US08480120B1
Tether clip locks garnish to vehicle body pillar, and when airbag body expands, tether clip releases garnish from vehicle body pillar without breaking garnish and prevents flying of garnish. Tether clip covers, from vehicle interior side, vehicle body pillar in which airbag body is housed, wherein tether clip locks garnish to vehicle body pillar. Tether clip includes: inner locking portion locked to pillar garnish; outer locking portion locked to vehicle body pillar; connecting portion for connecting inner locking portion and outer locking portion; and wire for tethering inner locking portion and outer locking portion to each other, wherein connecting portion is formed fragile against pressing force that is generated when airbag body presses garnish by expanding and developing, and wherein wire is wound around either inner locking portion or outer locking portion in direction around axis extending from inner locking portion to outer locking portion.
US08480108B2
A vehicle suspension lift kit includes a first suspension lift component having a first interlocking pattern, and a second suspension lift component having a second interlocking pattern. The first and second interlocking patterns are selectively engagable with one another to prevent relative motion among the first and second components along an interfacial plane. Each of the first and second suspension lift components are specifically configured to be employed individually or in combination between a vehicular suspension and a vehicular axle to provide a selected extent of suspension lift.
US08480106B1
A dual suspension system includes a chassis, a suspension arm rotatably connected to the chassis, a wheel connection connected coupled to the suspension arm, a first lock connected to the chassis and the suspension arm, and a second lock connected between a differential housing and the chassis. The first and second locks each have an unlocked state and a locked state. When the first lock is unlocked, and the second lock is locked, the vehicle substantially provides independent suspension. When the first lock is locked, and the second lock is unlocked, the vehicle substantially provides solid axle suspension.
US08480100B2
The shower chair/walker combination incorporates the features of a walker and a shower chair into a single appliance. The appliance includes a folding walker having a pivoted seat thereon. The seat is of a split toilet seat design, having a gap at its front end. This feature allows a caregiver to have access to all parts of the patient's body to assure complete bathing. The appliance is provided with brakes and controls therefor, as is conventionally provided for walkers. All moving parts are either covered to prevent rusting or fabricated from rust-resistant materials.
US08480099B2
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for adjusting the toe angle in the wheels of a solid non-steering axle and especially to a method and apparatus for bending a vehicle's solid or non-steering axle housing, such as the solid rear axle of a vehicle or an axle of a semi-trailer, to align the toe angle of the wheels mounted on the solid axle.
US08480086B2
A gaming machine including: a cabinet having a display portion which displays information relating to a game, and an operation portion for a player to carry out an operation of the game on a front surface thereof, a light emitting portion which is provided at a position further above the display portion provided on an upper portion of the cabinet, and a lens barrel which intercepts at least some of light heading toward a player who operates the operation portion from among light emerging from a light source provided on the light emitting portion.
US08480081B2
The skew feeding amount of a sheet front end is calculated according to the difference between timings when activation sensors detect the sheet front end, and the skew feeding amount of the sheet side edge is calculated according to the difference between side edge positions of the sheet detected by the first side registration detection sensor or the second side registration detection sensor. Further, whether a sheet is a rectangular sheet or a non-rectangular sheet is determined before skew feeding of the sheet is corrected, and, when the sheet is determined to be a rectangular sheet, the skew feeding correcting portion is controlled based on one of the sheet side edge skew feeding amount and sheet front end skew feeding amount and the skew feeding correcting portion is controlled based on the sheet side edge skew feeding amount when the sheet is determined to be a non-rectangular sheet.
US08480078B2
A sheet collecting apparatus includes a sheet discharge outlet for sequentially carrying out a sheet, a sheet collecting device to load and store the sheet from the sheet discharge outlet, a stopper device for regulating a front end position of the sheet loaded on the sheet collecting device, a stopper driving device for shifting a position of the stopper device, and a carry-in guide member for guiding the sheet from the sheet discharge outlet onto an uppermost sheet collected on the sheet collecting device. The carry-in guide member includes a pivot point, a slide-contact guide surface that swings on the pivot point corresponding to a load amount of the sheet collecting device to guide a sheet front end fed from the sheet discharge outlet onto the uppermost sheet, and a sheet pressing portion continued to the slide-contact guide surface and pressing the uppermost sheet on the sheet collecting device.
US08480075B2
An image forming apparatus having a pickup roller rotated to pick up a printing medium. The image forming apparatus includes support members operated in connection with the rotation of the pickup roller, and the pickup of the printing medium is carried out under the condition that both sides of the printing medium are supported by the support members. The image forming apparatus thereby prevents jams generated in the process of picking up a deformed printing medium.
US08480073B1
A sheet feeder includes: an attracting and separating device disposed above a leading end portion in a sheet-feeding direction of a sheet stack, attracting and holding an uppermost sheet of the sheet stack with electrostatic force and separating the uppermost sheet from the sheet stack, a sheet loading device carrying the sheet stack, and including a first bottom plate carrying a rear-side portion of the sheet stack and a second bottom plate separated from the first bottom plate and carrying the leading end portion of the sheet stack below the attracting and separating device; and a lifting device lifting and lowering the sheet loading device, and including a first lifting device lifting and lowering the first bottom plate and a second lifting device lifting and lowering the second bottom plate to move the leading end portion of the sheet stack toward and away from the attracting and separating device.
US08480066B2
This disclosure includes a system for aligning an unmounted head gimbal assembly (HGA) comprising a platform for a base plate of the HGA. The platform defines an X-Y plane. The system further comprises a compliant alignment pin extending beyond the platform in a Z-dimension perpendicular to the X-Y plane. The compliant alignment pin includes a tapered portion having a maximum diameter larger than a diameter of a boss hole in the base plate of the HGA. The compliant alignment pin is deflectable in the Z-dimension to allow the base plate of the HGA to register with the platform. The system further comprises a second alignment pin extending beyond the platform in the Z-dimension. The second alignment pin is configured to register with an HGA reference feature of the HGA when the boss hole of the HGA registers with the compliant alignment pin to precisely align the HGA relative to the compliant alignment pin and the second alignment pin.
US08480064B2
A bicycle can include a suspension system with a shock absorber. The shock absorber can have a sag position which can be adjustable. Sag refers to the amount of movement experienced by the suspension under a static load, such as that of the weight of a rider. Methods and systems to set sag can include at least one valve in fluid communication with a gas chamber of the shock absorber. In some embodiments, the at least one valve can be used to automatically set the sag position based on an individual's weight and riding position.
US08480050B2
A base assembly removably and adjustably receives a tool and includes a base and a wall extending outwardly from the base. First and second openings are disposed in the wall. First and second cutouts are disposed in the wall to receive the tool. A pivot pin is removably received by the first and second openings. The tool is removably disposed on the pivot pin. A locking ring is disposed on the pivot pin. The locking ring is in a locked position to prevent movement of the pivot pin and in an unlocked position to allow movement of the pivot pin, thereby allowing the tool to be easily moved between positions and securely locked in a desired position.
US08480046B2
A bracket for mounting an expansion card to different slots of enclosures is disclosed. The bracket includes a base for attaching the expansion card thereon, a pair of rails attached on the base, a sliding element being slidably connected between the rails, a connecting element fixed to the sliding element and a locking element slidably connected to the sliding element. The sliding element is movable on the base between at a first position where the connecting element is received in the base and a second position where the connecting element is spaced from the base. The locking element is movable relative to the sliding element to fix the sliding element to the base or release the sliding element from the base.
US08480033B2
A method and apparatus for thermally decoupling fuel from an airframe structure is provided. In some aspects, an apparatus may include a bladder wall having stratified refractory fabric and refractory metal, and a sealant coating an internal surface of the bladder wall. The bladder wall may be configured to maintain an internal surface temperature of 300° F. or less when exposed to an external surface temperature of at least 500° F.
US08480028B2
An arrangement is provided for de-icing pipeline connections of an aircraft, which are connected to all fresh air outlets of an air conditioner, whose construction includes, but is not limited to the functions of multiple turbines and heat exchangers, having a first pipeline, which is connected to a first turbine, and a second pipeline, which is connected to a second turbine, the two pipelines, which are each connected downstream from the two turbines and to which process air is fed at the turbine outlets, being connected at the pipe ends and being continued using a third pipeline. The arrangement is characterized in that a first hot air source is fed hot fresh air from a bleed air system of the aircraft and is connected at its outlet to a fourth pipeline, into which temperature-reduced fresh air is fed from the hot air source. The fourth pipeline is connected at its pipe end to two further valve-regulated pipelines, of which a fifth or a sixth pipeline is connected to the first or the second pipeline, and through which temperature-reduced fresh air is transported and fed valve-regulated to the first and/or second pipeline.
US08480027B2
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a storage module is stated that is positioned in a region between two frame elements of an aircraft and that can be moved to a folded-out state. The storage unit forms part of a crew rest compartment in an aircraft.
US08480013B2
The invention provides an improved miniature spray device (100) for providing uniform water distribution over a designated area surrounding the device (100). The spray device (100) comprises a spray plate (130) which is provided with a water dispersion surface (131) which is preferably cone shaped, a water outlet (120) for directing a stream of water from a pressurized source towards a central region of the spray plate (130), a support frame (150) for holding the spray plate (130) in spaced apart relation to and in alignment with the water outlet (120), wherein the water dispersion surface (131) is provided with flow deflection means (132, 133, 134) for changing the direction of flow of the water as it flows over the surface (131) to produce a substantially uniformly distributed spray pattern.
US08480012B2
A system and method are provided for selectively containing and dispensing a predetermined liquid material in and from a source container in failsafe manner, wherein a housing is disposed to receive a pressurized fluid stream, and a selectively operable valve assembly is disposed in a flow path defined in the housing. The housing includes an inlet, an outlet, and an intermediate portion extending therebetween, which is formed with an admission port for admitting the predetermined liquid material. The valve assembly is disposed between the housing's inlet and outlet, and may be selectively operated to alternatively open and close access of the predetermined liquid material into the housing. The valve assembly is operably actuated responsive at least in part to the pressurized fluid stream in the flow path, whereby admission of the predetermined liquid material into said housing is keyed by introduction of the pressurized fluid stream into the flow path.
US08480004B2
A fluid system is provided comprising: a heater having an inlet and an outlet; a storage vessel; storage vessel heating means for heating the fluid in the storage vessel; a mixing valve having a first inlet for receiving fluid to be heated from a fluid supply, a second inlet for receiving fluid from the storage vessel, and an outlet for supplying fluid to the inlet of the heater; and a controller wherein the controller is arranged to monitor the heater's performance and to operate the mixing valve to blend the fluid from the fluid supply with fluid from the storage vessel, for example, when a demand on the heater exceeds a threshold value.
US08479996B2
The present disclosure concerns a bar code reader 10 that can both interpret bar codes and determine a feature of a target object 230 not having a bar code affixed thereto. The bar code reader includes a housing including one or more transparent windows H, V and defining a housing interior region. As a target object is swiped or presented in relation to the transparent windows an image of the target object is captured. A camera C1-C6 has an image capture sensor array positioned within the housing interior region for capturing an image of a bar code within a camera field of view. An image processing system has a processor for decoding a bar code carried by the target object. If the target object has no bar code, the image processing system determines a feature such as a dimension of the target object from images captured by the imaging system.
US08479995B2
A hybrid optical code scanner and system are presented for improving an operators scanning performance. The scanning performance is improved by providing a visual indicator to the operator that identifies the optimal location for presenting an optical code to an imaging scanner in the hybrid optical code scanner.
US08479991B2
There is provided an illumination setting support apparatus that enables a user to easily set an optimal lighting pattern while visually checking. A schematic diagram of the illumination unit is displayed in the setting screen, so that clicking on a desired area inside this schematic diagram allows the arbitrary area to be selected from eight areas in the circumferential row of the “outermost circumference” of the external illumination unit. Lighting pattern information is transmitted to a bar code reader and is transferred to the external illumination unit. Imaging is performed while executing illumination control in accordance with the lighting pattern to thereby immediately display a live image on a PC.
US08479990B2
A portable data collection apparatus includes an apparatus body and a retaining element arranged for connecting said apparatus body to a hand of a user, the retaining element being so shaped as to enable said apparatus body to rotate between a position in which the apparatus body is in contact with the palm of the hand and a further position in which the palm is free of the apparatus body, in the further position the apparatus body being supported by the hand by means of the retaining element.
US08479987B2
A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity.
US08479982B1
A banking system operates to provide vault access responsive to authorizing data read from data bearing records. The system selectively permits authorized individuals to access safety deposit boxes located in an interior area of the vault. An individuals's personal mobile device can wirelessly communicate user identifying data to a data reader of the system. A system data store includes data corresponding to authorized users of the vault. A system computer operates to cause a vault gate lock to electronically change from a locked condition to an unlocked condition in response to the data reader wirelessly receiving from the personal mobile device, user identifying data associated in the system data store with an authorized user of the vault.
US08479976B2
An automated banking machine (10) includes a mechanism for accepting deposited items. Items deposited into the machine through a deposit inlet (44) pass through a deposit transport (48) in which properties of the deposited item such as thickness are measured and indicia corresponding to the sensed properties are recorded on the deposited item. The deposited item is stored in a storage area (50) in the machine. Each deposited item is subsequently removed from the machine and the content thereof compared to the indicated value for the item input to the machine by the person making the deposit. The data corresponding to the indica recorded on the deposited item is usable to determine if the deposited item had content which may correspond to the value indicated at the time of deposit, and the user's account may be credited accordingly.
US08479971B2
A method of welding that realizes enhancements of airtightness and watertightness at weld area and a method of welding and method of friction stir welding that attain an enhancement of welding operation efficiency/speed. There is provided a method of welding including the first primary welding step of carrying out a friction stir welding on the abutting portion (J1) of metal members (1,1) from the surface (12) side of metal member (1) and the second primary welding step of carrying out a friction stir welding on the abutting portion (J1) from the reverse face (13) side of the member (1), wherein in the second primary welding step, the friction stir welding is performed while penetrating a stirring pin (B2) of rotation tool (B) in plasticized region (W1) formed in the first primary welding step.
US08479970B2
Provided is high corrosion resistant equipment for a plant having the lining structure which exhibits high reliability against breaking of a joining portion over a long use period. The high corrosion resistant equipment for a plant includes a lining plate and a support portion which are made of a high corrosion resistance material and a structural material portion made of a steel material or the like. The lining plate and the support portion include a joining portion to which friction stirring is applied. The support portion is assembled into or fastened to the structural material portion by means of the geometrical structure with a gap interposed between the support portion and the structural material portion. Due to such a constitution, high corrosion resistant equipment for a plant having the lining which exhibits high reliability can be acquired.
US08479964B2
One aspect according to the present invention includes a fuel cell battery system including a fuel cell battery assembly and a fuel gas tank. A suction device is driven by a motor and capable of producing flow of air for collecting dust. The motor can receive the supply of power from the fuel cell battery assembly. The fuel cell battery system, the motor and the suction device are assembled within a case.
US08479959B2
A device for lifting, supporting, transporting and unloading a kayak, comprising, engagement means for releasably and securely engaging the coaming of the kayak support means for stably supporting the engagement means and engaged kayak on an individual's shoulders and rotation means in engagement with the support means and the engagement means adapted to rotate the engagement means relative to the support means.
US08479936B2
The present invention provides an enhanced water product, wherein a solid dosage product is conveyed with a bottle of water in an attached dosage cup. The attachment is achieved with a novel frangible feature that flexes out of the way during a simplified snap-on assembly. The feature breaks away when any attempt is made to separate the dosage cup from bottle, thus rendering the product safe from malicious tampering. In an alternate embodiment, the dosage cup is used to measure any liquid product.
US08479932B2
A tension rod comprising in its preferred form an outer tube and an inner tube in a telescoping arrangement. The outer tube has an expansion joint structure which can engage the inner surface of the outer tube to hold it in place. A spring stem-wedge-rod structure has a wedge portion with a threaded rod extending therefrom for being threaded through a nut held in the expansion rod structure. The spring stem-wedge-rod structure has a stem extending through a coil spring, and a spring retainer is fixed both to the stem and to the inner tube. Twisting of the inner tube causes the wedge portion to effect the expansion joint structure to be fixed in the outer tube, and the coil spring provides the tension to mount the tension rod between a pair of opposing wall surfaces.
US08479927B2
A merchandising display using pegs mounted on peg board slopes the pegs downwardly from back to front and has a product retaining bar disposed below the pegs a distance calculated to engage the bottom of products displayed on the pegs. The merchandising display pegs are sloped at an angle calculated to allow gravity to draw products from the back of the peg to the front of the peg as products are removed while the bar engaging the bottom of the products maintains the forward most product at the optimum display angle for purchasers.
US08479925B2
A display for a shelving unit of the type having a bay defined in part by lower and upper horizontal supports that comprises a first rail mounted on the lower horizontal support and a second rail mounted on the upper horizontal support. A body is disposed between the first and second rails. The body is in free moving contact with the first rail and the second rail such that the body is freely movable along the length of the rails. The body supports a user interface device. The display of the invention may be used where the user interface controls the functions of a co-located machine.
US08479923B2
Process for the selective separation, and for the simultaneous increase in purity, of two spent, fragmented, synthetic organic materials having different densities, mixed together or mixed with various contaminating materials to be eliminated, by means of dense aqueous media, each aqueous medium of which has a chosen density “ds” as threshold for separating said organic materials and contaminants, characterized in that the process comprises: a) a step of separating the mixture into two streams, a supernatant stream (a1) and a settled stream (a2); b) a step of separating the components of the supernatant stream (a1), by eliminating the supernatant fraction and collecting the settled fraction formed from the fragments of the first recyclable spent synthetic organic material; c) a step of separating the components of the settled stream (a2) by collecting the supernatant fraction and eliminating the settled fraction; and d) a step of separating the components of the supernatant stream by eliminating the supernatant fraction and collecting the settled fraction formed from the fragments of the second recyclable spent synthetic organic material.
US08479922B2
One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a shielding apparatus including a double-lined container having an outer pocket and an inner pocket mounted within the outer pocket. The inner and outer pockets each form an enclosure having a continuous closed edge interrupted by an opening. The continuous closed edge of the outer pocket is adjacent the continuous closed edge of the inner pocket, and the opening of the outer pocket is adjacent the opening of the inner pocket. The adjacent openings are interconnected and include a device for simultaneously opening and closing the interconnected adjacent openings. A first plurality of stitches and folds are included in the continuous closed edge of the inner pocket and a second plurality of stitches and folds are included in the continuous closed edge of the outer pocket.
US08479906B2
A clutch device comprises an engine-side input hub (6) including a driver disk (10) and a cutout (70), a transmission-side output hub (46) adapted to be indirectly coupled to the engine-side input hub (6), a fastener (68) for axially fixing the transmission-side output hub (46) to a transmission shaft (60) and adapted to be accessed for actuation through the cutout (70) after the engine-side input hub is indirectly coupled to the transmission-side output hub, and a cup-shaped stopper (72) for opening and closing the cutout (70) and, in an installed state, has a guide section (108) that projects in an axial direction out of the cutout (70) and can be supported in an end-side depression (110) of an engine output shaft (5).
US08479904B2
A device for setting the torque transferred from a primary shaft to a secondary shaft by a friction clutch comprises a supporting element and an axially displaceable adjusting element which is rotatable with respect to the supporting element and which is operatively connected to the friction clutch for the actuation of the latter, the adjusting element comprising a toothed ring, and the supporting element and adjusting element cooperating via coupling elements in such a way that a rotation of the adjusting element in relation to the supporting element brings about an axial displacement of the adjusting element in relation to the supporting element. The device comprises a linearly displaceable rack element which is in engagement with the toothed ring of the adjusting element, and an electrically activatable linear drive arrangement for the controlled displacement of the rack element.
US08479899B2
Disclosed is a damper that is easy to mount and capable of attenuating to a sufficient degree a vibration generated by an electronic component; also disclosed are an electronic component and an electronic apparatus that are provided with such a damper. A mounting insertion portion is provided with a hard portion maintaining the configuration of the mounting insertion portion.
US08479892B2
An aircraft wheel brake assembly has a housing for attachment to the landing gear of an aircraft, a friction plate in non-rotational sliding engagement with the housing, an actuated plate for non-rotational sliding engagement with an aircraft wheel, an aircraft brake actuator comprising, a first shaft for connection to a drive source, the first shaft defining a first axis, and, a second shaft for connection to, and actuation of, the brake assembly, the second shaft defining a second axis substantially perpendicular to the first axis, in which the first shaft and second shaft are connected in driving engagement by a ball-worm gear.
US08479890B2
An actuating assembly, including a rotatable core and an electric drive for driving the rotatable core are disclosed. The rotatable core is arranged for engagement with a cable disposed within a pair of conduit sections and the cable can connect with a pair of actuatable devices. The rotatable core is arranged to be operable to pull the cable on each side of the core upon rotation thereof in a first direction, and to extend the cable on each side of the core upon rotation thereof in a second direction. The assembly further includes a pair of reaction abutments disposed on opposite sides of the rotatable core and to which a respective end of each conduit section can be connected. The assembly is arranged to be fixedly mounted and the reaction abutments are mounted for movement relative to the rotatable core for equalisation of cable load transmitted through the conduit sections.
US08479886B2
A lubrication-condition detector detects a lubricant shortage of a target portion that repeats a predetermined operation at a predetermined cycle. The lubrication-condition detector includes: a physical-quantity measuring unit for continuously measuring a physical quantity related to the target portion; and a computer for determining a presence of a lubricant shortage based on the physical quantity. The computer includes: a cycle extractor for extracting a cycle datum per an operational cycle from continuous data including the physical quantity and its measuring time; a representative-value calculator for calculating a representative value for each of plural cycle data; and determining unit for determining a presence of a lubricant shortage based on the plural representative values.
US08479879B2
The expandable chamber acoustic silencer may be installed at the inlet or outlet of virtually any mechanism that processes air or other gas flow therethrough, to reduce the audible output of the gas flow. The silencer may be used to reduce the noise produced in an air conditioning system, in the inlet or outlet side of an air compressor, or as a muffler for an internal combustion engine, among other applications. The device includes an expansion chamber having adjustable walls driven by actuators installed within the walls to adjust the cross-sectional area of the chamber, with a portion of the walls being formed of a flexible or resilient material to enable such expansion and retraction. One or more microphones are installed at the outlet and/or inlet ends of the silencer and communicate with a controller that operates the actuators in accordance with a predetermined algorithm.
US08479877B2
A gas-turbine exhaust cone has an outer wall with a plurality of recesses, a honeycomb-structured layer arranged at the inside of the outer wall and extending along said inside of the outer wall, an inner wall connected to the honeycomb structure and extending essentially parallel to the outer wall, and at least one annular chamber centered on a central axis and adjoining the inner wall. The inner wall has passage recesses connecting the area of the honeycomb structure to the annular chamber, with the annular chamber being subdivided in the circumferential direction by at least one partition wall into several chambers. The partition wall is made from a sheetmetal-like material and has a plurality of raised and/or recessed areas in a uniform arrangement formed by shaping of the sheetmetal-like material.
US08479868B2
A front cross frame portion (12) is connected to a front cross member (27) provided at a connecting portion (26) between a front floor (6) and a vertical wall portion (7). A rear cross frame portion (13) is fixed to a rear cross member (28) extending along a lower surface side of a rear floor (8) in a vehicle width direction above a differential (16). Thereby, the longitudinal length of a subframe (9) is shortened, the stiffness of the subframe (9) is increased, and the space behind the rear cross frame portion (13) is increased.
US08479866B2
An operational pedal support structure of an automotive vehicle comprises a fixed pedal support member on the side of a dash panel, a swing pedal support member, a pedal body supported at the swing pedal support member via a first pivotal axis, a holding portion to allow a downward move of the first pivotal axis only in case the rotational lever rotates, and a pressing portion provided at the rotational lever so as to press down the swing pedal support member. The pressing portion is positioned in front of the second pivotal axis. Accordingly, the operational pedal support structure of an automotive vehicle equipped with a means mechanism for compulsively moving down the pedal at the vehicle frontal collision, which can be made compact and simple with a high reliability, can be provided.
US08479865B2
A golf cart safety apparatus in accordance with the principles of the present invention reduces the incidence of injured protruding limbs A safety pedal is provided that prevents the golf cart from operating unless engaged. The safety pedal comprises a hinge, a “kill switch”, and a platform upon which an occupant's foot can rest. The hinge is secured to a floor of the golf cart and the platform. The “kill switch”, which prevents the golf cart from operating unless depressed, is operably associated with the platform. Because the foot of the occupant must engage the safety pedal in order to disable the “kill switch”, the occupant's leg must be properly positioned inside the golf cart. Thus, a golf cart safety apparatus in accordance with the principles of the present invention reduces the incidences of golf cart injuries.
US08479851B2
An electric drive module for a motor vehicle includes an electric motor assembly having a cartridge housing containing a stator, a rotor, and a rotor shaft. The rotor shaft is supported by the cartridge housing. The electric motor assembly is positioned within an axle housing. A reduction unit includes an input member being driven by the rotor shaft and includes an output member driven at a reduced speed relative to the input member. A differential assembly includes an input driven by the output member, a first differential output driving a first output shaft, and a second differential output driving a second output shaft.
US08479846B2
Earth-boring tools comprise a face and a plurality of cutting elements disposed on at least a portion of the face. An impact material is positioned on at least one portion of a body and has a relative exposure equal to or greater than at least some of the cutting elements of the plurality of cutting elements. The impact material comprises a material having a lower abrasion resistance than the body. Methods of making and methods of using such earth-boring tools.
US08479842B2
The present disclosure provides for a garden auger comprising a shank and an auger body. The auger body comprises a leading end and a trailing end including a space therebetween. The auger body is substantially radial including at least two legs connecting the trailing end and the leading end. The leading end has a cutter including a plurality of teeth forming a cutting diameter. The plurality of teeth each have a tip extending from the leading end, wherein the tips form a plane that is substantially perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the garden auger. The auger body is attached to the shank to prevent rotation therebetween. The shank comprises an attachment portion for attachment to a drill motor.
US08479841B2
An assembly for drilling and logging includes a device for electro pulse drilling (EPD device), at least one device to receive acoustic signals generated by the EPD device, distinguished in that the assembly further includes at least one device to receive electromagnetic signals generated by the EPD device. A method for drilling and logging, and device for electro pulse drilling.
US08479839B1
A tool supporting bar for supporting tools on an implement is disclosed and comprises an elongated tubular perimeter wall defining an interior and including a side wall portion. The bar includes a reinforcing wall located in the interior of the perimeter wall and mounted on the perimeter wall in a manner effective to increase bending resistance of the perimeter wall to a force applied in a direction normal to a plane of one of the side wall portion. A method of forming a tool bar comprises providing an elongated tubular perimeter wall defining an interior and including a one side wall portion; positioning a reinforcing wall in the interior of the perimeter wall; and mounting the reinforcing wall on the perimeter wall in a manner effective to increase bending resistance of the perimeter wall to a force applied in a direction normal to a plane of the side wall portion.
US08479836B2
A machine for aerating soil has a frame. A gear box is attached to the frame. A crank assembly is driven by the gear box. A parallel arm is pivotally attached to the crank assembly by a crank arm and is pivotally attached to the frame. A tine assembly arm is pivotally attached to the frame and is pivotally attached to the parallel arm at a fixed point. A rigid tine holder is pivotally attached to the tine assembly arm and is pivotally attached to the parallel arm and extends beyond the parallel arm.The connection of the tine assembly arm, parallel arm and tine holder to the crank assembly ensure that the tines are driven straight into the soil. The lack of arc ensures that the turf surface is minimally disturbed.
US08479832B2
An embodiment of an assembly for setting an inflatable packer within a wellbore comprises a coiled tubing, an inflatable packer to be set in a wellbore, a back pressure valve, and a drain valve operable to allow fluid flow therepast and prevent inadvertent inflation of the inflatable packer.
