least one current student for which a recommendation is sought and accessing stored student data including attributes associated with respective students of the current students and a plurality of predecessor students. For the predecessor students the attributes include educational resources. The method includes clustering one of predecessor students and the current students into clusters based on sameness of first selected attributes of their respective associated attributes. The method includes generating a mapping between respective students of the other of the predecessor and current students and one of the clusters based on sameness of second selected attributes associated with the students being mapped. The method then includes recommending for each of the current students the educational resource associated with the predecessor student or cluster of predecessor students that the current student is mapped with.
US08457541B2
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging device to charge a surface of the image carrier, disposed across a predetermined gap from the image carrier, a latent image forming device, a developing device to develop a latent image formed on the image carrier into a toner image, a transfer unit to transfer the toner image from the image carrier onto a recording medium, a cleaning member to clean the image carrier after the toner image is transferred therefrom, a lubricant application member to lubricate the image carrier, a polarity adjustor to adjust polarities of the toner and lubricant adhering to the image carrier to be identical to a polarity of a charging bias. The polarity adjustor is disposed facing the image carrier, upstream from the charging device and downstream from the transfer unit in a direction in which the image carrier rotates.
US08457539B2
A fixing unit of an image forming apparatus includes a coil arranged along an outer surface of the heating member and generating a magnetic field, a first core arranged opposite the heating member with respect to the coil and forming a magnetic path, a second core so fixed between the first core and the heating member with respect to a direction in which the coil generates the magnetic field, as to form the magnetic path together with the first core, a shielding member positioned outward of the second core and shielding the magnetism in the magnetic path, and a magnetism adjusting unit moving the shielding member outward of the second core to switch the position of the shielding member between a shielding position where the shielding member shields the pass of the magnetism and a retracted position where the shielding member permits the pass of the magnetism.
US08457535B2
A development agent supply device includes a casing having an opening and a development agent storage section, a development agent holding member housed in the casing such that a development agent holding surface thereof faces a developer-supplied device via the opening, a first electric-field transfer board that transfers development agent with a traveling-wave electric field along a down-facing development agent transfer surface in a predetermined direction from the development agent storage section to the opening and faces the development agent holding surface at a downstream end in the predetermined direction, and a second electric-field transfer board that includes a first section facing an downstream end of the first electric-field transfer board in the predetermined direction, and a second section facing the development agent holding member and transfers development agent received from the first electric transfer board at the first section, to the second section with a traveling-wave electric field.
US08457533B2
A developing device includes a first chamber, a second chamber, a first inlet portion, a first carrying member and an auxiliary blade. The first chamber receives a developer supplied to a developer holder. The second chamber receives the developer carried from the first chamber after being circulated between the first chamber and the second chamber. The first inlet portion allows the developer to be introduced from the second chamber to the first chamber. The first carrying member is disposed in the first chamber to carry the developer in the first chamber in a first carrying direction. The first carrying member includes a rotating shaft, a spiral blade provided at an outer periphery of the rotating shaft, and the auxiliary blade formed toward an upstream side of the first carrying direction from the spiral blade.
US08457527B2
An original reading device is provided with an original cover, an original reading device main body, and a cover attachment portion that attaches the original cover to the original reading device main body in an openable and closeable manner, and the cover attachment portion is constituted by a rod-shaped hinge portion that is attached to the original cover through an open-close mechanism portion, and a hinge guide portion that is provided in the original reading device main body and through which the rod-shaped hinge portion is inserted and supported, and a latch indentation is provided in the hinge guide portion such that a latch protrusion provided at a lower portion of the rod-shaped hinge portion is latched into the latch indentation to maintain a state in which the rod-shaped hinge portion is pulled out a predetermined distance from the hinge guide portion.
US08457522B2
An image-forming apparatus includes: an image-holding member casing that encases an image-holding member; an apparatus main body into which the image-holding member casing is inserted to a predetermined position; a developing device casing provided in the apparatus main body, the developing device casing encasing a developing device; a pushing member provided in the apparatus main body to push the developing device casing in a first direction toward the image-holding member; and a contact portion provided on the image-holding member casing so as to contact the developing device casing for a predetermined period during insertion of the image-holding member casing toward the predetermined position, to push the developing device casing in a second direction opposite to the first direction, wherein, after the predetermined period, when the image-holding member casing reaches the predetermined position, the contact portion does not push the developing device casing in the second direction.
US08457519B2
A developing apparatus includes an organic photo conductor, an OPC frame part to support the organic photo conductor, a developing roller to develop a latent image formed on the organic photo conductor by supplying a developer, a developing roller frame part to support the developing roller, a developer storing part to store the developer and provided with a supplying opening through which the developer is supplied to the developing roller, a spacer removably interposed between the OPC frame part and the developing roller frame part and spacing the OPC frame part from the developing roller frame part such that the organic photo conductor and the developing roller do not contact each other, a leakage preventer removably attached to and sealing the supplying opening, and a connecting part to connect the spacer with the leakage preventer. Thus, the spacer and the leakage preventer are capable of being removed simultaneously.
US08457514B2
A cylindrical heating element comprising a cylindrical member, a metallic pattern provided on at least one of outer and inner circumferential surfaces of the cylindrical member, which is capable of generating heat by being electrified, and a resistive pattern for detecting temperature provided on at least one of the outer and inner circumferential surfaces of the cylindrical member. A fixing device which passes a recording medium on which an unfixed toner image is held through a nip formed by a rotating member for heating and a rotating member for pressurizing which is pressed against the rotating member for heating to fix the toner image on the recording medium with heating under pressure, the rotating member for heating comprising the cylindrical heating element.
US08457513B2
A controlled fuser assembly for a reproduction apparatus. The fuser assembly includes a fuser member for fusing a marking particle image to a receiver member and a cooling system for controlling the temperature of the fuser system. Optional external heater rollers have a heat transfer surface adapted to be selectively engaged with the fuser member, and a device for heating said heat transfer surfaces. A mechanism is provided for controlling the heat transfer with the fuser member to selectively change the amount of heat transferred from the fuser.
US08457510B2
The image forming apparatus includes an image forming section that forms a non-margin image by forming, on an image bearing member, a toner image including an edge portion area (Ae) and an internal area (Ai), transferring the toner image formed on the image bearing member to the transfer material. On the toner image corresponding to the edge portion area, which is formed on the image bearing member, toner amount increase processing is performed, the toner amount increase processing including toner amount gradual increase processing of gradually increasing intensity of the toner amount increase processing from the inner side of the edge portion area toward an outer side thereof. The image forming section forms, on the image bearing member, the toner image subjected to the toner amount increase processing. Accordingly, fixing performance during non-margin printing is enhanced and a high-quality image is formed.
US08457506B2
An image-forming device includes a main casing, a drum unit, an image-forming unit, and a transfer unit. The drum unit is detachable from the main casing and includes a photosensitive drum having a rotational axis extending in an axis direction. The drum unit is formed with a plurality of symbols juxtaposed along the axis direction. The image-forming unit forms an image on the photosensitive drum in an image-forming mode. The transfer unit transfers the first developer image onto the photosensitive drum onto a sheet. The image-forming unit forms a first developer image on the photosensitive drum in a maintenance mode. The first developer image transferred onto the sheet divides the sheet into a plurality of regions along the axis direction, the plurality of regions corresponding to the plurality of symbols, respectively.
US08457502B2
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for broadcasting a modulated digital pulse recognition signal from a light source. In some embodiments, the method includes selecting one or more digital pulse recognition tones to broadcast, determining a desired brightness level for the light source, generating a digital pulse recognition signal having a duty cycle based on the desired brightness level and a frequency based on the one or more digital pulse recognition tones, and driving the output of the light source with the digital pulse recognition signal. In some embodiments, selecting one or more digital pulse recognition tones to broadcast includes generating a single periodic tone for differentiating the light source from a nearby light source. In some embodiments, selecting one or more digital pulse recognition tones to broadcast includes generating a sequence of periodic tones.
US08457500B2
An all-optical modulation format converter for converting optical data signals modulated in an on-off-keying (OOK) format to a phase-shift-keying (PSK) format. The OOK-to-PSK converter can be coupled to a delay-line interferometer to provide an all-optical wavelength converter for differential PSK (DPSK). The OOK-to-PSK converter can also be used in all-optical implementations of various functions, including, for example, exclusive-OR (XOR/NXOR) and OR logic, shift registers, and pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) generators. Several variants of all-optical devices are described.
US08457499B2
A semiconductor laser drive apparatus comprises a bias current setting section (232) which sets a bias current value on the basis of the drive temperature so that the temperature characteristic of the bias current value with respect to the drive temperature may be a linear function having a slope except zero and a drive current setting section (233) for setting the drive current value on the basis of the drive temperature so that the temperature characteristic of the drive current value with respect to the drive temperature may be a function having a slope except zero. The temperature characteristic of the bias current and that of the drive current are functions different from each other. With this, low cost, space-saving, and power-saving of a semiconductor laser are achieved, and a semiconductor laser drive apparatus enabling a good transmission characteristic on the reception side and a high optical output over the whole drive temperature range when driving the semiconductor laser can be provided.
US08457498B2
Methods and apparatus for target identification are disclosed. An example method for target identification disclosed herein comprises establishing an optical communication link with a potential target, transmitting a first signal encoded with a first code to the potential target using the optical communication link, receiving a second signal from the potential target using the optical communication link, extracting a second code from the second signal, and identifying the potential target as a friendly asset based on the second code.
US08457494B2
A Passive Optical Network (PON) multicast management method includes: an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) performs multicast control according to multicast control information, and generates a corresponding multicast downstream command; the OLT sends the multicast downstream command to an Optical Network Unit (ONU); and the ONU resolves the multicast downstream command, and performs multicast control according to the multicast downstream command. Accordingly, a PON multicast communication system, an OLT, and an ONU are disclosed. Through the multicast control mechanism introduced into the PON system, the PON multicast functions are enhanced, and the same data destined for multiple ONUs is prevented from being sent repeatedly in the network, and thus the network bandwidth resources are saved.
US08457493B2
In the communication system, a master station is coupled to slave stations by a fiber network comprising a splitter and a reach extender, the master station includes a first bandwidth control section which determines, based on a request from each slave station, a first data amount of a signal transmitted in a first cycle, the reach extender includes: a distance measurement section which measures a distance or a time between the reach extender and each slave station; and a second bandwidth control section which determines a second data amount and transmission timing of a signal based on a request from each slave station and the first data amount, and each slave station transmits a signal with a data amount, which the first bandwidth control section determined based on a data amount and transmission timing determined in second cycles, to the master station in the first cycle.
US08457484B2
Systems and methods are operable to acquire device information from film set devices used to film a media content event. An exemplary film production information acquisition device has at least a sensor device configured to sense an operation characteristic of a film set device, a film production information management system (IMS) communication interface configured to communicatively couple the film production information acquisition device to a film production information management system, and a processor system communicatively coupled to the film production IMS communication interface and the sensor device, and configured to process the sensed operation characteristic of the film set device into information that is communicated to the film production information management system.
US08457481B2
“Hermetic flexible bag to protect cameras and portable electronic equipment” which comprises a set formed by the following components: a flexible bag, UV filter, eye-window and in some embodiments the set can also present a flash support and a tripod connection. The flexibility of the manufacturing material enables that the same hermetic flexible bag be used with several types of equipment of similar shape and size. It also provides protection for the equipment without making its use difficult. The equipment is always protected and ready to be used.
US08457477B2
A method of recording an encoded bit stream, said encoded bit stream representing a plurality of video objects comprising a sequence of cells together constituting a part of an MPEG2 Program Stream, on a disc like record carrier, such as an optical disc. The method comprises recording video objects comprising a sequence of contiguously recorded cells, each cell comprising a unique cell identification number within a video object, recording of a playback sequence of cells that defines a playable program chain of cells, wherein said sequence comprises references to the cell identification numbers and recording navigation data within said cells comprising said cell identification numbers.The method further comprises dividing at least one previously recorded cell into new cells and/or overwriting at least one previously recorded cell at least partly with a new cell, assigning the at least one new cell with a cell identification number and recording a new playback sequence of cells employing the at least one new cell, the new playback sequence not necessarily employing an incremental numbering of cell identification numbers.Hereby a time consuming renumbering of all cells is being avoided.
US08457474B2
The present invention relates to a recording device, a recording method, a playback device, a playback method, a program, and a recording medium, which enable the GOP structure of a Dependent view video stream obtained by encoding, for example, in accordance with the H.264 AVC/MVC profile standard to be defined and recorded in a recording medium such as a BD or the like.A Base view video stream is an H.264/AVC video stream. The GOP structure of the Base view video stream is the same structure as the GOP structure of the H.264/AVC video stream defined in the BD-ROM standard. The GOP structure to the Dependent view video stream is also defined as the same structure as the GOP structure of the Base view video stream. The present invention can be applied to a playback device compatible with the BD-ROM standard.
US08457471B2
A home entertainment network has a computer with a multi-DVD changer which holds plural DVDs onto which content from an hard disk drive (HDD) can be transferred for storage. Also, DVD content can be ripped to the HDD, and multiple copies of home videos and photographs on the HDD can be made onto several disks simultaneously.
US08457469B2
The present invention relates to a display control device, a display method, and a program, whereby a new thumbnail method can be provided.A clustering unit 611 subjects each frame of a content to clustering into any cluster of a plurality of clusters, and a scene classifying unit 612 classifies, regarding each of a plurality of clusters, a frame belonging to a cluster into a scene that is a group of one or more frames that temporally continue. A thumbnail creating unit 613 creates the thumbnail of a scene, and a display control unit 614 displays the thumbnail thereof on a display device 603.
US08457466B1
The present invention is a method and system for storing videos by track sequences and selection of video segments in a manner to support “re-mining” by indexing and playback of individual visitors' entire trip to an area covered by overlapping cameras, allowing analysis and recognition of detailed behavior. The present invention captures video streams of the people in the area by multiple cameras and tracks the people in each of the video streams, producing track sequences in each video stream. Using the track sequences, the present invention finds trip information of the people. The present invention determines a first set of video segments that contain the trip information of the people, and compacts each of the video streams by removing a second set of video segments that do not contain the trip information of the people from each of the video streams. The video segments in the first set of video segments are associated with the people by indexing the video segments per person based on the trip information. The final storage format of the videos is a trip-centered format which sequences videos from across multiple cameras in a manner to facilitate multiple applications dealing with behavior analysis, and it is an efficient compact format without losing any video segments that contain the track sequences of the people.
US08457464B2
A door catch arrangement for cable enclosures incorporates magnetic catch components on the door and on an adjacent open-ended, flared, radius-limiting cable guide installed in at least one open-ended cable port of the enclosure. The cable guide itself covers the rim of the cable port and has two spaced legs, each leg having an end face disposed at the open end of the cable port. A recess in one of the end faces holds a magnet. In its closed position, the door blocks the end of the cable port and a ferromagnetic catch portion on the door opposes the magnet, which keeps the door closed. The positions of the magnet and the ferromagnetic catch portion can be reversed.
US08457463B2
The present invention provides a beam homogenizer being able to form a rectangular beam spot having homogeneous energy distribution in a direction of its major axis without using the optical lens requiring to be manufactured with high accuracy. In addition, the present invention provides a laser irradiation apparatus being able to irradiate the laser beam having homogeneous energy distribution in a direction of its major axis. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device being able to enhance crystallinity in the surface of the substrate and to manufacture TFT with a high operating characteristic.The beam homogenizer, one of the present invention, is to shape the beam spot on the surface to be irradiated into a rectangular spot having an aspect ratio of 10 or more, preferably 100 or more, and comprises an optical waveguide for homogenizing the energy distribution of the rectangular beam spot in the direction of its major axis.
US08457457B2
A lens array can have monitor light reliably and can be manufactured easily. With this lens array (2), a reflecting/transmission surface (15) of a first concave part (14) branches laser lights L having been emitted from light emitting elements (7) and having been incident on first lens surfaces (11), toward second lens surfaces (12) and third lens surfaces (13). Monitor lights M branched toward the third lens surfaces (13) are emitted from the third lens surfaces (13) toward first light receiving elements (8) passing through a refracting surface (19) of a second concave part (18). The lens array (2) is formed such that the optical axes on the first lens surfaces (11) and the optical axes on the third lens surfaces (13) are parallel, and the optical axes on the first lens surface (11) and the optical axes on the second lens surfaces (12) are parallel or vertical.
US08457456B2
An optical fiber mode coupling device, capable of being readily connected to a conventional optical fiber with a high degree of ruggedness, is provided. The inventive mode coupling device only allows transmission of at least one supported fiber mode therethrough, and is preferably configured to maximize the coupling, of at least one desired fiber mode, to the at least one supported fiber mode. Advantageously, the inventive mode coupling device is capable of performing the functions of a mode filter for the signal entering its first end, or serving as a mode conditioner for the signal entering its opposite second end. Thus, in one practical application thereof, the novel mode coupling device functions as a mode filter by maximizing the coupling between at least one desired fiber mode of a multi-mode input signal entering the device's first end, and at least one supported mode of the device, to produce an output signal at the device's second end that comprises at least one predetermined fiber mode, corresponding to at least one desired fiber mode. In another practical application thereof, the novel mode coupling device functions as a mode conditioner by maximizing the coupling between an input signal, comprising at least one predetermined fiber mode, that enters the device's second end, and, and at least one supported mode of the device, to produce an output signal at the device's first end that comprises at least one desired fiber mode, corresponding to a conditioned at least one predetermined fiber mode.
US08457455B2
A light guide includes a core and a clad made of a material having an index of refraction different from an index of refraction of the core and covering the core, in which at least one of a light incident surface or a light exit surface of the core is arranged while shifted in parallel without changing respective inclined angles so that the inclined surface is divided into a plurality of inclined surfaces parallel in a longitudinal direction (X direction) of the rectangular shape in the orthogonal projection and the plurality of inclined surfaces closer to the light emitting portion are positioned in a direction (Z direction) of moving away from the end face to be in a shape extending in the direction (Z direction) of moving away from the end face in a stepwise manner as a whole.
US08457450B2
A printed circuit board is disclosed. A printed circuit board, which includes a first board part, a flexible board part which has one side coupled with the first board part and which includes an electrical wiring layer and an optical waveguide to transmit both electrical signals and optical signals, and a second board part coupled with the other side of the flexible board part, where the electrical wiring layer and the optical waveguide are disposed with a gap in-between, can provide greater bendability and reliability, by having the optical waveguide and electrical wiring layer separated with a gap in-between at the flexible portion of the board, and the optical waveguide can be manufactured with greater precision for even higher reliability, by having the optical waveguide manufactured separately and then inserted during the manufacturing process of the board.
US08457435B2
An ultrasound imaging system and method provides for extended imaging.
US08457434B2
The invention is related to spatial diffusion in images. Spatial diffusion helps blurring small discontinuities. Edges become sharper by spatial diffusion as well.A method for generating a spatial diffused image from an input image is described wherein the method comprises applying on the input image an inverted Gaussian spatial bilateral filter with a spatial weight which takes the form of an inverted Gaussian.The inverted-Gaussian-spatial bilateral filter, which uses an inverted-Gaussian function as the kernel of spatial filter, can remove small spots in large smooth areas efficiently.
US08457429B2
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for processing signals, particularly signals encoding two-dimensional images, such as photographs, video frames, graphics, and other visually displayed information. Rather than attempting 3D-boosting by attempting a global contrast enhancement, method and system embodiments of the present invention generate a soft-segmented image that is separately contrast enhanced, segment-by-segment, to produce an enhanced soft-segmented image. A details image is then computed, and is combined with the enhanced soft-segmented image to produce an intermediate image, the brightness of which is adjusted to produce a 3D-boosted output image. Local contrast enhancement provides for proportional enhancement of homogenous regions, resulting in 3D-boosting without introduction of anomalies, artifacts, and distortion.
US08457427B2
There is provided a method for processing a variable length code encoded image having a plurality of scan lines, wherein each scan line has a number of original code blocks including a differentially encoded parameter. The method includes defining a subarea of the image having parts of a number of the scan lines, extracting the subarea, generating a set of auxiliary code blocks having an auxiliary differentially encoded parameter based on the first differentially encoded parameter of a first code block of a first current scan line in the subarea, and associating the auxiliary code blocks with the subarea. There is also provided an apparatus and a computer program product thereof.
US08457426B1
A method and apparatus for providing document compression. In some embodiments, the method includes converting a document into a grayscale image, for each gradient component of the grayscale image, creating a monochrome image region, determining pixel variation information for the monochrome image region, and selecting the monochrome image region for a binary mask if the pixel variation information satisfies dynamic threshold data and creating a compressed document using the binary mask.
US08457421B2
An imaging device, is provided, comprising: a plurality of compression circuits configured to receive K initial imaging signals and to generate second through Kth modified imaging signals, and a plurality of delay values; and a bit multiplexer configured to generate a compressed bit stream based on a first imaging signal, second through Kth modified imaging signals, and the delay values, each compression circuit including: a delay computer configured to determine a delay value by comparing two adjacent initial imaging signals, a delay circuit configured to delay a first of the two adjacent imaging signals by the delay value to generate a delayed imaging signal; a subtractor configured to subtract the delayed signal from a second of the two adjacent imaging signals to generate a reduced imaging signal; and a quantizer configured to generate a quantized imaging signal corresponding to the second of the two adjacent imaging signals.
US08457416B2
Word correlations are estimated using a content-based method, which uses visual features of image representations of the words. The image representations of the subject words may be generated by retrieving images from data sources (such as the Internet) using image search with the subject words as query words. One aspect of the techniques is based on calculating the visual distance or visual similarity between the sets of retrieved images corresponding to each query word. The other is based on calculating the visual consistence among the set of the retrieved images corresponding to a conjunctive query word. The combination of the content-based method and a text-based method may produce even better result.
US08457409B2
A cortex-like learning machine, called a probabilistic associative memory (PAM), is disclosed for recognizing spatial and temporal patterns. A PAM is usually a multilayer or recurrent network of processing units (PUs). Each PU expands subvectors of a feature vector input to the PU into orthogonal vectors, and generates a probability distribution of the label of said feature vector, using expansion correlation matrices, which can be adjusted in supervised or unsupervised learning by a Hebbian-type rule. The PU also converts the probability distribution into a ternary vector to be included in feature subvectors that are input to PUs in the same or other layers. A masking matrix in each PU eliminates effect of corrupted components in query feature subvectors and enables maximal generalization by said PU and thereby that by the PAM. PAMs with proper learning can recognize rotated, translated and scaled patterns and are functional models of the cortex.
US08457404B2
An image processing apparatus includes: a receiver that receives an image including at least a character image; a path calculator that calculates separation paths, which are segments for separating the character images in the image received by the receiver; a feature amount calculator that calculates feature amounts of the separation paths in a plurality of directions calculated by the path calculator; a selector that determines a separation direction of the image and a state of the character image and selects a separation path among the separation paths in the plurality of directions; a separator that separates the image into a plurality of partial images; and a recursive processing determining unit that determines whether or not to perform recursive processing, wherein the path calculator calculates the separation paths, which are the segments for separating the character image in the image separated by the separator.
US08457402B2
A method is provided for rating areas in video frames. The method comprises: (a) providing a video signal comprising a plurality of consecutive video frames; (b) selecting a frame from among these frames and indentifying a first plurality of objects comprised in the selected frame; (c) upon comparing the selected frame with other frames, dividing the first plurality of the objects into a second plurality of background objects and a third plurality of foreground objects; (d) dividing objects of the third plurality of foreground objects into one or more connected components, where a connected component comprises group(s) of pixels wherein a change in each of these pixels is associated with a change in each of the remaining pixels of the respective group(s); and (e) associating an interest level with the connected components based upon a pre-determined set of criteria, thereby providing a rating of areas comprised within the video signal.
US08457399B2
A histogram modeling based technique for image contrast enhancement. In some implementations, a histogram of an image is created and then transformed. Using the physics of sound or heat propagation, the technique may develop a spreaded histogram model that may be transformed. A nonlinear mapping may be created to remap an image for contrast enhancement. The technique may be performed without threshold tuning and may be implemented on a variety of display hardware.
US08457393B2
Systems and methods for processing a detected composite color image to form a processed composite color image includes the following, for each of a plurality of pixels in the image: (1) identifying a window of pixels in the image that surrounds the pixel, (2) calculating a weight factor coefficient for each detected color from detected color intensity values of the pixels that surround the pixel, (3) calculating raw color contributions corresponding to each nonselected color, (4) multiplying each of the detected color values of a selected color and the raw color contributions corresponding to the nonselected colors, with corresponding weight factor coefficients, to form weighted color contributions, and (5) summing the weighted color contributions to form a processed color intensity value for the pixel.
US08457392B2
A representation of an object in an image of a live event is obtained by determining a color profile of the object. The color profile may be determined from the image in real time and compared to stored color profiles to determine a best match. For example, the color profile of the representation of the object can be obtained by classifying color data of the representation of the object into different bins of a color space, in a histogram of color data. The stored color profiles may be indexed to object identifiers, object viewpoints, or object orientations. Color data which is common to different objects or to a background color may be excluded. Further, a template can be used as an additional aid in identifying the representation of the object. The template can include, e.g., a model of the object or pixel data of the object from a prior image.
US08457390B1
A method for training a pattern recognition algorithm for a machine vision system that uses models of a pattern to be located, the method comprising the steps of training each of a plurality of models using a different training image wherein each of the training images is a version of a single image of the pattern at a unique coarse image resolution, using the models to identify at least one robust image resolution where the image resolution is suitable for locating the pattern within an accuracy limit of the actual location of the pattern in the image and storing the at least one robust image resolution for use in subsequent pattern recognition processes.
US08457382B2
A mechanism for rapidly detecting and localizing external markers placed on a patient in projection images. Markers can be detected even in the presence of dense surrounding anatomy and extensive patient motion. Once the positions of the marker points on the projection images are extracted, the marker points can be used to perform marker-based patient motion detection. In addition to motion correction, the rapid detection and localization may also be used for scanner calibration, automatic cephalometric measurements, and quality control assessment.
US08457381B2
Using complementary reconstruction, images from short time frames may be generated for positron emission tomography. Detected events are gathered over a long period, such as three minutes. The detected events from a short period, such as one or two seconds, are removed. Reconstruction is performed on the detected events from the long period and another reconstruction is performed on the detected events from the long period without the detected events from the short period. The second reconstruction is subtracted from the first, providing data representing the short period. The data may result in better image quality than merely reconstructing an individual frame for the short period.
US08457379B2
A plurality of CT images of an organ (10) which has undergone a subtle variation or deformation are used as input data, blood vessels and trachea 12 distributed inside the organ are extracted and subjected to thinning, the thus thinned images 14 are used to extract the coordinates of bifurcations 16 and connections, the thus extracted coordinates are used as feature points to track the motion of individual points between a plurality of CT images in a three dimensional space, thereby measuring the movement of the organ (10). Thus, it is possible to realize a local motion tracking at an arbitrary point over an entire region inside an organ, which would be impossible by using a metal marker.