US08479830B2
Apparatus and a method for deploying a wireline tool in a borehole. The apparatus comprises a wireline cable which is connected at a first end at the surface and is releasably connected at a second end to a first end of an umbilical cable via a first connection means. A second end of the umbilical cable is releasably connected to the logging head of a wireline tool via a first latching means, wherein the logging head provides for mechanical and electrical connection between the wireline tool and the wireline cable via the umbilical cable. The umbilical cable is surrounded by umbilical pipe downhole, and the logging head also provides for mechanical and hydraulic connection between the umbilical pipe and the wireline tool. The wireline tool is releasable from connection with the umbilical cable by a release means in the first latching means, and is capable of being pulled through the first latching means and through the umbilical pipe so that it is retrievable from the borehole.
US08479820B2
In one embodiment, a heat dissipating apparatus includes a chassis positionable within a housing of a downhole tool. The heat dissipating apparatus also includes a heat sink coupled to the chassis and a displacement mechanism coupled to the heat sink. The displacement mechanism is actuatable to move the heat sink, with respect to the chassis, between a first position and a second position such that in the first position the heat sink is radially retracted toward the chassis to form a gap between the heat sink and the housing and such that in the second position the heat sink is radially extended from the chassis to contact the housing.
US08479817B2
A system for curing lost circulation is made of fibers and a material able to stick fibers in a network when activated. Such activation can be temperature or pH change or both. The fibers can be metallic amorphous fibers, metallic non-amorphous fibers, glass fibers, carbon fibers, polymeric fibers and combinations thereof. The material can be a fiber coating or an additional material, for example polyvinyl alcohol, polyurethane and heat activated epoxy resin.
US08479810B2
Downhole apparatus comprises a base pipe and a plurality of non-concentric pressure deformable chambers mounted externally on the pipe. The chambers may be inflated to increase the diameter of the apparatus and engage and support a surrounding bore wall.
US08479808B2
Apparatuses for restricting fluid flow through a well conduit comprise a tubular member having a radially expandable seat member disposed within the tubular member. The radially expandable seat member comprises one or more arcuate members, each having first and second ends. The radially expandable seat member comprises a first position in which the first and second ends are disposed relative to each other to provide a first inner diameter opening through the radially expandable seat member for receiving a plug element, and a second position in which the first and second ends are moved radially outward relative to one another to provide a second inner diameter opening through the radially expandable seat member, the second inner diameter being greater than the first inner diameter thereby facilitating the plug element passing through the radially expandable seat member.
US08479806B2
An improved two-phase micro-channel heat sink has a plurality of flow micro-channels extending in parallel in a longitudinal direction for accommodating a flow of liquid coolant therein, and a plurality of cross-connected micro-channels extending in parallel in a transverse direction formed at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction for cross-connecting with the flow micro-channels. The cross-connected micro-channels enable a uniform pressure field to be maintained for two-phase flow boiling of liquid coolant in the heat sink. In a preferred embodiment, the heat sink contains flow micro-channels with width of 100 μm, wall thickness of 100 μm, and height of 600 μm, and cross-connected micro-channels of similar width and height cut at 1 mm intervals along the flow direction.
US08479805B2
A heat-dissipating assembly includes a body and a bottom plate. The body has a heat-absorbing portion. The interior of the heat-absorbing portion is provided with a chamber covered by the bottom plate. The chamber has an evaporating region for generating a high pressure, and a condensing region for generating a low pressure. The pressure gradient between the evaporating region and the condensing region is used to drive the circulation of liquid/vapor phase of a working fluid. With this structure, heat can be conducted rapidly without providing any wick structure.
US08479799B2
The invention relates to a louver blind having louvers (1) that can be pivoted about a vertical axis, displaceably held at both ends thereof by louver holders (2) extending beyond the louver width between an upper and a lower guide track (3). The louver holders (2) are hereby connected to each other by carriages (4) displaceable in the guide tracks (3) and aligned in parallel to each other, and can be pivoted by synchronously driven drive device disposed in the carriages (4). In order to make the installation of the louver blind—or optionally the removal thereof—easier, according to the invention, decoupleable permanent magnets (16, 18) are provided for connecting between the louver mounts (2) and the carriages (4). Said arrangement has the further advantage that the connections can automatically release when critical tension or rotational forces are exceeded, so that damage can be prevented in the connecting parts.
US08479793B2
The present invention provides a tire with a belt having relatively high durability by improving fatigue resistance of cords at end portions of a circumferential belt layer, in particular, and especially proposes a radial tire for heavy load, having a relatively small aspect ratio. For this purpose, the present invention provides a tire having a carcass as a skeleton provided in a toroidal shape over a pair of bead portions, a belt disposed on the outer side in the radial direction of the carcass, and a tread disposed on the outer side in the radial direction of the belt, the belt including: at least one layer of circumferential belt layer disposed on the outer side in the radial direction of a crown portion of the carcass and formed of a number of cords extending along the equatorial plane of the tire and coating rubber thereon; and at least two layers of slant belt layers disposed on the circumferential belt layer and each formed of a number of cords extending in a direction inclined with respect to the equatorial plane O of the tire and coating rubber thereon, characterized in that: a width of the circumferential belt layer is no less than 60% of the total width of the tire; a width of at least one of the slant belt layers is wider than the width of the circumferential belt layer; and modulus of elasticity of first cords disposed on an end portion side in the widthwise direction of the circumferential belt layer is lower than modulus of elasticity of second cords disposed on the inner side in the widthwise direction of the first cords.
US08479788B2
Tire comprising at least one carcass-type reinforcing structure anchored on each side of said tire in a bead whose base is intended to be mounted on a rim seat, each of said beads extending generally radially outwardly in the form of sidewalls, the sidewalls being connected radially towards the outside to a tread, the carcass-type reinforcing structure extending circumferentially from the bead towards said sidewall, a crown reinforcing structure, each of the beads also comprising an anchoring region for holding the reinforcing structure in place, wherein said tread comprises an inner layer of substantially incompressible rubbery material and an outer layer of compressible rubbery foam wherein: the foam expansion ratio is greater than 50%; the thickness of the layer is greater than 2.0 mm and preferably greater than 4 mm; and the outer layer has a Shore A hardness of less than 30 and preferably of between 10 and 20 Shore A.
US08479784B2
A filling line for filling a number of containers. The filing line may include a continuous conveyor, one or more micro-ingredient dosers positioned about the continuous conveyor, and one or more macro-ingredient stations positioned along the continuous conveyor.
US08479779B2
A filling method for filling a reservoir (10) of variable working volume with a fluid, the method being characterized in that the reservoir (10) is firstly emptied of any content, such that its working volume is substantially zero, and the fluid is then injected into the reservoir, thereby increasing the working volume of the reservoir (10).
US08479777B2
Flexible reinforced rubber hose adapted for conveying fluids under low temperatures and high pressures. The hose includes a inner tube formed of an acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) or other low temperature rubber compound having an elastic modulus of not greater than about 8.4 MPa (1200 psi), and an outer jacket formed of a chloroprene rubber (CR) or other low temperature rubber compound having a durometer of not greater than about 75 Shore A.
US08479776B2
A flexible garden hose having an inner tube member made from elastic material and an outer tube member made from a non-elastic material. The inner tube member is secured to the outer tube member only at an inlet coupler and an outlet coupler. The inlet coupler is constructed to secure to a water supply provided from a conventional household water spigot. The outlet coupler is coupled to a flow restrictor allowing the inner tube member to equalize in pressure with pressurized water received from the water supply. Pressurized water expands the elongated inner tube member longitudinally along a length of the inner tube member and laterally across a width of the inner tube member thereby substantially increasing the length of the hose to an expanded condition wherein the hose contracts to a substantially decreased length when there is a decrease in pressurized water.
US08479772B2
A diverter valve receives fluid from an inlet port. A camshaft is rotated within a housing to slide a cam follower along an axis to regulate fluid flow to an outlet port when the camshaft is rotated. The housing provides an inlet port and first and second outlet ports. The camshaft includes a cam lobe that is offset relative to a rotational axis of the camshaft. The cam follower is supported on the cam lobe and is movable along a longitudinal axis to selectively block at least one of the first and second ports. In one embodiment, first and second cam followers are used to selectively block outlet ports that are arranged approximately 90 degrees from one another. The first and second cam followers move in first and second directions transverse to one another. In another embodiment, a single cam follower is used to regulate flow through two outlet ports that are arranged approximately 180 degrees from one another.
US08479771B2
An exemplary embodiment of a diverter valve system includes a valve body defining an internal chamber having at least first, second and third ports, and a first valve seat associated with the first port and a second valve seat associated with the second port. A valve shaft structure includes an internal shaft portion positioned within the internal chamber, the valve shaft structure configured for rotation about a valve axis through a range of motion. A diverter structure includes a diverter face portion configured to seat against the first valve seat when in a first rotational position and against the second valve seat when in a second position, and a mounting portion configured to mount on the internal shaft portion of the valve shaft structure.
US08479748B1
Accessory for use in hair styling includes two rectangular panels, attachment structure that enables each panel to be brought into and maintained in a tubular form, a connecting part that connects the panels together and at least one hair styling implement or attachment, each arranged in connection with one of the panels. For use, the panels are brought into and maintained in their tubular form and arranged around a respective one of a pair of adjacent fingers of a user. The user can then pass hair between the panels while the implement interacts with the hair. If the accessory is used in conjunction with ironing hair, then the panels include thermally insulative material to prevent heat transfer from the hot hair to the user's fingers.
US08479741B2
Headgear for use with a respiratory mask is described. The headgear includes a continuous and substantially curved elongate member extending in use below a user's nose and at least two headgear straps capable of attachment to the ends of the elongate member. A mask attachment on the elongate member is disposed to sit below or on one of said user's nose, mouth, upper lip and an inlet to the mask. The attachment is capable of receiving the mask.
US08479735B2
A nasal cavity filter (2) having a substantially cylindrical supporting wall (4), which adheres to the walls of a nasal cavity, and an inner surface (5) of which defines a cavity (6) for the passage of air inhaled and exhaled by the user. The cavity (6) houses a number of fins (7), which generate turbulence in the air flowing through, and the surface of which impacted by the air retains particles present in the air.
US08479733B2
A flow sensor for a medical ventilator system is disclosed herein. The flow sensor includes a valve assembly having a valve seat, and a valve flap attached to the valve seat. The valve flap is composed of an elastomeric material configured to generate a pre-load that biases the valve flap into engagement with the valve seat such that the valve assembly remains closed in the absence of an externally applied force. The flow sensor also includes a pressure transducer configure to measure a first pressure level at an upstream position relative to the valve assembly, and a second pressure level at a downstream position relative the valve assembly. The flow sensor also includes a processor configured to estimate the flow rate of a fluid passing through a medical ventilator system based on the first and second pressure levels.
US08479729B2
A device for inhalation of at least one air stream carrying a dose of medicament powder is provided. The device includes a flow passage passing a powder-containing cavity. A part of said flow passage propagates along a generally flat surface region. The flat surface region includes a cavity opening into said powder-containing cavity. The passing of an air stream along said flat surface region and outside said cavity generates an eddy in the cavity and the generated eddy contributes to deaggregation of the powder in said cavity and emptying of the powder from said cavity. Furthermore, a shear driven cavity principle is used in conjunction with such a device and a method of releasing medicament powder.
US08479727B2
The invention utilizes a chemical/biological hood with a filter-blower system that is attached to the chemical/biological hood. The filter-blower system provides overpressure to the hood only. The hood is fitted to or attached to a chemical/biological mask. Overpressure created by the filter-blower around the mask is created and is independent of the wearer's respiration so that over-breathing of the positive pressure is not possible. Typically this system would be available as a hood capable of providing enhanced protection. However, the filter-blower and hood system could be integrated with the mask. Cinching or sealing the hood at the neck can improve overpressure performance.
US08479723B2
A fireplace assembly is disclosed and includes a smoke chamber, a firebox, a throat in fluid communication with and linking the smoke chamber and the insulated firebox and a divider positioned within said throat and defining a front air channel and a rear air channel within the throat. The fireplace assembly of the present invention offers reductions in particulate emissions when compared to traditional open-burning fireplaces and has comparable particulate emissions to wood stoves and built-in wood stoves.
US08479721B2
In one aspect the invention discloses an improved gas burner with a high turn-down ratio. The improved burner includes first and second gas flow passages, a flame front locator in one of the passages of the burner cap. Fuel gas is injected into an end of one of the passages and is ignited to establish a flame at the flame front locator. Secondary combustion air is provided through the other of the passages which on a high setting enables secondary combustion and on a low setting may mix with the hot gases and cool them resulting in a lower temperature at the cooking vessel.
US08479720B1
A new and useful heating device is provided, that is particularly characterized by the efficient way it provides combustion of a carbon based fuel (e.g. wood). A vertically oriented combustion chamber is configured with a relatively narrow, lower portion, a relatively wider upper portion, and a vertically oriented wall structure defining the combustion chamber.
US08479709B2
A system of alternate hose line bundling allows for exclusion of a higher pressure hose line from fasteners directly attached to a vehicle body. Alternatively to mounting to the vehicle body, the higher pressure hose line is coupled to a lower pressure hose line via fasteners which lack mounting features. Eliminating attachment of higher pressure hose lines to the vehicle body reduces noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) experienced by passengers in the vehicle.
US08479706B2
A system for regulating the operation of an idling motor vehicle monitors one or more selected engine operational parameters such as coolant temperature, exhaust gas temperature, and catalytic converter temperature, and compares the measured parameters against selected benchmark criteria stored in the memory of a microprocessor. The microprocessor controls the vehicle's ignition system to shut down the engine when the measured parameters come within the corresponding benchmark criteria. The system preferably but not necessarily operates in conjunction with a remote vehicle starter system. The system may also or alternatively be adapted to shut down an idling motor vehicle engine when total idling time reaches a specified maximum value, which may be selected based on idling time restriction bylaws. Accordingly, the system promotes reduced fuel consumption and mitigates environmental impacts by automatically regulating vehicle idling times, while also facilitating avoidance of idling time restriction bylaw violations.
US08479701B2
An engine includes a cylinder head at least partially defining a valve seat pocket. A valve seat is located proximate to the cylinder head to at least partially define the valve seat pocket. A pocket filler is located between the valve seat and the pocket insert such that the pocket filler occupies a substantial portion of the valve seat pocket. A pocket insert is attached to the cylinder head proximate to the valve seat pocket, such that the pocket insert lines at least a portion of the valve seat pocket.
US08479699B2
An intake apparatus for an internal combustion engine comprises an intake manifold (1) with air feeding passages (3) adapted to be connected to and feed air to cylinders of an engine; a rotary valve (10) including a plurality of valve portions (11) in communication with the air feeding passages (3) through feed switch openings (7); a sealing member (60) fitted to the valve portion, the sealing member including ring portions (61) and interconnecting portions interconnecting the ring portions, recessed portions (76) defined on an outer side of the valve portions for receiving engaging portions (64) on inner sides of the interconnecting portions of the sealing members, wherein when the rotary valve is in the closed position, a first sealing gap (A) between the engaging portion and an inner face (77) of the recessed portion is set smaller than a valve gap (C) between the valve portion and the bore portion (8).
US08479688B2
A brake mechanism for a rope pulley of a leash. A rope is unwound from a pulley against the force of a spring and wound onto the pulley due to the force. The brake mechanism includes a brake button movable from an idle position, in which the pulley is freely rotatable, into a functional position, in which the brake button blocks unwinding of the rope. The brake button has an actuatable upper part protruding from the leash housing and a lower part cooperating with the pulley. The lower part is pivotable in the winding direction such that unwinding of the rope from the pulley is prevented, but can be wound onto the pulley in the functional position. The lower part engages brush bristles in the functional position to pivot the lower part due to pulley rotational movement in the winding direction.
US08479687B2
A highly palatable and long lasting chew for dogs has been developed by braiding a combination of rawhide and bull, or steer, penis, known in the trade as pizzles. The pizzle is sourced directly from slaughter and the foreskin may be removed. Bleached rawhide splits are cut into rectangular pieces and rolled to form a rope-like strand equal in length to the aforementioned pizzle. Strands of 3 to 8 sections are then woven together to form an elongated braid. Such braids are then hung on racks and undergo a cooking and dehydration step to reduce the moisture content below 10% moisture. The resultant dehydrated sticks are then cut into lengths suitable for offering as a chew for dogs. Such chew is highly palatable because of the dehydrated pizzle. The chew has a very long chew time because of the dense leathery nature of the dehydrated rawhide fraction.
US08479686B2
A pet feeding and watering system that dispenses pet food and water and has an adjustable height for people with limited mobility. The system has a base platform and a dual food and water dispenser. The dual food and water dispenser includes a vertical chute and a vertical hose. The vertical chute include a plurality of plastic or plexiglass panels that are spaced evenly from the top interior of the chute to the base of the chute in a zigzag configuration. The top of the chute has an open receptacle end where food and water are placed. The vertical hose is attached to the side of the chute by bracket fasteners and runs the length of the chute. The base of the chute includes a funnel mechanism that receives the vertical hose and directs water into a water dish. The chute includes at least one sliding component and one fixed component, where the fixed component has notches that engage a handle attached to the sliding component to secure the chute to the desired height. The pet feeding and watering system can also include a plastic pitcher, marked with incremental measurements, for pouring appropriate amounts of water into the water dispenser. When not in use, the pitcher rests in the chute's open receptacle end.
US08479683B2
A method of forming a boron nitride or boron carbon nitride dielectric produces a conformal layer without loading effect. The dielectric layer is formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a boron-containing film on a substrate, at least a portion of the deposition being conducted without plasma, and then exposing the deposited boron-containing film to a plasma. The CVD component dominates the deposition process, producing a conformal film without loading effect. The dielectric is ashable, and can be removed with a hydrogen plasma without impacting surrounding materials. The dielectric has a much lower wet etch rate compared to other front end spacer or hard mask materials such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride, and has a relatively low dielectric constant, much lower then silicon nitride.
US08479680B2
An engine block coating system for applying a coating to an engine block includes a work stand, a coating gun, and a first nozzle. The work stand supports the engine block. The coating gun discharges coating on an inner surface of a first cylinder bank. The first nozzle discharges gas from a second cylinder bank to a crankcase side of the first cylinder bank and the second cylinder bank such that the second cylinder bank is shielded from the coating. The coating gun and the first nozzle are arranged relative to each other such that gas discharged by the first nozzle is discharged toward the coating to alter a direction of the coating by the gas discharged by the first nozzle directly contacting the coating such that the coating would otherwise contact the cylinder bore of the second cylinder bank upon stopping discharge of the gas by the first nozzle.
US08479677B2
A swim platform lift mechanism is disclosed, the mechanism mounted between the transom of a boat and a bottom surface of a swim platform. The lift mechanism provides a powered lifting/lowering of the swim platform from a retracted position that is level with the deck of the boat to a deployed position in which the swim platform is below the surface of the water surrounding the boat and from the retracted position to an up-and-over position in which the swim platform and its contents are positioned above and forward of the rear edge of the deck. The up-and-over position provides for an improved center of gravity when transporting a dingy on the swim platform.
US08479676B2
A depressor for towed hydrophone arrays is contemplated having a remotely controllable tow point to allow array depth to be modified without requiring manual reconfiguration. The tow cable is attached to the depressor in an adjustable manner also providing improved depth control precision.
US08479656B2
A paintball includes first and second half shell portions, each with a recess that can hold liquid containing dyes or other marking pigments. The liquid in the second half shell portion is relatively viscous, or becomes so after being placed in the second shell portion. The second shell portion can then be inverted and the liquid will stay within it. Neither shell portion includes a barrier to hold the liquids in place. The second half shell portion can then be placed on and joined with the first half shell portion to form a paintball.
US08479647B1
A can crushing apparatus for crushing a can is presented. The can crushing apparatus includes an elongated structure, a piston drive assembly, a can crushing chamber, a can holding plate, a deflector guide, a control, a safety switch, a push button switch and an attachment means. The piston drive assembly includes a piston designed to crush the can. The piston includes a hammer attached with a hammer plate and a cylindrical housing for securing the piston. The hammer is extendable in a downward direction and retractable in an upward direction. The deflector guide transfers a crushed can to a can collecting bin. The control provides electric power to the can crushing apparatus. The safety switch prevents hand injuries caused by the accidental positioning of hands by a user on the crusher.
US08479641B2
A device for making tea, which device comprises a brewing chamber (2) for enclosing a tea-pad, means for supplying heated water through one or more openings in the upper wall of the brewing chamber, and a restricted opening (8) in the lower wall (1) of the brewing chamber (2), so that tea is squirted into a liquid collection chamber (10) underneath the brewing chamber (2). The lower wall (11) of the liquid collection chamber (10) is provided with a substantial circular ridge (14) around the location where the tea hits the lower wall (11) of the liquid collection chamber (10).
US08479640B2
A beverage machine having a beverage brewing unit for receiving a single-serve capsule and including a capsule holding assembly for holding a capsule in a position during insertion by gravity of the capsule in the brewing unit; and a water injection assembly for at least partially enclosing the capsule and providing water in the capsule. The capsule holding part forms a front part of the unit and is mounted to the capsule injection assembly in a manner to be displaceable along a substantially horizontal path whereas the water injection assembly is located in a rear fixed part of the unit. The beverage machine has an outermost casing. One of these brewing unit assemblies can be moved or telescoped out or through this casing for inserting/removing the ingredient capsule and retracted into the outermost casing for bringing the brewing unit into its capsule extraction configuration.
US08479635B2
A bolt catch assembly configured for operating with rimfire ammunition for use with a firearm including a receiver with an exposed receiving chamber. The assembly includes a bolt catch actuator housing supported in seating fashion relative to the receiving chamber and communicating with an attachable magazine. A catch actuator is supported in elevatable fashion relative to an end of the actuator housing. A bolt catch component and integrally formed actuator catch engaging portion is slaved to the catch actuator in order to be displaced in response to elevating motion exerted upon the catch actuator, such as by a follower component biasingly disposed within the magazine. The follower, in its uppermost displaced position within the attached magazine, engages a tab associated with the catch actuator which extends over a communicating interior of the bolt catch actuator housing in communicating alignment with the exposed receiving chamber. An end configured location of the bolt catch housing includes a step and ledge profile for supporting an underside of the catch actuator in each of a seated rest position as well as a follower induced and upwardly displaced position.
US08479634B2
A trunnion nose guard is a flanged cylinder having internal threads which allow it to thread onto the outer threads of the trunnion nose of a Browning .50 caliber machine gun. The flange of the trunnion nose guard has a face adapted to fit against the front face of the trunnion or against a shim that is interposed between the trunnion front face and the flange. The flange also has at least one hole for receiving a spring-biased locking pin that may be provided on the trunnion front face. The axial length of the trunnion nose guard is selected so that, in use, the trunnion nose guard protects all of the threads of the trunnion nose, but does not extend substantially beyond the end of the trunnion nose.
US08479633B2
A mechanism or drive (100) for a weapon is described, which is characterized by only a limited acceleration of the breech (20) and a jerk- and recoil-free operation, thereby reducing the inertia force and the required power and increasing the repetition rate. The reduction of the required power also results in a reduction of braking power in the case of a quick stop. For this purpose, the rotational motion of preferably a motor (50) or the like is converted to a forward or reverse motion of the breech (20) using the Scotch yoke principle. In order to allow rest periods of the breech in the end limit positions, the rod (3) and the yoke (1) are arranged radially and displaceable relative to each other so that the yoke radius changes when the yoke (1) is rotated. A control cam (6) radially guides the rod (3).
US08479625B2
A method of making a tube sump with integral clips from a single material modifies multiple lumen tubing of any material that allows for two or more lumens. Preferably, the tubing is a plastic polymer with dual lumens. One lumen functions as a suction tube and the other lumen undergoes modification to form tubular clips. The modification removes a pattern of tubing opposite the suction tube to form integral clips that retain the tube sump upon an existing endotracheal tube. The removed sections of lumen may have any length or number. Common methods to remove the lumen sections include mechanical cutting, sawing, laser cutting, thermal cutting, melting, ablating, and shearing. Alternatively, the clips may be formed during the manufacture of the multiple lumen tubular product.
US08479621B2
In an internal machining apparatus for machining an internal surface of a hollow workpiece, a machining unit holding a cutting blade is configured to be inserted into the hollow workpiece. A pair of unit holding arbors which are capable of non-rotatably holding the machining unit, inserted in the hollow workpiece, at both sides thereof are respectively supported by a work head and a foot stock to advance and retract in an axial direction thereof. A turning mechanism is provided to be supplied with a drive power transmitted through the interior of one of the unit holding arbors for turning the cutting blade held on the machining unit about an axis orthogonal to an axis of the unit holding arbors.
US08479613B2
This fastening tool supports a key wrench such that it cannot rotate at a location where a hexagonal hole on the tip end part comes in contact with a nut, so that even though the key wrench is pressed backward as a pin is screwed into the nut, a key wrench holder remains in a state of contact with the nut. After the pin has been screwed into the nut, the nut is twisted off at a weak section. The further the pin is screwed into the nut, the key wrench holder supports the key wrench at a location closer to the pin, which keeps the amount of torsional deformation of the tip end part of the wrench small, and thus makes it possible to securely engage with the pin, and in the final state of the fastening work, it is possible to completely twist off the twist-off type nut, which requires a large torque.
US08479603B2
In a twin-clutch type transmission in which an electric motor is connected to one of transmission shafts, when downshifting is executed during EV running, a braking force is ensured by controlling in a cooperative fashion a regenerative brake and wheel brakes B1 to B4 so as to compensate for the loss of braking force during downshifting by the wheel brakes B1 to B4 or a braking force is ensured by making use of engine braking effects.
US08479585B2
In one aspect, the present invention relates to a pressure sensing/force generating device comprising a non-planar substrate, a printed pressure sensitive element comprising (a) a piezoelectric material containing ink composition capable of producing a piezoelectric effect/piezoresistive effect and/or (b) a dielectric material containing ink composition capable of producing a capacitive effect. It also includes a first printed electrode comprising a conductive ink composition, and a second printed electrode comprising a conductive ink composition. The first and second electrodes are in electrical contact with the printed pressure sensitive element. The first and second printed electrodes and the printed pressure sensitive element collectively form a pressure sensitive junction, which is coupled to the non-planar substrate. The present invention further relates to medical devices comprising the pressure sensing/force generating device and methods of making such devices.
US08479583B1
A quasi-static bend sensor is taught that comprises a layering of a plurality of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) sections with intervening dielectric sections in a vertical stack configuration. The IPMC sections are electrically connected in parallel. The surface of the stack is coated with high-purity synthetic isoparaffins for polymer hydration to increase step response consistency. Finally, the vertical stack configuration is electrically connected to an electric field measurement device and a linear quadratic regulator based controller for reducing settling time.
US08479580B2
A pressure transducer arrangement and method of operation is provided. The pressure transducer and methods of operation reduce error in determining an offset value by eliminating error relating to fluid flow through the transducer arrangement when the offset value is determined. In a particular embodiment, the apparatus and method includes a lockout valve that prevents fluid flow between first and second fluid pressure sources when the offset value is determined.
US08479570B2
A fixture for measuring the resistance of a piston ring in a cylinder, comprising an elongate member having a first end and a second end and a central axis extending therebetween, and an expandable platform attached to the second end of the stem, the platform having a top surface facing towards the first end, the top surface being perpendicular to the central axis, the top surface including first, second and third points movable radially outward from the central axis, and methods of use thereof.
US08479567B2
A method of focusing a plurality of discrete particles. The method comprises establishing a flow of a fluid medium carrying a plurality of discrete particles within a capillary having a plurality of separate walls and a longitudinal axis. The method further includes vibrating the plurality of separate walls to apply an acoustic field having a central axis substantially along the longitudinal axis to focus the plurality of discrete particles substantially along the longitudinal axis.
US08479566B2
A pipeline leak detection system, includes, in combination, a pipeline; pressure sensors positioned at regular spaced intervals along the pipeline to monitor pressure within the pipeline; and a monitoring station receiving data from the pressure sensors. The monitoring station establishes a normal pressure profile of relative pressures recorded by the pressure sensors along the pipeline in the absence of a leak and issues an alarm should one of the pressure sensors provide data which is uncharacteristic of the normal pressure profile, indicating a leak in the vicinity of the one pressure sensor.
US08479563B2
Systems and methods are provided for measuring the permeance of a material. The permeability of the material may also be derived. Systems typically provide a liquid or high concentration fluid bath on one side of a material test sample, and a gas flow across the opposing side of the material test sample. The mass flow rate of permeated fluid as a fraction of the combined mass flow rate of gas and permeated fluid is used to calculate the permeance of the material. The material test sample may be a sheet, a tube, or a solid shape. Operational test conditions may be varied, including concentration of the fluid, temperature of the fluid, strain profile of the material test sample, and differential pressure across the material test sample.
US08479555B2
A method for compensating for the quadrature of a micromechanical structure, the micromechanical structure having a substrate having a main extension plane, a seismic mass that is attached by spring elements to the substrate, and first and second compensation electrodes anchored to the substrate; in response to application of a first quadrature voltage between the first compensation electrode and the seismic mass, a first compensation force being produced on the seismic mass and, in response to application of a second quadrature voltage between the second compensation electrode and the seismic mass, a second compensation force being produced on the seismic mass and, in addition, the second quadrature voltage being adjusted as a function of the first quadrature voltage.
US08479554B2
A sensing device obtains range-related data—such as Doppler data or pulse time-of-flight data—from a sports projectile during flight. The time course of the range-related data is employed, in light of predictable characteristics of the projectile trajectory, to determine and output an accurate determination of the projectile speed for one or more points of interest in its flight. Such determination of speed may, for instance, be the speed at the time of projectile release, even though range-related data is gathered later in the flight, when the projectile is traveling neither so fast, nor straight at the sensor. Such sensing device may employ inexpensive short-range acoustic Doppler, and be incorporated into a target device that automatically displays to a pitcher-in-training the speed and ball/strike condition of each pitch.
US08479551B2
An apparatus and method is provided for protecting control lines used with tool strings in a downhole environment. A control line protector assembly comprises a plurality of components formed into a unitary piece which includes a guard section having a first end section and a second end section, a slot on each of the first end section and the second end section, and a securing mechanism for coupling the guard section having the first end section and the second end section to the coupling. A control line protector assembly is formed using a metal stamping process.
US08479549B1
A method of producing a seamless, tubular product includes centrifugally casting a corrosion resistant alloy into a tubular workpiece having an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The method then removes material from the inner diameter of the workpiece and subjects the workpiece to at least about a 25% wall reduction at a temperature below a recrystallization temperature of the workpiece using a metal forming process. The metal forming process includes radial forging, rolling, pilgering, and/or flowforming.
US08479547B2
A vehicle portable device that locks and unlocks a door of a vehicle by remote control has a case that accommodates a mechanical key operable to lock and unlock the door of the vehicle therein, and having an accommodation part in which the mechanical key is inserted in a predetermined insertion direction, a first engagement part that engages with a second engagement part of the mechanical key, and a retaining member in which the first engagement part is formed. The retaining member is supported in the case while being rotatable about a first support point. An external force is provided on the retaining member so as to rotate the retaining member in a first rotating direction. When the mechanical key is accommodated in the accommodation part, an exposed portion of the mechanical key is partially exposed from the case.
US08479546B2
The invention relates to a module for extending a retractable insert of a key, in particular for a motor vehicle, which is intended to be mounted in a casing for said key and which comprises an insert (5, 7), intended to be pivotably mounted relative to said casing (3) between an inoperative and an operative position, and comprising a bit (7) and a bit holder (5), which is pivotably mounted relative to said casing (3), and a mechanism for extending the insert (5, 7), which includes a push-button (19), and an elastic return element (23) for the insert (5, 7) consisting of a helical torsion spring, one end (23a) of which is connected to the insert (5, 7), in order to urge the insert (5, 7) by pivoting towards said operative position, when the push-button (19) is actuated. According to the invention, the push-button (19) comprises a projection (49) for holding the insert (5, 7) in the inoperative position and in the operative position, the mounting position of said projection being different from said inoperative and operative positions.
US08479545B2
A key body and an associated lock core are disclosed. The disclosed lock core includes a core body, a core sleeve, a core plug, and a side pin assembly including a side pin, a region pin, and a spring.
US08479542B2
A modular laundry system comprises at least one laundry appliance with a closed top and a worksurface that extends over the closed top of the at least one laundry appliance and comprises a functional insert provided on the worksurface. The modular laundry system can further comprise a second laundry appliance with a closed top, and the work surface can extend over both laundry appliances.
US08479540B2
Glass is heated from above and below while the glass resides on rolls (3) in a tempering furnace (1). The upper surface of the glass (4) is heated by hot air jets formed by sucking air from inside the furnace (1) and pressurizing the hot air and recycling it back to the upper surface of the glass. Air which has been taken from outside the furnace (1) and pressurized by a compressor (17) and heated is blown to the lower surface of the glass.
US08479536B2
A method and system providing for customizable jewelry is disclosed. The customizable jewelry system comprises a plurality of jewelry strands with releasable clasps at each end and multi-connector findings. The multi-connector findings are connectors with multiple loops capable of being a connecting joint to the jewelry strands. The multi-connector findings are especially suitable for multiple layer necklaces and belts. The opposing ends of each jewelry strand can be releasably secured to one another and to multi-connector findings to form various structures suitable for use as necklace, bracelet, chain belt, or other component jewelry accessory. Each strand can be repeatedly utilized in multiple jewelry item combinations. Each strand within a jewelry structure can also be removed or substituted with another strand to achieve any configuration that is desirable for a particular outfit and setting.
US08479535B2
A method and apparatus of producing high purity oxygen in connection with low purity liquid oxygen produced by a plurality of cryogenic air separation plants. The low purity liquid oxygen from the air separation plants is introduced into a distillation column of an auxiliary cryogenic rectification plant that is reboiled by nitrogen also produced by the air separation plants. Nitrogen is separated from the low purity liquid oxygen to produce high purity liquid oxygen from residual liquid located in a bottom region of the distillation column that can be taken as a product. Optionally, an argon column can be connected to the distillation column to produce a liquid argon product stream.
US08479533B2
An appliance includes a cabinet and a cabinet door and an ice maker. A primary ice bin is disposed in the cabinet door of the appliance. A secondary ice bin is disposed in the cabinet of the appliance. A routing device is disposed inside the cabinet. The routing device includes a stationary base that supports an adjustable ramp. The ramp is operable between a first position that directs ice to the primary ice bin and a second position that directs ice to the secondary ice bin.
US08479532B2
A machine for the treatment of liquid and semi-liquid food mixtures comprises a mixture whipping and freezing/heating tank (3), a circuit (6) for cooling and/or heating basic products of which the mixture consists, comprising a compressor (7) driven by an electric motor (18), and a mixer (4) rotating inside the tank (3) to mix the basic products. The machine also comprises a control unit (11) for the speed of rotation of the compressor (7) electric motor (18), for regulating the compressor operating speed and varying the thermal power supplied by the compressor (7) according to at least the quantity of mixture treated.
US08479523B2
In a gas turbine electric power generator where rotational speed of the gas turbine is synchronized to the electrical frequency of a power distribution grid and the gas turbine includes a compressor component, an air extraction path, and a control system for controlling an amount of compressor air extraction, a method is provided for controlling output power produced by a gas turbine. The method includes initiating compressor air extraction and controlling the amount of compressor air extraction.
US08479522B2
The present invention has the technical effect of reducing the start-up time associated with starting a powerplant machine. An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of starting a powerplant machine, such as, but not limiting of, a turbomachine. An embodiment of the method of the present invention provides a new philosophy for starting a turbomachine. This new philosophy involves testing the turbomachine systems before the start-up process begins.
US08479515B2
Solar energy is converted into electricity by use of a solar concentrator system, a steam production system, a turbine and an alternator. A boiler is heated by a concentrator dish aimed at the sun. The dish may also be fitted with a polar mount, an actuator and a devise for sensing the relative position of the sun. There is a mast on the dish upon which a boiler is mounted which is heated by the sun's concentrated rays. The boiler will preferably be arranged to heat and vaporize water to create continuous steam that is delivered to turn the turbine which is operatively connected to the alternator and from which electricity is generated.
US08479508B2
The invention provides an apparatus for generating heat and transferring the heat to a heater head of an external combustion engine, preferably, a Stirling engine. Fuel and air are introduced into a combustion chamber and mixed to form an air/fuel mixture. The air/fuel mixture is combusted over a combustion catalyst positioned in physical contact with a heat spreader, which itself is positioned in physical contact with a heat acceptor surface. The heat acceptor surface is secured in thermal communication with the heater head. Depending upon the design of the heater head, heat flux from the heat acceptor surface into the heater head may occur radially or non-radially.
US08479502B2
In various embodiments, energy is stored or recovered via super-atmospheric compression and/or expansion of gas in conjunction with substantially adiabatic compression and/or expansion from or to atmospheric pressure.
US08479500B2
An exhaust system for an engine comprises a selective catalytic reduction (“SCR”) device having a NOx reducing selective catalytic reduction composition disposed thereon. A particulate filter is disposed in the rigid shell or canister downstream of the selective catalytic reduction device. An ammonia dosing system comprising a controller in signal communication with NOx sensors located upstream and downstream of the selective catalytic reduction device for injection of ammonia into the exhaust gas upstream of the SCR device based on information collected from the NOx sensors to thereby optimize the reduction of NOx in the exhaust gas. An ammonia-neutral oxidation catalyst compound is disposed on the wall-flow substrate of the particulate filter device and is configured to pass through ammonia constituents of the exhaust gas exiting the selective catalytic reduction device with little or no conversion of the ammonia constituents to N2, N2O and NOx.
US08479494B2
In an exhaust gas sensor control system and control method, the exhaust pipe wall temperature is estimated based on the measured exhaust gas temperature measured, the exhaust gas flow rate, and the measured outside air temperature, with reference to a supplied heat quantity calculation map, wall temperature added value map, and a wall temperature subtracted value map. Then the dew-point of the exhaust pipe is calculated based on the air-fuel ratio of the air flow amount to the weight of fuel, and a condensed water added amount is calculated based on the relative wall temperature and the exhaust gas flow amount. The amount of condensed water is then estimated by summing the calculated condensed water added amounts.
US08479492B2
A hybrid combustor combines two distinct fuel injection sources to spray fuel in the combustor. The combustor combines a rotary fuel slinger for spraying fuel in a first combustion zone during high power level and cruise conditions and a set of fuel nozzles for spraying fuel in a second combustion zone during lower power level and starting conditions.
US08479485B2
There is provided a method for producing a rope member, provided with a rope of a bundle of synthetic fibers and a clamping member fixed to the rope and forming a portion with which the rope is to be connected or fastened to an external member, wherein a filler having permeability to the rope and containing a liquid and particles of an inorganic material dispersed in the liquid is made to permeate into a part of the rope, and the clamping member is fixed to the rope by installing the clamping member to cover the part of the rope permeated with the filler and by tightening the clamping member. The liquid is evaporated and only the inorganic material particles remain between the fibers of the rope. The clamping member is prevented from slippage even when a high load is applied to the synthetic fiber rope having high tensile force.
US08479483B1
A harvesting header includes a header frame, a flexible cutterbar assembly, and a draper assembly. The cutterbar assembly is mounted to the header frame and includes a plurality of skids. The draper assembly includes a draper belt with upper and lower runs, and a run support panel is provided below the lower run. The run support panel is spaced from the skids to define a residue opening therebetween through which any crop residue falling onto the skids is permitted to pass.
US08479479B2
A packaging for a medical glove includes a cover defining an interior space, the cover further including a sealed end and an opposing end having an opening in communication with the interior space, at least one deployable member with a distal end extending from the cover opening into the interior space, and a proximal end secured to or being part of the cover opening, the at least one deployable member segregating the interior space into an inner clean and contaminant free area adjacent to the sealed cover end and an outer area adjacent to the cover opening, the distal end of the at least one deployable member being movable from a first position within the interior space to a second position outside the cover opening, and means for securely retaining the medical glove on the distal end of the at least one deployable member.
US08479476B2
The unit for supplying and inserting products (2) to and into container elements (3, 3A) advancing along a line of a packing machine (M) comprises a flat element (8) provided with a through-slit (10), and a disc (4) affording through-holes (6). The unit (1) is positionable with respect to the line of the packing machine (M) such that the slit (10) is arranged above the container elements (3, 3a). Products (2) are supplied onto the disc (4) which products (2) are to be inserted in the container elements (3, 3a), each through-hole (6) being of such a size as to be able to receive and house internally thereof a product (2). The disc (4) is mounted above the flat element (8) such that the products (2) housed in the through-holes (6) rest on the flat element (8). The disc (4) is also activatable in rotation with respect to the flat element (8), and with respect to the container elements (3, 3a) advancing long the line, in order to bring the products (2) received in the through-holes (6) above the slit (10), contemporaneously with a transit of the container elements (3, 3a) below the slit (10) such that the products (2) fall directly internally of the container elements (3, 3a).
US08479475B2
The invention provides a transportable bottling plant integrated into a container. The container has a separation wall dividing the container into a bottling room and a technical room. A preform feeder, a bottle blowing unit, a filling and closing unit and first and second transferring devices are mounted in the bottling room. A power generator, an air compressor and an air conditioning unit are mounted in the technical room. The preform feeder comprises a recipient for receiving plastic bottle preforms and an ordering unit for ordering the preforms and feeding them towards the bottle blowing unit. The first transferring device is provided for transferring the preforms from the preform feeder to the bottle blowing unit. The bottle blowing unit comprises a heater for heating the preforms and a blow-molder for blow-molding the preforms into bottles. The second transferring device is provided for transferring the bottles from the bottle blowing unit to the filling and closing unit. The filling and closing unit comprises a filling unit for filling the bottles with a liquid and a closing unit for closing the bottles with caps.
US08479450B2
A weather strip includes an installation base member installed on a door opening edge of a retractable roof vehicle; a hollow seal part provided on an outer-cabin side with respect to the installation base member, the seal part makes elastic contact with a top end of a door glass; and a seal lip extending from the base member and having a top end which curves and makes elastic contact with an inner-cabin side surface of the door glass, the seal part and the seal lip forming an eaves-trough-shaped water receiving part, wherein: a wall surface of the hollow seal part, with which the top end of the door glass makes elastic contact, has a head part formed thereon for guiding water to a drainage hole.
US08479449B2
A sealing, trimming or guiding strip (15) for windows of a motor vehicle comprises a loop formed around the fixed quarter light (11) of the vehicle and a further loop formed around the sliding main window (9) of the rear door of the vehicle. This strip comprises an extruded part (19) extending along both loops to provide a pleasing continuous appearance for the exterior of the vehicle. A portion of the extruded material (19) is cut away and replaced by molded material molded onto the extruded part (19) for the portion of the strip into which the quarter light (11) is mounted.
US08479441B2
An apparatus for cultivation of phytoplankton and other autotrophic aquatic species in an aquatic medium in one embodiment comprises a plurality of liquid-impermeable transparent baffles, each forming an elongated trough-like enclosure, depending from a transparent top chamber, each baffle in communication with the top chamber, and two end walls for enclosing the top chamber and baffles. Introduction of water into the baffles sinks the apparatus in the liquid medium to the top of the baffles, leaving the top chamber above the surface of the medium. Light to which the top panel is exposed passes through the top chamber, the water in the baffles, and the baffles to encourage growth of selected microscopic organisms in the surrounding medium.
US08479428B1
A firearm including an upper receiver having inner bearing surfaces, a barrel having an end coupled to the upper receiver, a reciprocating bolt carrier carried by the receiver and movable between a locked position and an unlocked position, and a metal layer of lubricous material on the inner bearing surfaces. Surfaces of the upper receiver not covered by the metal layer are anodized.
US08479419B2
A steaming device includes a boiler configured for heating water to steam. A control device is provided for controlling a water flow to the boiler, and the boiler is provided with a rinsing drain for letting out rinsing water. A stopper is configured for covering the rinsing drain and for activating the control device. The stopper has a first position for starting a rinsing process, in which first position the rinsing drain is opened by the stopper and the stopper is configured to activate the control device. The stopper has a second position for ending the rinsing process, in which second position the rinsing drain is closed by the stopper and the stopper is configured to de-activate the control device.
US08479415B2
An article of footwear with a detachable wrap is disclosed. The detachable wrap removably attaches to a lacing area of an upper and extends under the article of footwear through a channel in a midsole of the sole structure. The detachable wrap may change the appearance of the article of footwear and additionally provide support to a foot of the wearer.
US08479409B2
Disclosed is a process of stabilizing spent filter material that comprises mixing the filter media with a dry media to produce a composition having a moisture content that is sufficiently low to retard microbial growth. The composition comprises spent filter media and a dry material, and preferably comprises diatomaceous earth. Soil is treated by adding the composition as a top dressing, soil amendment, or the like.
US08479408B2
A retrofit turner and sensor unit includes, on its upper portion, a grain turner for moving grain from a central portion in the grain pathway to a defined outer space for measurement. On its lower portion, the retrofit unit includes a moisture sensor and a temperature sensor provided in a plate configuration in line with the outer wall of the grain dryer for sensing moisture and temperature of grain in the defined space. In the preferred configuration, the plate sensor includes redundancies, and is mounted on a hinged door. The retrofit unit is easily installed into an existing grain dryer with columns and continuous flow capabilities, and electrically connected with a controller/processor and a motor for metering rolls which determine grain speed through the dryer.
US08479407B2
A distance measuring device having a frame defining an operating handle. At least one wheel is mounted to the frame. A counter mechanism on the frame has a display and a reset mechanism. An actuating mechanism has components cooperating between the at least one wheel and counter mechanism for causing cumulative distance measurements to be identified on the display as the at least one wheel is rolled against an underlying surface. The counter mechanism has a reset actuator that is moved from a retracted position into an actuated position. The reset actuator has a surface with an engaging area. The distance measuring device further has at least one stop component that defines a blocking surface to arrest movement of a component, having an area that is greater than the engaging area, that is pressed against the surface of the reset actuator to thereby move the reset actuator from the retracted position into the actuated position.
US08479396B2
A method for hardening running surfaces of roller bearing components, in particular outer bearing rings. In order to provide the edge area (functional layer) of the roller bearing components with a deep layer which is particularly hard and resistant to corrosion, the roller bearing component undergoes nitration for a long period of time at a temperature of between 450 and 650° C. for at least 25 hours. During treatment no carburizing and subsequently no quenching takes place.
US08479394B2
A method of assembling parts to form an aircraft component, in which a first surface of a first part (for example a wing skin) is to be positioned in the assembly adjacent to a second surface of a second part (for example a rib foot). The method comprises the steps of taking measurements of the first part, taking measurements of the second part with a laser, and calculating the size and shape of the space that will be generated when the first and second parts are assembled. A shim of varying thickness in dependence upon the results of the calculating step is manufactured, for example by stereolithography, and the first and second parts are assembled with the shim positioned between the first and second parts, the varying thickness of the shim compensating for a varying spacing of the first and second surfaces.
US08479386B2
A method for manufacturing an interposer including forming a capacitor over a semiconductor substrate; forming a first resin layer with a first partial electrode buried in over the semiconductor substrate and the capacitor; cutting an upper part of the first partial electrode and the first resin layer with a cutting tool; forming a second resin layer with a second partial electrode buried in over a glass substrate with a through-electrode buried in; cutting an upper part of the second partial electrode and the second resin layer with the cutting tool; making thermal processing with the first resin layer and the second resin layer adhered to each other while connecting the first partial electrode and the second partial electrode to each other; removing the semiconductor substrate; forming a third resin layer over the glass substrate, covering the capacitor; and burying a third partial electrode in the third resin layer.
US08479384B2
Various pattern transfer and etching steps can be used to create features. Conventional photolithography steps can be used in combination with pitch-reduction techniques to form superimposed, pitch-reduced patterns of crossing elongate features that can be consolidated into a single layer. Planarizing techniques using a filler layer and a protective layer are disclosed. Portions of an integrated circuit having different heights can be etched to a common plane.
US08479382B2
Apparatus for installing fasteners in a workpiece is mounted for computer controlled movement over the workpiece surface. The apparatus includes all of the tools, fasteners, drives and controls on-board that are needed to operate autonomously, without external connections. The apparatus may also include an on-board power supply for powering the tools, drives and controls. A supply of fasteners is held in an on-board replaceable cassette. An on-board fastener transferring device transfers individual fasteners from the cassette to the tools.
US08479377B2
A method of joining the ends of wire windings for a motor stator or the like includes preparing a surface at each end (e.g., by removing any enamel coating), deforming the surfaces to produce knurls, striations, and the like, and then ultrasonically bonding the two surfaces to produce the bond between windings, thereby providing a joint with improved strength.
US08479376B2
A method produces a magnetostrictive torque sensor which detects a steering torque applied to a steering shaft by electrically detecting distortion of magnetostrictive films provided on a surface of the steering shaft. A plating step forms the magnetostrictive film on the surface of the steering shaft, and a heat treatment step heat treats the magnetostrictive film on the steering shaft. During the heat treatment step, hydrogen in the magnetostrictive film is decreased so that a hydrogen desorbing peak around 120° C. disappears when the magnetostrictive film is heated after the heat treatment step.
US08479371B2
A process and an associated assembly for supporting a porous media during a treatment which exposes the media to a fluid that modifies at least one property of the media. The assembly includes a supporting core. The media is wrapped in a plurality of layers about the core to form a first roll of the media. The assembly includes first securement mechanisms exerting diametrical pressure on the ends of the first roll to prevent fluid flow axially out of the ends of the first roll. An additional amount of the media is being wrapped in a plurality of layers about the first roll to form a second roll of the media. The assembly includes second securement mechanisms exerting diametrical pressure on the ends of the second roll to prevent fluid flow axially out of the ends of the second roll. The assembly may be part of equipment.
US08479364B2
A piezoelectric/electrostrictive element includes a laminated vibrator made of laminations of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film and an electrode film, with the electrode film having an internal electrode film. The piezoelectric/electrostrictive element has a coating formed on a part of a surface of the laminated vibrator so that the coating selectively and completely covers a defect that would otherwise be exposed on the surface of the vibrator before the coating coats the defect. The defect extends to the internal electrode film and the remainder of the surface of the laminated vibrator is free of the coating.
US08479360B2
A clamp that attached to fabrics is provided that includes a tubular member and a locking member. The tubular member has an elongated tubular shape with a lengthwise slot disposed therein between a first end and a second end longitudinally opposite the first end, and a protrusion that extends out of an inner surface of a lengthwise cavity within the tubular member. The protrusion is disposed within the tubular member biased toward one side of the slot to create an asymmetrical cross section in the tubular member. The locking member has thickness smaller than a width in the slot and a width greater than the width in the slot allowing the locking member to be inserted into and out of the slot in a first orientation but not in at least one other orientation.
US08479357B2
A moquette carpet cleaning machine (10) having a machine body (11) with main rear wheels (12) and a suction mouth (14) placed at the front of the machine body. A support (19) with an auxiliary wheel is attached to the machine body (11). At least one of the main wheels (12), the suction mouth (14), the auxiliary wheel (16) and the support (19) being movable with respect to the machine body (11) between at least a first position (A) and a second (B) position such that, the auxiliary wheel (16) is in the first position (A), the suction mouth (14) is maintained against the ground (20). When the auxiliary wheel is in the second relative position (B), the suction mouth (14) is maintained in a position that is substantially raised from the ground (20).
US08479342B2
An apparatus for cleaning rubberized, plastic, or foam exercise mats is disclosed. The apparatus includes a machine having a frame structure, at least two sets of rollers, a mechanism coupled to the rollers to push and/or pull the mat through the machine, a cleaning solution application system, a scrubbing system, a cleaning solution removal system, and a housing to enclose the machine.
US08479325B2
A spa cover includes first and second spa cover portions that are rotatable along a pivot axis. The first spa cover portion has a first length traverse to the pivot axis, and the second spa cover portion has a second length extending in the same direction as the first length. The first length is longer than the second length. When the cover is moved from a closed configuration into an open configuration, lower surfaces of the first and second spa cover portions, which face the water at the interior of the spa tub when in the closed configuration and can become unsightly, are moved into a position in which they face each other, whereas the upper surface of the second spa cover portion faces the users in the tub. A lifter is provided for moving the spa cover between the closed and an open configurations.
US08479323B2
A mounting mechanism for toilet seats is provided which includes an easy accessible pull handle, connected to a mechanism associated with the seat that holds the seat in a vertical rest position. The handle is the only part that needs to be maneuvered by the toilet user when the user desires that the seat be in horizontal position. After using the seat in such horizontal position, the provided mechanism automatically moves the seat back up into the vertical rest position. This mechanism eliminates handling of potentially unsanitary toilet seats with hands. Thus, the handle is the only part which the person using the toilet is touching. Since the handle is positioned away from the seat and outside of the area where typically splashing occurs, an utmost sanitary and hygienic state is accomplished by the current invention.
US08479318B2
A sports glove, such as a lacrosse or hockey glove, includes reinforced finger regions for protecting a wearer's fingers. The back side of each of the finger regions includes a reinforcing element or other protective feature. A thumb protector may optionally be attached to a thumb region of the glove to provide additional protection for a wearer's thumb, as well.
US08479314B2
A light-weight protective pad for an elbow or a knee providing both ballistic and blunt impact protection is disclosed. The pad has a rigid light weight composite cup removably attached to the outer surface of an abrasion resistant cover fabric. The cover fabric contains a thermally formed armor cup providing ballistic protection and a foam layer to aid in absorption of blunt impacts. The inner surface of the pad is lined with felt.
US08479313B2
A garment, such a jacket or pair of pants, affords protection from ballistic impacts. The garment comprises at least two tubular sections of strong fabric, the sections overlapping such that said sections can telescope to allow flexing of a body part enclosed thereby without exposing any part of the body part. A set of protective clothing comprises the ballistic protective garment and an outer garment of heat and blast protective material.
US08484757B2
A device for oscillation excitation of a leaf spring, which is fastened on one side in an atomic force microscope (AFM) and comprises semiconductor material, which has no piezoelectric properties, a free end to which a tip is attached, which is brought into contact with a sample surface to be examined. The present invention has the leaf spring connected at least sectionally to a metal layer to form a Schottky contact, and an electrical voltage or field source is provided, which generates an electrical AC voltage a vicinity or area of the Schottky contact.
US08484754B2
An output control method for controlling copy operation for a digital broadcast program permitted to be recorded for one generation (copy one generation) with an improved operating convenience. A digital content and a plurality of types of copy control information for controlling the copies of the digital content are received, and in accordance with the copy control information, the digital content is output to a plurality of recording media connected through a network. If first information contained in the copy control information received indicates copy generation information to permit copies for one generation and second information contained in the copy control information indicates “limited number of copies permitted” mode permitting a predetermined number of copies, then the digital content is output to only one of the recording media in a state permitting copying up to the predetermined number.
US08484753B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for obfuscated malware. In one aspect, a method includes accessing offset data associated with a binary executable, the offset data including an offset of a nonexported function; and modifying instructions at the offset. In another aspect, a method includes analyzing a reference generated for a binary executable, identifying a unique identifier for the binary executable, determining an offset of a nonexported function in the binary executable, and generating offset data that includes the offset and the unique identifier.