US08457378B2
The present invention provides an image processing device and method for effectively generating a difference image from plural images. The plural images generated by an image generation unit are first associated with radiography date and hour information and stored in a storage unit, at least one reference image and one comparison image are designated by an image designation unit from the stored images, the date and hour information of the designated reference image is compared with that of the designated comparison image by an image comparison unit, a difference process is executed by a difference processing unit based on an operation determined based on the comparison result, and the processed difference image is displayed on a display unit under the control of a display control unit.
US08457372B2
A system, method and apparatus for subtracting a synthetically-generated image, including a segmented anatomical feature, from an acquired image.
US08457369B2
A finger/palm-print image processing apparatus comprises: an image converting means that converts finger/palm-print images to conversion images consisting of first and second sets of elements; and an area detecting means that detects, from the conversion images as converted by the image converting means, an area where the number of the first set of elements is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. The first and second sets of elements herein are the elements of sets each of which consists of elements of the finger/palm-print images. The first set of elements have those degrees of change in color information which meet a predetermined criterion, while the second set of elements have those degrees of change in color information which do not meet the predetermined criterion.
US08457361B2
The invention relates to a method for monitoring the filling of a capsule with a medicament, a corresponding filing method and the corresponding devices. According to the monitoring method, after at least part of the capsule is filled with a given filling mass of given closed shape of medicament, in a first step, at least the filling mass located in the part of the capsule after filling is recorded with a digital image, in a second step, the shape of the filling mass located in the part of the capsule is determined from the digital image and, in a third step, the shape analysed to give an analysis of the filling in comparison with given shapes.
US08457360B2
The invention concerns a traffic surveillance system that is used to detect and track vehicles in video taken of a road from a low mounted camera. The inventors have discovered that even in heavily occluded scenes, due to traffic density or the angle of low mounted cameras capturing the images, at least one horizontal edge of the windshield is least likely to be occluded for each individual vehicle in the image. Thus, it is an advantage of the invention that the direct detection of a windshield on its own can be used to detect a vehicle in a single image. Multiple models are projected (206) onto an image with reference to different points in the image. The probability of each point forming part of a windshield is determined based on a correlation of the horizontal edges in the image with the horizontal edges of the windshield model referenced at that point (220). This probability of neighboring points is used to possible detect a vehicle in the image (224). Aspects of the invention include a method, software and traffic surveillance system.
US08457352B2
Methods for determining a point-of-gaze (POG) of a user in three dimensions are disclosed. In particular embodiments, the methods involve: presenting a three-dimensional scene to both eyes of the user; capturing image data including both eyes of the user; estimating first and second line-of-sight (LOS) vectors in a three-dimensional coordinate system for the user's first and second eyes based on the image data; and determining the POG in the three-dimensional coordinate system using the first and second LOS vectors.
US08457351B2
Provided are an image processing method, an image processing system, an image processing device and a computer program for detecting a detection object such as nares of the driver with a high degree of accuracy in, for example, a system using an in-vehicle camera which is mounted on a vehicle and takes an image of the face of the driver. A detection object is diversified by a variety of detection methods such as a method for detecting a plurality of locations in the vertical direction as candidates during image pickup of an image, detecting a range to be a candidate of a detection object on the basis of the brightness of a pixel for each of rows of pixels lined up in the horizontal direction corresponding to each detected location and specifying a detection object from candidates of a detection object on the basis of the length of the detected range.
US08457349B2
A system and method are provided for selecting frames of a compressed video stream that may be used for client-side watermarking. In general, a content source evaluates a number of Intra-Frames (I-Frames) in the compressed video stream using a sample watermark that is similar to actual watermarks that may be used for client-side watermarking. More specifically, each of a number of I-Frames in the compressed video stream is evaluated by first watermarking the I-Frame with the sample watermark. Associated frames in the compressed video stream are then decoded using the watermarked I-Frame. An error value for the decoded video frames is then computed. If the error value is outside of a predetermined error threshold range, the I-Frame is selected as an I-Frame that may be used for client-side watermarking.
US08457348B2
Provided are methods and devices for producing an ASCII picture from a vector outline image. The method comprises rasterizing the vector outline image into a plurality of grid cells, at least one of which has a reference image; matching each reference image with an ASCII character based on log-polar histograms thereof; and gathering all matched ASCII characters to form the ASCII picture.
US08457346B2
The disclosure describes methods and apparatus for providing digital watermarks or steganographic indicia in image or video data. One implementation embeds digital watermarks on-chip with respect to a CMOS or CCD image array. Some implementations introduce a watermark component during image capture, the watermark being introduced through variations in physical characteristics of a set of pixels. Other implementations are provided and claimed as well.
US08457341B2
A sound reproduction system (10) is disclosed in which a sound barrier (14) defines a horn passageway having an upstream (22) and a downstream section (24). A driver (12) is mounted at the throat (16) of the upstream section (22) so that its rearward directed output communicates with the downstream section (24). Output from the upstream section and the rearward directed output of the driver are merged at a tap point located at the beginning of the downstream section. By altering the respective areas and lengths of the upstream and downstream sections a variety of different frequency dependent responses are obtained. In one example, low-frequency response systems of heretofore unobtainable compact size are realized.
US08457338B2
Actuator apparatus for generating a physical effect, at least one attribute of which corresponds to at least one characteristic of a digital input signal sampled periodically in accordance with a clock, the apparatus comprising at least one array of moving elements each constrained to travel alternately back and forth along a respective axis in response to an alternating electromagnetic force applied to the array of moving elements, at least one latch operative to selectively latch at least one subset of said moving elements in at least one latching position thereby to prevent the individual moving elements from responding to the electromagnetic force, an electromagnetic field control system operative to receive the clock and, accordingly, to control application of the electromagnetic force to the array of moving elements, and a latch controller operative to receive the digital input signal and to control the latch accordingly.
US08457334B2
An audio apparatus, an audio signal transmission method, and an audio system are provided. The audio signal transmission method includes: wirelessly receiving an audio signal from a first external device; converting the received audio signal into audio signals of multi-channels; and wirelessly transmitting an audio signal of at least one of the multi-channels to at least one of second external devices. Therefore, the audio apparatus wirelessly communicates with a plurality of external devices, and thus a user can connect an audio device to an external device without using wired cables.
US08457333B2
Methods and apparatus for improving the acoustical performance associated with a speaker, such as a piezoelectric speaker, are disclosed. According to one aspect, an apparatus includes a substrate, a can mounted on the substrate, and a piezoelectric speaker arrangement. The piezoelectric speaker arrangement is at least partially mounted on the can. In one embodiment, the substrate is a printed circuit board (PCB) and the can is an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding can.
US08457328B2
An apparatus for utilizing spatial information for audio signal enhancement in a multiple distributed network may include a processor. The processor may be configured to receive representations of a plurality of audio signals including at least one audio signal received at a first device and at least a second audio signal received at a second device. The first and second devices may be part of a common acoustic space network and may be arbitrarily positioned with respect to each other. The processor may be further configured to combine the first and second audio signals to form a composite audio signal, and provide for communication of the composite audio signal along with spatial information relating to a sound source of at least one of the plurality of audio signals to another device.
US08457323B2
A device designed to be plugged into an electric socket in a vehicle, which socket constitutes part of the electrical system of the vehicle, which device, without any other connection, is able to detect the engine speed of the vehicle and convert this information to sound signals. In at least one embodiment, the device includes at least one device for detecting electrical pulses resulting from the engine speed that are unintentionally emitted from the generator, electric motor or ignition system of the vehicle, in order to record the current engine speed. Further, in at least one embodiment, the device transmits, by way of radio waves, sampled/simulated or synthetically generated noise signals based on the electrical pulses to the radio receiver/sound system of the vehicle in order to play these in or around the vehicle.
US08457319B2
There is disclosed a stereo encoding device capable of accurately encoding a stereo signal at a low bit rate and suppressing delay in audio communication. The device performs monaural encoding in its first layer (110). In a second layer (120), a filtering unit (103) generates an LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) coefficient and generates a left channel drive sound source signal. A time region evaluation unit (104) and a frequency region evaluation unit (105) perform signal evaluation and prediction in both of their regions. A residual encoding unit (106) encodes a residual signal. A bit distribution control unit (107) adaptively distributes bits to the time region evaluation unit (104), the frequency region evaluation unit (105), and the residual encoding unit (106) according to a condition of the audio signal.
US08457316B2
A system and method for securing communications over a wave division multiplexing optical network between a plurality of users connected to the network. The system utilizes a primary optical source generator that is either tunable, or capable of generating a plurality of wavebands of different frequencies equal to the sum of wavebands serving individual users of the network to facilitate a key exchange between the individual users of the network using summed wavebands, each of which serving an individual user.
US08457304B2
A method for encoding video includes receiving data, and encrypting the data using at least four Huffman trees. A method for encoding video includes receiving data, and encrypting the data such that an internal state of a stream cipher is independent of plaintext and ciphertext. A video encoding system for encoding video in a computing environment includes means for accessing data, and means for encrypting the data such that there are approximately 2106 possibilities.
US08457302B1
The invention relates to a data carrier (1) having a semiconductor chip (5). In order to prevent an attacker from determining secret data of the chip (5) from intercepted signal patterns of the chip (5), security-relevant operations are performed only with commands or command strings of the operating program whose use does not permit the processed data to be inferred from the signal patterns.
US08457294B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a call transfer can be performed independently of a positive final response in a call transfer to the a third party subject of the call transfer. In some implementations, a first party to the communications session can send a drop/disconnect signal after initiating the call transfer or after receiving an acknowledgement of the initiation of a call transfer.
US08457283B2
A method and an apparatus for initiating an automatic emergency call wherein an emergency signal is sent when an initiation threshold is reached which is ascertained on the basis of a sensor signal. To prevent the incorrect transmissions of emergency calls and nevertheless to take account of a multiplicity of hazard situations, when the initiation threshold is reached an emergency call is initiated and additionally the reliability of the sensor signals prompting the initiation are assessed. When the sensor signals cannot be interpreted explicitly the emergency call is transmitted only after a delay time. During the delay time, the transmission of the emergency call can still be terminated.
US08457279B2
A patient positioning assembly is described. The patient positioning assembly including a plate member rotatably mounted on a base member, and an arm extending between a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is rotatably attached to the plate member. The patient positioning assembly further including a support device rotatably attached to the second end of the arm to support a patient thereon, with the support device is configured to move the patient in at least five degrees of freedom.
US08457278B2
A radiation therapy device includes a radiation application apparatus, which is used to direct a therapeutic beam along a therapeutic beam center axis onto a target volume to be irradiated. The radiation therapy device also includes a diagnostic radiation source for diagnostic x-ray radiation, is the diagnostic radiation source being disposed eccentrically in relation to the therapeutic beam center axis in a rotatable manner on a rotation apparatus so that the diagnostic radiation source is operable to be rotated about the therapeutic beam center axis. The radiation therapy device further includes a detector for diagnostic x-ray radiation, which is used to detect the diagnostic x-ray radiation emitted from the diagnostic radiation source.
US08457276B2
A detection method detects cracks with small thickness and solder voids with small volume in a solder ball. The method immerses a washed solder ball into a high absorption material solution for a first predetermined time period. The immersed solder ball is then dried in a vacuum chamber at a fixed temperature for a second predetermined time period. Materials of the high absorption material solution of the solder ball are removed by a low absorption material solution. An X-ray machine then detects the cracks and the solder voids in the solder ball.
US08457275B2
The present invention is a cargo inspection system, employing a radiation source, capable of scanning vehicles and/or cargo in a wide range of sizes, including conventional imaging areas as well as taller and bulkier enclosures at sufficiently optimal efficacy and overall throughput. In one embodiment, the present invention is a multiple pass inspection method for inspecting vehicles and their cargo, comprising a first pass scan, wherein said first pass scan includes moving a radiation source at a suitable scanning distance, rotating a radiation source at a suitable scanning angle, and moving said radiation source along an object under inspection.
US08457274B2
Methods and systems for x-ray inspection of an object using pulses whose spectral composition varies during the course of each pulse. A temporal sequence of pulses of penetrating radiation is generated such that the spectral content of each pulse evolves with time. The pulses are formed into a beam that is scanned across the object and detected after traversing the object. The detector signal is processed to derive at least one material characteristic of the object, such as effective atomic number, on the basis of temporal evolution of the detector signal during the course each pulse of the sequence of pulses. The time intervals may be predetermined, or else adapted based on features of the detected signal.
US08457264B2
A radio receiver includes a first diversity antenna structure, a second diversity antenna structure, a first RF receiver section, a second RF receiver section, a combining module, and a baseband processing module. The first diversity antenna structure provides the received inbound RF signals from one of the plurality of first antennas based on a first antenna selection signal to produce first received inbound RF signals. The second diversity antenna structure provides the received inbound RF signals from one of the plurality of second antennas based on a second antenna selection signal to produce second received inbound RF signals. The first and second RF receiver sections are operably coupled to convert the first and second received inbound RF signals into first and second inbound baseband signals, respectively. The combining module combines the first and second inbound baseband signals to produce inbound baseband signals.
US08457258B2
The present invention relates to a method for minimizing means square estimation error (MSEE) and bit error rate during channel estimation and equalization between a transmitter and a receiver of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The method comprises transmitting from said transmitter to said receiver a training sequence for channel estimation being superimposed onto data at specific pilot to data power ratio (PDPR), receiving the OFDM signals along with the training sequence as an input, cross-correlating said received signal to a specific lag determined by the rms delay spread of the channel, with a specific known training sequence stored in a register, and which is also the sequence that is added to the data at the transmitter in the time domain having a prescribed pilot to data power ratio. The cross-correlated data being processed over a length of samples which can be extended to exploit the coherence time of the channel and processed along with the stored values of the inverse of autocorrelation values of superimposed training (ST) sequence so as to obtain a reliable least squares based channel estimate in a way the PDPR is limited or otherwise. The invention also relates to a system comprising means for computing a time domain least squares (LS) based channel estimate at the receiver.
US08457250B2
For example in case of an OFDM multicarrier transmission system the transmission characteristics of subcarriers of a multicarrier transmission system using a plurality of antenna elements (3, 3′) can be adjusted. Particularly the power and the phase of the subcarriers can be adapted. To this object the subcarrier frequency channel (2, 2′) characteristics of the multicarrier transmission are detected (11, 11′) at the side of the transmitter (3). The power of each subcarrier is then distributed by a weighting unit (14, 14′). The subcarriers can be further pre-equalized (1, 1′) by dividing the subcarrier signal respectively by the sum of the squared magnitude of the frequency channel characteristics of all subcarrier signals or a frequency characteristic of the selected antenna element (3, 3′).
US08457245B2
A method of transmitting precoding information in a multiple antenna system includes selecting M subbands from a plurality of subbands constituting a whole frequency band in a descending order of a channel quality indicator (CQI), where M is an integer satisfying M>0, and transmitting a first precoding matrix indicator (PMI) for the M subbands and a second PMI for a remaining band, wherein the first PMI is a PMI of a codebook selected from a first codebook set including a plurality of codebooks and the second PMI is a PMI of a codebook selected from a second codebook set including a part of the plurality of codebooks of the first codebook set. Accordingly, precoding information can be effectively transmitted by separately preparing a codebook for a best band and a codebook for a non-selected band.
US08457244B2
The present invention relates to an antenna and radio arrangement comprising at least a first antenna and a second antenna, each having a first antenna port and a second antenna port, the arrangement further comprising at least four first transmitting means, where the first antenna's first antenna port is connected to a first transmitting means, the first antenna's second antenna port is connected to a second transmitting means, the second antenna's first antenna port is connected to a third transmitting means, and the second antenna's second antenna port is connected to a fourth transmitting means. At least two transmitting means transmit signals to the corresponding antenna ports, said signals being modulated by the same stream of digital signals and having the same radio carrier frequency, thus accomplishing a spatial combining of the output signals. The present invention also relates to a corresponding method.
US08457238B2
A soft decision decoding method in a multiple-input multiple-output system which respectively receives two simultaneously transmitted data streams, a first transmitting symbol and a second transmitting symbol, in a first receiving signal and a second receiving signal is provided. The soft decision decoding method includes calculating common metrics corresponding to distances between first candidate symbols, which correspond to combinations of all bits that the first transmitting symbol can have, and the first receiving signal using a channel matrix corresponding to a communication channel through which the first and second transmitting symbols are transmitted and determining intermediate nodes between the second receiving signal and the first candidate symbols and nodes between the second receiving signal and second candidate symbols corresponding to combinations of all bits that the second transmitting symbol can have; selecting first nearest candidate symbols that are at a shortest distance from the intermediate nodes on a signal constellation from among the second candidate symbols and determining a soft decision metric for each bit value of the first transmitting symbol based on the first nearest candidate symbols and the common metrics; and determining second nearest candidate symbols based on a logic value of a predetermined bit of each of the second candidate symbols and the positions of the intermediate nodes on the signal constellation and determining a soft decision metric for each bit value of the second transmitting symbol using the second nearest candidate symbols and the common metrics.
US08457232B2
To detect the number of transmit antennas, a fast Fourier transform operation is performed on the received samples of the transmitted long training symbols of a preamble. Next, each of the Fourier transformed results is multiplied with the reference frequency-domain representation of the long training symbol so as to remove the effect of the symbols and to maintain the channel information. Next, inverse Fourier transform or least squares operations is performed on the multiplied values to compute channel impulse response. The number of shifted impulse response in the channel impulse response represents the detected number of transmit antennas. Packets containing preambles of the present invention may be received by extended devices as well as by legacy receivers that are not configured to receive and interpret these preambles. The training symbols may be cyclically-shifted and transmitted on different transmit antennas.
US08457225B2
The present invention relates to methods that can be used in a wireless communication system, and systems adapted to use such methods. In a preferred form the methods are useful in channel estimation in a wireless communication system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The system is provided with a control block to optimize channel estimation.
US08457221B2
Techniques for transmitting signaling with localized spreading are described. In one design, a transmitter (e.g., a base station) spreads multiple signaling symbols to obtain multiple sets of output symbols and further maps the multiple sets of output symbols to multiple time frequency blocks. The spreading may be localized to each time frequency block. Prior to the spreading, the transmitter may scale the multiple signaling symbols with multiple gains determined based on the transmit power for these signaling symbols. The transmitter may scramble the scaled signaling symbols to obtain scrambled symbols and may spread the scrambled symbols to obtain the multiple sets of output symbols. The transmitter may map each set of output symbols to a respective time frequency block.
US08457212B2
An image processing apparatus includes a plurality of decoders, each decoding a predetermined region of each frame forming coded stream and an output unit receiving pixel data obtained as a result of the decoding processing by the plurality of decoders and combining the pixel data into decoded image data to output it. One subject decoder supplies, among pixel data obtained as a result of the decoding processing by the subject decoder, pixel data necessary for a different decoder to the different decoder, and also obtains, among pixel data obtained as a result of the decoding processing by the different decoder, pixel data necessary for the subject decoder from the different decoder. The subject decoder performs the decoding processing by referring to the pixel data obtained as a result of the decoding processing by the subject decoder and the pixel data obtained from the different decoder.
US08457207B2
The method includes the steps of receiving the multiview video data stream including a random access picture including a random access slice, the random access slice referencing only slice corresponding to a same time and a different view of the random access picture, obtaining identification information representing the multi-view video data stream including initialization information of a reference picture list for the random access slice, obtaining initialization information of a reference picture list for the random access slice based on the identification information, the initialization information representing a reference relation between a plurality of views with view number information and view identification information, initializing the reference picture list using the view number information and the view identification information, obtaining a difference value from the a multi-view video data stream according to the type information, the difference value representing a residual of inter-view reference index in the initialized reference picture list, determining an assignment modification value for modifying the inter-view reference index in the initialized reference picture list according to the difference value, modifying the initialized reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the determined assignment modification value, determining a prediction value of a macroblock in the random access picture based on the modified reference picture list, and decoding the macroblock using the prediction value, wherein the initialization information is obtained from an extension area of a sequence header.
US08457205B2
An apparatus and method of up-converting a frame rate using frames that are decoded from a video decoder and motion information, the apparatus including: a motion vector resampling unit to resample a motion vector for the interpolated frame by filtering a motion vector of a current block using the motion vector of the current block and motion vectors of adjacent blocks in the decoded frame; a motion compensating unit to compensate a motion of the decoded frame by the resampled motion vector to produce the interpolated frame; and a switch to selectively output one of the decoded frame and the interpolated frame according to the sequential order of the frames.
US08457199B2
A video signal is coded by generating, at a transmitter, a difference signal (at 2) representing the differences between a picture to be transmitted and a predicted picture based on a stored locally decoded picture. This is decoded to generate a fresh locally decoded picture. The transmitter also generates a check signal, such as a CRC, as a function of the locally decoded picture. The receiver decodes the difference signal to create a decoded picture. It compares the decoded picture with the check signal, and generates an error signal if the two do not tally.
US08457194B2
Real-time video processing functionality may be provided using pre-processing and/or post-processing features to provide a video signal. Components of a real-time video processing system may operate to receive a real-time video signal. The real-time video signal may be downscaled based in part on the use of features of a pre-processing component applying a downscale polyphase filter that may be used to compensate for bandwidth constraints associated with a real-time video conferencing environment. The downscaled real-time video may be communicated across a network, such as the Internet. Upon receipt of the downscaled real-time video, the downscaled real-time video may be upscaled based in part on the use of features of a post-processing component applying an upscale polyphase filter.
US08457190B2
Embodiments of a summer block for a Decision Feedback Equalizer are provided herein. The summer block is configured to offset a combination of a Feed Forward Equalized (FFE) data signal and a Feedback Equalized (FBE) data signal by a dc amount: The dc amount is based on at least a weight of a tap previously implemented with an FBE of the DFE. The summer block can be further configured to offset the combination of the FFE data signal and the FBE data signal based on a dc offset value necessary to compensate for asymmetries in the data eye of data received by the FFE over a channel and a dc offset value necessary to compensate for mismatches present in the circuits of the DFE.
US08457188B2
An apparatus, including a detection unit configured to perform a non-linear detection on a receive signal, a first estimator configured to estimate a first quality measure based on the receive signal, and a second estimator configured to estimate a second quality measure dependent on the first quality measure and a performance measure of the detection unit is provided.
US08457187B1
A portable hand-held battery powered eye pattern analyzer is provided that can analyze signal quality of a high speed digital communication network. The system is 10 times smaller in volume and 4 times lighter than the bench-top equivalent instruments. The system includes a housing containing a display, keypad, power supply, battery pack, and RF sampler board along with connections for electrical inputs, optical inputs, clock signal inputs, and clock recovery signal inputs. The sampler circuit board can support connections, such as a USB plug for attachment to a personal computer. The RF sampler board contains the following elements: (1) A dual sampler for two-channel electrical inputs. (2) An Optical-to-Electrical O/E conversion module. (3) A clock recovery unit (CRU) module to recover the clock from the electrical or optical pulse pattern signal. (4) A trigger circuit that accepts an input clock and uses that clock to trigger the sampling of the data signal. (5) A PRBS generator that could be used as stimulus for testing high speed devices, and (6) A controller such as an FPGA that processes the sampled signals and provides statistical analysis along with eye patterns to a display as controlled using the keyboard.
US08457175B2
The frequency of a digital data signal, such as a digital video signal, is intentionally varied or hopped before being sent over a network. This frequency hopping may be performed in accordance with a frequency hopping pattern shared with only intended receivers. The digital data signal may be further intentionally pre-distorted in accordance with a pre-distortion pattern which is also shared with only intended receivers. The frequency hopping and/or the pre-distortion patterns may be used to vary the frequency and modulation, respectively, on a periodic basis, such as a symbol-by-symbol or packet-by-packet basis.
US08457164B2
The invention relates to a fiber laser comprising a ring-shaped resonator (3). A first section of the resonator is formed by an optical fiber (7) while a second section of the resonator is formed by an optically pumped amplifier fiber (8). The fiber laser further comprises an injection point (4) for injecting light of a pump light source (1) into the resonator (3) as well as an extraction point (5) for extracting generated laser light from the resonator (3). The aim of the invention is to design a more developed fiber laser. The aim is achieved by providing the resonator (3) with at least one reflective optical component (12, 51) which reflects the laser light circulating in the resonator (3).
US08457160B2
A system for packetizing parallel image data for serial transmission includes a software element configured to receive a bitmap image file comprising R, G and B pixel data, receive information relating to display and timing information associated with a device under test, receive a vertical synchronization signal, and receive at least one horizontal synchronization signal, packetize the vertical synchronization signal, wait a period of time before packetizing the horizontal synchronization signal, and packetize the R, G, and B pixel data associated with the bitmap image file to form a parallel packet stream. The system also includes a hardware element comprising a parallel data sequencer comprising a memory, the memory configured to store the parallel packet stream, a parallel-to-serial converter configured to convert the parallel packet stream into a serial packet stream, and a serial line driver configured to transfer the serial packet stream to a device under test.
US08457158B2
A method and system for encoding the length of a Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is provided. The method includes partitioning the length of the MAC PDU into a first part and a second part when the length of the MAC PDU is greater than a first predefined value, encoding the first part in a first header of the MAC PDU, encoding the second part in a second header of the MAC PDU, encoding the length of the MAC PDU in a first header of the MAC PDU when the length of the MAC PDU is less than or equal to first predefined value, and transmitting the MAC PDU with the encoded length of the MAC PDU to a receiving communication device. In another embodiment, the invention includes a method and apparatus for decoding an encoded length of a MAC PDU.
US08457145B2
A method and apparatus for allocating bandwidth in a broadband wireless communication system is disclosed. One embodiment uses a self-correcting bandwidth request/grant protocol. The self-correcting bandwidth request/grant protocol utilizes a combination of incremental and aggregate bandwidth requests. CPEs primarily transmit incremental bandwidth requests to their associated base stations, followed by periodic transmissions of aggregate bandwidth requests. The use of periodic aggregate bandwidth requests (that express the current state of their respective connection queues) allows the bandwidth allocation method and apparatus to be “self-correcting”. Another embodiment utilizes an abridged bandwidth request/grant protocol to allocate bandwidth. The abridged bandwidth request/grant protocol system utilizes padding packets to request a reduction in bandwidth allocation to a CPE. A base station modem alerts a base station CPU when the BS modem receives a padding packet from a CPE. After alerting the BS CPU the method can reduce the associated CPE's bandwidth allocation.
US08457144B2
A communication session between a user of a communication network and a communication system is controlled. The communication network comprises a first network and a second network. The communication system operates on the first network. A session request packet is transmitted from a device of the user to a first node in the first network. The session is initiated with the communication system at the first node responsive to receiving the session request. During the session, a calling identity is provided from the first node to the device and used by the device during a communication event between the user and an entity. The calling identity is used to establish a connection between the device and a second node in the second network. The calling identity is associated with an address of the entity. Upon termination of the session, the calling identity is disassociated from the address of the entity.