US08484748B2
The embodiment of this invention provides a method for classifying and processing data in an instant messaging system, which includes: classifying the data of every service included in the instant messaging system into confidential data and non-confidential data; obtaining and processing the non-confidential data of every service after a first authentication is passed successfully; and obtaining and processing the confidential data of every service after a second authentication is passed successfully. The embodiment of this invention also provides a device for classifying and processing data in an instant messaging system. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the security requirements of the instant messaging system are met, and the user is facilitated to use various services provided by the instant messaging system.
US08484741B1
A software system and service for facilitating organizational testing of employees in order to determine their potential susceptibility to phishing scams is disclosed to evaluate their susceptibility to e-mail and Internet cybercrimes such as phishing. The e-mail addresses of a client organization's employees are provided to the system, a phishing e-mail is created and customized, and a phishing e-mail campaign in which the phishing e-mail message is sent and the responses to the phishing e-mail is monitored, and the results of the e-mail campaign are provided for evaluation. The phishing e-mail may optionally contain attachments and various types of probes and “call home” mechanisms.
US08484735B2
an apparatus comprises a data display unit which causes a display device to output display data that indicates a drawing screen complying with the display request, a reliability decision unit which decides a legality of a transmission source of the display request, and which makes an output request for information capable of confirming a reliability of the display data that the data display unit causes the display device to output, on the basis of a result of the decision, and an output unit which outputs the information capable of confirming the reliability of the display data as complies with the output request from the reliability decision unit, separately from the display data that is caused to be outputted by the data display unit.
US08484730B1
A computer-implemented method for reporting online behavior may include identifying a user account subject to parental monitoring. The computer-implemented method may also include identifying a plurality of online resources accessed by the user account over a period of time. The computer-implemented method may further include determining a reputation for each of the plurality of online resources. The reputation may indicate a level of security threat. The computer-implemented method may additionally include generating an online behavior score for the user account based on the determining of the reputations. The online behavior score may indicate an overall level of security threat posed by online activity on the user account. Lastly, the computer-implemented method may include reporting the online behavior score to a predetermined contact associated with the user account. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08484729B2
Provided is a security management system for managing the security of a managed system including during operation of the managed system, the security management system comprising: state changing means for determining a state that satisfies a state rule, which defines a desired state of the managed system, as a target state if the state of the managed system does not satisfy the state rule; and action determining means for determining a predetermined process, which is for changing the difference between the state of the managed system when the target state is determined and the target state, as a countermeasure that needs to be carried out in the state of the managed system when the target state is determined.
US08484705B2
A method for installing authentication credentials on a remote network device. A remote network device without valid authentication credentials may be connected to a port of an authenticating network switch, and the authentication protocols of the port may be enabled. A Network Access Control (NAC) credential service validates the remote network device comparing a received remote device identifier against a previously stored remote device identifier. The received remote device identifier may be received from the remote network device using a network when the remote network device attempts to access a private network. The NAC credential service disables the authentication protocols of the port in response to validating the received remote device identifier. The NAC credential service installs authentication credentials on the remote network device using encrypted data, so an untrusted entity cannot view the authentication credentials.
US08484704B2
The present invention provides mechanisms for sharing user information, including user authentication information, across communication networks and more specifically across networks separated by one or more Session Border Controllers (SBCs). The authentication of a user at one network can be leveraged by the second network to invoke one or more applications at the second network in connection with administering a communication session for the user.
US08484703B2
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable media for delegating administrative rights to a third party in an Internet access control application comprising receiving a designation of a third party wherein the designation identifies the third party as a recipient of administrative rights in an access control application, and receiving a selection of administrative rights to be associated with the third party. Further, an invitation can be sent, or caused to be sent, to the third party. Acceptance of said invitation can be received. Also, administrative rights can be granted to the third party. The systems, methods, and computer readable media can be operable within a client/server architecture. Also disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable media for notification of an access policy violation. Also disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable media for administration of an access control application by a third party and access policy violation notification.
US08484692B2
A method of streaming content includes encapsulating and packetizing HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) content into a MPEG private data Packet Identifier (PID) at a headend of a QAM network. This data service is multiplexed with compressed digital broadcast video content to produce a MPEG transport stream for being transmitted over the network to subscribers. The HLS content is provided to the subscriber in the form of data. At the subscriber location, the MPEG transport stream is received over the QAM network with a tuner that detects HLS content available from the MPEG transport stream in a form of a MPEG private data PID of the MPEG transport stream. The HLS content is buffered from the MPEG private data PID and made available to a wireless IP client device via a local area network connection.
US08484679B1
A system provides an intra-program event guide for display. The intra-program event guide enables a User to identify the events (e.g. scenes, episodes, alternative scenes, program portions etc.) occurring within a program and to initiate viewing (or initiate other functions associated with the event) via the guide. A method for processing information concerning intra-program events (e.g. comprising particular MPEG compatible groups of pictures (GOPS)) occurring within a program involves receiving signal data and identifying in the signal data information items describing intra-program events occurring during a program. The information items describing intra-program events are processed to provide processed data representative of intra-program events sequentially ordered by time and the processed data is communicated to a device. Generation of an intra-program event guide of the information items is initiated in response to user command. The guide shows other types of information items describing intra-program events scheduled for occurrence during a program. Such other types of events include, for example, (a) web page display, (b) software download, (c) PIP (Picture-in-Picture) image display, and (d) peripheral operation.
US08484677B1
An advertising monitoring system is presented in which subscriber selections including channel changes are monitored, and in which information regarding an advertisement is extracted from text related to the advertisement. The text related to the advertisement is in the form of closed caption text, data transmitted with the advertisement, or other associated text. A record of the effectiveness of the advertisement is created in which measurements of the percentage of the advertisement which was viewed are stored. Such records allow a manufacturer or advertiser to determine if their advertisement is being watched by subscribers. The system can be realized in a client-sever mode in which subscriber selection requests are transmitted to a server for fulfillment, in which case the advertisement monitoring takes place at the server side.
US08484676B1
An advertisement system includes an advertising manager that receives a content-event indicator, which indicates playback of an advertisement for viewing on a first display screen at a media-playback device or indicates playback of recorded content that includes advertisements. The advertising manager can determine an optimal time offset as a duration of time before or after playback of an advertisement to the start of an event that is associated with the advertisement for viewing on a second display screen at a mobile device. For recorded content, an optimization schedule is determined that replaces and time-shifts advertisements during playback of the recorded content. The advertising manager can also determine a fulfillment criterion for a product or service based on latency constraints to indicate a duration of time within which fulfillment of the product or service is expected when offered as a second advertisement corresponding to a first advertisement.
US08484674B2
A system for dynamically transmitting network alert system (NAS) information from a television network to an affiliate station using information embedded in an HDTV signal includes a program data server configured to provide network alert system (NAS) data, a network video programming source configured to provide network video programming, a data inserter configured to insert the NAS data into vertical ancillary (VANC) space of a high definition television (HDTV) signal to develop a combined network video programming and NAS data signal, and a transmission facility configured to transmit the combined network video programming and NAS data signal.
US08484660B2
Techniques are described to provide event queuing and consumption. In an implementation, events received at an event router are queued after determining that a switch is to be performed from a first event consumer to a second event consumer. Events previously queued at the first event consumer are communicated to the second event consumer, and when completed, the events queued at the event router are communicated to the second event consumer.
US08484658B2
Algorithm selection for data communications in a parallel active messaging interface (‘PAMI’) of a parallel computer, the PAMI composed of data communications endpoints, each endpoint including specifications of a client, a context, and a task, endpoints coupled for data communications through the PAMI, including associating in the PAMI data communications algorithms and ranges of message sizes so that each algorithm is associated with a separate range of message sizes; receiving in an origin endpoint of the PAMI a data communications instruction, the instruction specifying transmission of a data communications message from the origin endpoint to a target endpoint, the data communications message characterized by a message size; selecting, from among the associated algorithms and ranges, a data communications algorithm in dependence upon the message size; and transmitting, according to the selected data communications algorithm from the origin endpoint to the target endpoint, the data communications message.
US08484656B2
The present invention provides improvements to load balancing by providing a load balancing solution that distributes a load among a plurality of heterogenous devices, such as different types of local load balancers, using metrics collected from the different devices. The load balancing appliance collects metrics from heterogenous devices using a network management protocol and communication model, such as a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). These heterogenous device metrics are available on the load balancing appliance with appliance determined metrics and metrics obtained by the appliance from homogenous devices using a metric exchange protocol. Via a configuration interface of the appliance, a user can select one or more of these different metrics for global load balancing. As such, the load balancing appliance described herein obtains a multitude of metrics from the different devices under management. Additionally, the load balancing appliance described herein provides great flexibility in allowing the user to configure the global load balancer based on the user's understanding of these multitudes of metrics and to take into account the different characteristics and behaviors of the heterogenous devices.
US08484655B2
At least one additional resource group attribute is defined to specify at least one policy prescribing a copy services relationship between two of the storage resources. Pursuant to a request to establish the copy services relationship between the two storage resources, each of the two storage resources exchange resource group labels corresponding to which of the plurality of resource groups the two storage resources are assigned, and each of the two storage resources validates the requested copy services relationship and the resource group label of an opposing one of the two storage resources against the individual ones of the at least one additional resource group attribute in the resource group object to determine if the copy services relationship may proceed.
US08484650B2
[Object] To provide a resource management system capable of stably providing most recently updated resource information at a high speed.[Means for Solving Problems] A resource information update unit (223) collects resource information (31) from a plurality of agents (3) by manes of agent connection management unit (226) according to an update schedule of resource information stored in a schedule storage unit (225), and stores the same in a resource information storage unit (221). A retrieval processing unit (221) accesses the resource information storage unit (222) to acquire retrieval results of resource information. A static schedule generation unit (224) selects update interval for each of resource information, generates a static schedule, and stores the same in the schedule storage unit (225).
US08484640B1
A first portion of a Hypervisor is loaded into the memory as a part of an Extensible Firmware Interface upon start up. The first portion is responsible for context switching and some interrupt handling. The first portion of the Hypervisor runs on a root level. An OS is loaded into a highest non-root privilege level. A second portion of the Hypervisor is loaded into OS space together with the operating system, and running on the highest non-root privilege level. A Virtual Machine Monitor is running on the root level. The second portion of the Hypervisor is responsible for (a) servicing the VMM, and (b) enabling communication between VMM code launched on non-root level with the first portion of the Hypervisor to verify the VMM and to enable root mode for the VMM. A Virtual Machine is running on a user level under control of the VMM.
US08484635B1
A unified scribed image for installing software on different storage system platforms and configurations is described. The scribed image is produced by installing on a reference storage system reference system software including reference system core components usable by all storage systems, and reference system unique components used only by the reference storage system. Reference system software representing shared components used by pairs of storage systems is added. The reference system software related to the reference system unique components is then removed. The remaining core components and shared components to are scribed to media to produce the unified scribed image. Methods of using the unified scribed image to install storage system software in various storage systems are also described.
US08484630B2
Optimizing program code in a static compiler by determining the live ranges of variables and determining which live ranges are candidates for moving code from the use site to the definition site of source code. Live ranges for variables in a flow graph are determined. Selected live ranges are determined as candidates in which code will be moved from a use site within the source code to a definition site within the source code. Optimization opportunities within the source code are identified based on the code motion.
US08484627B2
Interoperability software modules comprise an architected .NET layer, an architected interpreter, an automatic interpreter and a library of COM objects. The architected interpreter where they are mapped to intermediate .NET interfaces compatible with the automatic interpreter by means of a Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW). The architected interpreter also comprises an architected COM Callable Wrapper (CCW) that maps the intermediate COM interfaces into architected interfaces.
US08484626B2
A method may include creating an Extensible Markup Language (XML) instruction file based on screen shots of a host system, providing the XML instruction file to a screen scraper program, executing screen scraping operations based on the XML instruction file, and outputting a user interface file based on the screen scraping operations that corresponds to extracted data output from the host system.
US08484616B1
Described are techniques for processing a module. A module is generated for execution on a target operating system. The module includes four entry points and code portions associated with each of said four entry points. The four entry points correspond to four handlers invoked at different processing points in connection with a state associated with said module. The four handlers include a load handler, an unload handler, a start handler, and a quiesce handler. First processing is performed in connection with the module. The first processing including at least one of dynamically loading the module, dynamically unloading the module, starting module-specific processing performed by the module, and issuing a request to commence preparation for unloading the module. An appropriate one or more of the four handlers are invoked in accordance with the first processing performed.
US08484615B2
A software framework comprises at least one software tool and at least one parameter associated with each tool. The framework is arranged to (i) allow the selection of at least one software tool from a plurality of tools, (ii) allow the selection of at least one parameter from a parameter set, (iii) associate the parameter with a selected tool, and (iv) associate the selected tools and parameters together in a scheme such that they can be executed as a batch.
US08484613B2
Some embodiments of the present invention provide techniques and systems for optimizing bounds-checking During operation, the system can receive one or more instructions which when executed evaluate a first expression whose value is required to be between a lower bound expression's value and an upper bound expression's value, such that at least one of the following three values is not determinable before execution: the first expression's value, the lower bound expression's value, and the upper bound expression's value. Next, the system can use computer algebra to determine whether the first expression's value is guaranteed to be between the lower bound expression's value and the upper bound expression's value. If the system determines that the first expression's value is not guaranteed to be between the lower bound expression's value and the upper bound expression's value, the system can add bounds-checking instructions to the one or more instructions.
US08484595B2
An antenna ratio calculation section extracts components from which two or more independent metal wires are coupled to one of diffusion layer regions based on layout data read from a layout data accumulation section, determines, for each of the components, the area of each of the two or more independent metal wires and electrodes coupled to the respective metal wires, determines an antenna ratio between the area of each of the metal wires and the area of the electrode coupled to the metal wire, and determines a moderation value for moderating a design standard associated with plasma charge damage related to one of the metal wires based on the ratio of the total area of all the metal wires coupled to the one of the diffusion layer regions to the area of the one of the metal wires.
US08484579B2
An information processing apparatus includes an area display unit configured to display a metadata area including metadata values arrayed for each metadata item and unique areas defined for respective metadata values, an icon display unit configured to display an icon associated with main body data and enabling a user to add the metadata, and an adding unit operable if the displayed icon is moved to a position on the metadata area and configured to add information defining a unique area to which the position of the moved icon belongs, as metadata, to main body data associated with the icon.
US08484565B2
A network-management device includes a map storing unit and a map state storing unit. The map storing unit stores therein a map created based on information on network devices. The map state storing unit stores therein a creation state indicating that creation of the map is in process or completed in association with the map. When creation of the map is in process, disclosure of the map is prohibited, and all the network devices are notified that creation of the map is in process. When creation of the map is completed, it is checked whether all the network devices are laid out on the map. When all the network devices are laid out on the map, disclosure of the map is permitted.
US08484562B2
This is directed to efficiently identifying alternative display attributes for displaying text in a display region when default display attributes are inadequate for displaying the text. Many electronic device user interfaces are designed based on text in a default language. When interfaces are translated for use in other languages, the translated interfaces can include words or phrases that are longer than the corresponding text in the initial language. To quickly find an adequate, alternate display attribute for the longer text (e.g., a new font size), the electronic device can calculate assumed reduced text box sizes for displaying the text should display attributes of the text be reduced. The electronic device can select an adequate reduced text box, and reduce the display attributes by an amount corresponding to the reduced text box.
US08484552B2
Methods and apparatuses for extensible stylesheet design using meta-tag information are disclosed. A designed stylesheet is for transferring content-oriented markup language files into a target file so as to support various presentations and information exchange. According to one aspect, a data processing mechanism starts with inserting meta-tag declarations in a target file wherein the meta-tag information pertains to information between dynamic objects in the target file and a source file. The target file with meta-tag information is then converted into one or more extensible stylesheets.
US08484549B2
In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method facilitates optimization analysis and sensitivity analysis of a data model. The method comprises a computer: receiving first data identifying a value function, a plurality of parameters for the value function, and one or more specific parameter values for one or more of the parameters; storing a data model based on the value function and the specific parameter values; determining which parameters of the data model are capable of taking variable values; receiving second data identifying one or more selected parameters; receiving third data specifying a value selection approach for each of the selected parameters; determining a plurality of result values by substituting, based on the value selection approach, a plurality of input values for each of the selected parameters and evaluating the value function using the selected parameters and the substituted values; generating and causing displaying a table of the result values.
US08484539B1
An iterative error correction coding (ECC) decoder is configured to operate in a first higher-power and higher-performance operating mode. At least some part of a system that includes the iterative ECC decoder is monitored. It is determining whether to switch the iterative ECC decoder from the first higher-power and higher-performance operating mode to a second lower-power and lower-performance operating mode based at least in part on the monitoring. The iterative ECC decoder is configured to operate in the second lower-power and lower-performance operating mode in the event it is determined to switch operating modes.
US08484538B2
FEC (Forward Error Correction) decoder with dynamic parameters. A novel means by which FEC parameters may be encoded into, and subsequently extracted from, a signal stream to allow for adaptive changing of any 1 or more operational parameters that govern communications across a communication channel. FEC parameters are encoded directly into a data frame such that the data frame is treated identical to all other data frames within the signal stream. When the data frame actually includes FEC parameters, it is characterized as a CP (Control Packet) type. For example, when decoding an MPEG stream, an MPEG block that includes FEC parameters, that MPEG block is characterized as a CP MPEG block. The means by which FEC parameters are encoded and extracted from the signal stream allows for much easier adaptive modification of the manner by which signal are encoded, modulated, and processed within a communication system.
US08484533B2
A two-dimensional self-RAID method of protecting page-based storage data in a MLC multiple-level-cell flash memory device. The protection scheme includes reserving one parity sector across each data page, reserving one parity page as the column parity, selecting a specific number of pages to form a parity group, writing into the parity page a group parity value for data stored in the pages of the parity group. The parity sector represents applying a RAID technique in a first dimension. The group parity represents applying a RAID technique in a second dimension. Data protection is achieved because a corrupted data sector can likely be recovered by the two dimensional RAID data.
US08484532B2
An interleaver that implements the LCS turbo interleaver algorithm utilized by the CDMA2000 standard is described. The interleaver includes a first computation unit for receiving an input address and computing a first sequential interleaved address during a first clock cycle in response thereto. A second computation unit is included for receiving an input address and computing a second sequential interleaved address during the first clock cycle in response thereto. The interleaver further includes a comparator for determining whether the first or the second sequential interleaved address is invalid and generating a signal in response thereto. The output of the comparator provides a control signal to a switch which selects the first or the second sequential interleaved address as an output interleaved address for the first clock cycle. The interleaver is further designed to move in a forward direction or a reverse direction.
US08484516B2
Techniques for the design and use of a digital signal processor, including (but not limited to) for processing transmissions in a communications (e.g., CDMA) system. Inter-thread trace alignment with execution trace processing includes recording timing data relating to a common predetermined event. Such an event may be the number of cycles since a last thread initiated execution tracing or the number of cycles since all threads terminated execution tracing. The number of cycles at which a thread initiates execution tracing is referenced to the common predetermined event for maintaining the timing of execution tracing. The data relating to the common predetermined event is then updated to associate with the time at which the thread initiated execution tracing. The result is to permit aligning the timing data associated with all threads. Interrelated records permit reconstructing interdependent execution tracing information for threads operating in the multi-threaded processor, as well as synchronizing timing data for all operating threads.
US08484515B2
A computer-implemented method, executable software product, and system for performing a test of an audio/video playback device are described. The audio/video playback device includes at least one main processor, interfaces, and additional processors. The main processor(s) communicate with the additional processors through the interfaces. The method, software product, and system include monitoring at least part of the interfaces for communications between the main processor(s) and the additional processors. The method, system and software product also include storing the communications in a raw format during the test. The method, software product and system also include translating the communications from the raw format to human-readable format after the test concludes and displaying the human-readable format of the communications. In some aspects, the method and system also include reading and storing run time data during the test such that the reading and storing is Heisenberg-friendly.
US08484514B2
A fault cause estimating system includes: an initial model generating section which creates an initial fault derivation model indicating a derivation among faults and an initial event derivation model indicating a derivation among the faults and events, based on a basic model definition; an extended Baum-Welch calculating section which creates a fault derivation model which is a transition of a combination of device classes and faults and an event derivation model which is a transition of a combination of device classes and events, based on a instance definition, a class definition, the initial fault derivation model, the initial event derivation model and an event sequence for learning; an instance derivation probability calculating section which creates an instance deviation model of a derivation of an occurrence device based on the event sequence for learning; and an extended Viterbi calculating section which estimates an event cause fault based on the instance definition, the fault occurrence location class definition, the fault derivation model, the event derivation model, the instance derivation model, and the fault cause estimation event sequence.
US08484513B2
A system and method for restoring a signal test apparatus to a previous state receives a time interval set by a user to create restore point files. The signal test apparatus tests signals of a test object and creates a restore point file according to the time interval. The restore point file stores signal test data of a test object when the restore point file is created. If the signal test apparatus needs to be restored to a previous state, the signal test data of a latest restore point file are acquired. The acquired signal test data are displayed on a display of the signal test apparatus.
US08484512B2
A root cause for a failed attempted delivery of a message is attempted to be determined before sending a non-delivery report (NDR) for the failed message. When a message fails without a known cause, the root cause is determined using the context of the message. For a given context, the root cause may be determined by a single failure or it may be determined by the relative number of failed messages delivery are deferred from being delivered, as is generation of the corresponding same context. While determining the root cause of the problem, any messages failing NDR(s), to allow time for corrective action to occur. If the problem is resolved within a predetermined time period, the deferred messages are delivered without having to issue NDR(s).
US08484501B2
The delay locked loop (“DLL”) delay interval can be locked to stop the DLL from wasting power in unnecessarily switching to synchronize the device with the DLL is associated to the system clock. This is achieved by adding logic sensing when a DRAM device will not imminently be called upon to output data and when the device has stabilized. Waiting for the DLL delay interval to stabilize before locking the delay interval still allows the DLL to immediately and effectively resume operations when the DLL is needed to synchronize the output of the DRAM device with the system clock. The DLL delay interval can be locked, together with the DLL clock, after the DRAM device is deselected by the chip select control line, after a number of no operation commands have been received, and/or after any command issued to the DRAM device has been completed.
US08484493B2
Systems and methods for a blade server to obtain the blade type and configuration of the chassis without requiring the blades to be fully powered. Using this method the user has the ability to acquire correct inventory and slot status of the chassis through the use of a low power auxiliary power state. The user is then able to apply the proper power budgeting and thermal algorithm requirements utilizing this information while minimizing the power consumption necessary to acquire such information. In addition, an intelligent search algorithm may be utilized to scan the blades for blade information thus further minimizing power consumption and decreasing the time needed to inventory the blades.
US08484486B2
A system that provides a cryptographic unit that generates secret keys that are not directly accessible to software executed by a controller. The cryptographic unit can include a restrictor device, a finite state machine, a random number generator communicatively and a memory. The memory stores values generated by the random number generator. The restrictor device and the finite state machine include hardware logic that restricts access or changes to the contents of the memory.
US08484482B1
A password generation and validation system is provided. The system comprises a server system and an at least one memory. The system also comprises a password component stored in the at least one memory that, when executed by the server system, receives a plurality of inputs, generates a first password for a computer system based on the plurality of inputs contemporaneously with receiving the plurality of inputs, receives a second password, generates at least one candidate password based on some of the plurality of inputs, and validates the second password when the second password matches the at least one candidate password.
US08484480B2
Method and apparatus for information transmission are provided. A method for information transmission uses a virtual input layout to encrypt security information. The method uses a server to receive an access request from a user client and to generate a virtual input layout based on information of an actual input layout of the user client. Each key in the virtual input layout has a corresponding relationship with a respective key in the actual input layout, and at least some of the keys in the virtual input layout represent symbols or functions that are different from their corresponding keys in the actual input layout. The server sends the virtual input layout to the user client to be displayed, and subsequently receives from the user client a virtual security information entered by the user according to the virtual input layout displayed. The server then converts the virtual security information to obtain true security information.
US08484473B2
A method of establishing a peer-to-peer IPSec security association between a pair of base stations located within the same or different radio access networks. The base stations communicate with a core network via the same or different security gateways of the core network using respective pre-established IPSec security associations. The method comprises exchanging peer-to-peer IKE security association initiation request and initiation response messages between the base stations using said pre-established security associations.
US08484469B2
A method, system and equipment for key distribution are disclosed. During the course of computing a shared key Kab between a client node and a third party equipment, a serial number is introduced into keying materials to compute the Kab, instead of just using constant parameter, thus once the Kab is leaked, the Kab can be simply and duly updated by updating the variable parameter, and hence the security of message transmission is improved. Furthermore, in the implementations, methods for security protection and security verification for message are used, so as to effectively prevent threats to message security such as message forgery or replay attack, and hence further improve the security of message transmission.
US08484468B2
The present invention relates to a process and a system for selectable data transmission. Authentication data and an electronic key are generated, whereby the electronic key is stored as assigned to the authentication data. Data are encrypted into encrypted data by means of an encryption module of a central module and by means of at least part of the electronic key. A signaling message is transmitted to a first communications terminal. A second communications terminal is selected by means of the first communications terminal. On the identification of the selected second communications terminal, the encrypted data are transmitted to the second communications terminal. At least part of the electronic key is transmitted to the second communications terminal by means of an authentication module of the central module. The encrypted data are decrypted by means of a decryption module of the second communications terminal and by means of at least the part of the electronic key.
US08484466B2
A system and method for efficiently enabling local security connectivity between electronic devices over multiple bearers. Electronic devices are configured to advertise, over each bearer, their respective configuration parameters for each bearer. After a connection has been established between the electronic devices over a first bearer, the two electronic devices use the first bearer to establish connections over the other bearers using the configuration parameters contained in the advertisements and advertised over the first bearer. Shared keys are established for the other bearers either using keys derived from the first shared key or by using the first secure connection as an out-of-band channel. The present invention also provides for the creation of an ad hoc WLAN connection once a Bluetooth connection has been established.
US08484460B1
Technologies are described herein for post attack man-in-the-middle detection. A first computer receives and stores public key certificates when connections are established. The first computer also uploads the stored public key certificates associated with a domain to a second computer each time a connection is established with the domain. The second computer receives the public key certificates from the first computer. The second computer then determines whether any of the public key certificates provided by the first computer are fraudulent certificates by comparing the received certificates to known valid certificates. If the second computer determines that the first computer has received one or more fraudulent certificates, the second computer may cause action to be taken with regard to the fraudulent certificates.
US08484459B2
Disclosed is a method for secure transfer of information through a centralized system. The method comprising: maintaining user account information, a user account of a certain user comprising at least a user id and associated public and private keys, the private key being retrievable by means of a password of said certain user; receiving (411) identification information relating to a recipient; retrieving public key of said recipient from said user account information by means of said identification information; receiving (412) information content addressed to said recipient; storing (415) said information content for said recipient in encrypted form, said retrieved public key having been used in connection with encrypting said information content; and notifying (416) said recipient of the stored information content.
US08484449B2
There is provided a program for making a computer perform a first procedure for verifying whether an platform guaranteeing that device identification data for identifying a communication device cannot be rewritten by the user is provided in the communication device, a second procedure for verifying whether the device identification data included in a registration request received from the communication device is not yet registered, and a third procedure for registering the device identification data included in the registration request and issuing user identification data to the user when the program determines in the first procedure that the platform is provided and determines in the second procedure that the device identification data is not yet registered.
US08484445B2
A memory control circuit includes a branch detection section to detect a branch instruction from an instruction fetched from a memory unit including a plurality of operation modes, and a mode control section to change an operation mode of the memory unit according to a detection result by the branch detection section. The memory unit includes a plurality of memories, the plurality of operation modes include a normal mode allowing access and a standby mode consuming a lower power than the normal mode, and in response to the detection of a branch instruction from an instruction fetched from any one of the plurality of memories, the mode control section makes standby release of the other memories.