US08457140B2
A network abstraction gateway includes at least one abstracted network interface for connectivity with an abstracted network wherein a user has an abstracted endpoint having a first identity in the abstracted network; a communication system interface for connectivity with at least one user's communication system and exposing abstracted endpoint behavior via a second identity in the user's communication system; means adapted to register a one-to-one relationship between the first identity and the second identity; means for extracting behavior of the abstracted endpoint; and endpoint abstraction means adapted to abstract the abstracted endpoint in the user's communication system via an endpoint abstraction using the second identity. The endpoint abstraction is responsive to behavior of the abstracted endpoint and is adapted to implement at least one feature and/or state of the user's communication system and to bi-directionally map the behavior of the abstracted endpoint.
US08457130B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for synchronizing sequence numbers in a packet flow. One such method includes receiving a sequence number synchronization request from a redundancy peer. The sequence number synchronization request is associated with a packet flow. The method also includes incrementing by a fixed amount a packet sequence number for the packet flow, after the sequence number synchronization request. The method also includes transmitting a next packet including the incremented packet sequence number to the communication peer.
US08457119B2
A communications network is operated by providing a plurality of redundant links between a first network node and a second network node. A first identifier is associated with a first one of the plurality of redundant links and a second identifier is associated with a second one of the plurality of redundant links. The first and second identifiers are associated with the regulatory constraint. Traffic that is marked with the first identifier is routed to the first one of the plurality of redundant links and traffic that is marked with the second identifier is routed to the second one of the plurality of redundant links so that operation of the communications network is in compliance with the regulatory constraint.
US08457115B2
A method for concealing lost frame includes: using history signals before the lost frame that corresponds to a lost MDCT coefficient to generate a first synthesized signal when it is detected that the MDCT coefficient is lost; performing fast IMDCT for the first synthesized signal to obtain an IMDCT coefficient corresponding to a lost MDCT coefficient; and using the IMDCT coefficient corresponding to the lost MDCT coefficient and an IMDCT coefficient adjacent to the IMDCT coefficient corresponding to the lost MDCT coefficient to perform TDAC and obtain signals corresponding to the lost frame. An apparatus for concealing lost frame is also disclosed herein. The method and the apparatus for concealing lost frames in the embodiments of the present invention make full use of the received partial signals to recover high-quality voice signals and improve the QoS.
US08457111B2
A voice communication method and system that enables establishing a voice communication in a URC environment is provided. The voice communication method and system of the present invention allow establishing a voice communication channel between terminals (private IP address to private IP address, public IP address to public IP address, and private IP address to public IP address) in a URC environment. Particularly, the voice communication system of the present invention is implemented with a call server acting as a STUN server for supporting voice communication between two terminals of which one is assigned private IP address and controlling the communication session in the URC environment.
US08457110B2
A technique for coordinating the registration of a terminal (UE) in circuit-switched (CS) and packet-switched (PS) domains of a multi-operator core network (MOCN) with multiple core networks (CN) is described. According to a method approach, a notification message indicating the necessity of coordinated CS and PS registrations for a terminal (UE) is received from a first core network (CN). In a next step, and based on a global permanent identity (IMSI) associated with the terminal (UE), a second core network (CN) responsible for CS and PS registrations is determined. A registration message for coordinated CS and PS registrations is then sent to the second core network (CN) that has been determined based on the global permanent identity (IMSI).
US08457106B2
Provided is a wireless communication method in a wireless sensor network environment. The method overhears a packet transmitted from a source sensor node to a destination sink node and determines whether the destination sink node receives the packet. A transmission node selected by using local information among a plurality of neighboring sensor nodes transmits the overheard packet to the destination sink node when the packet is not received.
US08457102B2
Both a pre-word (PW) and a sync word (SW) are used to establish a synchronization or only the sync word (SW) is used to establish a synchronization in accordance with an operational status related to the synchronization in a mobile wireless communication apparatus. For example, during an initial synchronization with a control channel (110) being received, both the pre-word (PW) and the sync word (SW) are used to establish a synchronization when a calculation result in a synchronization calculating part exceeds a predetermined threshold value only once. During an initial synchronization with a direct communication channel (112) being received, both the pre-word (PW) and the sync word (SW) are used to establish a synchronization when the calculation result exceeds the predetermined threshold value once; or alternatively, only the sync word (SW) is used to establish a synchronization when the calculation result successively exceeds the predetermined threshold value twice. According to the present invention, the sync word is shortened so as to quickly establish a communication link, and the sync detection can be performed with high precision.
US08457094B2
Mesh communications based on a plurality of time-slots in which every time slot is associated with communications between a pair of nodes, in which at least one time-slot is associated with communications between a first node and a second node, and in which at least a second time-slot is associated with communications between the first node and a third node. The first node and the second node communicate during the at least one time-slot, while the third node awaits communications with the first node during the second time-slot. If the first node is still communicating with the second node during the second time-slot the first node does not communication with the third node.
US08457083B2
Device for connecting a wireless network to at least one other network comprising a bridge module for managing a plurality of ports for connecting to respective networks, the device comprising a wireless network management module for managing associations, with an access point of a centralized wireless network, of devices of networks (connected to the bridge device other than the wireless network; wherein the bridge device is adapted to be a station of the wireless network.
US08457082B2
Methods and systems provide integrated voice and data services utilizing wired cordless access with unlicensed/unregulated connectivity sources. A digital cordless telephone operates over unlicensed/unregulated spectrum in conjunction with one or more wireless access points (WAP) that are installed in homes, businesses, entertainment venues, and the like. The WAPs are connected to a communications service provider's broadband packet data network. A user may use the device when they are in range of another wireless access point in a public or private building that also is connected to their communications service provider's broadband packet data network.
US08457079B2
A method (300) and apparatus (200) that mitigates downlink control channel interference is disclosed. The method can include receiving (320) a transmission from a network entity and determining (330) a first timing offset to transmit a downlink subframe based on the transmission received from the network entity. The method can include receiving (340) an uplink transmission from a mobile terminal and determining (350) a second timing offset based on the first timing offset and based on the received uplink transmission. The method can include transmitting (360) a timing advance command to the mobile terminal, the timing advance command including the second timing offset.
US08457069B1
Methods and devices for a radio access network (RAN) to select a wireless communication device (WCD) for handoff to a given sector are presented. In particular, the RAN may receive resource requests from a first WCD and a second WCD, both WCDs contending for a resource of the given sector. Based on the each WCD's active sets of sectors, the RAN may grant the resource to one of these WCDs. Preferably, the RAN grants the resource to the WCD that is more likely to benefit from use of the resource.
US08457064B2
Methods and apparatus for RF handoff in a multi-frequency network. A method includes generating seamless and partially seamless handoff tables for multiplexes carried in a current LOI, wherein the seamless and partially seamless handoff tables comprise neighboring RF channels carrying one or more of the multiplexes in the current LOI, detecting a handoff event initiated by acquisition failures on a current RF, selecting a selected RF channel from the seamless and partially seamless handoff tables, and performing a handoff to the selected RF channel. An apparatus includes processing logic configured to generate the seamless and partially seamless handoff tables, detect a handoff event initiated by acquisition failures on a current RF, and select a selected RF channel from the seamless and partially seamless handoff tables. The apparatus also includes channel switch logic configured to perform a handoff to the selected RF channel.
US08457063B2
A data processing method when the handover or change appears between systems includes: the source data forwarding network element forwards the data to the user plane anchor network element; the user plane anchor network element forwards the data to the target side processing network element. A data processing method when the handover or change appears between systems is also provided by the present invention, which includes: the user plane anchor network element receives the message indication, transmits the data to at least one of the source data forwarding network element and the target side processing network element; the user plane anchor network element updates the route of the user plane, and transmits the data to the target side processing network element according to the updated route of the user plane. A data processing method when handover or change appears between GERAN/UTRAN systems under the Direct Tunnel solution is provided by the present invention, which can be applied to the Direct Tunnel solution.
US08457060B2
Mobile station apparatuses are provided that receive downlink allocation information from a base station apparatus in a downlink control channel. Each mobile station apparatus performs demodulation, decoding, and cyclic redundancy check on the downlink shared channel in accordance with the downlink allocation information received. Each mobile station apparatus generates an acknowledgement or a non-acknowledgement in accordance with the result of the cyclic redundancy check. Each mobile station apparatus then selects the lowest number and the second lowest number of the numbers of the control channel elements in which the downlink allocation information is received. Based on the selected numbers, each mobile station apparatus 2 obtains a physical resource block (PRB), as well as a cyclic shift and an orthogonal code sequence in the time domain for each transmission antenna, and spreads the acknowledgement or the non-acknowledgement and the uplink pilot channel.
US08457059B2
A transmission apparatus includes a first encoding unit configured to generate a new packet from a new portion obtained from a block generated from information bits, to generate a retransmission packet from a retransmission portion obtained from a block generated from information bits and held for a retransmission, and to assign the new packet and the retransmission packet to a communication channel respectively, a second encoding unit configured to assign, to a communication channel, a packet obtained by mixing the new portion and the retransmission portion, a encoding method switching unit configured to switch between operations of the first and second encoding unit, so that communication channel data output from the first or second encoding unit is transmitted, and a transmission control unit configured to control the encoding method switching unit based on information indicating a communication quality of the communication channel in a reception apparatus.
US08457054B2
Latency in receiving and detecting paging messages at a wireless terminal is reduced by employing a unique “super” paging time slot format. A paging super time slot includes a plurality of prescribed time slots. Each wireless terminal is associated with cyclically recurring super time slots. A super slot is associated with one or more wireless terminals. A base station always selects the first available time slot in a super time slot to transmit a paging message to a wireless terminal that is associated with the super time slot. Each wireless terminal monitors every time slot in the associated super time slot until either detecting reception of its associated paging message or detecting an empty time slot. In another embodiment of the invention, a unique partially overlapping super time slot format is employed in which a super time slot has at least one time slot common to its adjacent super time slots. This allows wireless terminals associated with adjacent super time slots to share the common at least one time slot. In turn, this results in balanced traffic loads, smoothed traffic fluctuation and reduced congestion.
US08457052B2
A wireless communication device receives targeted information and/or advertisements. The wireless communication device is preprogrammed with a generic network address only. To communicate over a network, the wireless communication sends an activation request message to the network, including its generic network address (GNA) and information indicative of the base station via which communication is taking place. Knowing the geographical location of the base station, it is possible to send to the wireless communication device via its GNA, or a subsequently provided unique network address (UNA), information or advertisements targeted to the geographical location or particular wireless device.
US08457051B2
Methods, devices and apparatus are provided for differentiating operators in a wireless communications network. Information about the frequency occupied by the air interface resource of a service is received, and corresponding operator information is provided from the configured mapping relation between frequency information and operator information according to the received information about the frequency occupied by the air interface resource of the service. A Base Station Controller (BSC)/Packet Control Function (PCF), and a device and system for differentiating operators in a network for performing the above functions is also provided.
US08457050B1
What is disclosed is a method of operating a wireless communication device to select an overhead time cycle of a series of repeating overhead time cycles associated with a wireless access node, where each overhead time cycle comprises a plurality of time slots, and where the wireless access node transfers overhead information during individual ones of the time slots. The method includes receiving correlation information for each of the overhead time cycles, where the correlation information associates a noise range with each of the overhead time cycles. The method also includes determining a noise level at the wireless communication device of wireless communications of the wireless access node, processing the noise level and the correlation information to select one of the overhead time cycles, monitoring the time slots of the selected one of the overhead time cycles for the overhead information from the wireless access node, and ignoring the time slots during the non-selected overhead time cycles.
US08457048B2
Methods and apparatus to avoid mobile station transmission of duplicate event-based and polled acknowledgments are disclosed. An example method for a mobile station configured to send event-based acknowledgment information as disclosed herein comprises classifying a downlink data block as unreported, receiving a poll from a network requesting the mobile station to send polled acknowledgment information during a period, and refraining from sending during the period event-based acknowledgment information for the downlink data block classified as unreported.
US08457045B2
A method for transmitting data using a downlink dummy control block and a system using the same. The method includes receiving, by a Base Station, data to be broadcast to Mobile Stations (MSs) from a mobile communication service provider server, and inserting, by the BS, the received data into a padding bit field within a downlink dummy control block and broadcasting the downlink dummy control block to the MSs.
US08457042B2
A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving a SectorParameters message in an Active state is provided. The method comprises transmitting a SectorParameters message over a Forward Traffic Channel Medium Access Control(MAC) in superframe number wherein the superframe number is divisible by NOMPSectorParameters, setting a SectorSignature field of an ExtendedChannelInfo message to the SectorSignature field of a next SectorParameters message, determining if a multi-carrier mode is MultiCarrierOn and transmitting the SectorParameters message on each carrier.
US08457038B1
Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for adjusting access node scanning based on the velocity of a wireless communication device. In a particular embodiment, a method provides scanning for a first wireless access node to determine a received power level and comparing the received power level to a threshold power level. If the received power level exceeds the threshold, the method provides exchanging communications with the first wireless access node. The method further provides determining a velocity of the wireless device and adjusting the threshold power level based on the velocity. The method further provides scanning for a second wireless access node to determine a second received power level and comparing the second received power level to the adjusted threshold power level. If the second received power level exceeds the adjusted threshold, the method provides exchanging communications with the second wireless access node.
US08457036B2
A single, large-scale satellite access communication network may be configured as infrastructure for many small-scale subnets, wherein each subnet may be configured to serve a different organization (e.g. an SME) as a private network. Each subnet may be configured as a small star and/or mesh satellite data access network from the end-user perspective, yet all subnets may be configured to be part of the total large-scale network and share satellite bandwidth resources. Such configuration may yield significantly higher bandwidth efficiency, lower operation and equipment costs, minimized latency and ease of network operations for each of the small organizations sharing the large-scale network.
US08457020B2
A mobile communication device is operative to perform a first communication function (e.g. inquiry or paging function for discovery) with use of a first radio frequency (RF) transceiver (e.g. BLUETOOTH transceiver) and a second communication function (e.g. voice telephony function) with use of a second RF transceiver (e.g. IEEE 802.11 transceiver). In response to identifying an indication to invoke the first communication function while the second communication function is being performed, the mobile device reserves selected timeslots of a wireless communication link with the first RF transceiver for establishing a synchronous link. The mobile device then causes data of the first communication function to be communicated, via the first RF transceiver, during remaining unreserved timeslots of the wireless communication link. The mobile device further causes data of the second communication function to be communicated, via the second RF transceiver, during the reserved timeslots of the synchronous link.
US08457018B1
A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for managing data commonality in a Merkle tree is disclosed. Reference counts are associated with a node in the Merkle tree. Data commonality is detected and the root of the detected data commonality is determined. If a node is the root node of the detected data commonality, the nodes reference count is incremented. When an object is deleted, the root node of the object is determined. The reference count of the node is decremented. If the count reaches zero, the node is removed from the Merkle tree, and its child nodes are decremented.
US08457016B2
A technique for examining the relationships of autonomous systems (ASes) participating in an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) utilizes packet tracing servers proximate the IXPs. Where such packet tracing servers cannot be found in the participating ASes, the methodology identifies additional vantage points by looking at a list of ASes that are one hop away from the ASes at the IXP. The choice of one-hop away ASes is made judiciously by picking ones that have better connectivity, based on past-data. Plural-hop ASes may also be used where necessary.
US08457014B2
Provided is a method for configuring a control tunnel and a direct tunnel in an IPv4 network-based IPv6 service providing system. To provide IPv6 service, when a random request terminal receives a tunnel response message from a control server by using service information downloaded from a portal server at the time of initialization, the request terminal configures a control tunnel with the control server, and is registered to the control server. The request terminal transmits and receives a direct tunnel request message and a direct tunnel response message with a counterpart terminal by using its terminal information learned during the control tunnel configuration, i.e., network position information and status information, thereby configuring a direct tunnel. Thus, IPv6 communication is made through IPv4 based IPv6 tunneling, so that IPv6 application services that are not yet widely used can easily come into wide use. Also, only software change of each terminal and a control server is required without changing existing network equipment, so that a cost burden of a service provider can be minimized.
US08457011B2
A gateway device and method for establishing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication includes setting coding methods of the VoIP, and setting quality of service (QoS) parameters corresponding to each coding method. In response to dialing a VoIP phone call from a local user terminal, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) session is initiated to determine a coding method. QoS parameters corresponding to the determined coding method are parsed to generate a request packet. The request packet is sent to base station to request for establishing a VoIP phone call. The VoIP phone call is established between the local user terminal and a remote user terminal by sending the VoIP packets through the base station to the remote user terminal.
US08457009B2
A wireless communication apparatus includes a communication unit and a control unit. The communication unit periodically transmits a beacon signal to wireless terminal devices existing in a network using a use channel selected from wireless channels and to detect electric field intensities of the wireless channels. The control unit detects, by the communication unit, the electric field intensities of the wireless channels in a predetermined communication limiting period in a period during which wireless communication with an unspecified wireless terminal device existing in the network is prohibited in a period in which the beacon signal is transmitted.
US08457007B2
An apparatus having corresponding methods and computer programs comprises: a plurality of resources to process packets of data in a plurality of data streams each comprising a plurality of the packets of data, wherein at least one of the data streams has at least one performance requirement; a memory to store a data stream table; a data stream table manager to determine whether the performance requirements of the at least one of the data streams can be accepted based on entries in the data stream table, and to store the performance requirements for the at least one of the data streams as entries in the data stream table when the performance requirements for the at least one of the data streams are acceptable; and a resource programmer to program the resources according to the data stream table.
US08457000B2
A method of monitoring quality of a telephone call transmitted over a network includes obtaining a metric associated with the telephone call, where the metric is based on data packets that are transmitted during the telephone call, and determining whether the metric exceeds a threshold. Plural metrics may be obtained and the method may determine whether the plural metrics exceed corresponding thresholds.
US08456999B2
Various aspects of the disclosed technology relate to the generation for test purposes of test traffic, in a manner compliant with advanced flow control.
US08456987B1
A technique dynamically enforces a best exit selection for a controlled prefix based on policies and real-time performance statistics in a computer network. A Master Controller (e.g., an Optimized Edge Routing, OER, Master Controller) of an autonomous system (AS) in the network selects a best exit from the AS for the controlled prefix, and conveys the selection to a border router having the selected exit. In response, the border router performs a parent lookup to determine whether the controlled prefix is reachable via the best exit. If so, the border router influences routing in the AS for the controlled prefix through the best exit by, e.g., injecting routes or modifying metrics of existing routes. The Master Controller (or border router) then verifies that the routes for the controlled prefix traverse the selected best exit. Notably, if a route does not traverse the selected best exit, the border router may try to influence the route again or remove the influence.
US08456973B1
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to an optical disc drive test. In one embodiment, an optical disc drive of a host electronic device performs a test on itself. The host electronic device requests information about the test from the optical disc drive. The optical disc drive reports information about the test in response to the request.
US08456971B2
An optical disk driving apparatus includes an optical head device having a laser light source, a converging optical system converging a light beam emitted by the laser light source onto an optical disk, a photo detector receiving reflected light reflected by the optical disk, and an aberration correcting optical system controlling aberration of the converging optical system; a motor rotating the optical disk; and a control section receiving a signal from the photo detector, wherein the converging optical system has an objective lens formed using resin as a main material, the aberration correcting optical system has a spherical aberration correcting element correcting spherical aberration, and the control section evaluates quality of a reproduction signal for information in the optical disk by using the reflected light received by the photo detector, and utilizes a result of the evaluation to perform closed loop control on the spherical aberration correcting element.
US08456970B2
An information recording apparatus recording disc structure definition information defining a structure of an optical disc, in management areas of the optical disc including a data area and the management areas positioned on inner and outer periphery sides of the data area, includes: a memory which stores disc structure definition information of a new version including an invalid mark which cannot be interpreted as the disc structure definition information by an information reproducing apparatus and an information recording/reproducing apparatus being non-adaptive; and a recording control element for, when the disc structure definition information of the new version is recorded in the management areas, controlling recording of the disc structure definition information of the new version so the invalid mark is positioned at a position in the management areas in which all or part of disc structure definition information of an old version without the invalid mark needs to be recorded.
US08456963B1
An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) disk drive comprises a suspension and a slider having a back side, a laser-facing surface, and an air-bearing surface (ABS) opposite the back side. The slider is mounted to the suspension on the back side. The disk drive further comprises an EAMR transducer coupled with the slider, a portion of the EAMR transducer residing in proximity to the ABS and on the laser-facing surface of the slider. The disk drive further comprises a laser coupled with the suspension and having a light emitting surface facing the laser-facing surface of the slider. The laser has an optic axis substantially parallel to the suspension. The laser provides energy substantially along the optic axis and is optically coupled with the EAMR transducer via free space. The EAMR transducer receives the energy from the laser and writes to the media using the energy.
US08456952B2
A method for estimating a slowness of an earth formation, the method including: transmitting acoustic energy into the earth formation using an acoustic source; receiving the acoustic energy with an array of acoustic receivers, each acoustic receiver being configured to provide acoustic waveform data related to the received acoustic energy; transforming the acoustic waveform data into a frequency domain to provide frequency domain data; calculating a slowness-frequency coherence function using the frequency domain data; selecting slowness dispersion data from peaks of the slowness-frequency coherence function; fitting a curve to the slowness dispersion data; and estimating the slowness from the curve.
US08456944B2
The present invention provides a row decoder of a semiconductor storage device that prevents an increase in a circuit area while maintaining a high operation speed. Namely, the row decoder of the semiconductor storage device includes a word line selection circuit that has voltage application MOS transistors for each of plural word lines, the voltage application MOS transistors applying a normal voltage to the word lines corresponding to memory cells selected among plural memory cells positioned at a portion where the plural word lines intersect plural bit lines in a predetermined normal operation, and applying a high voltage in a predetermined high voltage operation; and a level shift circuit that outputs the normal voltage or a ground voltage lower than the normal voltage in the normal operation, and that outputs the normal voltage or the high voltage in the high voltage operation, to the voltage application MOS transistor.
US08456923B2
Provided herein is a new RF implementation. Instead of using a pre-charged High node for one or more of its evaluation nodes, it employs an evaluation (or evaluate) node that is discharged (Low) prior to evaluation and enters evaluation in a discharged state. In some embodiments, with such “normally Low” evaluation nodes, it uses pull-up stack devices, rather than pull-down devices, to charge the evaluate node during an evaluate phase if the logic so dictates.
US08456922B2
A memory device of the non-volatile type including a memory array having a plurality of memory cells organized as sectors, each sector having a main word line associated with a plurality of local word lines, each local word line coupled to the main word line by a respective local word line driver circuit, each of the local word line driver circuits consisting of a first MOS transistor coupled between the respective main word line and a respective local word line and a second MOS transistor coupled between the respective local word line and a first biasing terminal.
US08456913B2
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a write control code generation unit configured to generate a write control code which is updated at each pulsing timing of an external test pulse signal applied through a pad; and a data write unit configured to output a programming current pulse which has a magnitude corresponding to the code value of the write control code.
US08456901B2
A system includes a processor and a memory array connected to the processor comprising a first memory cell comprising a first magnetic tunnel junction device having a first terminal connected to a first bit line and a second terminal, and a first field effect transistor having a source terminal connected to a second bit line, a gate terminal connected to a word line, and a drain terminal connected to the second terminal of the first magnetic tunnel junction device, and a second memory cell comprising a second magnetic tunnel junction device having a first terminal connected to a third bit line and a second terminal, and a second field effect transistor having a source terminal connected to the second bit line, a gate terminal connected to the word line, and a drain terminal connected to the second terminal of the second magnetic tunnel junction device.
US08456887B2
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises a cell array having plural memory cells arranged in matrix, each memory cell including a variable resistor having a resistance reversibly variable to store data corresponding to the resistance of the variable resistor; a selection circuit operative to select a memory cell from the cell array; and a write circuit operative to execute certain voltage or current supply to the memory cell selected by the selection circuit to vary the resistance of a variable resistor in the selected memory cell to erase or write data. The write circuit terminates the voltage or current supply to the selected memory cell in accordance with resistance variation situation of the variable resistor in the selected memory cell when current flowing in the selected memory cell reaches a certain level appeared after the data erase or write.
US08456881B2
In one embodiment, the stacked memory includes a first group of stacked memory chips, a second group of stacked memory chips, and connection terminals configured to electrically connect a first memory chip among the stacked memory chips in the first group to a second memory chip among the stacked memory chips in the second group.
US08456880B2
Circuits and methods that use third dimension memory as a different memory technology are described. The third dimension memory can be used for application specific data storage and/or to emulate conventional memory types such as DRAM, FLASH, SRAM, and ROM or new memory types as they become available. A processor-memory system implements a memory operable as different memory technologies. The processor-memory system includes a logic subsystem and a memory subsystem, which includes third dimension memory cells. The logic subsystem implements memory technology-specific signals to interact with the third dimension memory cells as memory cells of a different memory technology. As such, the memory subsystem can emulate different memory technologies. The logic subsystem can be fabricated FEOL on a substrate and the memory subsystem can be fabricated BEOL directly on top of the substrate. An interlayer interconnect structure can electrically couple the logic subsystem with the memory subsystem.
US08456878B2
A power storage system and a method of controlling the same include supplying power to a load by connecting a power generation system and a grid. The system includes a power converting unit that operates in one of at least two control modes including a maximum power point tracking control mode in which the power generation system is controlled to generate maximum power and a voltage control mode in which a boosting ratio is adjusted according to a change in the amount of power consumed by a load. The system also includes a direct current (DC)/DC converter for converting an output voltage of the power converting unit into a DC link voltage, an inverter for converting the DC link voltage into an alternating current (AC) voltage appropriate for the grid, and a central controller for controlling operations of the power converting unit, the DC/DC converter, and the inverter.
US08456876B2
An apparatus, device, and system for generating an amount of output power in response to a direct current (DC) power input includes a configurable power supply, which may be electrically coupled to the DC power input. The configurable power supply is selectively configurable between multiple circuit topologies to generate various DC power outputs and/or and AC power output. The system may also include one or more DC power electronic accessories, such as DC-to-DC power converters, and/or one or more AC power electronic accessories such as DC-to-AC power converters. The power electronic accessories are couplable to the configurable power supply to receive the corresponding DC or AC power output of the configurable power supply.
US08456861B2
A method of fixing a flexible circuit board. The method comprises the following steps: providing a flexible circuit board having a locating hole, providing a display module frame having a locating element corresponding to the locating hole, passing the locating element through the locating hole, bonding the flexible circuit board to the frame and deforming the locating element for to fix the flexible circuit board on the frame.
US08456860B2
An exemplary electronic device includes a housing, a left rail and a right rail assembled in the housing, and a holder assembled on the left and right rails and received in the housing. The holder can slide out from the housing for securing a functional module thereon. The holder includes a bottom plate glidingly assembled on the left and right rails, and front and rear plates both pivotally secured on the bottom plate. The front and rear plates are both elastically biased to rotate about the bottom plate. When the holder is at least partially received in the housing, the front and rear plates are in original closed positions. When the holder is almost totally slid out from the housing, the front and rear plates rotate about the bottom plate to be in open positions for providing resilience to secure the functional module.
US08456856B2
Integrated circuit chips and chip packages are disclosed that include an over-passivation scheme at a top of the integrated circuit chip and a bottom scheme at a bottom of the integrated circuit chip using a top post-passivation technology and a bottom structure technology. The integrated circuit chips can be connected to an external circuit or structure, such as ball-grid-array (BGA) substrate, printed circuit board, semiconductor chip, metal substrate, glass substrate or ceramic substrate, through the over-passivation scheme or the bottom scheme. Related fabrication techniques are described.
US08456855B2
A printed circuit board includes a first to a fifth connector pads, a first to an eighth coupling capacitor pads, a first to a tenth transmission lines, a first via and a second via, a first to a fourth sharing pads, and a voltage converting circuit. The printed circuit board is operable to selectively support different types of connectors.
US08456846B2
A locking retainer for retaining an electronic module or printed circuit card in slots of a chassis. The retainer includes at least three wedge members movably linked to each other and disposed in longitudinal sequence along a longitudinal axis. The retainer can be made relatively larger in height by moving the wedge members longitudinally such that a longitudinal distance between a first wedge member and a last wedge member of the sequence becomes smaller without the wedge members being longitudinally displaced along a common internal longitudinal element. All portions of the locking retainer that the middle wedge member is longitudinally moveable relative to do not extend through a theoretical plane disposed at a longitudinal midpoint of the middle wedge member and oriented normal to the longitudinal axis. The elimination of a central rail permits the wedge segments to have much greater contact area for greater thermal energy flow.
US08456839B2
With respect to a housing device having a plurality of slots in which plug-in units are mountable, division plates corresponding to the positions of the openings of the slots are put in the inside of a baffle section for changing the direction of the flow of cooling air released from the slots, and the division plates are used to divide the inside space of the baffle section into a plurality of regions corresponding to the slots, thereby reducing mutual interference of the cooling air from the slots in the baffle section and preventing a further increase in differences in the amount of passing air among the slots. Thereby, even if any difference occurs in the amount of passing air among the slots due to a structural factor, it is possible to reduce the deterioration of the cooling capacity of a slot through which relatively less amount of air passes.
US08456837B2
A computer enclosure includes a front panel, a switch module attached to the front panel, and a light guide block. The front panel includes a front plate and a top flange connected to the front plate. A holding slot is defined on the top flange for accommodating the light guide block. The switch module includes a mounting bracket and a first light emitting diode (LED) attached to the mounting bracket. The first LED faces one end of the light guide block and generates light that enters the light guide block and emits from the front panel.
US08456835B2
An elastic module for a portable electronic device includes at least one elastic element. The at least one elastic element is an integral type element forming a plurality of linear springs and including two connecting ends. The springs are substantially arranged on a plane and are converged with the connecting ends.
US08456830B2
A motherboard includes a switching circuit, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) connector connected to a hard disk drive (HDD), a first serial attached small computer system interface (SCSI) (SAS) connector, and a connector connected to an SAS card. A second SAS connector is arranged on the SAS card and connected to the first SAS connector. The switching circuit is connected to the SATA connector and the first SAS connector. The switching circuit is disconnected from the first SAS connector if the HDD is an SATA HDD. The motherboard communicates with the HDD through the switching circuit and the SATA connector. The switching circuit is connected to the first SAS connector if the HDD is an SAS HDD. The motherboard communicates with the HDD through the SAS card, the first SAS connector, the switching circuit, and the SATA connector.
US08456829B2
A computer includes an enclosure and a mainframe module enclosed in the enclosure. The mainframe module includes a base board, a motherboard, a partition panel perpendicularly attached on the base board, and a fan. The motherboard and the fan are attached on the base board at opposite sides of the partition panel. The fan is capable of blowing air to the motherboard to cool heat generating components of the motherboard.
US08456828B2
A hard disk drive (HDD) assembly includes an HDD rack and a dummy HDD. The rack includes a front wall and two sidewalls perpendicularly extending from opposite ends of the front wall. A number of spaced fixing holes are respectively defined in each of the sidewalls. A number of protrusions extend from opposite ends of the dummy HDD and engage with the corresponding fixing holes of the rack.
US08456823B2
A display includes a seat, a protecting member, and a resisting member. Opposite ends of the protecting member are respectively received in the slide slots defined in the opposite ends of the seat. A front side of the protecting member is received in the slide slot defined in the front side of the seat. The resisting member is mounted to a rear side of the seat, to resist against a rear side of the protecting member.
US08456819B1
One embodiment of a lightweight and durable storage device comprising; a main enclosure of rigid material with interior partitions (FIG. 18), a hingedly attached and lockable access door panel (210) (119), an infinitely designable cosmetic door cover (113), a means for securing the enclosure to a fixed surface (111), a self contained unit for charging electronic items stored inside the enclosure (1410), a means for exterior venting (218), an exterior attachment (114) and means for securing larger items outside the enclosure (1210), and a non-abrasive surface material (1810) applied to high use areas of the enclosure.
US08456809B2
Disclosed is a mobile terminal in which while a rear case is coupled to or separated from a terminal body, a case is slopingly moved with respect to the terminal body, so a camera hole of the rear case can be freely moved without being restricted by a camera mounting part protruded from the terminal body.
US08456807B2
A magnetic device mounting system is disclosed, such as for use in electrical cabinets for distribution of power via power bus bars. The system includes a common mode magnetic device that has an opening configured to receive extensions of a set of parallel bus bars. A non-conductive support is provided, along with a conductive extension, the non-conductive support and extension being configured to coordinate to engage the opening and to support the common mode magnetic device via attachment to the bus bar.
US08456806B2
An electrical panelboard enclosure includes an enclosure housing with an interior equipment chamber accessible by way of a service entrance door. A service panel is adapted for connection to a main power source in order to receive main power therefrom. A power supply is operatively connected to receive main power from the service panel and deliver it to a load. The power supply is also adapted for connection to a backup power source in order to receive backup power therefrom and deliver it to the load in the event of a main power cutoff. A load disconnector is operatively connected between the power supply and the load. The load disconnector is manually operable to disconnect the load from the power supply to prevent the power supply from delivering either main or backup power to the load.
US08456804B2
A solid electrolytic capacitor including a capacitor element having an anode member and a cathode member, an anode terminal electrically connected with the anode member, a cathode terminal electrically connected with the cathode member, and a mold resin portion covering the capacitor element; wherein the cathode terminal has an upper step portion, a lower step portion, and a side portion, the upper step portion is connected with the cathode member, the lower step portion is exposed out of the mold resin portion, the side portion is extended along with a side surface of the cathode member from the upper step portion and is connected with the side surface, and the side portion is longer than the upper step portion, in a direction in which the cathode terminal and the anode terminal are aligned.
US08456801B2
A hybrid capacitor includes an electrically non-conductive rigid or semi-rigid porous honeycomb structure having cells extending along a common direction, the cells having a plurality of cross-sectional shapes. The honeycomb structure is desirably formed of a material that is stable at temperatures of 300° or more, such that high temperature processing can be used to help ensure high purity of the final product. The material of the structure may desirably be an oxide or non-oxide ceramic, such as cordierite, silicon nitride, alumina, aluminum titanate, zircon, glass, or glass-ceramic. The plurality of shapes of the cells includes larger shapes in which cells are disposed non-galvanic electrodes, with galvanic electrodes disposed in cells of other shapes.
US08456798B2
Dielectric ceramic composition includes a hexagonal type barium titanate as a main component shown by a generic formula of (Ba1-αMα)A(Ti1-βMnβ)BO3 and having hexagonal structure wherein an effective ionic radius of 12-coordinated “M” is −20% or more to +20% or less with respect to an effective ionic radius of 12-coordinated Ba2+ and the A, B, α and β satisfy relations of 1.000<(A/B)≦1.040, 0≦α<0.003, 0.03≦β≦0.2, and as subcomponents, with respect to the main component, certain contents of alkaline earth oxide such as MgO and the like, Mn3O4 and/or Cr2O3, and CuO and Al2O3 and rare earth element oxide and glass component including SiO2. According to the present invention, it can be provided the hexagonal type barium titanate powder and the dielectric ceramic composition which are preferable for producing electronic components such as a capacitor and the like showing comparatively high specific permittivity, having advantageous insulation property and having sufficient reliability.
US08456796B2
A monolithic electronic component includes a laminate including a plurality of stacked insulating layers and a plurality of internal electrodes which extend between the insulating layers and which have end portions exposed at predetermined surfaces of the laminate, first plating layers disposed on the predetermined surfaces of the laminate, and second plating layers disposed on the first plating layer. The first plating layers are made of a metal different from that used to make the internal electrodes. The first plating layers are formed by electroless plating. The second plating layers are formed by electroplating.
US08456795B2
A hard start capacitor replacement unit has a plurality of capacitors in a container sized to fit in existing hard start capacitor space. The capacitors are 4 metallized film capacitors wound in a single cylindrical capacitive element. The container has a common terminal and capacitors value terminals for the plurality of capacitors, which may be connected singly or in combination to provide a selected capacitance. An electronic or other relay connects the selected capacitance in parallel with a motor run capacitor. The hard start capacitor replacement unit is thereby adapted to replace a wide variety of hard start capacitors.
US08456793B2
A method, performed by a driver, provides a current through a load after ionization that forms a circuit for the current through the load. The method includes, in any practical order, (a) accomplishing a first ionization; (b) in response to the first ionization, determining a first energy; and (c) attempting a second ionization using a second energy less than the first energy.
US08456791B2
An apparatus for protecting hardware devices is disclosed. A DC pass RF surge suppressor includes a housing defining a chamber having a central axis, the housing having an opening to the chamber, an input conductor disposed in the chamber of the housing and extending substantially along the central axis of the chamber, an output conductor disposed in the chamber of the housing and extending substantially along the central axis of the chamber, a non-linear protection device positioned in the opening of the housing for diverting surge energy to a ground, a capacitor connected in series with the input conductor and the output conductor, a first spiral inductor having an inner edge connected to the input conductor and an outer edge coupled to the non-linear protection device, and a second spiral inductor having an inner edge connected to the output conductor and an outer edge coupled to the non-linear protection device.
US08456786B2
A converter cell of a modular converter is provided. The converter cell includes a bridging unit which has a mechanical bistable relay, an electronic switch, a drive for switching the relay and the electronic switch, and an energy store for supplying power to the mechanical relay, the electronic switch and the drive. The drive includes passive overvoltage detection configured to charge the energy store if the overvoltage is exceeded. The drive includes an additional switch which is closed when a voltage on the energy store exceeds a predefined value, and the drive supplies current from the energy store to at least one of the relay and the electronic switch. The drive has hysteresis, such that, if the voltage on the energy store is undershot, at least one of the relay and the electronic switch is still supplied with current from the energy store.
US08456785B2
An embodiment semiconductor device has a first device region disposed on a second device region within an ESD device region disposed within a semiconductor body. Also included is a third device region disposed on the second device region, a fourth device region adjacent to the second device region, a fifth device region disposed within the fourth device region, and a sixth device region adjacent to the fourth device region. The first and fourth regions have a first semiconductor type, and the second, third, fifth and sixth regions have a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type. An interface between the fourth device region and the sixth device region forms a diode junction. The first, second, fourth and fifth device regions form a silicon controlled rectifier.
US08456783B2
An integrated circuit comprises electro-static discharge (ESD) protection circuitry arranged to provide ESD protection to one or more external connector(s) of the integrated circuit. The ESD protection circuitry comprises at least one ESD protection component coupled to the one or more external connectors for providing ESD protection thereto. The ESD protection circuitry further comprises an ESD connector coupled to the one or more external connector(s), arranged to couple supplementary ESD protection to the one or more external connector(s).
US08456781B2
A composite free layer having a FL1/insertion/FL2 configuration where a top surface of FL1 is treated with a weak plasma etch is disclosed for achieving enhanced dR/R while maintaining low RA, and low λ in TMR or GMR sensors. The weak plasma etch removes less than about 0.2 Angstroms of FL1 and is believed to modify surface structure and possibly increase surface energy. FL1 may be CoFe, CoFe/CoFeB, or alloys thereof having a (+) λ value. FL2 may be CoFe, NiFe, or alloys thereof having a (−) λ value. The thin insertion layer includes at least one magnetic element such as Co, Fe, and Ni, and at least one non-magnetic element. When CoFeBTa is selected as insertion layer, the CoFeB:Ta ratio is from 1:1 to 4:1.
US08456766B2
This invention provides a photographing optical system, in order from an object side to an image side comprising: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface and concave image-side surface; a second lens element with negative refractive power; a third lens element with positive refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface; and a fourth lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface and both the object-side and image-side surfaces thereof being aspheric; wherein the photographing optical system has four lens elements with refractive power. By such arrangement, the total track length and photosensitivity of the photographing optical system can be effectively reduced, and high image resolution can be obtained.
US08456765B1
A wide-conversion lens, in order from the object-side to the image-side, includes a first lens with negative refraction power, a second lens with negative refraction power, a third lens with positive refraction power, a fourth lens with positive refraction power, and a fifth lens with negative refraction power. The first lens includes a surface facing the object side. The wide-conversion lens satisfies the following conditions: R1<0; Vd2−Vd1≧19; Vd2−Vd3≧35. Wherein, R1 is the curvature radius of the surface of the first lens; Vd1 is the Abbe number of the first lens; Vd2 is the Abbe number of the second lens; Vd3 is the Abbe number of the third lens.
US08456756B2
A zoom lens barrel assembly includes: a zoom ring having a cylindrical shape, and comprising an inlet portion formed in a boundary of one end thereof and a first protrusion; a guide ring disposed around the zoom ring, and comprising a first guide hole through which the first protrusion passes, and movably supporting the zoom ring in an axial direction, and a second guide hole; and a cylinder disposed in the zoom ring, for moving and rotating between a position where the cylinder is accommodated in the zoom ring and a position where the cylinder moves away from the zoom ring in the axial direction, and comprising a second protrusion that passes through the second guide hole, accommodated in the inlet portion at the position where the cylinder is accommodated, and pressing one end of the inlet portion when the cylinder moves away from the zoom ring.
US08456744B2
A beam combiner for combining a first beam cluster with a second beam cluster that is not parallel to the first, to form a common beam cluster. The beam combiner includes a transparent body for the first beam cluster, which has a superimposition region that is encountered by the first beam cluster as it passes through the body. The superimposition region is split into a first section and a second section. Only the first section formed from interspaced reflective and/or refractive deflection elements causes a deflection of the second beam cluster by reflection and/or refraction, such that the first beam cluster forms the common beam cluster with the deflected second beam cluster once it has left the body.
US08456743B2
There is provided a method for producing a wafer lens assembly capable of adhering a wafer lens and a spacer surely. The wafer lens assembly includes a first substrate including plural optical members formed of a curable resin on at least one surface, a second substrate joined to the first substrate, and a stop member arranged between the first and second substrates. The first and second substrates are adhered with an adhesive made of a photo-curable resin. The method includes an adhesive applying step of applying the adhesive made of a photo-curable resin on a joining area, a stop-member forming step, and a photo-curing step of irradiating and hardening the adhesive applied in the adhesive applying step with light after the stop-member forming step. The stop member is formed so as not to prevent the light irradiated in the photo-curing step from reaching the adhesive.
US08456739B2
The present invention relates to a microscope (1), preferably a dental microscope, including a microscope body (15) and a stand (2) formed by a plurality of components to provide a supporting function or to enable positioning of the microscope (1) in the room (11), the microscope body (15) and the stand (2) having cavities (16) therein. It is a feature of the present invention that at least one cavity (16) of the microscope body (15) and/or the stand (2) has a light source (17) provided therein whose light (17a, 17b, 17c) can pass outwardly through passage openings (18, 24, 27).
US08456726B2
A light scanning device scanning a plurality of scanned faces by a light beam, includes a light source unit emitting a plurality of light beams including a first light beam and a second light beam having different polarization directions to each other; a beam splitter splitting each of the first light beam and the second light beam emitted from the light source unit; an incident optical system allowing each of split first light beams to be incident with an a angular difference to each other, and allowing each of split second light beams to be incident with an angular difference to each other; a deflector respectively deflecting each of the split first light beams and each of the split second light beams entered from the incident optical system; and a scanning optical system, including a polarization splitting device for splitting a plurality of the light beams deflected by the deflector based on a difference in a polarization direction, individually focusing each of the plurality of the light beams split by the polarization splitting device on a corresponding scanned face.
US08456721B2
A mosaic image generating apparatus comprises: a segmenting unit which segments a target image into a plurality of blocks; a target image processing unit which calculates, as a target density value, an average density value of each basic color in each of the blocks; a determining unit which determines from the plurality of blocks a placement block on which the material image is to be placed, without being restricted by the image of the placement block; a calculating unit which calculates an average density value of each basic color in the material image; and a color correcting unit which performs a color correction on the material image such that the average density value of each basic color in the material image becomes the target density value of each basic color in the placement block while maintaining the density value distribution ratio of each basic color in the material image.
US08456719B2
Disclosed are an automatic document feeder capable of moving a pickup device between a standby position and a pickup position and carrying out a document pickup operation by using a single driving source, an image reading device having the same and an image forming apparatus having the same. The automatic document feeder includes a pickup device, a lifting device and a pickup driving device. The pickup device includes a pickup roller to pick up a document sheet. The lifting device moves the pickup device between a standby position and a pickup position. The pickup driving device includes a pickup motor to rotate in a first direction and a second direction. The pickup motor drives the pickup roller by rotating in the first direction, and drives the lifting device by rotating in the second direction.
US08456718B2
A document scanner (10) includes an input tray (30) for holding documents (20) prior to imaging; an output tray (150) for holding documents after the documents exit the scanner; an output image capture device (140) for capturing images of the output tray; an image processor for determining characteristics of the output tray or characteristic of the documents after the documents exit the scanner; and scanner functions are modified based on the output tray characteristics or the document characteristics.
US08456716B2
A light source unit includes a holder, a light source, coupling lens, and a support member. The light source is supported by the holder and projects a light beam against a target. The coupling lens adjusts an optical axis of the light beam. The support member contacts the holder and the coupling lens to fix the coupling lens in place on the holder after the coupling lens adjusts the optical axis of the light beam. The holder and the coupling lens are adhered to the support member using an adhesive agent. An optical scanner includes a rotary deflector to deflect and scan the light projected from the light source unit, a scan optical element to focus the light deflected by the rotary deflector, and the light source unit. An image forming apparatus includes the optical scanner.
US08456713B2
When a handwritten character or hand-drawn illustration in a color desired by a user is combined with a photograph, in order to achieve an excellent combined result, characteristics of the photograph are analyzed and an appropriate combining method from among a plurality of combining methods is selected in accordance with a result of the analysis.
US08456709B2
Using a first lookup table used to convert color data on a device-independent color space into color data on a device-dependent color space, and a second lookup table used to convert the color data on the device-dependent color space into color material data corresponding to a plurality of color print materials, the image processing apparatus acquires output values using the first lookup table in accordance with input values the number of which is larger than the number of grid points of the first lookup table, acquires output values using the second lookup table, as input values, the output values acquired, and generates a third lookup table corresponding to the predetermined number of input values which is larger than the number of grid points of the first lookup table in accordance with the output values acquired.
US08456701B2
What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a reference color difference quantity guide for spot color print applications. RCDQ values are determined for spot colors obtained from a library of spot colors. A reference color difference quantity guide is created from the spot colors and their respective RCDQ values in a manner more fully disclosed herein. Thereafter, when a user desires to render a job in a particular spot color, the associated RCDQ value for that spot color can be obtained from the reference color difference quantity guide. In various embodiments, recommendations in the form of a suggested printer to use, a media type, a halftone screen, and other meaningful assistance can be provided for selection of spot colors for a given print/copy job that are less sensitive to varying illuminations. The present RCDQ guide provides meaningful extensions in color reproduction in diverse print/copy job environments.
US08456699B2
A system for creating a data-bearing image can include a reference image generator configured to apply a clustered-dot halftone screen to a continuous-tone image. The resulting reference halftone image includes carrier cells in which a pixel cluster can be shifted to at least two shift positions in the carrier cell. The system also includes a payload encoder configured to segment the data payload and encode data segments into one of the carrier cells by shifting the cluster to one of the shift positions. The system also includes an output device configured to output the resulting data-bearing halftone image.
US08456688B2
A data generating device may comprise a data identifying unit, a number identifying unit and a hyperlink structuring unit. The data identifying unit may identify the data of the contents table page and/or the index page included in data including a contents table page and/or an index page, and data of a plurality of normal pages, each normal page including a page number. The number identifying unit may identify a number included in the data of the contents table page and/or the index page, and identify a specific position at which the identified number is located. The hyperlink structuring unit may generate data of hyperlink structure from the data by generating a hyperlink, at a position corresponding to the specific position of the number identified by the number identifying unit, that links to data of a normal page coinciding with the page number identified by the number identifying unit.
US08456682B2
An external controller predicts and calculates a toner consumption amount of each page before printing by using image data after development. The consumption amount is predicted in consideration of an image process in a printer and a designation of a variable print.
US08456678B2
An image reading method includes generating pattern data for correcting a reading characteristic of a document reading apparatus, displaying the generated pattern data, reading the displayed pattern data, and correcting the reading characteristic of the document reading apparatus based on the generated pattern data and the read pattern data.
US08456671B2
A communication system, information storage device, management device, and terminal device which enable information transmission which takes into consideration the circumstances on the receiving side, are provided. An external equipment 9 transmits to a commanding device 4 service information, indicating the type of service which it itself provides and the service execution priority or the service state. The commanding device 4 stores the received service information, and transmits the service information to an image capture device 1. The image capture device 1 selects the external equipment 9 as the transmission destination for content information based on the received service information, and transmits the content information.
US08456669B2
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a print system is provided comprising a plurality of networked print engines in communication with one another, a presence detector, and a controller to communicate with the presence detector to determine a user presence and to access usage data of each of the plurality of print engines. The controller combines and shares the user presence and the usage data to adjust operations of the plurality of print engines enabling quick entry to, and quick exit from, power saving mode of at least two of the plurality of print engines.
US08456665B2
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for detecting the status of printing devices and recovering from printing errors.
US08456664B2
When receiving a notification indicating that the communication is performed using an encrypted communication protocol, a display unit displays a screen based on screen information so as to display a second icon which indicates that a web server uses the encrypted communication protocol to communicate with an external server and is different from a first icon indicating that a browser uses the encrypted communication protocol to communicate with the web server.
US08456652B2
An image forming apparatus that forms images on sheets by using input image data, the apparatus including: a detection unit that detects a blank area outside of an image forming area formed on a sheet; a setting unit that, when a sum of a length in a conveyance direction of a blank area on a trailing edge side in the conveyance direction of a sheet and a length in the conveyance direction of a blank area on a leading edge side in the conveyance direction of a sheet conveyed following the sheet is a reference value or less, sets a sheet conveyance interval to the reference value, and when the sum is greater than the reference value, sets the conveyance interval to be less than the reference value; and a conveying unit that conveys the sheets at the conveyance interval set by the setting unit.
US08456651B2
A focal position detecting apparatus, for detecting a focusing condition and a tilting condition of an object, includes a planar beam generating module, an optical system, an optical sensor and a cylindrical lens. The planar beam generating module generates a planar light beam along a first path. The optical system is disposed on the first path, wherein the planar light beam, reflected by the object, passes through the optical system along a second path. The optical sensor is disposed on the second path. The cylindrical lens is disposed on the second path between the optical system and the optical sensor and an axis of the cylindrical lens is perpendicular to the second path. The planar light beam passes through the optical system and the cylindrical lens along the second path, before it is incident on the optical sensor to form a linear light spot for determining defocusing degree.
US08456650B2
A wafer-scale nano-metrology system (10) for sensing position of a nanofabrication element (16) when illuminated by a patterned optical projection defining a grid or position measuring gauge includes a frequency stabilized laser emitter (12) configured to generate a laser emission at a selected frequency, where the laser emission forms a diverging beam configured to illuminate a selected area occupied by a target fabrication object (18) having a proximal surface. An optical pattern generator (14) is illuminated by laser (12) and generates a patterned optical projection grid or gauge for projection upon the target fabrication object (18). A movable tool or nanofabrication element (16) carries an optical sensor array (50), and the sensor array detect at least a portion of the optical projection grid, and, in response to that detection, generates grid position data for use in controlling the position of the tool (16).
US08456626B2
The present invention is directed to a luminometer and methods which provides simple and effective measurement of a plurality of wells in a plurality of strips in an automatic fashion. The luminometer may be used in CLIA (Chemi Luminescent Immuno Assays). The luminometer allows for CLIA micro strip reading, and reads break-apart wells, with a plurality of wells per strip, and calculates results instantly and automatically. The luminometer has an automatic carrier positioning system which selectively positions the plurality of wells in the plurality of strips at a measuring position, wherein the drive system associated with the positioning system drives the carrier along a single axis of movement. An optical track system automatically provides Y axis movement of the carrier. The luminometer may have a calibration system for maintaining proper operation of the system in measurements therewith.
US08456625B2
Methods for real-time contamination, environmental, or physical monitoring of a photomask. An attribute of a photomask is monitored using a sensor of an electronics package attached to the photomask. The methods further include generating one or more sensor signals relating to the monitored attribute with the sensor and transmitting the one or more sensor signals from the electronics package to a control system.
US08456619B2
Subject-distance information is acquired by a light-weight, small-size arrangement without a significant change in the structure of a conventional image processing apparatus. The apparatus acquires diffraction images obtained by sensing the image of a subject, using an image sensing unit, obtained via a diffraction grating and imaging optical system, detects a real image from luminance gradients of the diffraction images, calculates the distance between the detected real image and a virtual image corresponding to this real image in the diffraction images, and calculates the depth distance between the subject and the diffraction grating using the distance calculated by first calculating unit.
US08456618B2
A stage apparatus, which holds a plate member, comprises: a stage; a first positioning member and a second positioning member which are placed on the stage, and are configured to contact a lower surface and an upper surface of the plate member respectively to position the plate member in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the plate member; an elastic, first enclosing member configured to form a first enclosed space around the first positioning member; an elastic, second enclosing member configured to form a second enclosed space around the second positioning member; and a first suction mechanism and a second suction mechanism configured to respectively suck air from the first enclosed space and air from the second enclosed space so as to chuck the plate member to the first enclosed space and the second enclosed space by vacuum absorption.
US08456616B2
An optical system, in particular a projection objective, for microlithography, has an optical axis and at least one optical correction arrangement, which has a first optical correction element and at least one second optical correction element, wherein the first correction element is provided with a first aspherical surface contour, and wherein the second correction element is provided with a second aspherical surface contour, wherein the first surface contour and the second surface contour add up at least approximately to zero, wherein the correction arrangement has at least one drive for movement of at least one of the two correction elements. In this case, at least one of the two correction elements can rotate about a rotation axis which is at least approximately parallel to the optical axis, and the at least one drive is a rotary drive for rotation of one or both of the correction elements about the rotation axis.