US08484444B2
A multi-node video signal processor (VSPN) is describes that tightly couples multiple multi-cycle state machines (hardware assist units) to each processor and each memory in each node of an N node scalable array processor. VSPN memory hardware assist instructions are used to initiate multi-cycle state machine functions, to pass parameters to the multi-cycle state machines, to fetch operands from a node's memory, and to control the transfer of results from the multi-cycle state machines.
US08484441B2
A computer processor with control and data processing capabilities comprises a decode unit for decoding instructions. A data processing facility comprises a first data execution path including fixed operators and a second data execution path including at least configurable operators, the configurable operators having a plurality of predefined configurations, at least some of which are selectable by means of an opcode portion of a data processing instruction. The decode unit is operable to detect whether a data processing instruction defines a fixed data processing operation or a configurable data processing operation, said decode unit causing the computer system to supply data for processing to said first data execution path when a fixed data processing instruction is detected and to said configurable data execution path when a configurable data processing instruction is detected.
US08484427B1
A method for data backup including (a) forming an image of the storage device; (b) for each block to be backed up to the image, generating a hash; (c) for each block stored in the image, storing a hash in a hash table; (c) for each additional block of the storage device to be backed up, generating a hash; (d) sorting all the generated hashes and deleting duplicate hashes; (e) comparing the hashes to identify candidate blocks that might have identical contents with contents of blocks stored in the image; (f) if the hashes are not coincident, then backing up, to the image, contents of unidentified blocks and blocks that do not have identical hashes, and (g) otherwise, storing links in the image instead of the contents of the blocks, (h) after checking all the hashes for those blocks that need to be backed up, writing only unique hashes to the hash table; (h) links for multiple blocks with identical contents point to a single block in the image, (i) the image contains a bitmap of the backup; (j) the bitmap contains indicators for the links that define if a block contains the content or if the block points to another block, (k) also indicators that reflect used and unused blocks such that an indicator whether contents are shared with another block vs. contents are unique to every other block in the image.
US08484423B2
A computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer program-product for controlling cache. The method includes the steps of assigning a value corresponding to a transaction to a memory object that is created while a computer application is processing the transaction; adding the assigned value as a transaction flag value to a flag area of a cache array in accordance with the storage of the memory object in the cache; registering the corresponding transaction flag value as a victim candidate at the completion of the transaction; and in response to eviction of a cache line, preferentially evicting a cache line having the transaction flag value registered as the victim candidate.
US08484420B2
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the management of memory pages available for pin operations by groups of processors in a multiprocessor system to reduce cache contention and improve system performance. An exemplary embodiment comprises a system that may include interconnected processors, a global count of the number of pages available for pinning, and a plurality of local counts of pages available for pinning by groups of processors. Each local count may be in proximity to a processor group and include a subset of the pages allocated from the global count that are available for pinning by processors in the group. The local counts are adjusted accordingly in response to page pinning and unpinning by processors in the respective processor groups.
US08484416B2
A method and storage controller for providing active-active RAID functionality within storage controller device(s). An embodiment may utilize zoning capabilities to assign a subset of physical storage devices with each storage controller. One or more storage controllers may detect that a storage controller/server has failed and may reconfigure zoning of the physical storage devices originally zoned in with the failed storage controller such that the physical storage devices of the failed zone are zoned out of the failed zone and zoned in with at least one of the remaining functional storage controllers. A reverse process may be used on recovery. An embodiment may further represent each of the physical devices zoned in with a storage controller as at least one virtual storage device and configure an additional comprehensive zone incorporating the storage controllers such that each storage controller has access to all physical storage devices through the virtual storage devices.
US08484410B2
A system, device, and method for designating a first rank among a plurality of memory ranks of a Memory Module as a primary rank and a second one or more ranks as secondary ranks, triggering, via hardware logic internal to the Memory Module coupled with the plurality of memory ranks, a refresh of the primary rank at a first time (e.g., Time1), and triggering a non overlapping staggered refresh of each of the secondary ranks at a second one or more times (e.g., Time2 through Timen) corresponding to each of the respective memory ranks designated as the secondary ranks.
US08484406B2
A method of evenly using a plurality of blocks of a Flash memory comprises: providing at least one threshold value, which is utilized for sieving out blocks suitable for use from the plurality of blocks according to erase counts of the plurality of blocks; and by comparing erase counts of at least a portion of the plurality of blocks with the threshold value, sieving out a specific block for use from the plurality of blocks according to a purpose of use. An associated memory device and a controller thereof are also provided, where the controller comprises: a ROM arranged to store a program code, wherein the controller is provided with the at least one threshold value through the program code; and a microprocessor arranged to execute the program code to control the access to the Flash memory. The controller sieves out the specific block according to the purpose of use.
US08484405B2
Techniques are disclosed for managing memory within a virtualized system that includes a memory compression cache. Generally, the virtualized system may include a hypervisor configured to use a compression cache to temporarily store memory pages that have been compressed to conserve memory space. A “first-in touch-out” (FITO) list may be used to manage the size of the compression cache by monitoring the compressed memory pages in the compression cache. Each element in the FITO list corresponds to a compressed page in the compression cache. Each element in the FITO list records a time at which the corresponding compressed page was stored in the compression cache (i.e. an age). A size of the compression cache may be adjusted based on the ages of the pages in the compression cache.
US08484392B2
A method for allocating resources of a host channel adapter includes the host channel adapter identifying an underlying function referenced in the first resource allocation request received from a virtual machine manager, determining that the first resource allocation request specifies a number of physical collect buffers (PCBs) allocated to the underlying function, allocating the number of PCBs to the underlying function, determining that the first resource allocation request specifies a number of virtual collect buffers (VCBs) allocated to the underlying function, and allocating the number of VCBs to the underlying function. The host channel adapter further receives command data for a command from the single virtual machine, determines that the underlying function has in use at least the number of PCBs when the command data is received, and drops the command data in the first command based on the underlying function having in use at least the number of PCBs.
US08484390B2
A method for controlling access to data of a message memory, and a message handler of a communications module having a message memory, in which data are input or output in response to an access; the message memory being connected to a first buffer configuration and a second buffer configuration, and the data being accessed via the first or the second buffer configuration; in the message handler, at least one first finite state machine being provided which controls the access to the message memory via the first buffer configuration, and at least one second finite state machine being provided which controls the access via the second buffer configuration, the at least one first finite state machine and the second finite state machine making access requests; and a third finite state machine being provided which assigns access to the message memory to the at least one first and the second finite state machine as a function of their access requests.
US08484380B2
A method, computer program product, and computer system is provided for exchanging text-based commands between clients, services, and/or applications. The method includes receiving, in a processor, a text-based command assigned to a service command configured to control at least one service of a computing device. The method also includes translating the text-based command into the service command based on a look-up table. The service command is provided to the service. The service is controlled based on the service command.
US08484378B2
Content returned by a search query is specific to a version of a product installed on or associated with the computer system requesting the search. Upon receipt of the search query, a search system accesses a persistent descriptor corresponding to a detected version of the product. The persistent descriptor may be a cookie file stored on the requesting computer system. A product detection module interrogates the computer system to identify the associated products, including the particular versions of those products. The search of a repository of general content related to the product is scoped using the persistent descriptor as a search filter in order to provide version-specific content.
US08484377B1
A method for prepending nonce labels to DNS queries includes determining whether a log contains a past entry of a domain name resolution query (“query”) to a name server for a full domain name that resulted in a positive reply indicating that the full domain name exists. It is determined whether the log contains a recent entry of the query that resulted in a negative reply indicating that the full domain name did not exist. The server is then queried with a nonce-less query for the full domain name. The server is queried again with a nonce label prepended query for the full domain name to determine if it currently results in the negative reply. The full domain name is flagged as inappropriate for nonce prepending upon determination that querying with a nonce prepended query results in a negative reply and a nonce-less query results in a positive reply.
US08484362B2
A method for controlling a computer wherein one or more remote locations disposed on a network are accessed in response to sensing a machine-resolvable code. A computer disposed on a network is operably connected to an input device for sensing a machine-resolvable code. A software application which includes a software identification code runs on the computer. In response to sensing a machine-resolvable code with the input device, the computer accesses at least one remote location corresponding to the software identification code. The one or more remote locations accessed may then return remote information to the computer for presentation.
US08484359B2
A method and apparatus for allowing telephony or other types of media communications and services to be provided for a device (24) having a private network address that resides behind a firewall and network address and port translation (NAPT) module (which is unaware of the underlying protocol for the communications and services). Examples of the underlying protocol includes the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Real-Time Protocol (RTP). A path through the firewall and NAPT module is defined by use of keep-alive messages communicated through the firewall and NAPT module. Addresses that are allocated by the firewall and NAPT module are associated with the device (24) for both signaling and media communications. A feature of the firewall that enables the provision of telephony and media communications through the firewall that is protocol-unaware is that the firewall allows responses to messages initiated by the device back through the firewall.
US08484357B2
Systems and methods for implementing communication in a multiprocessor are disclosed. In one exemplary implementation a first processor receives a request to provide a communication resource for an application executing on the first processor to communicate with a remote application. In response to the communication request, the first processor opens a communication resource on a second processor, and implements communication operations between the application executing on the first processor and the remote application using the communication resource on the second processor.
US08484353B1
With the advent of virtualization technologies, networks and routing for those networks can now be simulated using commodity hardware. For example, virtualization technologies can be adapted to allow a single physical computing machine to be shared among multiple virtual networks by providing one or more virtual machines simulated in software by the single physical computing machine, with each virtual machine acting as a distinct logical computing system. In addition, as routing can be accomplished through software, additional network setup flexibility can be provided to the virtual network in comparison with hardware-based routing. In some implementations, virtual network setup can be abstracted through the use of resource placement templates, allowing users to create virtual networks compliant with a customer's networking policies without necessarily having knowledge of what those policies are.
US08484340B2
Server array capacity calculator systems and methods are provided for estimating capacity based on diagnostic data. For example, a system comprising a database and an estimator computing device comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) and a capacity management module stored in memory and executed on a processor comprising instructions to receive diagnostic data from a plurality of servers of different server types, receive user input via the GUI, and in response to the user input, and for each of the server types, compute a current reference number of servers from current server efficiency estimates and a current number of utilized servers; calculate a growth multiplier from a ratio of the projected number of users and a count of the current concurrent users; generate a projected number of servers by multiplying the current reference number of servers with the growth multiplier, and display the projected number of servers on the GUI.
US08484338B2
An application detection architecture and related techniques are provided for detecting, identifying, and managing network-based applications. In various embodiments, a combined layered approach to application detection and various application-detection techniques provide for quick assessments that move from simplest to complex for rapid detection of unauthorized or misbehaving applications in communication with one or more computer networks. This layering, in some embodiments, further provides scalability and speed for determining and implementing policies that may be applicable to detected network-based application, users, groups, or devices associated with unauthorized network-based applications sending or receiving data via a computer network.
US08484337B2
A presence communication system capable of efficiently reducing the number of messages exchanged between presentities and watchers, thereby preventing lowering in communication quality. A presence server sets a group identifier as an identifier which is used to collectively look up a group of multiple pieces of presence information provided by presence information providers who have agreed to a use policy, aggregates and stores the presence information under the group identifier, and delivers the presence information requested to the group identifier. Each presentity provides the presence server with its presence information targeted to the group identifier. Each watcher requests the group identifier for the presence information provided by the presentities, and receives the presence information delivered from the presence server.
US08484328B2
A web services enablement system includes a computer adapted to send and receive information to and from a first service, to send and receive information to and from a second service, which may not be a web service, to manage a connection with a third, stateful, service and to send and receive information via the stateful service based on information received from the first service or the second service. Also a method of enabling two-way web services and stateful transactions that includes steps of providing an architecture of base services and meta-services, defining a first base service comprising a core component and an extension component, combining the first base service and a meta-service to create a first usable service, managing a relationship between the first usable service and a second service through dependency or binding or utility, and performing a stateful transaction using the first usable service.
US08484327B2
A method and system for enterprise device management allows the administrator to set a policy of forbidden devices, monitor devices used in the organization, provide alerts and notification incase an unknown device is connected to a computer, and monitor or block connections of devices which do not comply with the said security policy. A method for device management in a computer system comprises detecting connection of a device to the computer system and determining a reaction to perform in response to the connection of the device to the computer system based on parameters related to the device and on device management rules.
US08484326B2
An Application Server entity in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network comprises an interface for interfacing with an application and control logic which is arranged to inspect signalling information received from the application via the interface in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML). The received signalling information is compared with stored rule data which specifies a relationship between an element in the signalling information and an action that should be taken and output data is generated based on the comparison. The Application Server can output operational measurements and/or charging information which more accurately reflect usage made of the Application Server resources. The need for a separate OSA/Parlay-X gateway can be avoided.
US08484321B2
Network evaluation grid techniques are presented. Local specifications for traffic patterns are evaluated for local traffic on local grids of a grid computing environment and reported out. The local traffic reported out is then evaluated in response to global traffic pattern specifications and a global traffic policy in order to identify one or more remedial actions to take or to recommend in response to that evaluation.
US08484314B2
Systems and methods for distributed caching in a wireless network of content delivered for a mobile application over a long-held request are disclosed. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a distributed proxy and cache system, including, in response to determining that a cached response is available on a cache of the mobile device for an outgoing request from the mobile device, the outgoing request being one to request the persistent connection with the content server, responding to the outgoing request using the cached response on the cache of the mobile device timed to correspond to a manner in which the content server would respond to the outgoing request.
US08484300B2
Methods, apparatus, and systems for providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At least one notification indicating a status of the locate and/or marking operation is electronically transmitted and/or stored so as to inform at least one party associated with requesting the operation (a “requesting party,” e.g., an excavator, a property owner, a facility owner, a regulatory authority, a damage investigator, etc.) of the status of the operation. In one aspect, a requesting party may designate a preferred format, content, and/or method of receiving notifications regarding the locate and/or marking operation. In another aspect, a computer-generated GUI is provided to facilitate submission of requests, generation of “virtual white line” images to indicate one or more dig areas on a digital image of a work site, and/or selection of notifications and preferences for same. In yet another aspect, a requesting party may provide an acknowledgement of receipt (e.g., a “return receipt”) for one or more received notifications.
US08484294B1
A system and method delivers e-mail messages if it can validate the master name server, MX record, or both for the mail domain in the address of the message. Otherwise, the message may be sent by alternate means, such as a message printed and mailed.
US08484285B2
A device for communicating between an electronic module (110) equipped with a programmable controller and a remote server (140), includes: an element for associating the electronic module with a device (100) in such a way that the module receives signals representative of statuses or operational parameters of the device via at least one connector (103), a communications server application on the electronic module, the communications server application being designed to communicate automatically with the device and also with the remote server via a communications element (120, 125) and a communications server application on the remote server for adapting it to communicate automatically with the electronic module via at least one communications channel via at least one communications element (155, 160).
US08484266B2
An embedded control system capable of ensuring precision in arithmetic with data in the floating-point format and also avoiding a shortage of the storage area of a memory is provided.According to an embedded control system in the present invention, when discrete data in the floating-point format is stored in a read-only memory, the discrete data in the floating-point format is converted into data in a significand-reduced floating-point format before being stored. Here, a significand-reduced floating-point number is a number obtained by deleting low-order bits of the significand of a floating-point number. Further, an interpolation search is performed using discrete data, the discrete data in the significand-reduced floating-point format stored in the read-only memory is brought back to the discrete data in the floating-point format before an interpolation search being performed.
US08484260B2
A system and process that establish a singular shared file system among devices in order to create a virtual representation of data on all of the devices via metadata indexing. This virtual representation of data means that the files are not actually stored on all devices and thus, with the exception of a single physical location, they do not need to take up any space (i.e. storage) on any additional device's hard drive. This allows for significant amounts of data to be virtually stored on each device, even if there is no physical storage room available for the data on each device. The system and process do not require data to be stored on a provider server, but instead stores only lightweight metadata, i.e., a small fraction of information about the files, online.
US08484253B2
A mode-seeking clustering mechanism identifies clusters within a data set based on the location of individual data point according to modes in a kernel density estimate. For large-scale applications the clustering mechanism may utilize rough hierarchical kernel and data partitions in a computationally efficient manner. A variational approach to the clustering mechanism may take into account variational probabilities, which are restricted in certain ways according to hierarchical kernel and data partition trees, and the mechanism may store certain statistics within these trees in order to compute the variational probabilities in a computational efficient way. The clustering mechanism may use a two-step variational expectation and maximization algorithm and generalizations hereof, where the maximization step may be performed in different ways in order to accommodate different mode-seeking algorithms, such as the mean shift, mediod shift, and quick shift algorithms.
US08484252B2
Techniques are described of applying on-line analytical processing (OLAP) to associative databases. For instance, a database adapter implemented in computer hardware or software may automatically create dimensions in a multidimensional dataset for data types in an associative database. The database adapter may then query the associative database for metadata that describes index values of each dimension of the multidimensional dataset. The database adapter may then query the associative database for data values to populate individual cells of the multidimensional database.
US08484241B2
Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided whereby Users can dynamically configure and control the use of their preferences for both types and modality of interactions with multiple Provisioners. These inventive systems and methods also enable Provisioners to gain access to User preferences to establish or affect interactions and transactions with Users. Advantageously, these inventive systems and methods provide User control of the receipt of content, matter/substance, experiences and interactions, to enable consolidating management of the User's “interaction profile” into a unified system, while increasing the quality and depth of the relationship between the User and the Provisioner, including but not limited to the creation of emotional/affinity ties to the Provisioner. Furthermore, multiple instances of User profile data can be shared amongst multiple Provisioners in a way that creates affinity between Users and Provisioners and improves User experience, while maintaining User anonymity.
US08484240B2
Methods and Apparatus related to generating representations of information. The information may include menu information for merchants such as restaurants. Referring to menus, methods may include receiving potential information for a first menu, and receiving indications of associations of the information with the first menu and/or any number of additional menus. Information and/or associations may later be updated by a desired set of users.
US08484238B2
A method and system for automatically generating regular expressions for relaxed matching of text patterns. A received input phrase expressed in a natural language is determined to be a plain text pattern. The plain text pattern is automatically tokenized, thereby generating a first token list. Rules loaded from a predefined rule set are automatically applied to the first token list to automatically generate a modified token list. The order of the rules being applied to the first token list is specified by the rule set. The modified token list is automatically converted into a regular expression that matches the plain text pattern and one or more variations of the plain text pattern. A utilization of the regular expression for an information extraction facilitates a recall and a precision of the information extraction.
US08484236B1
Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and/or systems for manipulating character expressions to determine relationships among such character expressions. In particular embodiments, a character expression may be represented as a concatenation of binary representations of individual characters in the character expression to provide a binary string. The binary string may then be processed by applying a binary arithmetic operator to provide a comparison.
US08484228B2
Various embodiments of systems and methods for extraction and grouping of feature words are described herein. Feature words are obtained from a first corpus of text bodies comprising a plurality of reviews. A second corpus is created using a combination of the obtained feature words, verbs and adjectives from the first corpus. The second corpus comprises filtered reviews and each of the filtered reviews pertains to a review. Topics are preliminarily assigned for words in the filtered reviews of the second corpus. For each of the feature words in the second corpus, a topic count is determined for every preliminarily assigned topic. After determining the topic count, one or more of the topics are finally assigned to the feature words based on a topic count value. At least one topic is presented as a group of the feature words for which the at least one topic is assigned based on the topic count value.
US08484218B2
In one implementation, a method includes receiving a request for translation of one or more first keywords from a source language to a target language; and translating, using a machine translation process, the first keywords from the source language into a plurality of second keywords in the target language. The method can also include determining, by a computer system, frequencies with which each of the second keywords occur in a corpus associated with the target language. The method can further include selecting, by the computer system, a subset of the second keywords to use in the target language based on the determined frequencies of occurrence.
US08484214B2
In one embodiment, a method for compression is disclosed, including receiving source data, creating at least one template based upon common data, and creating a compressed record including a reference to the at least one template and a template delta that represents a difference between the at least one template and source data.
US08484213B2
A heterogeneous high availability cluster manager implements a method involving a reception of a first cluster management command in a first cluster management protocol, a conversion of the first cluster management command to a second cluster management command in a second cluster management protocol, and a sending of the second cluster management command to a first node in a heterogeneous cluster management group. To facilitate the conversion of the first cluster management command to the second cluster management command, the second cluster management protocol is registered with the manager whereby the first cluster management command is mapped to the second management command.
US08484205B1
The system provides a technique for finding relevant content and content sources based on the aggregation and analysis of individual indications of relevance. The system identifies and provides selections of relevant content. It may comprise a selection acquisition subsystem, a selection network repository subsystem, a scoring engine, and a recommendation engine, and is used to generate sources of content comprising sets of prioritized links directed to a topic or community of interest.
US08484197B2
A search apparatus includes a graph memory, a root node specification receiving unit, and a search unit. The graph memory stores data of a graph having nodes representing data elements and a link representing a relationship between the data elements. The root node specification receiving unit receives a root node specified from among the nodes in the graph. The search unit searches for an adjacent node which is connected to a target node via a link and which satisfies a search condition that at least one of the target node and the adjacent node has a predetermined attribute. The search unit searches for an adjacent node using the root node as the target node. The search unit iteratively performs a process of searching for an adjacent node using a previously determined adjacent node as the target node for a subsequent iteration to obtain a concatenation of adjacent nodes.
US08484194B1
A training set generator may be configured to input a taxonomy including a hierarchy of categories and a plurality of top-level sites, and to output a training set of categorized data. The training set generator may include a crawler configured to crawl each of the top-level sites to determine at least one lower-level site associated therewith and to store the top-level sites and associated lower-level sites as crawl data. The training set generator also may include an extractor configured to determine, for each of the top-level sites, a corresponding site-specific extraction template associating at least one portion of the corresponding top-level site with at least one category of the hierarchy of categories, and further configured to apply each site-specific extraction template to corresponding crawl data to thereby associate the crawl data with the categories of the hierarchical categories and obtain categorized data of the training set.
US08484193B2
A method and system is provided for calculating importance of documents based on transition probabilities from a source document to a target document based on looking ahead to information content of target documents of the source document. A look-ahead importance system generates transition probabilities of transitioning between any pair of source and target documents based on analysis of links to target documents of the source document. The system may calculate the transition probabilities based on the number of links on documents a look-ahead distance away. The system then solves for the stationary probabilities of the transition probabilities. The stationary probabilities represent the importance of the documents.
US08484192B1
A computer-implemented method includes receiving a search request at a central information provider, generating a query containing media-related terms relating to the search request, and submitting the query to a search engine having access to media-related search results, wherein the query is broader than the received search request, and transmitting media-related search results generated in response to the query by the search engine, to a remote device.
US08484187B1
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage medium, for presenting search results. A method includes displaying a search engine results page in a first or a second presentation mode, wherein, in the first and in the second presentation modes, the search engine results page includes (i) a text region that displays textual information relating to one or more search results that are responsive to a search query and (ii) an image region, wherein, in the first presentation mode, the image region displays contextual information relating to two or more of the search results that are responsive to the search query, and wherein, in the second presentation mode, the image region displays contextual information relating to a single search result that is responsive to the search query; and receiving user input, then switching the search engine results page between the first and second presentation modes.
US08484184B2
Search assistance is provided to users that submit search queries to search engines. In one implementation, a partial search query input by a user to a search engine is received. The partial search query is predicted to be a navigational query. A web address is selected based on the predicted navigational query. A search assistance list that includes the selected web address is generated. The search assistance list is displayed to the user in response to the received partial search query. In another implementation, a plurality of suggested search queries is determined for the received partial search query. A suggested search query of the plurality of suggested search queries having a highest relevance to the user is determined. A search assistance list is generated and displayed to the user. The suggested search query having the highest relevance to the user is prominently displayed in the search assistance list.
US08484177B2
An apparatus and method for searching and organizing intellectual property (IP) is provided for formulating and facilitating searches for intellectual property, and organizing results of such searches. For example, a search and organization server is provided with modules) to create and process search queries. A class search module optionally provides on-line access to classification information and facilitates searching of intellectual property using select classifications. An IP thesaurus module optionally develops a list of elements (e.g., words, textual phrases, concepts, representations, numbers, identifications, pictures, graphics, features, etc.) found in select intellectual property information (e.g., groupings of patents). Optionally, the list of elements is used, e.g., as a search tool to refine search queries or criteria. A field-of-search module creates a field-of-search based on search information identified from select intellectual property information. Optional modules (e.g., search engine, workspace module, alert generator, report generator, etc.) are provided.
US08484175B2
Various technologies and techniques are described for providing a transaction grouping feature for use in programs operating under a transactional memory system. The transaction grouping feature is operable to allow transaction groups to be created that contain related transactions. The transaction groups are used to enhance performance and/or operation of the programs. Different locking and versioning mechanisms can be used with different transaction groups. When running transactions, a hardware transactional memory execution mechanism can be used for one transaction group while a software transactional memory execution mechanism used for another transaction group.
US08484171B2
A data processing method is provided. The method comprises collecting a stream of data records received from one or more data sources connected in a communications network; dividing the stream of data records into sets of data records for parallel processing by a plurality of concurrently running tasks, wherein a first task loads a persistent index associated with a first set of data records into memory to generate an in-memory version of the first persistent index for the first set of data records; and identifying duplicate and non-duplicate data records in the first set of data records, based on searching the in-memory version of the first persistent index.
US08484170B2
For scalable data deduplication working with small data chunks in a computing environment, for each of the small data chunks, a signature is generated based on a combination of a representation of characters that appear in the small data chunks with a representation of frequencies of the small data chunks. The signature is used to help in selecting the data to be deduplicated.
US08484166B2
Metadata-driven undo is described. In an embodiment, a metadata repository stores metadata that is associated with operations. Attributes associated with each operation are also stored in the metadata. Each operation is associated with an undolet that includes instructions for generating undo entries for operations of a particular operation type. Undo log entries are generated using the metadata and the undolet when a request is intercepted that includes an undoable operation. When an undo command is issued, the instructions in the undo log that are associated with a particular business transaction are executed to “rewind” the transaction.
US08484162B2
Content-aware systems and methods for improving de-duplication, or single instancing, in storage operations. In certain examples, backup agents on client devices parse application-specific data to identify data objects that are candidates for de-duplication. The backup agents can then insert markers or other indictors in the data that identify the location(s) of the particular data objects. Such markers can, in turn, assist a de-duplication manager to perform object-based de-duplication and increase the likelihood that like blocks within the data are identified and single instanced. In other examples, the agents can further determine if a data object of one file type can or should be single-instanced with a data object of a different file type. Such processing of data on the client side can provide for more efficient storage and back-end processing.
US08484155B2
A relation equation between wave information on unpermed hair strands and evaluation values of appearance of whole hair selected from among gloss of the whole hair, order of alignment of the hair strands, and frizziness of the hair strand is acquired from a plurality of subjects. Based on the relation equation, the appearance of whole hair of an arbitrary subject is evaluated from wave information on a hair strand of the arbitrary subject. This allows an objective evaluation of the gloss of whole hair, the order of alignment of hair strands, or the frizziness of the hair strand by a simple technique, and also allows an objective evaluation corresponding to cosmetic specialists' evaluations in terms of equivalent age.
US08484154B2
Methods and systems to translate input labels of arcs of a network, corresponding to a sequence of states of the network, to a list of output grammar elements of the arcs, corresponding to a sequence of grammar elements. The network may include a plurality of speech recognition models combined with a weighted finite state machine transducer (WFST). Traversal may include active arc traversal, and may include active arc propagation. Arcs may be processed in parallel, including arcs originating from multiple source states and directed to a common destination state. Self-loops associated with states may be modeled within outgoing arcs of the states, which may reduce synchronization operations. Tasks may be ordered with respect to cache-data locality to associate tasks with processing threads based at least in part on whether another task associated with a corresponding data object was previously assigned to the thread.