US08456614B2
The optical element supporting device of the present invention includes a first supporting member that supports the optical element, a second supporting member that supports the first supporting member at a plurality of locations, a plate spring fastened to the first supporting member and having a plate thickness extending in the optical axis direction of the optical element, and a force supplying unit, which is provided on the first supporting member, configured to provide a force in the optical axis direction applied to the plate spring at a location different from the plurality of locations, wherein the force supplying unit elastically deforms the first supporting member by receiving the reactive force generated by the force applied to the plate spring to thereby adjust the position of the optical element.
US08456613B2
This disclosure relates to lithography using pulsed laser illumination. In particular it relates to lithography for producing electronic devices on wafers using multi-mode excimer and molecular lasers, e.g. KrF, ArF, and F2 lasers. It may also apply to illumination systems where several single-mode sources are mixed or one single-mode laser beam is split and recombined with time delays, thereby creating an equivalent multimode source and to EUV lithography. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings.
US08456611B2
A system and method to allow organic fluids to be used in immersion lithographic systems. This is done by providing a showerhead portion of a liquid supply system that is partially coated or made from a TEFLON like material. The TEFLON like material reduces wetness effect, and thus increases containment, when using an organic immersion fluid in a space between the last optic and the substrate.
US08456608B2
An exposure apparatus is provided with a nozzle member that has at least one of a supply outlet which supplies the liquid and a collection inlet which recovers the liquid. By immersing the nozzle member in cleaning liquid LK stored in container, the nozzle member is cleaned.
US08456607B2
It is an object of the present invention to suppress light leakage in a dark state which is generated by rubbing treatment. A liquid crystal material containing an ultraviolet curable liquid crystalline monomer at a concentration of more than 0 wt % and not more than 1.0 wt % is used for a liquid crystal layer, and the liquid crystal layer is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. By applying such a liquid crystal layer to a liquid crystal display device, light leakage in a dark state can be suppressed, and the black display can be improved. Therefore, a liquid crystal display device with an excellent contrast and high display quality can be obtained.
US08456605B2
A flat display panel having a first substrate, a display unit disposed on the first substrate, a second substrate disposed on the first substrate to cover the display unit and not covering a predetermined region of the first substrate, a terminal unit disposed on the predetermined region of the first substrate and is electrically connected to the display unit, and a glass strengthener coated on the first substrate and adjacent to the second substrate at a location to increase the strength of the first substrate. The flat display panel having the substrate on which a terminal unit is formed has increased strength.
US08456596B2
A transparent display device includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) module and a transparent reflector. The LCD module includes an LCD panel having a liquid crystal layer, a light source providing light to the LCD panel, and a polarizing plate disposed between the light source and the LCD panel to polarize light from the light source. The transparent reflector and the LCD module are spaced apart. The transparent reflector displays the image by reflecting the image provided from the LCD panel. The transparency of the transparent reflector may be controlled, and the transparent reflector may have a curved shape.
US08456595B2
The present invention relates to a display device and a method for manufacturing the display device. The display device includes at least one partition formed on a lower display panel. A color filter may fill a region defined by the partitions. A first upper passivation layer is formed on the color filter, and a second upper passivation layer is formed on the first upper passivation layer and the partitions such that the LCD structure is planarized. In the display device, the height of the partition is sufficiently high to prevent mixing of the colors of neighboring pixel filters, and the process margin of the spacer and the light blocking member may be ensured. The partitions can be formed with multiple layers having different widths such that the mixture of colors between the neighboring pixels may be prevented, and the color reproducibility may be increased.
US08456594B2
A cholesteric liquid crystal display device includes: a plurality of pixel units arranged two-dimensionally between two transparent substrates. Each of the plurality of pixel units includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer having a single-layer structure. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer includes: a liquid crystal molecule; a chiral dopant; and an optically polymerizable polymer. The chiral dopant is mixed with the liquid crystal molecule to form a cholesteric phase and has a solubility that varies with respect to the liquid crystal molecule according to temperature. The optically polymerizable polymer is cured to fix a helix pitch of the cholesteric phase.
US08456587B2
An electronic apparatus includes a display unit, a frame member that encloses a periphery of the display unit, a window member that covers a display surface of the display unit, and a cover member including a window holder configured to hold an outer circumference of the window member. The frame member includes a window support configured to support the window member at a position apart from the display surface of the display unit. The window holder of the cover member exposes the window support of the frame member. The window support of the frame member directly supports the window member without intervening the window holder of the cover member.
US08456579B2
This disclosure presents an apparatus and method for automatic gain control correction for a television signal in which the Radio Frequency (RF) and Intermediate Frequency (IF) power signal levels are collected for a band of channels, identifying a channel having a strong RF power signal level and an IF gain signal level that is lower than a nominal IF gain signal level, comparing the identified channel RF gain signal level with the RF gain signal level of adjacent channels to identify the relative power signal levels of the channel and associated adjacent channels, and applying correction to the channel wherein there is an imbalance in the RF and IF power signal levels of the identified channel. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US08456571B1
Techniques are described for performing aspect ratio transformation. Frames of image data from each of one or more input sources are received. A first set of one or more options, including an input aspect ratio, is associated with a first input source. A set of control parameters is determined for each frame from the first input source in accordance with said first input aspect ratio and an output aspect ratio. Each frame from the first input source is processed in accordance with the control parameters for that frame. The processing includes processing a first image from said first input source having said first input aspect ratio to generate a second image having the output aspect ratio. The processing includes converting the first image having the input aspect ratio to the second image having the output aspect ratio if the first input aspect ratio is different from the output aspect ratio.
US08456565B2
Disclosed herein is an imaging device including: an imaging lens configured to have an aperture stop; an imaging element configured to include a plurality of pixels two-dimensionally arranged along a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction and acquire imaging data based on received light; and a microlens array configured to be disposed between the imaging lens and the imaging element and include a plurality of microlenses, a pixel area composed of m×n pixels (m and n denote a number equal to or larger than 2 in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction) in the imaging element being assigned to a respective one of the microlenses, wherein positional displacement smaller than a width of one pixel is set between the microlens and the pixel area.
US08456553B2
A color imaging element including color filters arranged on pixels, wherein the color filter array includes a basic array pattern including first filters corresponding to a first color that most contributes to obtaining luminance signals and second filters corresponding to two or more second colors other than the first color, the basic array pattern repeatedly arranged in the horizontal and vertical directions, one or more first filters are arranged in each line in horizontal, vertical, and oblique directions of the color filter array, one or more second filters are arranged in each line in the horizontal and vertical directions of the color filter array in the basic array pattern, and a proportion of the number of pixels of the first color corresponding to the first filters is greater than proportions of the numbers of pixels of each color of the second colors corresponding to the second filters.
US08456551B2
A photographing apparatus including an imaging device configured to obtain a first image of a subject captured with a long shutter exposure time and a second image of the subject captured by setting a short shutter exposure time, wherein the long exposure time is greater than the short exposure time; and a live-view generation unit configured to generate a smear-corrected third image by subtracting pixel values of the second image from the corresponding pixel values of the first image. A smear correction method of a photographing apparatus, the method including capturing a first image of a subject by setting a long electrical shutter exposure time; capturing a second image of a subject by setting a short electrical shutter exposure time; and generating a smear-corrected third image by subtracting pixel values of the second images from the corresponding pixel values of the first image.
US08456550B2
An image capturing system includes a signal correction unit which corrects a signal output from a defective pixel in an optical black region based on a signal output from a normal pixel. The optical black region has a plurality of pixel blocks. Each of the plurality of pixel blocks has a plurality of pixels each including one or more elements which have the same functions as in the remaining pixels and which have relative positions different from the remaining pixels. The signal correction unit corrects the signal output from the defective pixel in the optical black region based on a signal output from a normal pixel which is included in another pixel block different from the pixel block of the defective pixel in the optical black region and includes one or more elements having the same functions and same relative positions as in the defective pixel.
US08456546B2
A solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array unit in which unit pixels are arranged in a matrix shape and a signal processing circuit that obtains a first video signal and performs processing for combining the first and second video signals. The signal processing circuit includes judging means that judges whether a pixel of interest in the pixel array unit is a pixel to be saturated during an exposure period, calculating means that sets the pixel of interest as a correction pixel and calculates a correction amount on the basis of a luminance value of the second video signal of a peripheral pixel of the correction pixel, and correcting means that applies the correction amount to a luminance value of the first video signal of the correction pixel to thereby correct a noise signal amount due to photo-charges leaking from the peripheral pixel into the correction pixel.
US08456542B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging device configured to image an object, a sound receiving device configured to receive an ambient sound, a phonation determining device configured to determine whether the object imaged by the imaging device is producing a sound or not, an object characteristic determining device configured to determine a characteristic of the object if the phonation determining device determines that the object is producing the sound, a band determining device configured to determine a band of the ambient sound which suits the characteristic of the object and emphasize the band in the ambient sound, and a recording device configured to record the ambient sound in which the band is emphasized.
US08456526B2
A video effect is created that provides an experience to a viewer of freezing time during an event that is the subject of a video presentation, investigating the event during that frozen moment in time, and (optionally) resuming the action of the event. During that frozen moment in time, the video can move around the scene of the event and/or zoom in (or out) to better highlight an aspect of the event. In one embodiment, there will be a transition from video captured by a broadcast camera (or another camera) to a high resolution still image, movement around the high resolution still image, and a transition from the high resolution still image back to video from the broadcast camera (or another camera).
US08456522B2
Methods and apparatus are provided for computing focus information prior to scanning digital microscope slide data with a line scan camera. The methods include a point-focus procedure that works by moving the slide to the desired measurement location, moving the objective lens through a predefined set of height values, acquiring imagery data at each height, and determining the height of maximum contrast. The methods also include a ribbon-focus procedure whereby imagery data are acquired continuously, while the slide and objective lens are in motion. Both methods may be applied with either a static or a dynamic implementation.
US08456518B2
There is disclosed a stereographic camera system, a computing device and a method of operating a stereographic camera system. The stereoscopic camera system may a left camera and a right camera and an obstruction detector to determine whether or not a field of view of one of the left camera and the right camera is at least partially obstructed. A controller may cause the camera system to automatically output only non-obstructed image data, in response to a determination by the obstruction detector that a field of view of one of the left camera and the right camera is at least partially obstructed.
US08456513B2
A camera is mounted in a sphere-shaped housing. The housing can be rotated within a base that permits the camera to take multiple images covering a panoramic view. Motion of the housing within the base is detected by motion sensors that provide positional information for allowing the images to be stitched together. The motion sensors are optical mice sensors. Processing circuitry and a power supply may be located within the housing.
US08456510B2
A virtual distributed multipoint control unit in a videoconference may be implemented using a master endpoint, one or more facilitator endpoints, and one or more leaf endpoints. The facilitator endpoint(s) may receive video and/or audio from the leaf endpoints (which may provide/receive videoconference audio and video to one or more local participants). The master endpoint may receive video and/or audio from one or more facilitator endpoints (which may include cumulative video stream from multiple leaf endpoints) and/or directly from one or more leaf endpoints. The master endpoint may arrange received video and/or audio and provide cumulative video and/or audio streams to the leaf endpoints (e.g., directly and/or through the facilitator endpoints). The virtual distributed multipoint control unit may support a conference with more leaf endpoints than the master endpoint has input ports and/or decoders.
US08456505B2
A three-dimensional (3D) video communication method includes receiving video information of at least two session parties, wherein the video information of at least one session party is 3D video information. The video information received from the at least two session parties is processed according to state information of the at least two session parties and display capabilities of a terminal.
US08456503B2
A method including: obtaining a sequence of pictures from a camera associated with a video conferencing endpoint; determining a presence of a target point coinciding with an optical source within a field of view of the camera, wherein the optical source emits pulses of electromagnetic radiation at a rate that causes the camera to capture some frames with a pulse of electromagnetic radiation from the optical source and some frames without the pulse of electromagnetic radiation from the optical source; determining a location of the target point within one or more of the pictures by comparing a first frame from the camera that includes the pulse of electromagnetic radiation from the optical source and a second frame from the camera that does not include the pulse of electromagnetic radiation from the optical source; moving the camera so that a center of one or more subsequent pictures obtained by the camera coincides with the target point; and zooming the camera until receipt of an instruction to stop zooming is received, or until maximal zoom is achieved.
US08456493B2
A method is described for driving matrix displays which are made up of a plurality of lines with individual pixels, which lines are configured as rows and columns, wherein individual lines are driven selectively by rows being activated for a defined row addressing time and an operating current or a corresponding voltage being applied to the columns in correlation with the activated row corresponding to the desired brightness in the pixels. In order to improve the performance of the display, the row addressing time for each row is determined as a function of the maximum brightness of all the columns of the row.
US08456492B2
A display device includes: an average value calculating section which inputs video signals having linear property and calculates an average value of levels of the video signals in each pixel; an average value memory section which sequentially stores the average values calculated by the average value calculating section; a still image determining section which determines whether a still image is displayed on a present screen based on a difference between the average value stored in the average value memory section and a last average value; a coefficient calculating section which, when the determination is made that a still image is displayed on the present screen as a result of the determination in the still image determining section, calculates coefficients for lowering luminance of an image displayed on the display device; and a coefficient multiplying section which multiplies the video signals by the coefficients calculated by the coefficient calculating section.
US08456491B2
A method and apparatus in which thumbnail images are compared to differentiate between a selected image and one or more other images, and a difference image of the portion of the selected image that is different from one or more other images is determined. An enlarged view of a difference image that depicts the difference between the selected image and one or more other images is shown on a display. The apparatus and method may be carried out in various electronic devices, such as, for example, a general or special purpose computer, a mobile phone, or other electronic device.
US08456479B2
Methods, systems and data structures produce a rasterizer. A graphical state is detected on a machine architecture. The graphical state is used for assembling a shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selecting replacement logic that replaces portions of shell logic in the shell rasterizer. The machine architecture is used for selectively inserting memory management logic into portions of the shell logic to produce.
US08456477B2
An information processing apparatus includes a network structure generation unit that generates a network structure showing relations formed between registered users at a predetermined time based on user information containing attribute information showing attributes of the registered user registered with a social networking service (SNS) and registration time information showing a registration time of the registered user, and relation information containing relation formation information showing a relation formed between the registered users on the SNS, and relation formation time information showing a relation formation time, a network image generation unit that generates a network image representing the generated network structure with the registered user as a node and a relation formed between the registered users as an edge, and a network image display unit that chronologically displays the generated network images at a plurality of the predetermined times. Accordingly, a change of SNS operation conditions can efficiently be grasped.
US08456472B2
A system and computer program product for ranking nodes in a graph include computing resultant path strength between each pair of nodes in a polynomial time, determining a first node based on resultant path strength such that total path strength to the first node is a maximum value, iteratively determining a next node from the first node to which the resultant path strength is a maximum value and the node is not visited, and providing each determined node a unique rank value, and ranking the nodes in an order determined by the unique rank value of each node.
US08456468B2
A method for rendering a three dimensional scene on a displaying screen comprises: generating for a tile of a current scene a hierarchical z-buffer which comprises a plurality of levels organized according to depth values; calculating a minimum depth value d of a submitted primitive; calculating an intersection area associated with said primitive with respect to said tile; providing a multiplicity of aligned regions each associated with a level of the hierarchical z-buffer so that the exact area calculated is suitable to be covered, at least entirely, by the union of such aligned regions; comparing the minimum depth value d of the submitted primitive with corresponding maximum depth values v1, v2, . . . , vN each read from the levels of the hierarchical z-buffer; discarding said primitive whether the minimum depth value d is bigger than all maximum depth values v1, v2, . . . , vN.
US08456465B2
A display apparatus is disclosed. The display apparatus includes a display panel that displays at least one of a two dimensional (2D) image and a three dimensional (3D) image, and a driver that is driven so as to display an image on the display panel. The driver includes a 3D image conversion unit that converts the 3D image into a protective image if a length of a period during which the 3D image is displayed on the display panel is longer than a length of a first period.
US08456445B2
A touch screen and method are provided for adjusting the positioning of touch sensing objects in response to the position of the application of one or more touches. The touch screen, includes, but is not limited to a display face including an object, the display face configured to display a symbol associated with the object, and circuitry defining the object and configured to sense the position of at least one touch on at least a portion of the object. A touch screen controller is configured to adjust the object in response to the position of the at least one touch.
US08456443B2
A two-dimensional capacitive sensor device comprises first, second, and third sensor electrodes. The first sensor electrode has a varying width along a first direction, a maximum width at a first edge along the first direction, and a minimum width at a second edge along the first direction. The second sensor electrode has a varying width along the first direction and substantially identical widths at the first edge and second edge. The third sensor electrode has a varying width along the first direction, a minimum width at the first edge, and a maximum width at the second edge. The first, second, and third sensor electrodes have substantially equal surface area and are arranged in a first sensor cell with the second disposed between the first and third sensor electrodes. The two-dimensional capacitive sensor device comprises a plurality of sensor cells disposed in a repeated fashion in a single layer.
US08456442B2
An electronic device with switchable user interface and an electronic device with accessible touch operation are provided. The electronic device with switchable user interface includes a display, a touch sensing means, a position detecting module and a processing module. The touch sensing means is used for sensing a touch of an input tool. The position detecting module is used for determining whether or not the touch is generated on a specific area of the touch sensing means. If the touch is generated on the specific area, the position detecting module determines whether the position of the touch is varied. The processing module coupled to the position detecting module is used for activating a user interface on the display if there is a position variation of the touch. Consequently, the convenience of operating the electronic device is improved.
US08456439B2
A portable device includes a touch screen that includes a display screen and that generates touch screen data in response to a user's interaction with the touch screen. A processor executes a security application for authenticating the user to the portable device that provides first display data to the touch screen for displaying a security prompt on the display screen. Touch screen data is received from the touch screen in response to the user's interaction with the touch screen and is processed to determine when an authentication shape is recognized as being indicated by the touch screen data. The user is authenticated to the portable device when the authentication shape is recognized as being indicated by the touch screen data.
US08456437B2
A touch pad module assembly structure includes a housing, a touch pad module and a metal bracket. The housing includes a generally rectangular opening. The touch pad module is assembled into the opening. The touch pad module includes a support member and a circuit board. An edge of the support member has a through hole and a pair of resilient members. An opposite edge of the support member has a connection member secured to a surrounding surface of the opening. The circuit board is disposed over the support member and includes a switch aligned with the through hole. The metal bracket is secured to a surrounding edge of the opening to be in to contact with the switch and expose the connection member.
US08456430B2
A tactile interface for an electronic device includes a compliant portion, a first input sensor embedded in the compliant portion and a second input sensor. The first and second sensors produce differential output signal in responsive to tactile input forces applied in at least a common dimension or about a common axis. A processor detects and interprets the differential output signals as a tactile input at the touch input device.
US08456429B2
A hardware encryption device comprises: a touch panel controller; and a cryptographic engine in communication with the touch panel controller. The touch panel controller receives co-ordinates from the cryptographic engine corresponding to an area on a touch panel selected by a user. The cryptographic engine is operable to discriminate between a selection in a secure area on a screen and a selection in a non-secure area on a screen, and to action the selection differently depending on whether the selection is in a secure area or a non-secure area.
US08456419B2
The present invention is directed toward a system and process that controls a group of networked electronic components using a multimodal integration scheme in which inputs from a speech recognition subsystem, gesture recognition subsystem employing a wireless pointing device and pointing analysis subsystem also employing the pointing device, are combined to determine what component a user wants to control and what control action is desired. In this multimodal integration scheme, the desired action concerning an electronic component is decomposed into a command and a referent pair. The referent can be identified using the pointing device to identify the component by pointing at the component or an object associated with it, by using speech recognition, or both. The command may be specified by pressing a button on the pointing device, by a gesture performed with the pointing device, by a speech recognition event, or by any combination of these inputs.
US08456411B2
A display unit having a pivot function and prolonged lives of light sources has been implemented according to the present invention. The display unit includes: a screen that is changeable between a first position and a second position and displays an image; at least one first light source that illuminates the screen in the first position; at least one second light source that illuminates the screen in the second position; and a turn-on control section that controls turning on of the first light source and the second light source according to a position. A display device and an information processing apparatus each provided with the display unit have also been implemented according to the present invention.
US08456410B2
Described herein are light sensors that primarily respond to visible light while suppressing infrared light. Also described herein are systems the incorporate such light sensors. Such a system can include a display, a light source to backlight the display and a controller to control the brightness of the light source based on feedback received from such light sensors. Described herein are also methods for controlling backlighting.
US08456409B2
Gate drive circuit includes a plurality of stages connected one after another to each other. An m-th stage includes a pull-up section outputting a first clock signal as a gate signal of the m-th stage to an output terminal, a pull-down section applying a low voltage to the output terminal, a carry section outputting the first clock signal as a carry signal of the m-th stage in response to the high voltage of the first node signal, a first carry holding section maintaining the carry signal of the m-th stage at the low voltage in response to the high voltage of the first clock signal and a second carry holding section maintaining the carry signal of the m-th stage at the low voltage in response to a high voltage of the second clock signal.
US08456407B2
A display controlling system utilized in a display, such as an LCD, includes a plurality of data lines and a plurality of source drivers. The source drivers receive a plurality of transfer pulse signals, each of which corresponds to one of the source drivers, and drive the corresponding data lines upon receiving the corresponding transfer pulse signal, wherein the transfer pulse signals are not all identical. The transfer pulse signal can be produced by the timing controller of the display, or the transfer pulse information required for generating the transfer pulse signals can be embedded in the source data to be delivered to the source drivers that generate the transfer pulse signals after obtaining the transfer pulse information. The transfer pulse signal lines between the timing controller and the source drivers can therefore be removed.
US08456403B2
A liquid crystal display and a driving method thereof are provided. The liquid crystal display includes: a liquid crystal display panel including a plurality of data lines, a plurality of gate lines crossing the data lines, and pixels arranged in m×n matrix; a register for defining polarity pattern information, frame rotation information, and line rotation information to determine a polarity of a data voltage charged in N lines, wherein N is a positive integer less than n; a timing controller for generating a polarity control signal to control polarities of data voltages charged in n lines of the liquid crystal display panel based on the information read from the register; and source drive ICs for converting the polarities of the data voltages supplied to the data lines in response to the polarity control signal.
US08456394B2
A light emitting apparatus comprises a light emitting section for emitting light, a color of the light being changed with a value of a driving current, and a driving section for driving the light emitting section so that the light emitting section emits light having a desired color and a desired intensity, by generating the driving current based on a signal designating the desired color and a signal designating the desired intensity and by applying the driving current to the light emitting section.
US08456390B2
Compensation for aging of an electroluminescent (EL) emitter having a luminance and a chromaticity that both correspond to the density of the current and the age of the EL emitter is performed. Different black, first and second current densities are selected based on the measured age, each corresponding to emitted light colorimetrically distinct from the light emitted at the other two current densities. Respective percentages of a selected emission time are calculated for each current density to produce a designated luminance and chromaticity. The current densities are provided to the EL emitter for the calculated respective percentages of the emission time so that the integrated light output of the EL emitter during the selected emission time is colorimetrically indistinct from the designated luminance and chromaticity, no matter the age of the EL emitter.
US08456387B2
A display device, including a substrate; a first layer having an array of row electrodes formed in rows across the substrate in a first direction and a second layer having an array of column electrodes formed in columns across the substrate in a second direction different from the first direction wherein the row and column electrodes overlap to form pixel locations; one or more layers of light-emitting material formed between the row and column electrodes to form a two-dimensional array of pixels, the pixels being located in the pixel locations; and a plurality of chiplets located over the substrate, the number of chiplets being less than the number of pixels, each chiplet exclusively controlling a subset of row electrodes and a subset of column electrodes, whereby the pixels are controlled to display an image.
US08456382B2
It is an object to provide a driving support system and a display device suitable for the driving support system. According to the driving support system, change in driver's mental and physical conditions can be caught instantaneously and a warning light emission display is given within the forward sight of the driver in order to call the driver's attention. A light emitting device of the driving support system can display a far side of the display. A display may be switched between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode by adjusting a movable polarizer.
US08456381B2
Device, system, and method of providing an extended display area with a desired relative display orientation. In some demonstrative embodiments, a mobile device may include a primary display that is extendible onto a remote display; a context sensor to provide an indication of the desired relative display orientation between first and second portions of the extended display area; and a connection module to determine the desired relative display orientation based on the provided indication, to associate the primary and remote displays, and to automatically configure the extended display area with the desired relative display orientation. The indication may be responsive to a manipulation of the mobile device, for example, a tilting or a rotation of the device in a direction generally corresponding to the desired orientation. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08456378B2
To provide a technology of moving and displaying an object concealed on a first display unit to and on a second display unit. An electronic device including a first display unit and a second display unit displays an object as a graphical user interface on the first display unit, detects that the object gets concealed, determines whether or not the concealed object is coincident with a predetermined condition, and displays the object coincident with the predetermined condition on the second display unit. When a detection unit detects that the object does not get concealed, the display of the object is deleted from on the second display unit.
US08456376B2
A position adjustment device for a satellite antenna includes a holder fixed on a supporting arm of the satellite antenna, and an axis rotation bracket disposed to the holder. The holder has a first connecting part. The axis rotation bracket rotates around a focal axis of the satellite antenna and comprises a bracket body where a low noise block down-converter with integrated feed (LNBF) of the satellite antenna is fixed, an arc slot disposed to the bracket body wherein a circular center thereof is on the focal axis, and a first positioning element passing through the first connecting part and the arc slot, for connecting the axis rotation bracket to the holder, and positioning the holder and the axis rotation bracket along the arc slot relatively.
US08456368B2
A radio-wave receiver is provided with a hollow-cylindrical case, a plate-like module member accommodated within the cylindrical case, a transparent member closing one opening end of the cylindrical case, a cover closing the other opening end of the cylindrical case, and an antenna structure disposed on the side position of the plate-like module member. The antenna structure is provided with a core including a plurality of plate-like magnetic members layered on each other in a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the plate-like module member, a coil wound around a central straight part of the core, and bent end portions extending from both ends of the core and bent to conform to the inner periphery of the cylindrical case.
US08456365B2
Antennas for use in mobile communication devices are disclosed. The antennas disclosed can include a substrate with a base, a top, a front side and a back side; a first conductor can be located on the first side of the antenna substrate; and a second conductor can be located on the second side of the antenna substrate. The conductors can have single or multiple branches. If a conductor is a single branch it can, for example, be a spiral conductor or a conducting plate. If a conductor has multiple branches, each branch can be set up to receive a different frequency band. A conductor with multiple branches can have a linear branch and a space-filling or grid dimension branch. A conducting plate can act as a parasitic reflector plane to tune or partially tune the resonant frequency of another conductor. The first and second conductors can be electrically connected.
US08456364B2
Location estimation for a first target object assisted by a second target object, which have co-located signalling devices is provided. A positioning engine employs a data model of a location-dependent physical quantity and determines location probability distributions for the target objects. One signalling device sends positioning-assisting signals to the other which makes observations from it. The positioning engine uses observations on the physical quantity and the positioning-assisting signals to make a quantity observation set, and determines location probability distributions for the target objects. The positioning engine determines an updated first location probability distribution based on the location probability distributions and the positioning-assisting observation set. The positioning engine determines the location estimate for the first target object based on the updated first location probability distribution and triggers a physical action based on the location estimate for the first target object.
US08456350B2
Methods and apparatus to fit the range extent of radar sea clutter to an ellipse to determine sea state. From one or more ellipse parameters, a sea state, which can include direction, can be identified. In one embodiment, the system autonomously determines the sea state and automatically selects non-isotropic STC filtering based on the ellipse that measures the sea state.
US08456345B2
A method for recovering a signal by measuring the signal to produce a plurality of compressive sensing measurements, discarding saturated measurements from the plurality of compressive sensing measurements and reconstructing the signal from remaining measurements from the plurality of compressive sensing measurements. Alternatively, a method for recovering a signal comprising the steps of measuring a signal to produce a plurality of compressive sensing measurements, identifying saturated measurements in the plurality of compressive sensing measurements and reconstructing the signal from the plurality of compressive sensing measurements, wherein the recovered signal is constrained such that magnitudes of values corresponding to the identified saturated measurements are greater than a predetermined value.
US08456341B2
A system for processing a signal includes a detector configured to detect a two-level stream of bits; a converter configured to generate a three-level control signal based on two adjacent values within the two-level stream of bits; and a switch configured to determine which of three different paths to couple a current source to based on a value of the three-level control signal. Thus, based on adjacent values of the output stream a three-level control signal is generated which controls coupling of the current source to one of three different paths. This type of three-level digital-to-analog converter can be, for example, part of the feedback loop of an analog-to-digital converter. Similar techniques can also be utilized in a multi-segment digital-to-analog converter in which each segment of the DAC is controlled by a 3-level control signal and the DAC is implement using PMOS devices. The current source for each DAC segment is diverted to ground, the M-node, or the P-node depending on the value of the 3-level control signal.
US08456338B2
A source-measure unit (SMU) may be implemented with respective digital control loops for output voltage and output current. The digital control loop associated with the output that is being regulated may be the setpoint control loop while the digital control loop associated with the other output may be the compliance control loop. The digital loop controller may switch between the setpoint control loop and the compliance control loop without generating a mode-change glitch, by maintaining a single integrator. The compliance methods may differ in how and when the decision is made to select which of the measured signals provides the error signal to the integrator. Thus, there may be no issue with integrator wind-up, which might be the case if there were two complete control loops operating continuously.
US08456333B1
A method of separating data blocks with stationary informational characteristics, including the steps of sequentially collecting statistics for small data blocks in an input data set, calculating the relative change in the estimated compression efficiency for a solid block currently being formed caused by merging its statistics with the statistics of a next small block, deciding whether the small block should be added to the solid block; for any block for which the decision is no, the block is used as the starting block of the next solid block to be formed. Auxiliary block data type detection is used to improve the method.
US08456328B2
A system for informing aircraft operators about a temporary flight restriction (“TFR”) includes, but is not limited to, a display unit that is adapted for attachment to an aircraft. The display unit is configured to display graphical images. A processor is communicatively connected to the display unit and is configured to control the display unit. A receiver is communicatively connected to the processor and is configured to receive a broadcast containing information relating to the TFR (“TFR information”) and to automatically provide the TFR information to the processor. The processor is further configured to automatically control the display unit to display a three dimensional representation of an airspace that is subject to the TFR relative to the position of the aircraft when the processor receives the TFR information from the receiver.
US08456327B2
An automatic vehicle equipment control system and methods thereof are provided, the system includes at least one imager configured to acquire a continuous sequence of high dynamic range single frame images, a processor, a color spectral filter array including a plurality of color filters, at least a portion of which are different colors, and pixels of an imager pixel array being in optical communication with substantially one spectral color filter, and a lens, wherein the imager is configured to capture a non-saturated image of nearby oncoming headlamps and at least one of a diffuse lane marking and a distant tail lamp in one image frame of the continuous sequence of high dynamic range single frame images, and the system configured to detect at least one of said highway markings and said tail lamps, and quantify light from the oncoming headlamp from data in the one image frame.
US08456326B2
An acquiring unit (101) acquires traveling state information indicating a traveling state of a mobile object. A position identifying unit (102) identifies the current position of the mobile object, based on the traveling state information and map information. If the current position of the mobile object identified to be on a road is subsequently identified not to be on any road, a registering unit (103) registers into a storage unit, a deviation point from the road as an entrance point to a parking lot. When a new deviation point is registered as an entrance point to the parking lot, if an entrance point in the vicinity of the new deviation point is already registered, the registering unit (103) determines whether the new deviation point is to be newly registered as an entrance point to the parking lot based on information about the entrance points.
US08456321B2
A circuit is for checking the voltage of a battery. The circuit includes a regulator component, a pnp type transistor, an npn transistor, a diode, and an alarm. The circuit activates an alarm when the voltage of the battery is less than a preset value.
US08456320B2
In one embodiment, a method for providing feedback for a page turn requested on a device is provided. The device may be an electronic book (e-book) device or another device that is configured to display electronic documents. A movement on the display of the device is detected. The method determines that a page turn of the document is being requested based on the movement on the display. The method determines a light-based feedback to indicate that a page turn is being processed. The computing time to process a page turn and display a new page may be slow as perceived by the user. Accordingly, the light-based feedback is used to indicate to the user that the page turn has been received. A plurality of light sources are used to provide the light-based feedback based on a location of the movement. For example, as a user swipes a finger across a display, light sources that follow the motion of the finger are illuminated to simulate a page turn.
US08456315B2
A monitoring device (6,10) monitors the functioning of a reporting system (1). The reporting system (1) includes a plurality of reporting devices (4) and/or signaling devices, supply lines (3), and a voltage source. The reporting devices (4) and/or signaling devices are connected to the voltage source via the supply lines (3), and the reporting devices (4) and/or signaling devices are connected in parallel to one another and to the voltage source. A test signal device (6) connects a reference resistor (R) into the supply lines (3) in parallel with the reporting devices (4) and/or signaling devices, and/or connects the reference resistor (R) as a termination of the supply lines (3). An evaluation device (10) detects and evaluates the system response of the reporting system (1) to the connecting of the reference resistor (R).
US08456301B2
Methods and systems for providing data communication in medical systems are disclosed.
US08456299B2
An alarm monitoring station is capable of establishing a two way communications channel over a network to connect the monitoring station and alarm panels at monitored premises, for real time voice communication between the panels and the monitoring station. The monitoring station is further operable to provide pre-programmed voice messages to the alarm panels based on the sensed alarm condition over the two way communications channel. In this way, occupants at the premises may be notified of the sensed condition before speaking with an operator at the monitoring station.
US08456296B2
The invention relates to a method for measuring and indicating a true direction of a tracked object. The invention also relates to an apparatus and a tracking system utilizing the method. The invention also relates to a direction determination circuitry and to a computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable code, which is utilized in the direction determination circuitry. In the method a radio-bearing device shows all the time on a display true directions wherefrom a radio-bearing have been taken. The direction of the maximum signal strength measurement is highlighted on the display.
US08456292B2
A door mirror includes a turn signal lamp for indicating a traveling direction; a foot lamp; and a housing that houses the turn signal lamp and the foot lamp, wherein the turn signal lamp and the foot lamp are provided in the housing such that the turn signal lamp and the foot lamp are provided with outer lenses lying adjacent to each other such that light based on a turning on of one lamp is guided to an outer lens of the other lamp.
US08456291B2
Vibration electric power generation is carried out by a relative parallel movement of a ferroelectric member including floating electrodes arranged in parallel and a movable member including electrets maintaining a surface electric potential of approximately 100 volts at a temperature of 100° C. and opposed electrode portions alternately arranged, the ferroelectric member and the movable member being provided in a tire.
US08456275B2
An electric wiring system of a motor vehicle with control devices that communicate with each other via a data bus, and with at least a first communication apparatus inside the vehicle for data exchange with a remote communication station outside the vehicle via a communication channel is provided. To make an authentication of the electric wiring system possible, the first remote communication station outside the vehicle transmits at least one cryptographic key and/or at least one certificate for storage in a first control device of the plurality of control devices via the communication channel to the communication apparatus inside the vehicle. The first control device stores the at least one key and/or the at least one certificate in coded or decoded form and the at least one key and/or the at least one certificate is/are used at least in the framework of an authentication.
US08456266B2
A vacuum cast or “solid” transformer coil assembly and a method of manufacturing thereof are provided. A solid transformer coil assembly, according to an embodiment of the invention, includes a dielectric substrate, the coil windings provided around the substrate, and an epoxy compound encapsulating the substrate and the coil windings. The substrate is provided with raised “buttons” comprising the same epoxy material as the epoxy compound used for encapsulation. The buttons maintain a specific distance between the coil and the dielectric substrate. The buttons are arranged such that they support the windings and allow the encapsulating epoxy to flow around them flooding the entire mold without entrapping air or creating voids.
US08456234B2
A bias current control method for an operational amplifier is disclosed, which includes detecting a slew rate operating signal, determining signal period length of the slew rate operating signal to generate a determination signal, and generating a high bias modulation signal or a low bias modulation signal to the operational amplifier according to the determination signal and the slew rate operating signal.
US08456220B2
In a method for operating a plasma installation, an induction heating installation or a laser excitation installation in a pulsed power output operation, includes controlling at least one semiconductor switching element to produce a power loss in the at least one semiconductor switching element during a pulse pause time period in a pulse pause operation during which no power suitable for the ignition or the operation of the plasma process, the induction heating process, or the laser excitation process is produced at a power output of a power generator by the at least one semiconductor switching element of the power generator, and such that a reduction of a temperature of the at least one semiconductor switching element by more than a predetermined value is prevented.
US08456208B2
A circuit for clamping current in a charge pump is disclosed. The charge pump includes switching circuitry having a number of switching circuitry transistors. Each of first and second pairs of transistors in the circuit can provide an additional path for current from its associated one of the switching circuitry transistors during off-switching of that transistor so that a spike in current from the switching circuitry transistor is only partially transmitted through a path extending between the switching circuitry transistor and a capacitor of the charge pump.
US08456204B2
Methods and systems directed toward a PLL circuit including a local lock detector receiving an error signal and providing a lock signal, and a charge pump for receiving the error signal and providing a charge signal. A loop filter provides a first loop filter bandwidth and a second loop filter bandwidth. The loop filter includes a first low-pass filter configured to receive the charge and lock signals, alter a filter characteristic in response to the lock signal, and provide a first filter signal. The loop filter includes a second low-pass filter configured to receive the first filter and lock signals, alter a filter characteristic in response to the lock signal, and provide a loop filter signal. The PLL circuit includes a VCO for receiving the loop filter signal and providing an output signal, and a divider for receiving the output signal and dividing it to provide the reference signal.
US08456203B2
A multiphase clock generation circuit includes: a first frequency divider to generate a first intermediate clock and a second intermediate clock; a second frequency divider to generate output clocks of a first group including a first output clock and a second output clock; a third frequency divider to generate output clocks of a second group including a third output clock and a fourth output clock; a selector to supply one of the second intermediate clock and a value to the third frequency divider in response to a switching signal; an error detection circuit to detect an error in a phase relationship between the output clock of the first group and the output clock of the second group; and a re-reset circuit to output the switching signal to the selector based on the error.
US08456200B2
Provided is a gate signal line driving circuit including: 2n clock signal lines where 2n-phase clock signals are input in the normal order of the sequence in normal-directional scanning and in the inverse order of the sequence in inverse-directional scanning, respectively; and a plurality of basic circuits, each being connected with the 2n clock signal lines and outputting a gate signal from an output terminal, in which each of the basic circuits includes a high-voltage applying switching circuit where one clock signal line is connected to an input side and applies a voltage applied to the clock signal line to the output terminal and an off-signal applying switching circuit that applies an off-voltage to a switch of the high-voltage applying switching circuit, and a clock signal line where a clock signal having an inverse phase is connected to a switch of the off-signal applying switching circuit.
US08456192B2
In one embodiment, the integrated circuit has a L-level permutable switching network (L-PSN) comprising L levels of intermediate conductors. The integrated circuit can be used in electronic devices, such as switching networks, routers, and programmable logic circuits, etc.
US08456188B2
To discriminate whether a cable in conformity with a conventional standard or a cable in conformity with a new standard is connected.An HPD signal line (902) has, on an expanded HDMI sink apparatus (402) side circuit, a pull-up resistor (911) between the HPD signal line (902) and a voltage supply and a pull-down resistor (913) between the HPD signal line (902) and the ground, and a reserved line (903) has, on the expanded HDMI sink apparatus (402) side circuit, a pull-down resistor (914) between the reserved line (903) and a ground, and within a new HDMI cable (901), a pull-up resistor (912) between the reserved line (903) and a voltage supply of an expanded HDMI source apparatus (401). The expanded HDMI sink apparatus compares a voltage at a test point (19) on the reserved line (903) on the expanded HDMI sink apparatus (402) side with a reference voltage by using a voltage comparator (916). A CPU of the expanded HDMI sink apparatus (402) determines, when an output from the voltage comparator (916) is High, a normal state where the new HDMI cable (901) is inserted, and when an output from the voltage comparator (916) is Low, determines a state where a conventional HDMI cable (931) is erroneously inserted.
US08456182B2
A method includes positioning body-electrodes in galvanic contact with a body of a patient and positioning a mapping-tool, having a mapping-electrode, in a plurality of regions in the body. The method further includes tracking the mapping-tool at different positions in each of the regions using a location-measuring system, and for each region, generating a respective set of calibration-currents between the body-electrodes and the mapping-electrode at the different positions in the region. A respective relation is derived for each region between the respective set of the calibration-currents and the different positions, and is used in determining the location of an investigation-tool in response to the different respective relations and investigation-tool-currents.
US08456180B2
An example capacitive switch apparatus comprises a capacitive switch sensor providing a capacitive switch signal, a capacitive reference sensor providing a capacitive reference signal, and an electronic circuit, receiving the switch and reference signals and detecting switch activation by comparing the switch signal level with a threshold level. The threshold level is adjusted as a function of the reference signal level. The reference signal is obtained, for example during periods of operator proximity to the reference sensor. For a finger-operated switch, the reference signal is obtained when a finger is proximate the reference sensor.
US08456175B2
Measurement arrangement and method for active load pull measurements of a device under test (1). A wideband analog-to-digital conversion block (3) is provided for obtaining measurement data. First and second injection signal generators (7, 8) are connected to a source side and a load side of the device under test (1). This set up allows to create predetermined reflection coefficients at reference planes of the device under test (1). Injection signal parameters as determined are converted into the injection signals at the source and load side by digital-to-analog conversion. The wideband analog-to-digital conversion block (3) is further arranged for analog-to-digital conversion of the intermediate frequency signals to obtain the actual measured reflection coefficient versus frequency functions with a first frequency resolution. The first frequency resolution applied in the analog-to-digital conversion is equal to or better than a second frequency resolution applied in the digital-to-analog conversion.
US08456170B2
A pattern generator generates test data to be transmitted. An encoding circuit generates amplitude data which represent a modulated signal waveform that corresponds to the test data. The amplitude data are generated in a parallel manner in the form of multiple amplitude data in increments of multiple sampling points set within a predetermined period for cycles of the predetermined period. A data rate setting unit receives the multiple amplitude data in increments of sampling points, latches the amplitude data at corresponding sampling timings, and sequentially outputs the amplitude data thus latched. A multi-level driver receives sequentially input amplitude data, and generates a test signal having a level that corresponds to the value of the amplitude data thus received.
US08456158B2
A magnetic binding substance, which is a first binding substance that specifically binds with a target substance, having magnet enveloping dielectric particles, which have magnetic particles enveloped therein and surfaces modified with functional groups that exhibit polarity within a liquid sample, attached thereto, and a labeling binding substance, which is a second binding substance that specifically binds with the target substance having photoresponsive labels attached thereto, are mixed with the liquid sample such that binding reactions occur. A magnetic field is generated within a sample cell, to draw the magnetic binding substance to a local region. Excitation light is irradiated only onto a predetermined region including the local region while the magnetic binding substance is drawn to the local region, causing the photoresponsive labels present therein to generate optical signals. The optical signals are detected.
US08456153B2
A digital multimeter automatically records measurements of electrical or physical parameters. The multimeter may record the measurements based on events such as the passage of time, fluctuations or deviations in the measurements, or user inputs. In some examples, the digital multimeter operates at a reduced power setting during automatic recording operations.
US08456152B2
A digital multimeter provides information regarding measurements shown on a display of the multimeter, and available functions of the multimeter. The information typically relates to a current context of the multimeter. The context may include a current mode or other setting of the multimeter.
US08456146B2
Systems and methods for switched mode power amplification are disclosed herein. A circuit is provided comprising an amplifier network, a DC translation stage for receiving input voltage from the amplifier network and for providing an output voltage to a voltage boost circuit, and a feedback network for providing feedback from the voltage boost circuit to the amplifier network.
US08456144B2
A power supply with non-isolated DC DC splitting includes n conversion cells that are interlaced. The splitting switch of each cell is placed in a resonant circuit. The resonant circuit makes it possible to obtain a switching to the open state of said switch at zero current and voltage. The ripple at the input and output is minimized and the efficiency improved. In particular, the wiring inductances in the charge transfer loop of each cell no longer have negative effects on the efficiency. The cell may be of boost, buck, buck/boost, Cuk or SEPIC topology.
US08456137B2
A device and method are provided for mechanically breaking a circuit in a battery charging device when the charger is determined to be in a standby or idle mode of operation, after which the circuit must be manually reset in order to further use the device.
US08456134B2
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a system for conditioning a battery include a pulse generator and a use sensor. The pulse generator is configured to apply a plurality of energy pulses to a polarized cathode of a battery and a passivated anode of the battery by selectively shorting the battery across the polarized cathode and the passivated anode for durations of time. The plurality of energy pulses at least partially depolarize the polarized cathode and at least at least partially depassivate the passivated anode. The use sensor is configured to detect a use of the battery with a device and communicate the detected use to the pulse generator. The pulse generator automatically applies the plurality of energy pulses upon receipt of the detected use.
US08456132B2
A secondary battery system that is light in weight and low in cost is provided, which comprises a plurality of secondary batteries connected in series. A plurality of first diodes each has an anode connected to a negative electrode of the corresponding secondary battery. A plurality of second diodes each has a cathode connected to a positive electrode of the corresponding secondary battery. A plurality of capacitors is each connected to a junction portion between the cathode of the first diode and the anode of the second diode. An alternating current power source is commonly connected to the junction portions through the capacitors.
US08456131B2
An apparatus for providing electricity to a portable electronic device comprising: a wall plate that surrounds and attaches to an electrical wall receptacle, a charging cradle with a platform for supporting a portable electronic device; a male charging connector coupled to an opening slot in the charging cradle's platform, wherein the charging connector is insertable into a female charging port of a portable electronic device; and a transformer circuit coupled to the male charging connector, wherein the transformer circuit transforms a receiving electricity to an output electricity having an output voltage, an output current and an output wattage wherein the output electricity is within a range sufficient for charging the portable electronic device.
US08456120B2
A touch control arrangement is arranged for a container having a foldable cover being folded between an opened position and a closed position via an actuation unit. The touch control arrangement includes a power source and a touch actuator electrically linked to the power source, wherein the touch actuator is located out of the storage cavity of the container body and is arranged in such a manner that when the touch actuator is activated by a presence of a touch, the actuation unit is actuated to move the foldable cover from the closed position to the opened position.
US08456117B2
A driving system for a tri-polar electric motor comprises three phase windings. Winding drivers drive each winding with a driving waveform having a non-zero driving phase and intervals wherein the input is equal to zero at the start, middle and end of each driving phase. Using a driving waveform of this type enables monitoring of the back EMF in the winding during each interval when the input is equal to zero. This enables regular monitoring of the zero crossing point of each winding and hence of the position of the rotor. This enables the motor to operate efficiently without generating a torque ripple.
US08456110B2
The present invention provides a set of induction accelerating cell for controlling acceleration of a charged particle beam and an induction accelerating device for controlling generation timing of an induced voltage applied by the induction accelerating cell in a synchrotron. The induction accelerating device in a synchrotron includes: an induction accelerating cell that applies an induced voltage; a switching power supply that supplies a pulse voltage to the induction accelerating cell via a transmission line and drives said induction accelerating cell; a DC power supply that supplies electric power to the switching power supply; and an intelligent control device including a pattern generator that generates a gate signal pattern for controlling on/off the switching power supply, and a digital signal processing device that controls on/off a gate master signal that becomes the basis of the gate signal pattern.
US08456102B2
An illumination control apparatus configured to control brightness of a plurality of illumination devices that is provided in a plurality of sections, respectively, includes: a detection unit configured to detect presence or absence of a person in each of the plurality of sections based on an output of a video camera configured to take images of the plurality of sections; and a control unit configured to turn on an illumination device of a detected section among the plurality of illumination devices, the detected section being a section where a person is detected, turn off an illumination device of a section other than the detected section and an adjacent section among the plurality of illumination devices, the adjacent section being a section adjacent to the detected section, and control brightness of the illumination device of the adjacent section so that illuminance of the detected section becomes predetermined illuminance.
US08456101B2
A power system includes a switching circuit, a resonant tank, a feedback circuit, and controller circuitry. The switching circuit including a first switch and a second switch provides a first AC signal. The resonant tank coupled to the switching circuit receives the first AC signal and generating a second AC signal for powering a load. The feedback circuit coupled to the load monitors an electrical condition of the load and provides a feedback signal. The controller circuitry coupled to the converter controls the switching circuit according to the feedback signal so as to control the power to the load. The controller circuitry is integrated in a first die. The first switch is integrated in a second die, and the second switch is integrated in a third die. The first die, said second die and said third die are mounted on and electrically interconnected to a platform compatible with through-hole technology. The platform and the resonant tank are further assembled on a printed circuit board.
US08456100B2
An illumination system (10; 100) for generating light comprises: at least one a lamp assembly (14; 114) capable of generating light (17; 117) with a variable color; a controller (15; 115) for controlling the lamp assembly; a user input device (19) coupled to the controller. The controller (15; 115) is designed, on the basis of data received from the user input device (19), to generate color control signals for the lamp assembly. The controller (15) is designed, on the basis of data received from the user input device (19), to calculate a path (47) in a color space (31), to calculate the coordinates of a set of color points (E; CP(2), CP(3)) along the calculated path (47), and to generate its color control signals in accordance with the calculated color points. The illumination system may be for generating dynamic light sequences, or for generating a spatial color distribution.
US08456093B2
A control module for driving an LED array, with the array including N number of LED current drivers connected to N number of electrical terminals of the module, and Y number of transistor switches connected between Y number of electrical terminals of the module and a common voltage point. N and Y are each at least three. An N number of column conductors and a Y number of row conductors are to be connected to the respective N and Y number of electrical terminals. At least one of the N×Y number of LEDs is connected between each pair of the column and row conductors. The control module further includes a controller for controlling the states of the N number of LED current drivers and the Y number of transistor switches so that, during a given LED drive period, all of the LED current drivers are activated and only one of the transistor switches is turned ON to provided a selected row conductor in which case only those LEDs connected to a selected row conductor are activated.
US08456091B2
A system to allow a fluorescent lamp to be dimmed or otherwise improve color performance of the lamp while maintaining a constant spectral distribution. In one embodiment, the lamp will dim in light output and not shift in color temperature. An LED array is positioned under a fluorescent lamp such that its light injects back into the lamp that part of the color spectrum that diminishes as a fluorescent lamp dims. The LED array is positioned centrally along the underside of the lamp. The light from the LED is never directly visible but shines through the lamp; the lamp acting as a diffuser. The brightness level of the LEDs can be determined as a preset level relative to a predetermined dim setting or can be regulated through an electronic monitoring sensor. The monitoring could evaluate the shift in color spectrum and or intensity and render the appropriate injection of light spectrum to maintain a constant unwavering color temperature.
US08456090B2
Power is stored in a networked light allowing the networked light to send a message over the network providing information that the networked light is turning off if external power is no longer available.
US08456081B2
A first device is provided. The first device further comprises an organic light emitting device. The organic light emitting device further comprises an anode, a cathode, and an emissive layer disposed between the anode and the cathode. The emissive layer further comprises an organic host compound, an organic emitting compound capable of fluorescent emission at room temperature, and an organic dopant compound. The triplet energy of the dopant compound is lower than the triplet energy of the host compound. The dopant compound does not strongly absorb the fluorescent emission of the emitting compound.
US08456076B2
An electron emitting source capable of preventing increase in an inter-terminal resistance and a manufacturing method of the electron emitting source. The electron emitting source comprises an electron emitting chip made of rare-earth hexaboride, and a heater constituted by a carbonaceous member for holding and heating the electron emitting chip, wherein an electrically conductive substance is provided in a gap between the electron emitting chip and the heater.
US08456075B2
The invention relates to a fluorescent lamp (1) adapted for cold environments, which comprises an elongated main tube (11), fixing devices (12) at each end of the fluorescent lamp (1) for fixing the fluorescent lamp (1) in a light fitting (27), two electrodes (15) placed inside the main tube (11), a heat-insulating outer tube (20) that surrounds the main tube (11) and creates an airspace (22) between the main tube (11) and the outer tube (20). Each fixing device (12) comprises an end cap (41) with a radial part (41b), that delimits an outer end plane of the fluorescent lamp (1), and with an axial peripheral part (41a), that is connected to an end of the outer tube (20). An axial spacer (29, 31) with low heat conductivity has a first end part (33) that is connected to an end (34) of the main tube (11) and a second end part (38) that adjoins the outer end plane and keeps the main tube (11) separate from the end cap (41) in order to reduce the transmission of heat from the main tube (11) to the end cap (41) and the outer tube (20).
US08456071B2
A spark plug for use in an internal combustion engine. The spark plug is equipped with a metal shell, a ground electrode joined to the metal shell, and a center electrode disposed in the metal shell. The ground electrode has a protrusion formed on a top end thereof. The metal shell and the ground electrode are covered with a plated layer which has a thickness of 2 μm to 18 μm, which minimizes the possibility of peeling of the plated layer from the ground electrode while keeping the plated layer as thin as possible without sacrificing the resistance to corrosion on the ground electrode.
US08456070B2
The present invention provides an optical layered body having a good antistatic performance and good optical properties as well as an excellent durability. The present invention provides an optical layered body, comprising: an antistatic layer on a light-transmitting substrate, wherein the antistatic layer is a resin thin film layer containing at least an organic conductive material and a nonconductive polymeric material which is a resin having a glass transition temperature of 60° C. or higher or a resin obtainable by a reaction between a resin having a glass transition temperature of 60° C. or higher and a cross-linking agent.