US08484143B2
The invention provides a system and method for analyzing a subject's exploratory behavior. The system of the invention includes a tracking device configured to track motion of the subject and to generate a signal indicative of the subject's motion. A CPU analyzes the signal and identifies in the signal sequences of repeated motions, or sequences of sequences of repeated motion, for sequence of repeated motion, the CPU determines for each occurrence of the repeated motion a time at which the occurrence occurred or a time interval during which the occurrence occurred. The CPU then calculates for each occurrence of the repeated motion a value of one or more predetermined parameters of the occurrence of the motion and then calculates a time dependence of the one or more predetermined parameters during the sequence of repeated motion or the sequence of sequences of repeated motion.
US08484137B2
Disclosed are apparatus and related methodologies for transmitting data in a gas AMI network. Data may be transmitted bi-directionally between selected endpoint devices and data collection devices to central or head end equipment. Transmitted data may include parameter updating data for selected endpoint devices, and collected data from selected endpoint devices. Endpoint physical area conditions may be monitored for selected of the endpoint devices including monitoring for and reporting of physical changes in the area surrounding cathodic protection systems. The present concepts may be extended to implementation in conjunction with water and electricity metering environments.
US08484122B2
An apparatus comprises a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The memory stores first and second orders. The first order is associated with a product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The second order is associated with the product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The processor receives a counterorder associated with the product. The processor fills the displayed quantity of the first order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder, and fills the displayed quantity of the second order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder. The processor allocates a first additional portion of the counterorder to the first order. The first additional portion is based at least in part on a ratio of the displayed quantity of the first order to a sum of the displayed quantity of the first order and the displayed quantity of the second order.
US08484116B2
A method of assembling a structured financial instrument, including electronic methods of pricing, selling, and administering the structured financial instrument are provided. A minimum deposit and a specified term are specified. The structured financial instrument is indexed to at least one economic indicator. A percentage of the original deposit may be withdrawn at a specified interval without penalty, with interest calculated at the end of the term reduced to reflect any prior partial withdrawals. The structured financial instrument is insured from the FDIC. In the event of death, a death benefit is provided equal to the value of the structured financial product on the date of death. At a specified time, a structured financial product holder has an option of choosing to lock in a specified percentage of the index gains to date, in exchange for re-upping the structured financial product into a new structured financial product of equal or greater term length and using a similar return framework as the original structured product. In additional embodiments, nursing home liquidity and required minimum distributions liquidity can be provided.
US08484115B2
In one embodiment, an expression comprising a left-hand side and a right-hand side is received. The left-hand side specifies one or more market instruments, and the right-hand side specifies a method that is to be applied based on the left-hand side of the expression. The expression is parsed. A time series is generated by applying the method based on one or more sets of data values associated with the one or more market instruments. The generated time series is stored in computer data storage.
US08484112B2
An apparatus for providing a credit facility to fund or cover preauthorized charges may include a processor and a non-transitory memory storing instructions. The instructions, responsive to execution, configure the processor to cause the apparatus at least to perform receiving information indicative of a user selection of at least one future payment commitment of the user, receiving an indication of user selected parameters corresponding to a coverage option entitling the user to receive a financial benefit to at least partially cover the at least one future payment commitment of the user in response to an occurrence of a qualifying event, determining a payment to be paid on behalf of the user to maintain the coverage option, and, in response to receiving an indication of the occurrence of the qualifying event, causing provision of the financial benefit to at least partially cover the at least one future payment commitment.
US08484109B1
In various embodiments, financial calculators with improved data security and data integration, collecting, managing and sharing data generated by a user are described. Selected financial data is accessed and shared with various financial tools in a centralized data store to provide a faster, easier calculator with fewer inputs. In one embodiment, a retirement calculator advises a user on how much to save in a corporate retirement plan, IRA and other investments, and the priority order in which to save. In another embodiment, a college savings calculator is disclosed that pre-fills anticipated college costs when a user selects a college.
US08484107B2
Systems and methods for verifying and monitoring employees are provided. Employees call-in to the system at scheduled times. If an employee misses a scheduled call-in, an alert can be generated. An employer notification process can generate the alert, notifying a supervisor of the employee's missed call. The alert can include the employee's name, the location of the employee, and the time he/she was supposed to call. Such systems and methods can be used to verify that a worker is at the proper location at the proper time and awake and alert during the entire time period that he/she is supposed to be working.
US08484106B1
The invention relates to a method for processing a payroll. The method steps include obtaining a compliance rule of a tax agency regarding the payroll, obtaining an update of a payroll parameter from a financial management application (FMA), analyzing the update of the payroll parameter based on the compliance rule of the tax agency to detect a schedule changing event, adjusting the payment schedule of the tax agency based on the schedule changing event to generate an adjusted payment schedule of the tax agency, submitting the adjusted payment schedule of the tax agency and an amount of the payment to the tax agency to a user for approval, accessing a payroll tax paying website of the tax agency, and making the payment to the tax agency using the payroll tax paying website in response to receiving the approval from the user.
US08484098B2
A method for enabling a user to view information filtered to align with the user's life state includes enabling the user to register and become a member of an information delivery system. The user provides the information about the user's life state. This information may include at least demographic information, ethnic information, social information and psychological information. The user may grant partners permission to access the information about the user's life. The granting of the permissions is performed and controlled by the user and may be limited to some information about the user's life. The partners are also members of the information delivery system. The partners are evaluated using a set of criteria before they become members of the information delivery system. The partners may use the information about the user's life to filter its information according to the information about the user's life. The method also enables the partner to participate in a marketplace to procure the information about the user's life, to rate the user according to the user's behavior, and to enable search engines to filter search results according to the information about the user's life.
US08484091B2
A system and method for selling software products over a network. The system includes a server computer with access to software products. The system is configured to allow a user to purchase a subscription for the periodic acquisition of selected software products. In one embodiment, as part of the subscription, the user pays an amount during selected billing intervals. In return, the system issues to the user a number of credits for downloading at no additional charge at least one of the software products during a credit interval, which may be equal in length to the billing interval. In one embodiment, the system debits a number of credits in response to fulfilling a user's purchase request. The system may be also configured to deduct credits that are not used within selected credit intervals.
US08484084B2
Systems and methods to provide telephonic connections. In one embodiment, a method includes: providing a listing on a marketplace, the listing including an assigned reference to be used to initiate a real time communication connection; and billing for a real time communication lead generated from presenting the listing in response to a real time communication initiated via the reference. In one embodiment, a method includes: conducting online auction of telephonic leads; determining a way to present listings based at least partially on received price bids on the telephonic leads (e.g., the order of placement, the selection for placement, etc); and providing the listings with information to initiate a telephonic connection in a way trackable to measure a number of telephonic calls generated from presenting the listings.
US08484076B2
A method and system for generating customized incentives involving electronic distribution of coupons to remote personal computers based on proximity of the computer to a retail center are disclosed. A repository, such as an online service provider or a web site on the Internet, stores packages of incentive data for downloading automatically or on demand to a user's computer. A plurality of data fields is used to associate a user's location with a specific incentive.
US08484074B2
Disclosed herein is a method and system for generating revenue by a telecom company and sharing the generated revenue with a subscriber. The telecom company acquires advertisements from one or more of a plurality of advertisers. The advertisements comprise advertisement tunes, text messages, audio messages, or video messages. The telecom company acquires permission from the subscriber for inserting advertisements in phone calls and messaging service messages of the subscriber. The advertisements may be inserted during one of initiation, active state, engaged state and termination of the phone call. Further, the advertisements are inserted at the beginning or the end of the messaging service messages of the subscriber. The revenue generated from advertising by the telecom company is shared with the subscriber through discounts on call charges or through payments of predetermined amount to the subscriber.
US08484071B1
A telecommunications environment management operating system and method is provided. The system and method helps organizations achieve and sustain optimal financial, operational and technical performance in the field of telecommunications.
US08484065B1
A computer-implemented system for selecting a workflow path of a project is provided. The system includes an initial phase, an evaluation phase, a completion phase, and a criteria engine. The evaluation phase of the project includes a plurality of workflow paths for the project based on criteria of the project. Each of the plurality of paths include one or more steps of the evaluation phase. The criteria engine is operable to evaluate project criteria of the project at one or more steps in the evaluation phase and route the project to at least another step in the evaluation phase based on the project criteria.
US08484059B2
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for surveying equipment, machinery, plants, and other facilities. Facilities data may be overlaid onto a map to generate a graphical mapping. When this graphical mapping is displayed, a selection may be received to create a survey of the facilities. Another selection of a facilities item needing repair may be received, and an action may be associated to the facilities item. An electronic survey file is created that describes the facilities item needing repair.
US08484054B2
A computer system includes a data storage device that stores a database. The database contains data relating to insurance policies that cover insured individuals. The computer system also includes an input device that is configured to receive data that indicates an employment status for the individuals. A processor is programmed to receive the data that indicates employment status and to adjust data that represents at least one attribute of the insurance policies in response to the employment status data.
US08484046B1
An Internet on-line insurance policy service system that facilitates real-time automated communication of policy information, adjustment of policy parameters, calculation and communication of resulting policy quotes, and implementation of policy changes, while obviating insurer personnel involvement and supervision of the communication. The system comprises a plurality of software modules relating to on-line real-time communication of existing policy information, testing of a wide range of variations in policy parameters, computing and communicating changes in policy premiums that would result from such variations, communicating desired changes in policy parameters and implementing desired policy changes. Other modules relate to communication of claims information and the providing of on-line forms.
US08484042B2
An interactive voice and data response system that directs input to a voice, text, and web-capable software-based router, which is able to intelligently respond to the input by drawing on a combination of human agents, advanced speech recognition and expert systems, connected to the router via a TCP/IP network. The digitized input is broken down into components so that the customer interaction is managed as a series of small tasks performed by a pool of human agents, rather than one ongoing conversation between the customer and a single agent. The router manages the interactions and keeps pace with a real-time conversation. The system utilizes both speech recognition and human intelligence for purposes of interpreting customer utterances or customer text, where the role of the human agent(s) is to input the intent of caller utterances, and where the computer system—not the human agent—determines which response to provide given the customer's stated intent (as interpreted/captured by the human agents). The system may use more than one human agent, or both human agents and speech recognition software, to interpret simultaneously the same component for error-checking and interpretation accuracy.
US08484027B1
A method for narrating a digital book includes retrievably storing first data relating to narration of the digital book by a first end-user. The first data is then provided to a user device having stored thereon the digital book. Subsequently, the digital book is presented in narrated form to a second end-user via the user device. In particular, the digital book is displayed via a display portion of the user device while simultaneously providing in audible form the first data via an audio output portion of the user device.
US08484013B2
A method of an interactive conversation-learning system includes the steps of: selecting at least one conversation topic provided with at least one conversation target and a plurality of conversation sentences; inputting a first conversation sentence into the interactive conversation-learning system; defining at least one conversation route according to the first conversation sentence, and providing a correlation among the conversation target, the conversation sentences and the conversation route to form a relationship model; and outputting a second conversation sentence connecting with the first conversation sentence via the designated conversation route. Accordingly, the interactive conversation-learning system of a preferred embodiment is provided with a plurality of relationship models.
US08484008B2
Systems and methods for performing timing sign-off of an integrated circuit design are disclosed. In one example embodiment the integrated circuit design is divided into plurality of blocks based on a pre-determined logic. A timing model is extracted for each block using static timing analysis (STA), wherein the extracted timing model includes timing information. An integrated circuit design level STA is performed using the extracted timing model of all of the plurality of blocks to obtain first integrated circuit design timing. The first integrated circuit timing is compared with a predetermined performance criterion.
US08483999B2
An example method of simplifying a system expressed as differential algebraic equations includes transforming the differential algebraic equations into Hessenberg form, the Hessenberg form including algebraic equations and differential equations, using the algebraic equations to express a constraint manifold, and using a combination of differentiation and projections onto the normal and tangential spaces of the constraint manifold to simplify the differential equations.
US08483998B2
A system and method for accurately measuring supply gas consumed by a particular process control component within a process control system is disclosed. Enhanced measurement accuracy is derived from measuring the consumption of the process control component in a normal operating mode of the process control system. The amount of fluid expended by one process control component is separated by a fluid control system from the amount of supply gas expended in actuating other process control components. The amount of fluid expended by each component may be determined by measuring a decrease in a fluid within a vessel having a known quantity that independently supplies supply gas to each component during its operation.
US08483990B2
A graphical user interface for configuring parameters associated with a portable infrared imager is provided. The interface can be used to manually or automatically set range and span parameters. The interface can also be used to configure one or more alarms to notify a user that a detected temperature is outside a predetermined range. In some embodiments, a non-linear temperature scale can be displayed.
US08483988B2
In a temperature estimation apparatus for an aeroplane gas turbine engine mounted on an aircraft and having a combustion chamber, a high-pressure turbine rotated by combustion gas exhausted from the combustion chamber, a low-pressure turbine located downstream of the high-pressure turbine to be rotated by low-pressure gas which has passed through the high-pressure turbine, a high-pressure turbine rotational speed sensor, a low-pressure turbine rotational speed sensor, and a temperature sensor, inlet temperature at an inlet of the high-pressure turbine is estimated based on the detected outlet temperature of the low-pressure turbine and the rotational speed of the low-pressure turbine and is corrected with the detected rotational speed of the high-pressure turbine.
US08483981B2
A method and an arrangement are provided for identifying parameters of an induction machine when the induction machine is connected to the output phases of a voltage source inverter and the induction machine is in standstill state. The method includes providing a DC magnetization current (idc—magn) to the induction machine with the inverter, controlling the power semiconductors of the inverter to an off-state, controlling all the output phases of the inverter to the same potential to provide a zero voltage vector, measuring the stator current (isd) during the zero voltage vector, and determining parameters of the induction machine from the stator current (isd) measured during the zero voltage vector.
US08483976B2
The degree of tire wear is estimated with constancy and accuracy even when the road surface becomes rough during a vehicular run. The deformation speeds Vtf and Vtk of the tread of the tire are obtained respectively by calculating the levels of peaks Pf and Pk at contact edges appearing in the differentiated waveform of radial acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor 11 installed on the inner surface in the inner liner region of the tire. An average standardized deformation velocity Vnt is calculated as the average of the absolute values of leading-edge-side standardized deformation speed Vntf and trailing-edge-side standardized deformation speed Vntk, which are obtained by standardizing the Vtf and Vtk using the rotation time Tr of the tire. At the same time, an extra-contact-patch vibration level v of the tread is detected from the radial acceleration having passed through a bandpass filter 16. And a degree M of tire wear is estimated, using the average standardized deformation speed Vnt, the extra-contact-patch vibration level v, and a map 18M.
US08483970B2
The disclosed subject matter is directed to genetic linkage methods for identifying genetic determinants of transcription factor activity. An inferred transcription factor activity profile is generated based on a nucleotide sequence-specific mathematical model of gene expression regulation. Genetic linkage analysis is performed to identify at least one genetic determinant linked to a specific transcription factor segregant based on the inferred transcription factor profile.
US08483959B2
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: receiving a request for a destination; establishing a predetermined time period based on the destination; calculating a user generated address associated with the destination and filtered with the predetermined time period; generating a comparison between a destination address of the destination and the user generated address; and generating a travel route to the user generated address for the destination with the comparison as the non-match for displaying on a device.
US08483958B2
A computer-implemented method for road identification includes receiving a request at a vehicle computing system for a crossroad identification. The method also includes determining, via the vehicle computing system, a crossroad along a route-being-traveled corresponding to the request. The method further includes outputting, from the vehicle computing system to an output, the determined crossroad responsive to the request.
US08483956B2
An exemplary embodiment of portable electronic device with guide function includes a housing, a processing unit, a command unit, and a guiding unit. The processing unit and the guiding unit are positioned inside the housing, and the command unit is positioned at least partially outside of the housing. The processing unit is electrically connected to the command unit and the guiding unit. Operating the command unit, the portable electronic device with guide function is actuated into guiding mode controlled by the processing unit. The guiding unit sends detection signals to detect obstacles, receives feedback signals from the obstacles, the processing unit receives the feedback signal from the guiding unit to generate corresponding obstacle types and distance according to the feedback signal.
US08483937B2
Methods and systems are provided for improving fuel usage while addressing knock by adjusting the use of spark retard and direct injection of a fluid based on engine operating conditions and the composition of the injected fluid. One or more engine parameters, such as EGR, VCT, boost, throttle position, are coordinated with the direct injection to reduce torque and EGR transients.
US08483936B2
A method to calibrate the fuel injection in at least one combustion chamber of a Diesel engine includes: a) recording the combustion noise power or amplitude in the combustion chamber over a piston position range [γ1i;γ2i], b) at the same time, recording the piston position during the same piston position range [γ1i;γ2i], c) determining from the preceding recordings for which piston position Kmin-i the measured combustion noise power passes through a minimum Pmin-i when the piston moves from position γ1i to position γ2i, d) adjusting the fuel injection according to the determined piston position Kmin-i.
US08483935B2
A method for selectively creating vacuum in a hybrid powertrain controlled by a hybrid control processor and having an engine controlled by an engine control module includes requesting a pressure differential between a first intake point and a second intake point, wherein the first intake point and the second intake point are separated by a throttle. An actual torque capacity is calculated for the engine, wherein the actual torque capacity occurs when pressure is substantially equal at the first intake point and at the second intake point. A desired torque capacity is also calculated for the engine, wherein the desired torque capacity reduces the pressure at the second intake point relative to the pressure at the first intake point, such that the requested pressure differential is created. The engine is then operated at one of the desired torque capacity and the actual torque capacity.
US08483931B2
A method of actively controlling pattern factor in a gas turbine engine includes the steps of issuing fuel into a combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine through one or more circumferentially disposed fuel injectors, determining an initial circumferential pattern factor in the combustion chamber, and adjusting fuel flow through one or more selected fuel injectors based on the initial circumferential pattern factor, to yield a modified circumferential pattern factor in the combustion chamber. The step of determining the circumferential pattern factor can include the steps of detecting a chemiluminescent signature within the combustor, correlating the chemiluminescent signature to an equivalence ratio, and computing the initial circumferential pattern factor based on the equivalence ratio. Alternatively, the step of determining the circumferential pattern factor can include the steps of measuring temperatures at a plurality of circumferential positions at the combustor exit and computing the initial circumferential pattern factor based on the measured temperatures.
US08483927B2
A speed changing control system for a vehicle including a speed changing device for speed changing a rotational power from an engine and outputting the resultant power, a speed changing control unit for setting a speed change ratio of the speed changing device, and an engine control unit for setting an engine rotational speed of the engine. Based on an operational instruction in response to a driver's operation, a rotational speed reducing instruction is given to the engine control unit for reducing an engine rotational speed set by the engine control unit by a predetermined amount. Also, a speed changing ratio changing instruction is given to the engine control unit for requesting, to a speed changing control unit, a change of the speed change ratio for compensating for the reduction in the engine rotational speed by the rotational speed reducing instruction so as to maintain the vehicle speed.
US08483921B2
[Problem] A two-wheel→four-wheel drive switching for a traction-transmitting part time four-wheel drive vehicle in which a gear clutch for separating one of auxiliary driving wheels from a drive train is equipped can be carried out under a shock reduction.[Means for solving problem] In a case where a two-wheel→four-wheel drive switching request occurs during a traveling of the vehicle (step S11 and step S12), an operation of switching a traction-transmitting transfer from a non-transmitting state to a transmitting state is preceded (step S18 and step S22) and, thereafter, the gear clutch is engaged (step S21 and step S22) when a revolution speed difference ΔVw between main and auxiliary driving wheels is 0<ΔVw<α along with an advance of the state switching of the transfer so that large shock and abnormal sound are not generated even if the gear clutch is switched from a released state to an engagement state.
US08483918B2
A method of operating a transmission (1) with at least one interlocking shift element (F) having at least two shift element halves that can be brought into interlocked engagement with one another. When a command is received to close the interlocking shift element (F), a current rotational speed difference between the shift element halves of the interlocking shift element (F) and the current positions of the shift element halves are determined. If the rotational speed difference is smaller than a first speed difference threshold value and if a tooth-on-tooth position has occurred at the interlocking shift element (F), then to release the tooth-on-tooth position, the actuation force is changed to a release level at which a rotational speed difference above a second speed difference threshold value is produced between the shift element halves.
US08483917B2
A backhoe loader includes: a transmission; a cab including an operator's seat allowed to be forwardly and backwardly oriented; a loader disposed forwards of the cab; a backhoe disposed rearwards of the cab; a hydraulic pump configured to supply an operating oil to a hydraulic clutch; a hydraulic circuit including a relief valve for setting an intra-circuit hydraulic pressure to be a first hydraulic pressure; a work mode determining unit configured to determine whether or not an operating mode is a backhoe work mode using the backhoe; and a relief valve controlling unit. The relief valve controlling unit is configured to control a relief pressure of the relief valve at a second hydraulic pressure lower than the first hydraulic pressure when the work mode determining unit determines that the operating mode is the backhoe work mode.
US08483906B2
A driver assistance system for motor vehicles has a sensor device for measuring data about the environment of the vehicle, at least two assistance functions, and a data processing device, which analyzes the measured data and generates at least one specific environmental hypothesis for each assistance function, which provides output data in a form prepared for the corresponding assistance function, at least one environmental hypothesis which has a structure divided into a plurality of partial hypotheses being predefined in the data processing device, and the partial hypotheses having such a logical relationship with one another that output data of one partial hypothesis flow into the generation of the other partial hypothesis, and at least two assistance functions directly or indirectly use a shared partial hypothesis.
US08483904B2
The automobile described herein is configured with a system for capturing subjective and objective data related to automobile performance events. The automobile may comprise or be configured with a drivability evaluation system. This drivability evaluation system may be configured to capture subjective driver responses, monitor driver commands, and monitor automobile performance based on the driver commands. Moreover, the system may be employed in real world driving scenarios, where a driver's commands and the associated automobile responses are indicative of actual every day driving.
US08483903B2
A vehicle on-board unit is configured to communicate with other vehicles to increase an accuracy of a lane centerline determination of a road that the vehicle is traveling. The vehicle on-board unit basically has a vehicle path history generating section, a two-way wireless communications section and a lane centerline determining section. The vehicle path history generating section generates a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of the host vehicle. The two-way wireless communications section receives a preceding vehicle message that at least includes a preceding vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of the preceding vehicle along a lane that the host vehicle is currently traveling. The lane centerline determining section determines a lane centerline of the lane that the host vehicle is currently traveling based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle path history data.
US08483901B2
A power charging station administration device administrates available time slot information and installation site information set by an administrator of an in-vehicle battery charger, that is, the available time slot information representing time slots at which the in-vehicle battery charger is available and the installation site information representing the installation site of the in-vehicle battery charger using an administration. An information publication unit publishes the available time slot information and the installation site information administrated by the administration unit on a homepage. An occupant of a vehicle A other than the administrator of the in-vehicle battery charger can use the in-vehicle battery charger by verifying the published information during time slots at which the in-vehicle battery charger is available.
US08483891B2
A method is described performing the following with a parafoil's control unit composed of electronic circuitry while the control unit is being transported with a parafoil: calculating a desired landing location for a parafoil, the desired landing location corresponding to a moving target, the calculating including using a term representative of the moving target's velocity; determining a flight path to the desired landing location; and, controlling the parafoil's flight path so as to follow the flight path.
US08483887B2
The present invention is directed to a remote control system for controlling a railway vehicle. The remote control system including a remote control device for transmitting signals to a first controller module. The first controller is mounted to the railway vehicle and controls and monitors the functions of the railway vehicle. The first controller module also relays information to the remote control device. The remote control system can also include a portable safety switch allowing any individual in proximity to the railway vehicle to send a stop signal to the first controller module to stop the railway vehicle if any unsafe conditions exist.
US08483886B2
The methods in this disclosure allow for the identification, selection, and arrangement of cells, blocks, and modules in large scale battery systems, such as electric vehicle battery systems. An example embodiment of the present invention allows for the identification of the cells, blocks, and modules with a unique identifier or associated parameter (e.g., internal resistance contributions or capacity). Additionally, to form a block, cells may be selected from a group of capacity-range sorting bins. Based on a parameter of the cell, a pseudo-number generator may be also be used to select cells from an available inventory of cells as maintained in a cell database based. Cells may also be placed in a block for uniform effective cell impedance and even cell aging while minimizing overall block capacity degradation caused by cycling. Block capacities may also be computed based on a known average temperature gradient during operation.
US08483882B2
A robotic system includes a robot having manipulators for grasping an object using one of a plurality of grasp types during a primary task, and a controller. The controller controls the manipulators during the primary task using a multiple-task control hierarchy, and automatically parameterizes the internal forces of the system for each grasp type in response to an input signal. The primary task is defined at an object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain transformation, such that only select degrees of freedom are commanded for the object. A control system for the robotic system has a host machine and algorithm for controlling the manipulators using the above hierarchy. A method for controlling the system includes receiving and processing the input signal using the host machine, including defining the primary task at the object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain definition, and parameterizing the internal forces for each of grasp type.
US08483872B2
Present invention discloses a dispenser having means to dispense desired number of pills from a bulk supply of pills contained in the dispenser. The dispenser comprises of storage compartment having bulk supply of pills and having a discharge port emptying into counting compartment. The counting compartment contains first and second conveyors moving at first and second speed; wherein the second speed is greater than the first speed thereby enabling pill separation; the second conveyor discharges pills into dispensing compartment. Sensors are strategically placed along the conveyors to count pills discharged into dispensing compartment. A pill recovery system and apparatus is disposed inside the dispenser having means to recover pills remaining on conveyors upon completion of a dispensation cycle and deposit recovered pills back into the storage compartment for use in future dispensation cycles. A docking station having receptacles to accommodate dispenser is provided. Docking station has communication ports enabling two-way communication with personal computer. The present invention also relates to a method of determining medication-medication interaction. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of determining medication side effect as being causative of a patient's clinical symptoms.
US08483869B2
A method for fulfilling requests in an inventory system includes receiving a request indicating an activity to be completed. The method also includes selecting a holder to fulfill the request and an inventory station at which to fulfill the request. The inventory station is associated with a queue that includes a plurality of queue spaces. The method further includes moving the selected holder from a first location to a second location remote from the selected inventory station. Additionally, the method also includes determining that a trigger event has occurred and, in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, moving the selected holder from the second location to a queue space of a queue associated with the selected inventory station.
US08483866B2
An automated materials handling system comprises a plurality of overhead hoist buffers (OHBs) for receiving a plurality of semiconductor wafer carriers. Each OHB is assigned to a respective one of a plurality of categories. Each wafer carrier is associated with one or more of the plurality of categories. Each respective category is associated with at least one of a plurality of event trigger types. An overhead transport (OHT) if provided for transporting each of the plurality of wafer carriers to a respective one of the OHBs in response to a respective trigger event. Each trigger event has one of the plurality of event trigger types. Each wafer carrier is stored in a respective one of the plurality of OHBs assigned to a respective one of the categories associated with the respective event trigger type of the trigger event causing that wafer carrier to be transported and stored.
US08483860B2
The present application relates to a technique of calculating an environmental load amount of each product produced on a production line including types of processing apparatuses. Power consumption required for producing a product is obtained more accurately and in an earlier stage. Power consumption required for producing each product is obtained by using the power consumption for each product with respect to each apparatus.
US08483856B2
A circuit includes a digital oscillator, a phase lock loop (PLL), a digital signal generator, a correction circuit and a digital-to-analog converter DAC (DAC). The digital oscillator can output a reference clock signal. The PLL can output a system clock signal based on the reference clock signal. The digital signal generator can output a digital signal based on the system clock signal. The correction circuit can output a pre-distorted signal based on the reference clock signal, the system clock signal and the digital signal. The DAC can output an analog signal based on the pre-distorted signal and the system clock signal.
US08483851B2
The invention relates to a method and a control device (2) for operating an electrically controllable technical device (1), in particular a machine, an installation, a device or a technical process. A control panel (4) with input means (6) for issuing control commands to the technical device (1) and for inputting data into the control device (T) by an operator (7) is provided in this case. This control panel (4) also comprises a graphics-enabled output means (8) for displaying subsets of information which is available overall for an operator (7). The important factor here is to provide at least one second screen layout, which is designed to display a second subset of information on the graphics-enabled output means (8) and is intended to be viewed from a relatively great distance, in particular from outside an immediate control range (9) of the control panel (4) or the technical device (1). Furthermore, the presence and/or absence of a person in the immediate control range (9) of the control panel (4) or the technical device (1) is detected automatically and automated changeover between a first screen layout and the second screen layout is effected on the basis of the determined state relating to the presence and/or absence of a person in the immediate control range (9) of the control panel (4) or the technical device (1).
US08483848B2
An electrical device arrangement, in particular for an item of furniture, includes a bus device and bus subscribers. The bus device has at least two control paths, two power paths and at least one enable path. The additional enable path simplifies the mutual identification of the bus subscribers and also improves the so-called first fail-safety. The signals carried on the enable path furthermore allow a safe shutdown of the system and provide a power-saving sleep mode. A method for controlling such an electrical device arrangement, in particular for an item of furniture, having a bus device and bus subscribers is also disclosed.
US08483846B2
A method, system, and apparatus are provided for an electrode assembly comprising a plurality of electrodes for use with an implantable medical device for conducting an electrical signal between the implantable medical device and a target tissue. The electrode assembly includes a helical member and first and second electrodes formed upon the helical member. The first and second electrodes are adapted to deliver the electrical signal. The electrode assembly also includes a first conductive element formed upon the helical member and operatively coupled to the first electrode. The electrode assembly also includes a second conductive element formed upon the helical member and operatively coupled to the second electrode.
US08483845B2
An anchor for an implantable medical device, anchor delivery tools, kits, and methods, all directed to securing a therapy delivery element at a target location in a patient. An anchor for a therapy delivery element having an outer surface about which the anchor is disposable. The anchor includes a body portion having elastomeric properties, a first opening, a second opening, and a non-linear lumen extending though the body portion from the first opening to the second opening in a relaxed state. The non-linear lumen becomes a linear lumen in a stretched state. The linear lumen of the body portion is adapted to receive the therapy delivery element and the non-linear lumen frictionally engages the outer surface of the therapy delivery element in the relaxed state.
US08483830B2
Various methods and apparatus for treating a condition associated with impaired glucose regulation in a subject comprising in one embodiment, applying a neural conduction block to a target nerve at a blocking site with the neural conduction block selected to at least partially block nerve pulses. In another embodiment, combinations of down-regulating and or up-regulating with or without pharmaceutical agents are used to treat impaired glucose regulation. In other embodiments, up-regulation or down-regulation of various nerves, such as the vagus and its branches, and the splanchnic is used to modify the production of GLP-1 and GIP, thereby controlling glucose levels. In yet further embodiments, combinations of down-regulating and or up-regulating with or without pharmaceutical agents are used to modify the production of GLP-1 and GIP, to treat impaired glucose regulation.
US08483828B2
A method and device for delivering ventricular resynchronization pacing therapy in conjunction with electrical stimulation of nerves which alter the activity of the autonomic nervous system is disclosed. Such therapies may be delivered by an implantable device and are useful in preventing the deleterious ventricular remodeling which occurs as a result of a heart attack or heart failure. The device may perform an assessment of cardiac function in order to individually modulate the delivery of the two types of therapy.
US08483823B2
An embodiment includes a main lead assembly having a proximal portion adapted for connection to a device and a distal portion adapted for placement in a coronary sinus, the distal portion terminating in a distal end for placement proximal a left ventricle. Additionally, the main lead assembly includes a left ventricular electrode located at its distal end which is adapted to deliver cardiac resynchronization therapy to reduce ventricular wall stress. The main lead assembly also includes a fat pad electrode disposed along the main lead assembly a distance from the distal end to position the fat pad electrode proximal to at least one parasympathetic ganglia located in a fat pad bounded by an inferior vena cava and a left atrium. The fat pad electrode is adapted to stimulate the parasympathetic ganglia to reduce ventricular wall stress.
US08483819B2
Disclosed herein is a modulator of vascular permeability using pulsed laser and a method for modulating vascular permeability using the same. More specifically, because the pulsed laser effectively induces vascular permeabilization, effectively delivers intravascular materials into tissues and minimizes insult to the tissues by the induced vascular permeabilization, and locally targets a subcutaneous tissue for noninvasive modulation due to its nonlinearity, it may be usefully used for modulation of permeability.
US08483817B2
In a method and an implantable medical device for assessing a degree of pulmonary edema of a patient, at least two specific body patients of the patent are detected and at least one impedance sensing session is initiated to sense trans-thoracic impedance signals from the patient when the patient is in one of the at least two specific positions. Impedance values are obtained from the impedance signals, and a relation between respective impedance values at the at least two positions is determined. This relation is then used as a metric of pulmonary edema to assess the degree of pulmonary edema, and is provided as an output.
US08483814B2
A seismocardiograph using multiple accelerometer sensors to identify cardiac valve opening and closing times. A methodology for selecting event times is also disclosed.
US08483809B2
The present invention relates to a real-time electrocardiogram monitoring system and method, a patch-type electrocardiograph and a telecommunication apparatus. The real-time electrocardiogram monitoring system includes: a patch-type electrocardiograph which is attached to a skin of a subject in the form of a patch, measures an electrocardiogram of the subject, and generates and transmits first electrocardiogram data of a first frame format for near-field transmission of the measured electrocardiogram signal; a relay-type communication device which receives the first electrocardiogram data from the patch-type electrocardiograph, extracts electrocardiogram data, and combines the extracted electrocardiogram with identification information of the subject to generate second electrocardiogram data of a second frame format for far-field transmission; a monitoring server which receives the second electrocardiogram data from the relay-type communication device, extracts the electrocardiogram data and the subject identification information, and classifies, stores and outputs in real time the electrocardiogram data based on the subject identification information; and a repository which classifies and stores the electrocardiogram data. The real-time electrocardiogram monitoring system further includes: a broadcasting server which relays the electrocardiogram stored by the monitoring server to a remote place; and a viewer which views the electrocardiogram data received from the broadcasting server.
US08483808B2
A system and method for automatically analyzing a cardiac signal, including the step of providing an episode database on a computer storage medium including a plurality of episode data records of one or more patients. Each episode data record includes a cardiac signal from at least one data-generating device. The method also includes the step of selecting one or more of the N beats to be one or more beat templates, for at least a first cardiac signal having N beats. Another step is determining a value K for the cardiac signal using a computer system where K beat templates can represent all the N beats in the cardiac signal.
US08483801B2
Methods, apparatuses, and systems relating to image guided interventions on dynamic tissue. One embodiment is a method that includes creating a dataset that includes images, one of the images depicting a non-tissue internal reference marker, being linked to non-tissue internal reference marker positional information, and being at least 2-dimensional. Another embodiment is a method that includes receiving a position of an instrument reference marker coupled to an instrument; transforming the position into image space using a position of a non-tissue internal reference marker implanted in a patient; and superimposing a representation of the instrument on an image in which the non-tissue internal reference marker appears. Computer readable media that include machine readable instructions for carrying out the steps of the disclosed methods. Apparatuses, such as integrated circuits, configured to carry out the steps of the disclosed methods. Systems that include devices configured to carry out steps of the disclosed methods.
US08483785B2
An impact resistant mobile electronic device is disclosed. A case comprises a first circuit board and a second circuit board, and is elongated in a first direction. The second circuit board is smaller than the first circuit board and is elongated in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The second circuit board comprises one or more electrical components elongated in a fourth direction. The first circuit board may be elongated in a third direction substantially perpendicular to the second direction.
US08483784B2
A mobile communication device may include at least a lid member and a base member which are hingeably coupled together by a linkage mechanism. The device may include additional interface elements on an interface surface accessible when the device is in the closed position. A mobile communication device is provided which further comprises a rotatable member having an interface surface. The linkage mechanism actuates movement of the rotatable member from a first rotation state, such that the interface surface is accessible when the device is in a closed position, to a second rotational state, such that the interface surface is positioned between and concurrently viewable with inner surfaces of the lid and base members when the device is in an opened position. The linkage mechanism actuates the movement of the rotatable member responsive to movement of the device from the closed to the opened position and vice versa.
US08483779B2
A mobile phone apparatus 10 includes a touch panel controlling IC 30. The touch panel controlling IC 30 controls electric power supplied from the electric power IC 14 on the basis of a received active signal or standby signal to set a touch panel input apparatus 32 to an active state or a standby state on the basis of the received active signal or standby signal. A processor 12 transmits to the touch panel controlling IC 30 the active signal or the standby signal in correspondence with a determined state of the mobile phone apparatus 10.
US08483778B2
A mobile communication device has a power amplifier and a power pack. The power pack includes a charge storage component, a first pair of taps connected to the charge storage component for supplying power to components of the mobile communication device and a second pair of taps connected to the charge storage component for supplying power to the power amplifier, the second pair of taps located, when the power is installed in the mobile communication device, more proximate to the power amplifier than the first pair of taps. With the second pair of taps positioned more proximate to the power amplifier, the power amplifier current loop that includes the multi-tap power pack may be made smaller. One benefit of a smaller power amplifier current loop may be reduced emission of RF interference signals.
US08483776B2
A printed circuit board for a wireless communications device includes an acoustic path, and acoustically couples microphone circuitry mounted to a surface of the printed circuit board to an exterior of the wireless communications device. A portion of the acoustic path is integrally formed with the printed circuit board and extends generally parallel to the surface of the printed circuit board. One end of the acoustic path is disposed proximate the microphone circuitry and an opposing end opens to receive acoustic sound from the exterior of the wireless communications device. Audible sound propagates through the acoustic path to the microphone circuitry.
US08483769B2
A mobile terminal includes a display unit configured to display a screen generated by combining plural screen layers, four controllers connected to the display unit; wherein a first controller determines whether a transmission specification of a subject screen layer to be updated is enabled upon updating of the screen, a second controller determines whether a size of the subject screen layer to be updated is equal to or larger than a size of a screen displayed by the display unit when the first controller determines “YES”, a third controller determines whether the screen layer to be combined on a back surface of the subject screen layer to be updated exists when the second controller determines “YES”; and a fourth controller controls to disable the transmission specification of the subject screen layer to be updated when the third controller determines “NO”.
US08483765B2
A user terminal for running a plurality of applications simultaneously is disclosed. In the method for running a plurality of applications simultaneously in accordance with the present invention, a first application is run in a foreground mode in accordance with an inputted first operation start command, and then the operation mode of the first application is switched to a background mode if a mode conversion command is inputted. Then, a second application in accordance with an inputted second operation start command can be run in the foreground mode. With the present invention, a plurality of applications can be run simultaneously in a separate operation mode, maximizing the convenience of the user.
US08483762B2
Embodiments of the invention facilitate providing wireless links with longer link ranges and/or better suppression of interference than can be provided by the integrated antennas of a typical wireless network node. While, in some cases, it is possible to install intermediate wireless network nodes to hop through long expanses between distant wireless network nodes, it is desirable for distantly spaced wireless network nodes to reach one another through a single transit link (i.e. one hop). This approach is preferable because a single transit link is capable of higher data rates and better interference suppression than multi-hop transit links. The present invention provides methods and apparatus for enhancing the link range achievable by typical wireless network nodes so that distantly spaced wireless network nodes are able to communicate with one another using only a single-transit link.
US08483758B2
Accessories for mobile devices. Embodiments include an external protective case and/or holster for mobile electronic devices, where the external protective case/holster incorporates a battery pack, a payment processing device, television signal receiver, and/or a modular multi-input/output device.
US08483757B2
Various methods and devices are provided for a wireless audio system for a number of users. The system includes a base unit that is adapted to removably store, recharge and communicate with personal microphone modules, table-top microphones, and audio adapters. The system also includes a plurality of personal microphone modules that each are adapted to be removable and coupled to a user's clothing, and to communicate wirelessly with the base unit, and table-top microphones that are adapted to communicate wirelessly with the base unit.
US08483753B2
A wireless device includes processing circuitry and a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver section. The processing circuitry determines a set of information signals for receipt, the set of information signals carried by a RF Multiple Frequency Bands Multiple Standards (MFBMS) signal having a plurality of information signal frequency bands. The processing circuitry determines a shift frequency based upon the determination. the RF receiver section receives the RF MFBMS signal and down-converts the RF MFBMS signal by the shift frequency to produce a baseband/low Intermediate Frequency (BB/IF) MFBMS signal. The processing circuitry then extracts data from the set of information signals of the BB/IF MFBMS signal.
US08483735B2
Various schedulers are disclosed for use within a network node of a radio access network. A scheduler can be configured to divide a defined frequency bandwidth into a plurality of bandwidth pipes. The scheduler then develops sets of nodes that are candidates for using corresponding ones of the bandwidth pipes to communicate with the network node during a communication time interval. At least one of the sets contains a plurality of candidate nodes. The scheduler operates separate parallel processes that are arranged for computing metrics for the sets of nodes. The scheduler assigns one of the nodes in each set of nodes to the corresponding bandwidth pipe in response to the computed metrics. The scheduler may divide the defined frequency bandwidth into a plurality of non-overlapping bandwidth pipes so that metrics for candidate nodes in one of the sets can be computed independently from candidate nodes in another one of the sets.
US08483733B2
A device is dedicated to adapting modulation and coding schemes to be applied to data intended to be broadcast by means of a dedicated carrier over a forward channel of a radio communication network to radio terminals (UE) connected to at least that radio communication network. This device (D) comprises processing means (PM) tasked with adapting at least one modulation and coding scheme to be applied to data intended to be broadcast by means of the dedicated carrier, based on actual radio broadcast conditions, over links established between the radio network and radio terminals (UE) which are recipients of the data to be broadcast.
US08483732B2
Methods and devices are provided for disambiguating the timing of uplink transmissions. In one embodiment, the method may involve receiving from a wireless network a global time value having a wraparound time longer than that of a system frame number for the network, the global time value being based at least in part on an overhead message conveying at least one parameter of a first radio access technology (RAT) different from a second RAT used by the network. The method may involve determining a current global time based on the received global time value, and sending an uplink message that includes the current global time as a global timestamp.
US08483726B1
Disclosed are methods for determining which page attempt to shed. In accordance with these methods, when a page attempt from a first sequence directed to a first access terminal (AT) contends with a page attempt from a second sequence directed to a second AT for transmission over the air interface of a RAN, the RAN determines which sequence has been shed to a greater extent. The RAN then transmits the page attempt from the sequence that has been shed to a greater extent and sheds the page attempt from the sequence that has been shed to a lesser extent. The methods advantageously help to avoid one sequence of page attempts being disproportionately shed.
US08483724B2
A computer-implemented method provides, to a first user, location-based information concerning a second user, and a system and computer-readable storage medium include computer-readable instructions for performing the same. The method includes determining that the second user is within a certain geographic area and communicating to the first user, by way of a wireless communication device of the first user, an identity of the second user.
US08483719B2
A system and method for determining the location of a re-deployable base station is disclosed. The disclosed system and method allow for accurate determination of the location of a re-deployable base station, such as a femto base station (FBS), using position information obtained from a mobile station (MS) that is communicating with the FBS being located. The position information can include the location of the mobile device as estimated using one or more satellite positioning systems or cellular network based positioning systems. The position information can also include data identifying pilots from base stations and/or other FBS's that the MS is receiving. A determination of the propagation loss between the MS and the FBS is used to estimate the distance between the mobile device and the FBS. The location of the FBS is determined based on the received position information and the determined distance between the MS and the FBS.
US08483709B2
A location update method and a mobile station using the same are disclosed. The location method includes receiving a message including femto Base Station (BS) list information from a macro base station, receiving a preamble including an IDentifier (ID) of a first femto BS from the first femto BS during a predetermined interval, and updating a location to the first femto BS, if the ID of the femto BS is identical to one of IDs included in the femto BS list information. The femto BS list information may include IDs of one or more femto BSs included in the macro BS.
US08483707B2
The present invention provides for wireless terminal and a method in a wireless terminal for use in a location determination approach using time of arrival estimates between the wireless terminal and a plurality of base stations in a cellular network. The method includes receiving assistance data from a serving base station for use in receiving a position reference signal used to determine a time of arrival of one or more respective position reference signals from the plurality of base stations relative to a time reference, wherein the assistance data includes a list of base stations, each base station included in the list to be one of used or excluded from use as part of the plurality of base stations for receiving the position reference signal and determining the time of arrival estimate for the received position reference signal. The position reference signal is then received for each of the plurality of base stations, where for each of the plurality of base stations a time of arrival estimate is determined for each of the respective received position reference signals. The time of arrival estimates for each of the plurality of base stations is then forwarded to a location determination entity.
US08483700B2
A device for allocating a channel by using wireless access in a vehicular environment in which an onboard unit is provided in a vehicle and at least one roadside unit is provided, receives a service announcement message from at least one roadside unit, uses the service announcement message to generate an available service table, determines whether the available service table has roadside unit entries for transmitting the service announcement message, and if so, compares average RSSI provided by the roadside units to select a roadside unit to access, selects a channel that corresponds to the service provider ID with the highest priority from among the service provided by the selected roadside unit, and assigns the selected channel as a service channel to exchange information with the roadside unit.
US08483697B2
Methods and apparatus are provided to minimize conflicts caused by simultaneous unicast and broadcast transmission/reception in a mobile communication device. The mobile communication device selects a technology for the reception of a broadcast/multicast/unicast service and then disables the use of specific technologies or the use of a specific technology on a specific frequency band that might interfere with the reception of another service.
US08483696B2
Each mobile station device (12) includes: a subchannel allocation refusal determining section (50), which determines a subchannel refused to be allocated from a base station device (10), based on a communication quality measured for each subchannel by a communication quality measuring section (44); an RMAP creating section (52), which creates refused channel information (RMAP information) indicating the subchannel determined to be refused to be allocated; and a transmitting section (54) which gives notice of the created RMAP information to the base station device (10). The base station device (10) includes: an RMAP acquiring section (26), which acquires the RMAP information noticed from the each mobile station device (12); and a subchannel allocating section (32), which determines whether to change a subchannel to be allocated to the each mobile station device (12), based on the acquired RMAP information and allocated channel information (MAP information) indicating the subchannel allocated to the each mobile station device (12).
US08483695B2
In a wireless terminal, a receiver receives information being broadcasted from a wireless base station as a femtocell and indicating that the wireless base station is a femtocell, and a transmitter transmits to the wireless base station a signal of a first request to secure one or more wireless resources when the receiver receives the information before the wireless terminal receives a call and a request to initiate a call. When the wireless terminal receives a second request to initiate a call, the wireless terminal performs operations for establishing a communication path by using the one or more wireless resources secured in response to the first request, where the operations do not include an operation for securing the one or more wireless resources. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time taken to start communication after the user of the wireless terminal requests the start of the communication.
US08483694B2
A wireless router employing a technique to couple a plurality a host services or host systems and a plurality of wireless networks. A method to route data items between a plurality of mobile devices and a plurality of host systems through a common wireless router. A point-to-point communication connection is preferably established between a first host system and a common wireless router, a mobile network message at a mobile device is generated, the mobile network message is transmitted via a wireless network to the common wireless router which in turn routes a data item component of the mobile network message to the appropriate host service.
US08483691B2
For restrictive reuse, each cell (or each sector) is assigned (1) a set of usable subbands that may be allocated to users in the cell and (2) a set of forbidden subbands that is not used. The usable and forbidden sets for each cell are orthogonal to one other. The usable set for each cell also overlaps the forbidden set for each neighboring cell. A user u in a cell x may be allocated subbands in the usable set for that cell. If user u observes/causes high level of interference from/to a neighboring cell y, then user u may be allocated subbands from a “restricted” set containing subbands included in both the usable set for cell x and the forbidden set for cell y. User u would then observe/cause no interference from/to cell y. The subband restriction may be extended to avoid interference from multiple neighboring cells.
US08483681B2
A channel scanning method applied to a wireless communication system for scanning a plurality of channels to select target channels capable of establishing corresponding connections is disclosed. The channel scanning method includes scanning a plurality of channels for determining if any of the channels is capable of establishing a corresponding connection; setting the channels capable of establishing corresponding connections to be a plurality of target channels; and scanning the target channels for determining if the target channels are capable of establishing corresponding connections, respectively.
US08483678B2
There is disclosed an apparatus and method for configuring a set of network elements, comprising: selecting the set of network elements; determining a configuration parameter for each network element in the set; measuring a performance parameter dependent upon said configuration parameter for each selected network element; and selectively adjusting the configuration parameter of at least one network element in dependence on the measured performance parameter for said network elements in the set.
US08483677B2
After a mobility layer of a mobile device enters a waiting state, a timer T3240 is activated. The mobile device is configured to await further instructions from a network system before the timer T3240 expires and control the mobility layer to leave the waiting state if the timer T3240 expires, thereby improving system efficiency.
US08483675B2
An automated mobile operating method, medium, mobile system, and mobile phone extracting a pattern of operation of a mobile device based on operational data for the mobile device, comparing the pattern and the operational data of the mobile device to determine whether the pattern is a new pattern not previously recognized for the mobile system, and initiating a dialogue with the user to record information for the new pattern or determining whether to initiate a dialogue with the user regarding the pattern based on an element of a corresponding rule being met for the pattern, and performing the dialogue with the user, when initiated, requesting guidance on implementation of an operation of the mobile device based on the pattern. The initiating of the dialogue may be delayed based upon an operational state of the mobile device, and the delaying may be overridden based upon an urgency of the dialogue.
US08483670B2
An information service provides search and notifications to inform when certain people (e.g., friends, family, business contacts, etc.) are nearby so as to facilitate communications with those people. Users may define lists of people whose locations may be tracked by positioning equipment based on personal communications/computing devices carried by the people.
US08483663B1
Methods and products for facilitating a method of reducing mobile-phone fraud are provided. One method includes receiving a request to activate a mobile device, determining that it is identified as lost or stolen, communicating to the mobile device activation data that enables the mobile device to communicate via a wireless-telecommunications network despite the fact that the mobile device was determined to be identified as lost or stolen, and communicating to the mobile device functionality-impairment instructions that deliberately disable a set of functional aspects of the mobile device, thereby transforming it from a first state to a second state that is functionally impaired compared to the first state.
US08483655B2
Techniques for use in producing an incoming call message for a mobile-terminated call to a mobile communication device which operates in a wireless communication network are described. When the mobile-terminated call is a non-emergency call, data indications in one or more data fields of the incoming call message are set to instruct the mobile communication device to perform non-emergency call processing. When the mobile-terminated call is an emergency call from a public safety answering point entity, the data indications in the one or more data fields of the incoming call message are set to instruct the mobile communication device to automatically answer the emergency call. The incoming call message is sent to the mobile communication the wireless communication network.
US08483654B2
A novel system and method for enhancing people's personal safety and incident reporting is presented, wherein mobile devices are used to report and/or record both “911” type situations and non-emergency situations. Users of the invention can record, transmit, stream, upload and/or send information from a threatening situation to a dispatcher at an emergency management office or facility and to the user's safety group. The dispatcher can assess the situation and, if the situation warrants action, then the information can be forwarded to the appropriate first responders. The system geo-locates the user and allows integration of camera feeds in the user's vicinity. The inventive system and method enables a user to contact a dispatcher and also to alert the user's safety group. Four pieces of software facilitate video, audio, images and/or text medium of communication between the user-in-distress and the dispatcher, first responders and the user's safety group.
US08483648B2
The present invention provides a mobile station which can reduce the power consumption of an operation of intermittent reception in accordance with an elapsed time after transmission or reception.When a mobile station intermittently receives signals from another mobile station after transmission or reception, the interval of intermittent reception is not made constant, but the interval of the intermittent reception is made short immediately after transmission or reception, and as the time passes thereafter, the interval of the intermittent reception is made longer than that immediately after transmission or reception. Further, when the interval of the intermittent reception is made long and becomes a predetermined interval, the interval of the intermittent reception can be maintained at the predetermined interval and made constant thereafter.Accordingly, the interval of a reception timing can be set in accordance with a state after completion of reception or completion of transmission.
US08483641B1
A method includes receiving a signal via multiple receive antennas. A noise covariance matrix, which indicates noise correlations between pairs of the receive antennas, is estimated. A stability criterion defined over the noise covariance matrix is evaluated, and the noise covariance matrix is modified when the stability criterion is violated. The received signal is processed using the modified noise covariance matrix.
US08483638B2
A transmitter that performs radio communications with a receiver in a plurality of types of communications services, the transmitter includes a controller that controls guard intervals of at least any one of a plurality of codes, which are unique to respective cells and correspond to any one of the plurality of types of communications services, so that lengths of guard intervals of the plurality of codes become same; and a transmitting unit that transmits first codes among the plurality of codes using a first band set in a transmission band, and also transmits second codes among the plurality of codes different from the first codes using a second band set in the transmission band different from the first band set.
US08483637B2
A radio receiver converts received RF signals in a predetermined frequency band into digital RF signals, converts the digital RF signals into IF signals corresponding to RF signals whose carrier frequencies are different from one another, converts one of the digital RF signals into an IF signal corresponding to an RF signal whose carrier frequency matches a selection input made by a user, outputs audio data included in the converted IF signal corresponding to the RF signal whose carrier frequency meets the selection input made by the user, extracts sets of program information, respectively, from the converted IF signals corresponding to the RF signals, generates an electronic program guide by listing the extracted sets of program information in association with the carrier frequencies of the RF signals from which the sets of program information are extracted, and displays an image representing the electronic program guide.
US08483633B2
A communication device is presented that has different processors and a power amplifier. One of the processors receives a signal from a monitor and indicates that an alarm exists to a diagnostics module. The other processor uses the envelope signal of the input signal to be amplified and either the signal from the diagnostics module, the monitor or the power amplifier to adjust modulation of the power supply of the power amplifier dependent on the type of alarm. The power supply voltage or headroom is maximized or frozen at the value of the last detection cycle if a fault or impairment, respectively, of the power amplifier is detected.
US08483632B2
Embodiments include systems and methods for controlling radiation of radio frequency (RF) energy by a wireless communication device that includes a transmitter, an antenna, a vector field sensor, and a processing system. The transmitter produces an analog RF signal, and the antenna radiates the analog RF signal into an environment. The vector field sensor senses an intensity of a vector field resulting from the analog RF signal radiated by at least the antenna (and possibly other portions of the device). The processing system determines whether a value representing the intensity is greater than a first threshold, and when the value is greater than the first threshold, the processing system causes the radiated RF energy produced by the wireless communication device to be decreased.
US08483629B2
A method includes transmitting, from a radio device of a secondary communication system, a signal into a channel of a primary communication system; monitoring channel signal quality-related feedback of the primary system; determining, based on the monitored channel signal quality-related feedback, an amount of mutual coupling between the transmitted signal and the channel, if any, caused by the transmitted signal; and if the amount of determined mutual coupling is less than a threshold amount, using the channel for communication with another radio device of the secondary communication system. The signal that is transmitted may be a probing signal having at least a predetermined temporally varying transmission pattern, and where determining includes correlating at least the predetermined temporally varying transmission pattern with changes, if any, in the monitored channel signal quality-related feedback. The channel signal quality-related feedback that is monitored may include at least one of ACK/NACK feedback, power control feedback, rate control feedback and channel quality indicator feedback.
US08483621B2
A method of sensing radio frequency interference (RFI) in a wireless system is provided. The method includes receiving wireless data through a wireless receiver and evaluating received wireless data through a receiver baseband module to identify an occurrence of a signal detection failure by a physical (PHY) layer or a media access control (MAC) layer of the wireless system. The method also includes triggering a radio frequency interference sensing state in response to the occurrence of signal detection failure by the physical layer or the media access control layer of the wireless system.