US08456064B2
A holster for a handheld electronic device. The holster has integrated therein one or more piezoelectric elements that provide an output voltage to the handheld electronic device upon insertion of device in the holster. The output voltage can be used to charge the battery of the device, to power, at least in part, the device, or both. The output voltage is generated by harvesting vibration energy at the piezoelectric elements upon the holster being subjected to acceleration caused by a user carrying the holster when walking, running, or during any other suitable activity.
US08456060B2
The invention describes a vibrating element apparatus, preferably in the form of a tuning fork-type contact level transducer, and a method of forming the same. The tines of the transducer are vibrated by piezoelectric elements, which piezoelectric elements are arranged in a stack along with insulators and conductors to allow cyclic electrical signals to be applied thereto. The stack is provided as a sub-assembly allowing ready replacement in the field and 10 without disturbing the installation of the transducer in the plant which it serves.
US08456055B2
A core block has an arm portion, and a yoke portion extending circumferentially at an end of the arm portion. At least the yoke portion is configured such that a plurality of core segments are stacked in multiple levels in an axial or radial direction. Each of the core blocks has engaging portions formed at respective opposite ends of the yoke portion and adapted to connect adjacent core blocks. In a first-level core segment, each of the engaging portions has a protrusion extending circumferentially from a corresponding one of the opposite ends of the yoke portion, and a recess juxtaposed radially to the protrusion and adapted to receive the protrusion of an adjacent core block. In a second-level core segment, each of the engaging portions has the protrusion and the recess provided in positionally reversed relation with those of the first-level core segment with respect to the radial direction.
US08456044B2
An electric machine includes: a stator having stator windings; a rotor configured to interact electromagnetically with the stator; and a housing configured to house the stator and the rotor. A material matrix is disposed within the housing and in contact with the stator windings. The material matrix defines a plurality of passages configured for the cooling fluid to flow within to remove heat from the stator windings.
US08456043B2
A permanent magnet rotor of a brushless direct current (BLDC) motor, in which cogging torque ripple and electromagnetic vibration noise transferred to the permanent magnet rotor can be blocked and a motor's power-to-weight ratio can be improved. A conventional BLDC motor has to use an electric steel sheet core so as to maintain the maximum magnetic flux density of the permanent magnet rotor and to minimize a rotating electric field loss. As a result, cogging torque vibration is unavoidably transferred to a load side through the motor rotary shaft. However, the rotor can enable stable driving of the BLDC motor by innovatively blocking the cogging torque vibration and the electromagnetic vibration noise and can greatly reduce the motor's weight by using a plastic or non-magnetic material instead of an electric steel sheet core.
US08456042B2
A linear vibrator is disclosed. The linear vibrator includes a cover, a base forming a hollow space together with the cover and defining a plurality of sidewalls, a pair of elastic members received in the hollow space, a weight with a plurality of laterals suspended in the hollow space by the elastic members, and a magnet assembly provided with a plurality of magnetic poles and accommodated in the weight. Each elastic member defines at least a fastening arm comprising a connecting portion, an inner arm extending from one end of the connecting portion for abutting against the lateral of the weight, and an outer arm extending from another end of the connecting portion for abutting against the sidewall of the base. The extending direction of the inner arm and the outer arm of each fastening arm is the same. The magnetic poles of magnet assembly near the coil are opposite to each other. A height of the linear vibrator with the structure can be reduced.
US08456039B2
The R.Q. 1 is a design for inside and outside areas. It is also a design that can be used as a remote control device. The R Q 1 is a rolling and/or portable dry anaerobic cycle machine that is environmentally friendly and a working prototype model. The system is design for entertainment capabilities with multiple tasks, and standard plug-ins.
US08456037B2
A shunt switch allowed to improve isolation, a semiconductor device, a module and an electronic device each of which includes the shunt switch are provided. The shunt switch includes: a transmission line, a ground; and a shunt line electrically coupling the transmission line and the ground, in which two or more of the shunt lines are arranged in parallel to one another, and an impedance between the two or more shunt lines is higher than an impedance of the transmission line.
US08456021B2
An integrated circuit (IC) device includes a polymer substrate having a topside surface and a bottomside surface opposite the topside surface, a plurality of through-holes that extend from the topside surface to the bottomside surface, and a plurality of bottom metal pads on the bottomside surface positioned over the plurality of through-holes. At least one IC die having an active topside including a plurality of bond pads and a second side is affixed to the topside surface. Bonding features are coupled to the plurality of bond pads for coupling respective ones of the plurality of bond pads to the plurality bottom metal pads. The bonding features extend into the through-holes to contact the bottom metal pads.
US08456010B2
A semiconductor device of an embodiment includes: a semiconductor layer made of p-type nitride semiconductor; an oxide layer formed on the semiconductor layer, the oxide layer being made of a polycrystalline nickel oxide, and the oxide layer having a thickness of 3 nm or less; and a metal layer formed on the oxide layer.
US08456008B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor substrate; an interconnect structure over the semiconductor substrate, wherein the interconnect structure comprises a top inter-metal dielectric (IMD); an opening penetrating the interconnect structure into the semiconductor substrate; a conductor in the opening; and an isolation layer having a vertical portion and a horizontal portion physically connected to each other. The vertical portion is on sidewalls of the opening. The horizontal portion is directly over the interconnect structure. The integrated circuit structure is free from passivation layers vertically between the top IMD and the horizontal portion of the isolation layer.
US08456005B2
A transparent conductive film which is excellent in transparency, electrical conductivity, in-plane uniformity and durability is disclosed, comprisinga metal conductive pattern and a transparent conductive material on a transparent film substrate, wherein the transparent conductive material contains a conductive polymer and at least one of a conductive fiber and a conductive metal. A production method thereof is also disclosed.
US08455996B1
The present invention discloses a wafer level packaging method and a packaging structure for packaging a first wafer and a second wafer. The first wafer has a back side and an active side, and further, the active side of the first wafer has a MEMS element. The step of forming two through silicon vias is performed first. A first electrical interconnect and a first bonding ring are formed on the active side of the first wafer. The former connects with one of the through silicon vias, the later surrounds the MEMS element and connects with the other of the through silicon vias. The step of forming a second bonding ring and a second electrical interconnect is then performed. And then, a voltage will be applied to the through silicon vias through the back side of the first wafer.
US08455993B2
A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: forming a first lead adjacent and staggered to a second lead, the first lead having a first external connection portion with a first external conductive layer and a first internal connection portion, the first external connection portion oriented laterally outwards from the first internal connection portion, and the second lead having a second external connection portion with a second external conductive layer and a second internal connection portion; connecting an integrated circuit device with the first internal connection portion and with the second internal connection portion; forming an encapsulation over the integrated circuit device with the first lead and the second lead exposed; and forming a solder mask on the encapsulation, on the first lead, and on the second lead with the first external conductive layer and the second external conductive layer exposed from the solder mask.
US08455991B2
A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: providing an integrated circuit device having chip interconnects; applying an attachment layer directly on the integrated circuit device; attaching a device stiffener to the integrated circuit device with the attachment layer; attaching a chip carrier to the chip interconnects with the device stiffener attached to the integrated circuit device for controlling warpage of the integrated circuit device to prevent the warpage from causing some of the chip interconnects to separate from the chip carrier during attachment of the chip interconnects to the chip carrier; and applying an underfill between the chip carrier and the integrated circuit device for controlling connectivity of all the chip interconnects to the chip carrier.
US08455987B1
A packaged power semiconductor device is provided with voltage isolation between a metal backside and terminals of the device. The packaged power semiconductor device is arranged in an encapsulant defining a hole for receiving a structure for physically coupling the device to an object. A direct-bonded copper (“DBC”) substrate is used to provide electrical isolation and improved thermal transfer from the device to a heatsink. At least one power semiconductor die is mounted to a first metal layer of the DBC substrate. The first metal layer spreads heat generated by the semiconductor die. In one embodiment, the packaged power semiconductor device conforms to a TO-247 outline and is capable of receiving a screw for physically coupling the device to a heatsink.
US08455986B2
A semiconductor device featuring a semiconductor chip having a first main surface and a second, opposing main surface and including a MOSFET having source and gate electrodes formed on the first main surface and a drain electrode thereof formed on the second main surface, first and second conductive members acting as lead terminals for the source and gate electrodes, respectively, are disposed over the first main surface, each of the first and second conductive members has a part overlapped with the chip in a plan view, a sealing body sealing the chip and parts of the first and second conductive members such that a part of the first conductive member is projected outwardly from a first side surface of the sealing body and parts of the first and second conductive members are projected outwardly from the opposing second side surface of the sealing body in a plan view.
US08455983B2
Methods of forming microelectronic device wafers include fabricating a plurality of semiconductor dies at an active side of a semiconductor wafer, depositing a mask on the semiconductor wafer, removing a central portion of the mask and the semiconductor wafer, and etching. The semiconductor wafer has an outer perimeter edge and a backside that is spaced from the active side by a first thickness. The mask is deposited on the backside of the semiconductor wafer and has a face that is spaced from the backside by a mask thickness. The thinned portion has a thinned surface that is spaced from the active side by a second thickness that is less than the first thickness, and the thinned surface is etched.
US08455979B2
A method of forming an integrated circuit device includes forming a plurality of deep trench decoupling capacitors on a first substrate; forming a plurality of active circuit devices on a second substrate; bonding the second substrate to the first substrate; and forming electrical connections between the deep trench capacitors and the second substrate.
US08455978B2
A semiconductor circuit structure includes an interconnect region, and a material transfer region. The semiconductor circuit structure includes a conductive bonding region which couples the material transfer region to the interconnect region through a bonding interface. The conductive bonding region includes a barrier layer between a conductive layer and bonding layer. The bonding layer is positioned towards the material transfer region, and the conductive layer is positioned towards the interconnect region.
US08455976B2
A semiconductor device comprises an active region including a core circuit forming region and a buffer forming region, and a fuse element forming region arranged on a corner of the active region and to be able to be electrically fused. It is possible to arrange the fuse element without forming the fuse in the core circuit forming region by arranging the fuse element forming region at the corner of the active region.
US08455974B2
A semiconductor memory device that has an isolated area formed from one conductivity and formed in part by a buried layer of a second conductivity that is implanted in a substrate. The walls of the isolated area are formed by implants that are formed from the second conductivity and extend down to the buried layer. The isolated region has implanted source lines and is further subdivided by overlay strips of the second conductivity that extend substantially down to the buried layer. Each isolation region can contain one or more blocks of memory cells.
US08455973B2
A region divided substrate includes a substrate, a plurality of trenches, a conductive layer, and an insulating member. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposed to each other. The trenches penetrate the substrate from the first surface to the second surface and divide the substrate into a plurality of partial regions. The conductive layer is disposed on a sidewall of each of the trenches from a portion adjacent to the first surface to a portion adjacent to the second surface. The conductive layer has an electric conductivity higher than an electric conductivity of the substrate. The insulating member fills each of the trenches through the conductive layer.
US08455972B2
A photodiode is provided according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the photodiode includes a substrate and an active region. The active region is configured to receive light through the substrate. In such a configuration, the substrate not only participates in the photodiode operation acts as a light filter depending on the substrate material. In some embodiments, the active region may include solder balls that may be used to couple the photodiode to a printed circuit board. In some embodiments, the active region is coupled face-to-face with the printed circuit board.
US08455971B2
The present disclosure provides an image sensor device and a method of forming the image sensor device. In an example, an image sensor device includes a substrate having a front surface and a back surface; a sensor element disposed at the front surface of the substrate, the sensor element being operable to sense radiation projected toward the back surface of the substrate; and a transparent conductive layer disposed over the back surface of the substrate, the transparent conductive layer at least partially overlying the sensor element. The transparent conductive layer is configured for being electrically coupled to a bottom portion of the sensor element.
US08455960B2
Semiconductor devices are formed with a silicide interface between the work function layer and polycrystalline silicon. Embodiments include forming a high-k/metal gate stack by: forming a high-k dielectric layer on a substrate, forming a work function metal layer on the high-k dielectric layer, forming a silicide on the work function metal layer, and forming a poly Si layer on the silicide. Embodiments include forming the silicide by: forming a reactive metal layer in situ on the work function layer, forming an a-Si layer in situ on the entire upper surface of the reactive metal layer, and annealing concurrently with forming the poly Si Layer.
US08455956B2
An embodiment of a semiconductor power device provided with: a structural body made of semiconductor material with a first conductivity, having an active area housing one or more elementary electronic components and an edge area delimiting externally the active area; and charge-balance structures, constituted by regions doped with a second conductivity opposite to the first conductivity, extending through the structural body both in the active area and in the edge area in order to create a substantial charge balance. The charge-balance structures are columnar walls extending in strips parallel to one another, without any mutual intersections, in the active area and in the edge area.
US08455943B2
Provided is a technology, in a semiconductor device having a power MISFET and a Schottky barrier diode on one semiconductor substrate, capable of suppressing a drastic increase in the on-resistance of the power MISFET while making the avalanche breakdown voltage of the Schottky barrier diode greater than that of the power MISFET. In the present invention, two epitaxial layers, one having a high doping concentration and the other having a low doping concentration, are formed over a semiconductor substrate and the boundary between these two epitaxial layers is located in a region equal in depth to or shallower than the bottom portion of a trench.
US08455942B2
A semiconductor device includes an active region including a surface region and a first recess formed below the surface region, the active region extending along a first direction; a device isolation structure provided on an edge of the active region; a gate line traversing over the surface region of the active region along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; a second recess formed in the device isolation structure to receive a given portion of the gate line into the second recess; a first junction region formed in the active region beneath the first recess and on a first side of the gate line; and a second junction region formed on a second side of the gate line and above the first junction region. The first and second junction regions define a vertical-type channel that extends along lateral and vertical directions.
US08455930B2
A semiconductor device having a substrate including a major surface, a gate stack comprising a sidewall over the substrate and a spacer over the substrate adjoining the sidewall of the gate stack. The spacer having a bottom surface having an outer point that is the point on the bottom surface farthest from the gate stack. An isolation structure in the substrate on one side of the gate stack has an outer edge closest to the spacer. A strained material below the major surface of the substrate disposed between the spacer and the isolation structure having an upper portion and a lower portion separated by a transition plane at an acute angle to the major surface of the substrate.
US08455928B2
A micro structure and an electric circuit included in a micro electro mechanical device are manufactured over the same insulating surface in the same step. In the micro electro mechanical device, an electric circuit including a transistor and a micro structure are integrated over a substrate having an insulating surface. The micro structure includes a structural layer having the same stacked-layer structure as a layered product of a gate insulating layer of the transistor and a semiconductor layer provided over the gate insulating layer. That is, the structural layer includes layers formed of the same insulating film as the gate insulating layer and the same semiconductor film as the semiconductor layer of the transistor. Further, the micro structure is manufactured by using each of conductive layers used for a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode of the transistor as a sacrificial layer.
US08455924B2
Multilevel metallization layouts for an integrated circuit chip including transistors having first, second and third elements to which metallization layouts connect. The layouts minimize current limiting mechanism including electromigration by positioning the connection for the second contact vertically from the chip, overlapping the planes and fingers of the metallization layouts to the first and second elements and forming a pyramid or staircase of multilevel metallization layers to smooth diagonal current flow.
US08455920B2
A III-nitride heterojunction semiconductor device having a III-nitride heterojunction that includes a discontinuous two-dimensional electron gas under a gate thereof.
US08455919B2
Memory devices and methods of making memory devices are shown. Methods and configurations as shown provide folded and vertical memory devices for increased memory density. Methods provided allow trace wiring in a memory array to be formed on or near a surface of a memory device.
US08455907B2
A semiconductor light-emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same can include a wavelength converting layer in order to emit various colored lights including white light. The semiconductor light-emitting device can include a base board, a frame located on the base board, at least one light-emitting chip mounted on the base board, the wavelength converting layer located between an optical plate and each outside surface of the chips so as to extend toward the optical plate using a meniscus control structure, and a reflective material layer disposed at least between the frame and both side surfaces of the wavelength converting layer and the optical plate. The semiconductor light-emitting device can be configured to improve light-emitting efficiency and color variability between the light-emitting chips by using the reflective material layer as each reflector, and therefore can emit a wavelength-converted light having a high light-emitting efficiency from various small light-emitting surfaces.
US08455905B2
Provided is a light-emitting device including: a nitride semiconductor light-emitting element (402) which radiates optically polarized light; and a light emission control layer (404) which covers the light emission surface of the nitride semiconductor light-emitting element (402) and which contains a resin and non-fluorescent particles dispersed in the resin, in which the light emission control layer (404) contains the non-fluorescent particles at a proportion of 0.01 vol % or more and 10 vol % or less, and the non-fluorescent particles have a diameter of 30 nm or more and 150 nm or less.
US08455903B2
A light source comprises an electroluminescent device that generates pump light and a wavelength converter that includes an absorbing element for absorbing at least some of the pump light. A first layer of light emitting elements is positioned proximate the absorbing element for non-radiative transfer of energy from the absorbing element to the light emitting elements. At least some of the light emitting elements are capable of emitting light having a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the pump light. In some embodiments the electroluminescent device is a light emitting diode (LED) that has a doped semiconductor layer positioned between the LED's active layer and the light emitting elements. The first doped semiconductor layer may have a thickness in excess of 20 nm. A second layer of light emitting elements may be positioned for non-radiative energy transfer from the first layer of light emitting elements.
US08455895B2
A light source and method for making the same are disclosed. The light source includes a plurality of surface mount LEDs that are bonded to a mounting substrate by a layer of asymmetric conductor. Each LED has surface mount contacts on a first surface thereof and emits light from a second surface thereof that is opposite the first surface. The mounting substrate includes a top surface having a plurality of connection traces. Each connection trace includes an n-trace positioned to underlie a corresponding one of the n-contacts and a p-trace positioned to underlie a corresponding one of the p-contacts, the p-trace having an area greater than the p-contact. The layer of asymmetric conductor is sandwiched between the surface mount contacts and the connection traces, and can optionally extend into the spaces between the LEDs to provide a scattering medium for redirecting light leaving the sides of the LEDs.
US08455883B2
A semiconductor device and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is disclosed. The exemplary semiconductor device and method for fabricating the semiconductor device enhance carrier mobility. The method includes providing a substrate and forming a dielectric layer over the substrate. The method further includes forming a first trench within the dielectric layer, wherein the first trench extends through the dielectric layer and epitaxially (epi) growing a first active layer within the first trench and selectively curing with a radiation energy the dielectric layer adjacent to the first active layer.
US08455877B2
A thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate includes a stack structure disposed to raise an extended electrode of a drain electrode of a thin film transistor. Therefore, a contact hole does need to be very deep to expose the extended electrode of the drain electrode.
US08455874B2
A method of manufacturing a display device includes forming a gate electrode on a substrate, a gate insulating layer on the gate electrode, and an active layer on the gate insulating layer, the gate electrode made of extrinsic polycrystalline silicon, the active layer made of intrinsic polycrystalline silicon; forming an etch stopper on the active layer; forming source and drain electrodes spaced apart from each other on the etch stopper; forming an ohmic contact layer each between a side of the active layer and the source electrode and between an opposing side of the active layer and the drain electrode; forming a gate line connected to the gate electrode; and forming a data line crossing the gate line.
US08455871B2
A thin film transistor array panel is provided and includes a gate line, a gate insulating layer covering the gate line, a semiconductor layer disposed on the gate insulating layer, and a data line and a drain electrode disposed on the semiconductor layer. The data line and the drain electrode have a dual-layered structure including a lower layer and an upper layer with the lower layer having a first portion protruded outside the upper layer and the semiconductor layer having a second portion protruded outside the edge of the lower layer.
US08455865B2
Compositions are provided comprising aqueous dispersions of electrically conducting organic polymers and a plurality of nanoparticles. Films cast from invention compositions are useful as buffer layers in electroluminescent devices, such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and electrodes for thin film field effect transistors. Buffer layers containing nanoparticles have a much lower conductivity than buffer layers without nanoparticles. In addition, when incorporated into an electroluminescent (EL) device, buffer layers according to the invention contribute to higher stress life of the EL device.
US08455861B2
A method of implementing bandgap tuning of a graphene-based switching device includes subjecting a bi-layer graphene to an electric field while simultaneously subjecting the bi-layer graphene to an applied strain that reduces an interlayer spacing between the bi-layer graphene, thereby creating a bandgap in the bi-layer graphene.
US08455849B2
A method and apparatus for providing a uniform UV radiation irradiance profile across a surface of a substrate is provided. In one embodiment, a substrate processing tool includes a processing chamber defining a processing region, a substrate support for supporting a substrate within the processing region, an ultraviolet (UV) radiation source spaced apart from the substrate support and configured to transmit ultraviolet radiation toward the substrate positioned on the substrate support, and a light transmissive window positioned between the UV radiation source and the substrate support, the light transmissive window having an optical film layer coated thereon. In one example, the optical film layer has a non-uniform thickness profile in a radial direction, wherein a thickness of the optical film layer at the peripheral area of the light transmissive window is relatively thicker than at the center region of the optical film layer.
US08455847B2
In an ion implanter, an ion current measurement device is disposed behind a mask co-planarly with respect to a surface of a target substrate as if said target substrate was positioned on a platen. The ion current measurement device is translated across the ion beam. The current of the ion beam directed through a plurality of apertures of the mask is measured using the ion current measurement device. In this manner, the position of the mask with respect to the ion beam as well as the condition of the mask may be determined based on the ion current profile measured by the ion current measurement device.
US08455828B1
Infrared (IR) radiation detecting and sensing systems using aligned or bundled carbon nanotubes and methods to making the same. In certain embodiments of the invention, it includes a substrate, aligned or bundled carbon nanotubes, first and second conducting interconnects each in electrical communication with the nanotubes. Bundled nanotubes can be tuned to increase the temperature coefficient of resistance to increase sensitivity to IR radiation. In addition bundled nanotubes are independent of Nyquist frequency limitations found in other IR sensors because of the lack of 1/f or flicker noise sources. These detectors can be fabricated on CMOS foundry wafers resulting in large format focal planes greater than 1000×1000 and pixel sizes only limited by photolithographic technologies. The increase in temperature coefficient of resistance claimed within results in IR detectors capable of NEDT of less than 10 mK at low cost.
US08455825B1
An imaging system allows a user to view thermal information about a scene by utilizing double-exposure holography or interferometry to determine the motion of an array of thermo-mechanical detector members.
US08455824B2
An object of the present invention relates to realizing the processing of a sample by charged particle beams and the monitoring of the processed cross-section with a high throughput. It is possible to process an accurate sample without an intended region lost even when the location and the size of the intended region are unknown by: observing a cross-sectional structure being processed by FIBs by using a secondary particle image generated from a sample by the ion beams shaving a cross section; forming at least two cross sections; and processing the sample while the processing and the monitoring of a processed cross section are carried out.
US08455820B2
A composite charged particle beams apparatus of the present invention allows a sample (5)'s cross-section or edge plane to be observed by using an electron beam (2b), the sample (5)'s cross-section or edge plane being fabricated by using an ion beam (1b). The radiation device includes a detector (7) which is capable of detecting low-loss back-scattered electrons (12) including elastically-scattered electrons (11), these electrons (12, 11) being induced by the electron beam (2b) with which the sample (5)'s cross-section or edge plane is irradiated. Moreover, it is desirable that the detector (7) be set up in a space outside an electron-beam column (2a). The above-described configuration has allowed implementation of the high-resolving-power and low-damage SEM observation of the surface information about material and composition of the sample's FIB-fabricated cross-section or edge plane. Furthermore, when detecting the low-loss back-scattered electrons (12), information about the different depths relative to the sample's surface has been also made available by selecting the energy bands of the detected electrons.
US08455816B2
A detection system comprises a housing having a sample inlet and a gas outlet, and a preconcentrator. The preconcentrator can include a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) configured to accumulate or release a dopant at selected times, and can be located inside or outside the housing. The detection system can include an ion mobility spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, or a combination thereof. A method of analyzing a substance comprises supplying a sample gas or vapor comprising the substance, accumulating a dopant in a first preconcentrator, releasing the dopant at selected times from the preconcentrator to an area containing the sample, ionizing the substance to generate detectable species, separating the detectable species, and determining the detectable species by a detection unit. The system and method allow the rapid introduction and removal of dopant to facilitate fast and accurate identification of the sample.
US08455815B2
A temperature-regulated radio frequency management system for use in a mass spectrometer is described. The temperature-regulated radio frequency management system having one or more radio frequency components disposed in a vacuum environment. The temperature-regulated radio frequency management system including a radio frequency detection circuit configured to provide feedback indicative of a radio frequency signal in one or more of the radio frequency components. In addition, the temperature-regulated radio frequency management system includes a temperature regulation circuit disposed in the vacuum environment and configured to reduce temperature-induced variations in the detection circuit.
US08455813B2
A method of assaying a solid or liquid material, the method comprising: illuminating a sample of the material with pulses of light at a plurality of different wavelengths at which atoms and/or molecules in the material are ionized in multiphoton ionization (MPI) process; generating a value responsive to charge produced in the ionization process for each wavelength to provide an MPI spectrum for the material; and processing the MPI spectrum to assay an atom or molecule in the material.
US08455811B2
An image sensor pixel that includes a photoelectric conversion unit supported by a substrate and an insulator adjacent to the substrate. The pixel includes a light guide that is located within an opening of the insulator and extends above the insulator such that a portion of the light guide has an air interface. The air interface improves the internal reflection of the light guide. Additionally, the light guide and an adjacent color filter are constructed with a process that optimizes the upper aperture of the light guide. These characteristics of the light guide eliminate the need for a microlens.
US08455801B2
Provided are a quick heating equipment that is small sized, has a simple structure, consumes less energy, and is easy repairable and replaceable, and a quick heating method. The heating equipment of a plate material to be heated has a contact-heating surface configured by arranging a plurality of heating elements on heat-insulating base plates at predetermined intervals, in a planar fashion and in a predetermined pattern and the contact-heating surface(s) is/are directly contacted with the plate material to be heated for heating thereof.
US08455789B2
An energy collector is used to assist a laser coupling process by reducing the amount of output power of a laser that is used to modify a device attaching element. The energy collector includes an energy collector tip configured to be placed proximate to a device attaching element during the laser coupling process. The energy collector tip is configured to receive laser energy reflected from the device attaching element during the laser coupling process and is formed from a material that converts this reflected energy to heat. Sufficient thermal coupling is created between the energy collector and a surface to provide a conductive pathway for the energy, which has been converted to heat, between the energy collector and the device attaching element.
US08455781B2
A low-voltage circuit breaker that comprises: a containment structure; a control mechanism; a plurality of circuit breaking poles, each of which comprises a housing containing a sealed ampoule that in turn contains at least one fixed contact and at least one moving contact, which can be mutually coupled and uncoupled, said housing consisting of a first side and a second side that define an interior containing said ampoule, the outer side wall on said first side being complementary to and associable with the outer side wall of said second side, said poles being located side-by-side to form a set of poles complementary to at least a part of said containment structure; operative connection means between said control mechanism and said poles.
US08455773B2
An apparatus for weighing containers moved by a transporting arrangement along a path in a weighing station includes a transferring arrangement for transferring containers from the transporting arrangement to the weighing station and vice versa. The transferring arrangement is driven so as to move at least a container to be weighed away from an upstream row of containers for taking at least a container to be weighed to the weighing station, maintaining the container to be weighed in the weighing station for a time necessary for detecting the weight of the container to be weighed, and moving the weighed container towards a downstream row of containers.
US08455772B2
A bracket and open back junction box assembly allows simplified wiring at a construction site. An open back junction box including a detachable and reattachable rear cover plate is pre-assembled with a plaster ring, electrical device, and leads, at a prefab facility. A Metal Clad (MC) cable may be attached to the open back junction box and wires carried in the MC Cable may be connected to the leads. A mounting bracket is generally sandwiched between the open back junction box and the plaster ring for mounting to framing members at the construction site. Following assembly at the prefab facility, the prefab open back junction box is shipped to the construction site where the bracket and open back junction box assembly is mounted to framing members. Connections to wires carried by MC Cables are then facilitated by removing the rear cover plate to access the open back junction box interior.
US08455771B2
A shielding device includes a frame, a shielding enclosure and a shaft. The frame includes sidewalls and at least one hinged portion. The shielding enclosure includes a cover and flanges extending therefrom for engagement with the sidewalls of the frame. A barrel portion is formed on the shielding enclosure and is aligned with the hinged portion. The shaft extends through the hinged portion and the barrel portion for rotatably connecting the shielding enclosure to the frame.
US08455765B2
A laminated body of the present invention includes a resin layer in which a core portion composed of a fiber base member having a thickness of 25 μm or less is embedded, the resin layer having two surfaces, and the resin layer through which at least one via-hole is adapted to be formed, and a metal layer bonded to at least one of the two surfaces of the resin layer, and the metal layer having at least one opening portion provided so as to correspond to the via-hole to be formed. Further, a method of manufacturing a substrate of the present invention includes preparing the above laminated body, forming the via-hole so as to pass through the resin layer by irradiating a laser beam onto the resin layer, and removing the metal layer from the resin layer after the via-hole is formed. Further, a substrate of the present invention is manufactured by using the above method. Furthermore, a semiconductor device of the present invention includes the above substrate, and a semiconductor element mounted on the substrate.
US08455755B2
This invention relates to a solar energy collector that converts solar radiation into both electrical and thermal energy. More specifically this invention relates to a concentrating solar energy collector with an integrated construction that minimizes cost, bulk, and weight, and maximizes overall efficiency. Typical non-concentrating solar collectors use photovoltaic cells over the entirety of their surface. These solar cells are the most expensive part of the collector. This invention discloses using a reflector to concentrate the incident radiation on photovoltaic cells with one-twentieth the area of the reflector, and transferring the co-generated thermal energy into a working fluid pumped through the cell support structure.
US08455736B2
The invention provides seed and plants of pepper hybrid PS09967922 and the parent lines thereof. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pepper hybrid PS09967922 and the parent lines thereof, and to methods for producing a pepper plant produced by crossing such plants with themselves or with another pepper plant, such as a plant of another genotype. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of such plants, including the fruit and gametes of such plants.
US08455735B2
The invention provides seed and plants of pepper hybrid PS09979325 and the parent lines thereof. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pepper hybrid PS09979325 and the parent lines thereof, and to methods for producing a pepper plant produced by crossing such plants with themselves or with another pepper plant, such as a plant of another genotype. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of such plants, including the fruit and gametes of such plants.
US08455724B2
The invention relates to the soybean variety designated A1023941. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety A1023941. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety A1023941 and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety A1023941 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US08455719B2
The invention concerns a method for improving growth characteristics of plants by increasing activity in a plant of an RNA-binding protein, which is: (i) a polypeptide having RNA-binding activity and comprising 2 or 3 RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and a motif having at least 75% identity to motif I: PYEAAVVALPVVVKERLVRILRLGIATRYD (SEQ ID NO: 12) and/or a motif having at least 50% identity to motif II: RFDPFTGEPYKFDP (SEQ ID NO: 13); or (ii) an RBP1 polypeptide having (a) RNA-binding activity; (b) two RRM domains, (c) the following two motifs: (i) KIFVGGL (SEQ ID NO: 41); and (ii) RPRGFGF (SEQ ID NO: 42), allowing for up to three amino acid substitutions and any conservative change in the motifs; and (d) having at least 20% identity to SEQ ID NO: 15. Also provided is transgenic plants introduced with an RNA-binding protein-encoding nucleic acid having improved growth characteristics and constructs useful in the methods.
US08455718B2
The present invention provides chimeric regulatory elements constructed from gene regulatory element polynucleotide molecules isolated from the Zea mays genes fructose 1-6 bisphosphate aldolase (FDA), pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK), or ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activase (RUA), useful for expressing transgenes in plants. The invention further discloses compositions, polynucleotide constructs, transformed host cells, transgenic plants and seeds comprising the chimeric gene regulatory molecules, and methods for preparing and using the same.
US08455714B2
Transgenic oilseeds having increased total fatty acid content of at least 10% and altered fatty acid profiles when compared to the total fatty acid content of null segregant oilseeds are described. Novel DGAT genes are used to achieve the increase in seed storage lipids.
US08455689B2
The present invention relates to a process for preparing substituted biphenylanilides of the formula I wherein R1 is a protected amino group which comprises reacting a compound of formula II in the presence of a base and of a palladium catalyst in a solvent, with an organoboron compound of formula (III)
US08455684B2
A method for converting an aromatic aldehyde or a mixture of aromatic aldehydes to a reaction product in a reaction medium that is free from xylene. The reaction product may be an aromatic acyl halide or a mixture of aromatic acyl halides. The method includes bringing the aromatic aldehyde or mixture of aromatic aldehydes in contact with a halogen to obtain the reaction product.
US08455679B2
A prepolymer system has a monomeric isocyanate content of no greater than about 10% by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the prepolymer system. The prepolymer system comprises a diluent component and a prepolymer component different than and separate from the diluent component. The diluent component has an excess of isocyanate (NCO) functional groups, and comprises the reaction product of a monohydric isocyanate-reactive component and an excess of a first isocyanate component. The first isocyanate component comprises monomeric isocyanates reactive with the monohydric isocyanate-reactive component. The prepolymer component also has an excess of NCO functional groups, and comprises the reaction product of a polyol component and an excess of a second isocyanate component. The prepolymer system can be used to prepare foams via reaction with water. The foams have low density and have excellent adhesion and sound dampening properties for use in cavities of automobile bodies.
US08455677B2
A methanol dehydrogenating catalyst used for production of methyl formate, which contains a copper-zinc-aluminum oxide, a phosphoric acid compound, and an alkali metal bromide, wherein the catalyst has high methyl formate selectivity and excellent durability and heat resistance; and a method of producing methyl formate by using the catalyst.
US08455664B2
The present invention relates to a process for preparing 1-alkyl-3-difluoromethyl-5-hydroxypyrazoles, which are valuable intermediates for the production of fungicides.
US08455663B2
The present invention relates to novel imidazoline derivatives and their use as insecticidal, acaricidal, molluscicidal and nematocidal agents. The invention also extends to insecticidal, acaricidal, molluscicidal and nematicidal compositions comprising such imidazoline derivatives, and to methods of using such derivatives and/or compositions to combat and control insect, acarine, mollusc and nematode pests. A compound of formula (I) and salts and N-oxides thereof, wherein: R1 is C1-10 alkyl; R2 is chloro, bromo or iodo; R3 is C2-5 alkyl, C1-5 haloalkyl, C1-6 hydroxyalkyl, C1-5alkoxy-(C1-3)-alkyl, di-(C1-5 alkoxy)-(C1-3)-alkyl, C1-5alkylthio-(C1-3)-alkyl; C1-5 alkylsulfinyl-(C1-3)alkyl; C2-5 alkenyl, C1-5 haloalkenyl, C2-5 alkinyl, C3-6 cycloalkyl, C3-6 cycloalkenyl, hydroxy, C1-5 alkoxy, C1-5haloalkoxy, C1-5alkylthio, C1-5 haloalkylthio, formyl, cyano, bromo, or iodo; Z is hydrogen, hydroxy, nitro cyano, rhodano, formyl, G-, G-S—, G-S—S—, G-A-, R7R8N—, R7R8N—S—, R7R8N-A-, G-O-A-, G-S-A-, (R10O)(R11O)P(X)—, (R10O)(R11S)P(X)—, (R10O)(R11)P(X)—, (R10S)(R11S)P(X)—, (R10O)(R14R15N)P(X)—, (R11)(R14R15N)P(X)—, (R14R15N)(R16R17N)P(X)—, G-N═CH—, G-O—N═CH—, N≡C—N═CH—, or Z is a group of formula (II), wherein B is S—, S—S—, S(O)—, C(O)—, or (CH2)n—; n is an integer from 1 to 6; and R1, R2, and R3 are as defined above; and G is optionally substituted C1-10alkyl, optionally substituted C2-10 alkenyl, optionally substituted C2-10 alkynyl, optionally substituted C3-7 cycloalkyl, optionally substituted C3-7 cycloalkenyl, optionally substituted aryl, optionally substituted heteroaryl or optionally substituted heterocyclyl; A is S(O), SO2, C(O) or C(S).
US08455661B2
Novel N-heterocyclic carbene ligand precursors, N-heterocyclic carbene ligands and N-heterocyclic metal-carbene complexes are provided. Metal-carbene complexes comprising N-heterocyclic carbene ligands can be chiral, which are useful for catalyzing enantioselective synthesis. Methods for the preparation of the N-heterocyclic carbene ligands and N-heterocyclic metal-carbene complexes are given.
US08455660B2
Novel compounds are continually sought after to treat and prevent diseases and disorders. The invention relates to 1-(sulfonyl)-N-phenylpyrrolidine-2-carboxamides which are useful for being biologically and pharmacologically screened, and to contribute to the exploration and identification of new lead molecules that are capable of modulating the functional activity of a biological target.
US08455656B2
The present invention relates to drug delivery systems comprising ocular implant, which include organic molecules, capable of modulating tyrosine kinase signal transduction in order to regulate, modulate and/or inhibit abnormal cell proliferation, in combination with a polymer, which polymer serves to control, modify, modulate and/or slow the release of the therapeutic component into the environment of the eye in which said composite is placed.
US08455654B2
A nanoscale pigment particle composition includes an organic benzimidazolone pigment, and a sterically bulky stabilizer compound, wherein the benzimidazolone pigment associates non-covalently with the sterically bulky stabilizer compound that is a substituted pyridine derivative; and the presence of the associated stabilizer limits the extent of particle growth and aggregation, to afford nanoscale pigment particles.
US08455653B2
Compounds of the formula Ia***** in which the substituents have the definitions provided in the specification, are novel, effective PDE4 inhibitors, useful in the treatment of psoriasis.
US08455643B2
A white-light organic electroluminescent material based on 8-hydroxyquinoline and the method for preparing the same, as well as an organic light emitting diode including this material. The material may be the compound represented by the Formula (IX) having a DCDC group, a 5-position substituted 8-hydroxyquinolinyl group and a carbazolyl group as red light-, green light- and blue-light emitting groups, respectively. It exhibits a spectrum having a band width of 182.4 nm that substantially covers the visible-light region, and has a color coordinate of (0.3177, 0.3946), which just locates within the white-light area. Such a material is capable of realizing a white-light emission, and may be used in a white-light OLED as a single light-emitting layer, which can decrease the number of layers of the white-light OLED and thereby improve the luminous efficiency, stabilize the light color, lower the turn-on voltage and simplify the fabrication process.
US08455635B2
An antisense molecule capable of binding to a selected target site to induce exon skipping in the dystrophin gene, as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 to 202.
US08455634B2
An antisense molecule capable of binding to a selected target site to induce exon skipping in the dystrophin gene, as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 to 202.
US08455618B2
The invention relates to melanocortin receptor-specific cyclic peptides of Formula (I) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, where R1, R2, R3, R4a, R4b, R4c, R5, x and y are as defined in the specification. These compounds are particularly useful in the treatments of energy homeostasis and metabolism related (e.g. diabetes), food intake related and/or energy balance and body weight related diseases, disorders and/or conditions, including obesity, overweight and diseases, disorders and/or conditions associated with obesity and/or overweight, such as type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
US08455614B2
Peptides are provided that have binding affinity for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The polymethyl methacrylate-binding peptides may be used to prepare peptide-based reagents suitable for use in a variety of applications. The peptide-based reagents may be used to couple benefit agents to a PMMA polymer surface or may be used to couple a benefit agent comprising a PMMA polymer surface to a target surface, such as a body surface.
US08455599B2
Low molecular weight siloxane materials having one functional group are provided which have reduced tendency to form phase separated domains after polymerization. Two classes of siloxane materials are included: (1) symmetric siloxane macromonomers containing at least two monomer termini and one polymerizable functional group which is equidistant from the termini, and (2) assymetric siloxane macromonomers having at least one polymerizable functional group terminus and at least one oxygen-containing polar hydrophilic terminus selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, ether, and polyether. Symmetric siloxane macromonomers having hydroxyl termini are useful for forming biocompatible materials, such as for contact lenses, tissue regeneration scaffold polymers, and coatings to reduce non-specific binding of proteins.
US08455598B2
In a process for producing a functionalized polyalkenamer, at least one monomer comprising a monocyclic olefin having at least one pendant alkyl group bonded thereto, wherein the pendant alkyl group has at least two carbon atoms and is substituted with a polar moiety spaced by at least one carbon atom from the monocyclic olefin, is contacted with a polymerization catalyst under conditions effective to effect ring opening polymerization of the monocyclic olefin and produce the functionalized polyalkenamer.
US08455593B2
Disclosed are: a polyorganosiloxane composition which can be cured into a product having high strength and has little influence on the environment; and a cured product of the polyorganosiloxane composition. Specifically disclosed are: a polyorganosiloxane composition comprising (A) a polyorganosiloxane in which at least one end in the molecule is modified with a silanol, (B) a titanium alkoxide in an amount of 0.01 to 2 moles relative to 1 mole of the polyorganosiloxane, and (C) an α-hydroxycarbonyl compound or a hydroxycarboxylic acid ester in an amount of 0.01 to 2 moles relative to 1 mole of the polyorganosiloxane; and a cured product of the polyorganosiloxane composition.
US08455591B2
A polyol composition comprising a polyol (a) and resin fine particles (b) dispersed in the polyol (a), and a method for producing the polyol composition are provided, wherein the resin fine particles (b) are particles such that an arithmetic standard deviation by volume of a particle size distribution of the particles, derived from respective values in 85 divisions of a range of 0.020 to 2000 μm determined by a laser diffraction/scattering particle size distribution analyzer, is not more than 0.6. A resin fine particle-dispersed polyol composition that, even if the resin particles dispersed in the polyol have a small particle diameter, allows the production of a polyurethane resin having an excellent mechanical strength such as elongation at break, and a method for producing the same, are provided.
US08455590B2
It is an object to provide a film having both high transparency and high heat resistance, and particularly a coating solution for forming a coating film from which an optical film can be produced. A triaroylbenzene-skeleton polymer in which a terminal of a polymer produced by polymerizing a compound of Formula [1] below is modified by a compound of Formula [2] below. A coating solution for forming a coating film, comprising the polymer. A film obtained from the coating solution for forming a coating film. In the formulae below, X1 is a divalent group of Formula [1a], Formula [1b], or Formula [1c] below (where Y1 and Y2 are independently a C1-2 alkylene group; n is an integer of 1 to 6; and m is an integer of 1 to 6), X2 is divalent benzene, thiophene, furan, or fluorine, and X3 is a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, CF3, a C1-6 alkoxy group, or a C1-6 alkyl group.
US08455583B2
The present invention is directed to carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composites, i.e., nanocomposites, wherein the CNTs in such nanocomposites are highly dispersed in a polymer matrix, and wherein the nanocomposites comprise a compatibilizing surfactant that interacts with both the CNTs and the polymer matrix. The present invention is also directed to methods of making these nanocomposites. In some such methods, the compatibilizing surfactant provides initial CNT dispersion and subsequent mixing with a polymer. The present invention is also directed to methods of using these nanocomposites in a variety of applications.
US08455581B2
Polymer compositions containing A) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of polycarbonate, polyester and polyester carbonate, B) optionally one or more optionally rubber-modified vinyl (co)polymers, C) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of polyether amides, polyester amides and polyether ester amides, D) at least one Brönstedt-acidic compound selected from the group consisting of organic fruit acids, inorganic acidic phosphorus compounds and compounds of formula IV wherein R9 and R10 independently of one another denote C1- to C9-alkyl, optionally substituted C5- to C6-cycloalkyl, C6- to C10-aryl or C7- to C12-aralkyl, and Y denotes S or CZ1Z2, wherein Z1 and Z2 independently of one another represent H, C1- to C6-alkyl, cyclohexenyl or cyclohexyl, and E) optionally further additives have permanent antistatic behavior and have improved heat distortion resistance, low-temperature strength, processing stability, stress cracking resistance and, in particular, hydrolytic stability.
US08455574B2
The present invention is a composite composition comprising cellulosic material in a polymeric matrix comprising a thermoplastic polymer, and at least one compatibilizing copolymer prepared from an olefin and a functional comonomer, and articles prepared from such composites. The composition of the present invention can be useful as a synthetic wood.
US08455573B2
Disclosed are curable epoxy compositions comprising imidazolium monocarboxylate salts as curing catalysts and method for curing same. The imidazolium monocarboxylate salt is suitable for use as latent catalysts that effect curing upon heating to a curing temperature threshold. The curable compositions prepared therefrom are used to prepare coated substrates, and to produce conformally sealed printed wiring boards. Of particular utility are curable compositions comprising 2-ethyl-4-methyl imidazolium monocarboxylate salts.
US08455571B2
A flame-retardant particle includes: a particle containing a compound having a structure represented by formula (1); and a coating particle that covers at least a part of a surface of the particle: -A(—O—CO—O—Ar)m (1) wherein A represents a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic group; Ar represents a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl group; and m represents an integer of 1 to 3.
US08455569B2
An non-skid coating comprising a two-part epoxy and a filler comprising particles of a thermoset resin provides a durable, low-weight, low-abrasive coating for decks and floors, especially for aircraft carrier flight decks. The coating has the further advantage of having lower heavy metal content than current aluminum-based, non-skid coatings.
US08455559B2
The invention provides a process for preparing expandable styrene polymers which comprises the steps of: (a) adding an aqueous phase comprising a suspension stabilizer and an organic phase comprising styrene and an initiator to a reactor, (b) commencing the addition of a blowing agent at a styrene conversion in the range from 40 to 70% and adding the blowing agent over a period ranging from 30 to 60 minutes, (c) adding a stabilizer to stabilize the bead size distribution of the expandable styrene polymer at a styrene conversion in the range from 65 to 99%.
US08455557B2
There are provided herein selective membranes, such as composite membranes, and/or films and processes for their preparation. The membranes and/or films have a given morphology which may be stabilized, for example against swelling and chemical degradation, by covalent crosslinking and optionally, in addition, by hydrophobization. There is provided a membrane and/or film and a process for the preparation thereof, the membrane and/or film include an ionomer and/or polyelectrolyte crosslinked through aryl-aryl (—Ar—Ar—), aryl-ether-aryl (—Ar—O—Ar—) and/or aryl-sulfide-aryl (—Ar—S—Ar—) bonds.
US08455554B2
A process for preparing a hydrosol of one or more metal oxides, e.g. titanium dioxide, comprising preparing a metal alkoxide solution in a water-miscible organic solvent, e.g. an alcohol; providing an aqueous solvent; mixing the metal alkoxide solution with the aqueous solvent in a volume or weight proportion to form a single-phase aqueous sol colloid (hydrosol) of hydrated metal oxide in absence of a non-ionic block polymer surfactant. Also disclosed is a corresponding hydrogel; water-insoluble particles encapsulated in hydrated metal oxide and a process for their encapsulation; uses of the encapsulation products.
US08455550B2
The present invention concerns compounds of general formula (1), where in:—-a- is a single or double bond, Ar is an aromatic group, substituted or unsubstituted, R1 and R2 each independently or together are: a hydrogen atom or C1-C6 alkyl group, branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted; the groups R1 and R2 may also form a heterocycle, R3 and R3′ each independently or together are a hydrogen atom or C1-C6 alkyl group, X is an oxygen atom or a sulphur atom, and the addition salts of the compounds of general formula (1) with pharmaceutically acceptable mineral acids or organic acids.
US08455546B2
A medicament for promoting proliferation of hepatocytes and liver regeneration, which comprises a polyprenyl compound such as 3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2,4,6,10,14-hexadecapentaenoic acid as an active ingredient.
US08455540B2
Gossypol and apogossypol derivatives of general formula (1), preparation thereof and use thereof.
US08455531B2
An amino acid composition is disclosed. The composition includes: at least one constituent selected from the group consisting of a nitrate, a nitrite, and both; and at least one constituent amino acid selected from the group consisting of Arginine, Agmatine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline, Creatine, Glutamine, L-Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Norvaline, Ornithine, Valine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Glycine, Lysine, Methionine, Proline, Tyrosine, and Phenylalanine. Also disclosed are a method for increasing the bioabsorption of Amino Acids in a human or animal and a method for increasing vasodilative characteristics of Amino Acids in a human or animal.
US08455509B2
The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of morphine compounds comprising a low content of α,β-unsaturated compounds, which comprises the steps of: (i) bringing the crude morphine compound into contact with a base, at a pH of greater than 13, under conditions which make possible the Michael addition reaction on the α,β-unsaturated compound(s) present; (ii) separating the morphine compound from the reaction mixture; and (iii) if appropriate, separating the addition product formed from the morphine compound. It also relates to a composition comprising at least 99% by dry weight of morphine compound or of a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and an α,β-unsaturated compound in a content of less than 100 ppm.
US08455502B2
The invention relates to the use of selective phosphodiesterase 9A (PDE9A) inhibitors for producing medicaments for improving perception, concentration, cognitive processes, learning and/or memory.
US08455493B2
Certain imidazopyrazines of Formula (I) and pharmaceutical compositions thereof are provided herein. Methods of treating patients suffering from certain diseases and disorders responsive to the inhibition of Syk activity, which comprises administering to such patients an amount of at least one chemical entity effective to reduce signs or symptoms of the disease or disorder are provided. Also provided are methods for determining the presence or absence of Syk kinase in a sample.
US08455482B2
A quinolone antibacterial compound, or a salt or hydrate of the compound, for the treatment of infectious diseases, which exhibit potent antibacterial activity and higher selective toxicity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, which do not cause side effects (e.g., convulsion), which exhibit higher safety, and which has a structure of formula (I):
US08455481B2
Process for the protection of fish and invertebrates and all their stages of development against or for the treatment of mycoses caused by fungi of the genera Saprolegnia, Aphanomyces, Achlyaflagellata and other species important in aquacultures by use of 2-[[[[1-[3-(1-fluoro-2-phenylethyl)oxy]phenyl]ethylidene]amino]oxy]methyl]alpha-(methoxyimino)-N-methyl-alphaE-benzeneacetamide, amisulbrom, cyazofamid, enestrobin, famoxadone, fenamidone, fluoxastrobin, orysastrobin, picoxystrobin and pyribencarb. This use leads to an inhibition or destruction of pathogenic fungi.The composition, comprising at least one fungicide selected from the abovementioned group for use in fish fanning and keeping is suitable for the prophylaxis and therapy of diseases of fish in aquaculture, in breeding ponds, breeding tanks, aquariums, natural stretches of game fish waters, ponds, and marine fish farms. Addition to the water and feed and direct application are the associated use forms. The addition of the composition according to the invention to the water decreases fungal infections of spawn and fish.
US08455476B2
Disclosed are compounds, compositions and methods for treating various diseases, syndromes, conditions and disorders, including pain. Such compounds are represented by Formula (I) as follows: wherein Y, Z, R1, and s are defined herein.
US08455470B2
The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition useful for treating or preventing inflammatory disease and cell damage, and a method for treating or preventing inflammatory disease and cell damage. The present invention uses the 2-hydroxybenzoic acid derivative represented by the specific chemical formula or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt. The compound of the present invention is useful for treating or preventing cell damage and inflammatory disease including gastritis, gastric ulcer, pancreatitis, colitis, arthritis, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, nephritis, hepatitis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease.
US08455458B2
The present invention provides a composition, and a method of use thereof for treating connective tissue damage in man and in animals, which comprises a therapeutically effective amount of chondroitin sulfate, N-acetyl D-glucosamine, and hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid). Particularly, the present invention provides a composition, and a method of use thereof, for treating connective tissue damage including, but not limited to, arthritic disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osterochondrosis dessicans, cartilage damage, joint injury, joint inflammation, joint synovitis, degenerative joint disease (DJD), post surgical DJD, traumatic injury, fracture, tendon damage, ligament damage, skeletal damage, musculoskeletal damage, fiber damage, adipose tissue damage, blood cell damage, and plasma damage. Compositions for delivery of the present invention include those for parenteral, oral, and transmucosal delivery and for direct surgical placement onto the affected tissues.
US08455456B2
Disclosed herein are compounds, compositions and methods for modulating DGAT-1 activity. Preferably, the expression of DGAT-1 from a nucleic acid is inhibited. Methods are provided for treating, ameliorating or treating liver fibrosis, either directly or by treating an underlying etiological factor. Preferably, the treatment, amelioration or prevention comprises administering a DGAT-1 activity modulator.
US08455453B2
The present invention provides materials and methods for preventing stenosis or restenosis of a blood vessel using Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C (VEGF-C) and/or Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor D (VEGF-D) genes or proteins.
US08455450B2
The present invention is directed to novel therapeutic uses of T-140 analog peptides and compositions comprising same. Specifically, the invention provides compositions and methods useful for providing improved bone marrow transplantation and in the treatment of other conditions wherein bone marrow depletion or suppression is involved.
US08455448B2
The present invention provides splice variants of myostatin that promote muscle growth, and include polynucleotides and polypeptide sequences, constructs comprising the sequences and compositions for regulating muscle growth and treating diseases associated with muscle tissue. The splice variants include the consensus sequence X1 I F L E X2 X3 X4 Q X5 C S I L X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 wherein X1 is I or L, X2 is V or L, X3 is Y, C, G or S, X4 is I or F, X5 is F or L, X6 is G or E, X7 is E or V, X8 is A or T, X9 is A or V and X10 is absent, F or L. The present invention also provides for the use of the present sequences in identifying animals with altered muscle mass, and for use in selective breeding programs to produce animals with altered muscle mass.