US08483620B2
Interference management may involve the transmission of interference management messages by wireless nodes that are experiencing interference and appropriate responses by potential interferers that receive the interference management messages. Upon detection of interfering signals, a wireless node may determine whether the signals are from a synchronous interferer or an asynchronous interferer. Based on this determination, the wireless node may use different types of signals to manage the different types of interference. In some aspects, asynchronous interference management may involve backing-off in frequency and/or in time in response to interference signals. Asynchronous interference management may involve transmitting back-off beacons to clear potential interferers from a given carrier. Here, the transmission of beacons by a wireless node may be metered to facilitate fair sharing of communication resources.
US08483608B2
A network monitoring system includes data source routers, data servers, and user interface modules for depicting visual data presentations that show call activity within a satellite-based communication network. The data source routers capture signaling data from a terrestrial portion of the network and supply the signaling data to the data servers. The user interface modules request selected data from the data servers based on selected display filtering settings and generate the visual data presentations, including a geo view, a satellite activity grid, and a message view. The geo view shows a time progression of live or recorded call activity data on a map. The satellite activity grid organizes a time-progression of live or recorded call activity on a two-dimensional grid representing each satellite spot beam in the system. The message view shows a detailed listing of individual messages that have occurred within selected call flows in the network.
US08483602B2
A transfer station for toner transfer in an electrophotographic imaging device includes an endless transfer belt transported about an endless path through the imaging device, a transfer roll adjacent one surface of the transfer belt, and a backup roll adjacent an opposite surface of the transfer belt opposite from the transfer roll such that the transfer roll and backup roll form a transfer nip effecting transfer of toner. For the purpose of improved overtransfer performance, an outer layer of a thin polymer coating is applied to at least one of the transfer belt and the rolls so as to be located within the transfer nip with transfer of toner. The polymer layer has a thickness from about 5 μm to about 200 μm, surface resistivity from about 1E08 to about 1E12 Ohm/cm and breakdown strength greater than 500 V.
US08483593B2
A holder unit is configured to hold a plurality of photosensitive drums such that the plurality of photosensitive drums are arrayed in a predetermined direction and juxtaposed with each other with a space between neighboring photosensitive drums. A plurality of developing units is held by the holder unit, each is provided in association with each photosensitive drum, and each includes a developing roller displaceable between a contact position where the developing roller is in contact with the photosensitive drum and a spaced position where the developing roller is spaced away from the photosensitive drum. A spacer member has a plurality of retaining portions each in association with each developing unit and configured to retain each developing unit at the spaced position, and a linking portion integral with the retaining portions and configured to connect neighboring retaining portions therethrough in the predetermined direction.
US08483583B2
Toner is supplied from a toner container to a developing part that causes the toner to adhere to a latent image formed on a latent image carrying member and develops the latent image, a pre-toner-supply operation of supplying a predetermined amount of toner to the developing part is carried out, a fog detecting image is formed and fog is detected in the fog detecting image, a toner supply amount to be supplied to the developing part is determined based on the fog detected in the detecting and an operational status of the developing part since the toner was supplied to the developing part the last time, and the toner supply amount of the toner determined in the determining is supplied to the developing part.
US08483580B2
An open loop gain adjustment method and apparatus are provided for adjusting the gain of a TIA of an optical RX module based on measurements of the BER of the optical link in which the optical RX module is employed. The gain of the TIA is adjusted until a determination is made that a satisfactory or optimum link BER has been achieved.
US08483571B2
An optical beam splitter for use in an optoelectronic module and method are provided. The optical beam splitter is configured to split a main beam produced by a laser into at least first and second light portions that have different optical power levels. The first light portion, which is to be coupled into an end of a transmit optical fiber of an optical communications link, has an optical power level that is within eye safety limits and yet has sufficient optical power to avoid signal degradation problems. The optical power level of the first light portion is less than the optical power level of the second light portion. The optical beam splitter is capable of being implemented in a unidirectional or a bidirectional optical link.
US08483570B2
Method for efficiently increasing the capacity of an optical channel which can operate in a given data rate B, by generating N modulated data streams with a bit rate of B/N and a bit-time of N/B at the transmission end, to be simultaneously transmitted from a transmission end to a receiving end of the channel. A shift of 1/B*N between the first modulated data stream and each of its N−1 subsequent modulated data streams is generated using time delay or phase shifting and then the first modulated data stream and its shifted subsequent modulated data streams are combined into a composite multilevel signal with up to N levels and the composite multilevel signal is transmitted to a receiving end of the channel. At the receiving end, the composite multilevel signal is sampled N times during each bit-time, in order to obtain a vector with N elements at each time, such that each element has N+1 possible values and corresponds to the order of a sample. Each of the N modulated data streams are reconstructed by vectorial MLSE, preformed for each element by calculating the joint conditional PDF.
US08483567B2
A communication system and method utilizing an infrared signal emitter communicating a predefined signal, and an infrared signal receiver capable of receiving such predefined signal, distinguishing such predefined signal within a field of view of the infrared signal receiver, and providing output indicating the location of the infrared signal emitter within the field of view of the infrared signal receiver.
US08483562B2
An approach is provided for integrating one or more fiber switches in a passive optical network. A platform generates a command signal to control a splitter hub of a passive optical network, the splitter hub being configured to communicate with a plurality of optical network terminals that respectively serve a plurality of customer premises. The splitter hub includes a fiber switch configured to provide switching between one of a plurality of input ports and one of a plurality of output ports of the splitter hub.
US08483559B2
A system and method for monitoring an optical communication system. The system may include trunk terminals coupled through a trunk path and a branch terminal coupled the trunk path. A monitoring signal routing device within the branch terminal routes a monitoring signal from a branch-drop path to a branch-add path.
US08483548B2
The digital broadcast recording apparatus (100) includes a recording unit (160) for recording digital broadcast, a detection unit (170) for detecting a packet containing information regarding a portion permitted to be recorded from a stream of a program prohibited from being recorded in the digital broadcast, and a control unit (140) for controlling, when the recording unit (160) records the program prohibited from being recorded, the recording unit (160) to record the portion permitted to be recorded based on the information contained in the packet detected by the detection unit (170).
US08483536B2
A cable management panel including a chassis, a drawer, and an open-drawer locking arrangement. The open-drawer locking arrangement preventing inadvertent closing movement of the drawer relative to the chassis. The open-drawer locking arrangement including an activation arm accessible from the front of the drawer and a locking piece located at the rear of the drawer. The activation arm moving in a linear direction to engage the locking piece, causing the locking piece to rotate from a locking position to a non-locking position.
US08483534B2
An improved multimode fiber optic cable is provided. The improved multimode fiber optic cable includes, but is not limited to, a refractive index profile which is designed to compensate for a radially dependent wavelength distribution of laser launch modes coupled into the multimode fiber optic cable in order to minimize modal dispersion within the multimode fiber optic cable.
US08483533B1
Optical illuminators comprise optical fibers having a gradient index core and a cladding selected so that a refractive index difference at a core/cladding interface provides a numerical aperture less than, greater than, or equal to a numerical aperture of the gradient index core. In some examples, a maximum refractive index difference in the gradient index core is substantially the same as, less than, or greater than the refractive index difference at the core/cladding interface. Illuminators based on such fibers are configured to produce optical beams with a laser diode or diode array, and to provide stable, approximately Gaussian optical fluxes at a fiber output surface.
US08483530B2
Electrical and/or optical connector housing (11) with a wet-mateable connector receiving part (17), adapted to receive a mating electrical and/or optical connector counterpart when surrounded by a hydrostatic pressure, such as the pressure of surrounding water. The connector housing (11) exhibits a compartment (19) that is pressure balanced with respect to said hydrostatic pressure, wherein one or more electrical and/or optical conductors (21) are guided from the receiving part (17) to a penetrator (15), said penetrator (15) constituting a pressure barrier between said compartment (19) and an opposite end of the penetrator (15). The housing (11) comprises at least one wall part (29) adapted to be flexed by an exterior hydrostatic pressure exerting force on the housing (11), thereby changing the volume of said inner compartment (19), whereby said wall part (29) constitutes at least a part of the encapsulation of said compartment (19).
US08483526B2
An innovative micro-size photonic switch is presented. The photonic switch is comprised of: a mirror having a reflecting surface; an input waveguide; and an output tapered waveguide structure. The photonic switch further includes a switching mechanism disposed adjacent to the reflecting surface and operable to change the refractive index along the reflective surface and thereby shift the angle at which the optical signal reflects from the mirror. More specifically, the switching mechanism may operate to change concentration of free carrier distribution along the reflective surface and thereby displace the effective reflecting interface of the mirror. In this way, the optical signal can be directed to one of two or more output ports of the output tapered waveguide structure and finally exited by one output waveguide channel that is connected to the selected port of the output tapered waveguide structure.
US08483524B2
An electro-optic polymer semiconductor integrated circuit includes one or more doped regions configured to drive one or more electrodes, and the electrodes are configured to drive a juxtaposed electro-optic core. The assembly may include a planarization layer disposed at least partially coplanar with the electrodes. The circuit may include an integrated multiplexer, driver configured to receive a signal from the multiplexer, at least one high speed electrode configured to be driven by the driver and modulate light energy passed through a hyperpolarizable poled chromophore regions disposed near the high speed electrode. The circuit may include a calibration storage circuit. The circuit may include, during fabrication, structures to provide voltage to a buried electrode and a shield to prevent damage from the poling field.
US08483523B2
An optical waveguide electro-optic device including: a support substrate; an optical waveguide which has a core layer formed of a ferroelectric material, and is formed on an upper side of the support substrate; a lower electrode layer formed on a lower side of the core layer and which is adhered to the support substrate through an adhesion layer; an upper electrode layer formed on an upper side of the core layer; and an external electrode part, wherein the optical waveguide has an incidence plane from where light enters and an outgoing plane from where the light exits, the core layer has a polarization inversion region and a polarization non-inversion region, the upper electrode layer has a plane in such a shape that a width of the plane expands from a side of the incidence plane toward a side of the outgoing plane, to cover the polarization inversion region of the core layer, and the lower electrode layer is connected electrically to the external electrode part on the side of the incidence plane.
US08483512B2
The invention relates to a position determination method for a geodetic device having a distance and angle measuring functionality, such as a total station (1), a determination being made of the relative location of the geodetic device and reference points (2) marked with reflectors (P1-Pn) of a quantity of reference points, by measuring the distance (D1-Dn) and at least one angle (φi-φn, θ1-θn) from the geodetic device to the reference points as reference variables, the reference variables being determined in a device-based reference system. For the reference point quantity formed by the reference points (P1-Pn) and a reference point quantity of measurable reference points (A-G), the positions of which are known in an external reference system, common elements are identified, the relative location of the reference points (P1-Pn) being derived from the reference variables and the common elements being identified and associated based on the relative location of the reference points (P1-Pn). The position (S) of the geodetic device in the external reference system is determined from the common elements and the positions thereof in an external reference system.
US08483507B2
An image sensing apparatus executes a plurality of tone corrections respectively suited to different luminance distributions of images. The image sensing apparatus analyzes a luminance distribution of sensed image data, selects, based on an analysis result, at least one of a first tone correction which suppresses luminance saturation of image data, a second tone correction which converts luminance values of all luminance regions so that a maximum luminance value of sensed image data becomes a largest possible luminance value of the image data, and a third tone correction which multiplies a luminance value of a low-luminance region, which is set in advance, of sensed image data by a gain larger than gains of other luminance regions, as a tone correction to be implemented for sensed image data, and limits, when a correction based on the second tone correction is selected, implementation of a correction based on the third tone correction.
US08483506B2
To provide an image processing system for detecting an image a frame which causes large blinking of light among realistic images with a high dynamic range and for correcting the image and a method of image processing. The image processing system includes a histogram conversion portion for calculating a histogram in accordance with an image of an nth frame, an image of an (n+1)th frame, and image data which are stored in an image data storage portion; a histogram comparator portion for calculating a difference between the histogram of the nth frame and the histogram of the (n+1)th frame to form a histogram curve and for comparing the histogram curve with a threshold curve; an image correction circuit portion for performing correction for narrowing the dynamic range of the image data of the image of the (n+1)th frame, which is read from the image data storage portion; and an output switching switch portion for switching and outputting the image data corrected in the image correction circuit portion and the image data from the image data storage portion, which is not corrected, in accordance with output from the histogram comparator portion.
US08483499B2
An image processing apparatus includes an image extracting unit, a vector information generating unit and a color information adding unit. The image extracting unit extracts an image to be vectorized from a multilevel image as a binary image. The vector information generating unit vectorizes the binary image extracted by the image extracting unit to generate vector information. The color information adding unit adds color information to the vector information generated by the vector information generating unit.
US08483496B2
A picture prediction encoding device includes: a region division unit for dividing an input picture into a plurality of blocks; a prediction signal generation unit for generating a prediction signal with respect to a pixel signal that is included in a subject block to be processed among the blocks; a residual signal generation unit for generating a residual signal between the pixel signal of the subject block and the generated prediction signal; a signal encoding unit for generating a compressed signal by encoding the residual signal; and a storage unit for decompressing the compressed signal and storing the decompressed signal as a reproduced pixel signal. The prediction signal generation unit is configured to sub-divide the subject block into a plurality of small regions, at least one of the small regions is non-square, and a length of a first side of the non-square small region is longer than a length of a second side that is different from the first side.
US08483491B2
A calculation device may include a data read unit configured to sequentially read pixel values in the first direction while sequentially making a shift in the second direction from a position of a reference pixel in the first and second directions, a first data integration unit configured to output a sum of values of pixels as a first integration value, a second data integration unit configured to output a sum of values of pixels as a second integration value, and a data cumulative calculation unit configured to obtain a cumulative value by accumulating pixel values respectively included in a first rectangular data area expressed by the first number of pixels in the first direction and the second number of pixels in the second direction based on the first integration value output from the first data integration unit and the second integration value output from the second data integration unit.
US08483488B2
A method and system for generating stabilized intravascular ultrasonic images are provided. The system includes a probe instrument, having an ultrasonic signal transmitter and a reflected ultrasonic signal receiver, the reflected signals containing information about a tubular environment, and a processor and post-processor, capable of converting inputted signals into one or more, preferably a series of, images. The method for stabilizing images involves the processor and post-processor input and output. The post-processor determines the environment center at each reflection position, detects the tubular environment edges, and aligns the image center with the environment center thereby limiting image drift and stabilizing the images. The processor may also filter images to improve image stabilization and remove motion interference and/or extract the environment's 3D shape. The method and device are of particular use in a vascular lumen, where image drift may occur due to heart beat or blood flow.
US08483480B2
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of providing an image file depicting an image, in a computer memory, generating an illumination image from the image; and factoring the illumination image to generate a diffuse illumination image and a harsh shadow illumination image.
US08483477B2
A method for constructing a digital image of a three-dimensional surface of a physical object includes choosing a surface on the object and placing a projector equipped with a light source to face the object, and providing a mask defining a speckle pattern having a multitude of points with predetermined light intensities and/or colors. The optical axis of the projector is directed towards the surface to be imaged. The speckle pattern is projected, along the optical axis, onto the surface. A two-dimensional image of the speckle pattern is acquired and stored and deformed by an optical sensor disposed in the optical axis. The image of the deformed speckle pattern is compared with an image of the non-deformed speckle pattern, and then, for each point of the selection, at least the depth coordinate is calculated.
US08483474B2
The present invention relates to an automated in-line method for measuring the surface cleanness of a continuously running metal sheet or strip, characterized by the following steps: a beam of radiation or a particle beam or a spark is focused onto the surface of the running strip, the transmitted power and the focal diameter being chosen so as to obtain a power density sufficient to create a plasma or hot spot which locally etches the metal in the form of a central zone surrounded by a peripheral oxidation ring; the characteristics of a zone encompassing said oxidized ring and possibly said central zone are analyzed by means of an optical image acquisition device and image processing; and an objective value indicative of the surface cleanness is deduced therefrom.
US08483471B2
Approaches for deriving scatter information using inverse tracking of scattered X-rays is disclosed. In certain embodiments scattered rays are tracked from respective locations on a detector to a source of the X-ray radiation, as opposed to tracking schemes that proceed from the source to the detector. In one such approach, the inverse tracking is implemented using a density integrated volume that reduces the integration steps performed.
US08483468B2
[Object] To provide a method for accurately determining cerebral blood flows both in rest state and under medication with less invasive operations.[Solution] Cerebral blood flow is determined based on a formula represented by the following formulas (1) or (2) for a time under medication that continuously follows a resting time. B ( t ) = k 1 ⅇ - k 2 t 3 mC f ∫ 0 t 3 S ( τ ) ⅇ k 2 τ ⅆ τ ( ⅇ - k 2 d ( t - t 3 ) ) + k 1 d mC f ∫ t 3 t ( S ( τ ) + S ( τ - t 3 ) ) · ⅇ - k 2 d · ( t - τ ) ⅆ τ ( t ≥ t 3 ) ( 1 ) ∫ t 5 t 6 B ( t ) ⅆ t = k 1 k 2 d ⅇ - k 2 t 3 mC f ∫ 0 t 3 S ( τ ) ⅇ k 2 τ ⅆ τ · ( ⅇ - k 2 d ( t 5 - t 3 ) - ⅇ - k 2 d ( t 6 - t 3 ) ) + ∫ t 5 t 6 k 1 d mC f ∫ t 3 t ( S ( τ ) + S ( τ - t 3 ) ) · ⅇ - k 2 d · ( t - τ ) ⅆ τ ⅆ t ( t ≥ t 3 ) ( 2 ) (B(t): the radiation count at the time of t, t3: the time when a radioisotope medicine is administered, t5: the time when acquisition of the imaging data started for the state under medication, t6: the time when acquisition of the imaging data finished for the state under medication, mCf: a scaling factor, k1: cerebral blood flow rest state, k2: the blood-outflow-rate-constant of brain tissues rest state, k1d: a cerebral blood flow under medication, and k2d: the blood-outflow-rate-constant of brain tissues under medication).
US08483455B2
In a method and device to evaluate a time series of in particular two-dimensional images of a contrast agent flow in at least one blood vessel of the human body within the scope of a test bolus measurement, wherein the acquisition of the time series begins with administration of the contrast agent, the time series of two-dimensional images or a time series of images derived from this is used as a time series of evaluation images, and in at least one evaluation image exhibiting a contrast agent signal, at least one point associated with a blood vessel is determined semi-automatically or automatically and transferred to further evaluation images. For every blood vessel discovered in this way, a temporal contrast agent course curve is determined (in particular via a fit) automatically from the image signal of the evaluation images at the at least one point and/or in a region around the marked point in the blood vessel and at least one item of contrast agent information that affects the temporal workflow of a subsequent measurement is determined from at least one contrast agent course curve.
US08483454B2
A rule-based unsupervised process for classifying cervical tissue by serially applying classifiers selected from the group that consists of determining size of texture region, opacity parameter, size of acetowhite regions, number of coarse and fine punctations, size of coarse and fine mosaics, size of atypical blood vessels and demographic data, so that the cervical tissue can be classified into no evidence of disease, low-grade dysplasia, high-grade dysplasia or cancer.
US08483452B2
An image processing apparatus includes: a conversion section converting a moving object image being an image in a region corresponding to a moving object included in a reference image and other images constituting images generated under different exposure conditions. The image processing apparatus also includes a substitution section substituting the generated exposure level converted moving object image with a region corresponding to an exposure level converted moving object image of each of the other images corresponding to an exposure level as a reference exposure level at the time of generating the exposure level converted moving object image to generate a substitute image for each of the other images. A combination section combines the substitute image and the reference image to generate a combined image.
US08483450B1
This specification describes technologies relating to biometric authentication based on images of the eye. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include obtaining a first image of an eye including a view of the white of the eye. The method may further include determining metrics for the first image, including a first metric for reflecting an extent of one or more connected structures in the first image that represents a morphology of eye vasculature and a second metric for comparing the extent of eye vasculature detected across different color components in the first image. A quality score may be determined based on the metrics for the first image. The first image may be rejected or accepted based on the quality score.
US08483446B2
The present invention is directed to a method and system utilizing novel computer software for determining the antler, horn, and pronghorn size of an animal by calculating, measuring, analyzing, comparing, scoring, presenting, and comparing the antler and horn sizes of animals such as deer, bovids, and pronghorns from digital data and/or photographs.
US08483439B2
A vision system for a vehicle includes an imaging device, a camera controller, a display device and a display controller. The camera controller and the display controller share a common processor. The vision system is operable to adjust a displayed image responsive to a signal from an auxiliary sensing system. The vision system, responsive to object detection by a sensor, is operable to (a) provide enhanced imaging of the detected object, (b) provide enhanced processing of at least a portion of captured image that corresponds to the region of the exterior scene at which an object is detected, (c) adjust the display device to enhance displayed images of a detected object, and/or (d) adjust the display device to enhance display of at least a portion of a captured image that corresponds to the region of the exterior scene at which the object is detected by the sensor.
US08483438B2
A method and system for determining an optical flow field between a pair of images is disclosed. Each of the pair of images is decomposed into image pyramids using a non-octave pyramid factor. The pair of decomposed images is transformed at a first pyramid scale to second derivative representations under an assumption that a brightness gradient of pixels in the pair of decomposed images is constant. Discrete-time derivatives of the second derivative image representations are estimated. An optical flow estimation process is applied to the discrete-time derivatives to produce a raw optical flow field. The raw optical flow field is scaled by the non-octave pyramid factor. The above-cited steps are repeated for the pair of images at another pyramid scale until all pyramid scales have been visited to produce a final optical flow field, wherein spatiotemporal gradient estimations are warped by a previous raw optical flow estimation.
US08483436B2
An image such as a depth image of a scene may be received, observed, or captured by a device. A grid of voxels may then be generated based on the depth image such that the depth image may be downsampled. A model may be adjusted based on a location or position of one or more extremities estimated or determined for a human target in the grid of voxels. The model may also be adjusted based on a default location or position of the model in a default pose such as a T-pose, a DaVinci pose, and/or a natural pose.
US08483433B1
A system for detecting faint perturbations of interest in an image is described. The system includes a memory comprising the image, and a processor. The processor is configured to estimate a local mean and variance for each of a plurality of pixels in the image, analyze a local region of the image, an image mean, and an image variance using a filter bank, thereby generating a plurality of response vectors, determine a likelihood of a local perturbation in the image using a probability distribution based on the plurality of response vectors, and make a classification decision of the local perturbation. The probability distribution is calculated, for each of the plurality of response vectors, based on a response of each of the plurality of response vectors to the estimated local mean and variance for each of the plurality of pixels. Methods and machine-readable media are also described.
US08483430B2
A method of detecting a target in a scene is described that comprises the step of taking one or more data sets, each data set comprising a plurality of normalized data elements, each normalized data element corresponding to the return from a part of the scene normalized to a reference return for the same part of the scene. The method then involves thresholding (16) at least one of the normalized data elements of each of said one or more data sets. The thresholding step (16) comprises comparing each of the normalized data elements to at least first and second thresholds, wherein the first threshold is greater than the second threshold. The use of one or more confirmation scans (18) in combination with the thresholding step is also described. A radar system is also described that uses the method to detect foreign object debris (FOD) on a surface such as an airport runway.
US08483429B2
When dispersed large dots data associated with dispersed large dots which become visible as a result of making a copy or clustered small dots data (watermark pattern data) associated with clustered small dots which do not become visible as a result of making a copy is inputted to the watermark pattern generating section, the control section inputs the inputted dispersed large dots data or clustered small dots data to the watermark composition processing section. For a pixel corresponding to dispersed large dots data, the control section causes the watermark composition processing section to join data associated with an original image with data associated with a watermark and outputs obtained composite data to the image output apparatus. For a pixel corresponding to clustered small dots data, the watermark composition processing section outputs data associated with an original image to the image output apparatus.
US08483425B2
To be precisely extracted a house footprint. There is provided a geospatial information creating system for extracting a footprint of a house from an aerial photograph, comprising a processor for executing a program, a memory for storing data required for executing the program, and a storage unit for storing the aerial photograph. The processor detects edges of an image based on a characteristic quantity of neighboring pixels in the aerial photograph stored in the storage unit; extracts an orientation of the house by analyzing directions of the detected edges; and generates a polygon of an outline of the house by using linear lines of the extracted orientation of the house.
US08483422B2
An enclosure for a magnetic speaker of a wireless device is provided. The wireless device has a display mounted in a case and a transparent cover mounted over at least the display. The enclosure comprises: an upper surface of the display at least partially spaced from a lower surface of the transparent cover to form at least a portion of an enclosed back-volume formed within the case for the magnetic speaker, the magnetic speaker being mounted proximate to the enclosed back-volume, and at least one of the transparent cover and the case having an opening formed therein for emitting sound from the magnetic speaker.
US08483417B2
A configuration and an associated method for the wireless transmission of data between hearing devices include an external unit which generates and emits a carrier signal, a first hearing device with a first transponder which modulates and back-scatters the carrier signal and a second hearing device with a second transponder which receives the carrier signal that is scattered backwards and forwards and modulated by the first transponder. The external unit is, for instance, a hearing device remote control. Advantageously, little or no additional energy is needed in the hearing device for the wireless data transmission. The energy for the supply of the first transponder is delivered by the carrier signal of the external unit.
US08483416B2
So as to put binaural beam-forming into practice selected acoustical situations are dealt with having minimum processing power and power consumption ability at a binaural hearing system. For near-to-ear acoustical sources the contra-lateral (7L) as well as the ipsi-lateral (7R) output electrical-to-mechanical converters of two hearing devices of the binaural hearing system are operated substantially exclusively in dependency from the output signal of the one ipsi-lateral input acoustical-to-electrical converter arrangement (3R).
US08483411B2
An apparatus for processing a signal and method thereof are disclosed. The present invention includes receiving a downmix signal generated from a plural-channel signal, mix information and phase shift information on the plural-channel signal, upmixing the downmix signal into the plural-channel signal by applying the mix information to the downmix signal, and generating an original plural-channel signal by shifting a phase of at least one channel of the plural-channel signal based on the phase shift information. According to the present invention compensate a reconstructed original plural-channel signal using compensation information (phase shift information), thereby compensating a phase or a gain lost in the plural-channel signal reconstructed by upmixing using mix information.
US08483410B2
An apparatus for inputting commands required for controlling a mix signal and method thereof are disclosed. The present invention includes an input unit, a control unit converting an input signal received via the input unit to a per-source menu display command, the control unit controlling a per-source menu display image to be outputted based on a source information corresponding to a mix signal in accordance with the per-source menu display command, and a display for outputting the per-source menu display. Accordingly, a volume level is adjusted per a source signal included in such a mix signal as a video signal, an audio signal, and the like or an ambience (relative position) is adjusted. And, a user is always able to confirm information on a source signal (or object signal) associated with a mix signal (or synthetic object signal).
US08483407B2
A noise reducing circuit includes a variable low-cut filter disposed at an upstream of a sound signal switching section and has a variable cutoff frequency, and a control circuit which controls the cutoff frequency of the variable low-cut filter to a first cutoff frequency lower than a cutoff frequency of a low-cut filter disposed at downstream of the variable low-cut filter when a switching instruction is not issued from a switching instructing section, and increases the cutoff frequency of the variable low-cut filter to a second cutoff frequency higher than the first cutoff frequency when the switching instruction is issued. The switching of the sound signal switching section is executed after a predetermined period elapses since the switching instruction is issued, and the control section decreases the cutoff frequency of the variable low-cut filter to the first cutoff frequency after the switching of the sound signal switching section is completed.
US08483406B2
A system for detecting noise in a signal received by a microphone array and a method for detecting noise in a signal received by a microphone array is disclosed. The system also provides for the reduction of noise in a signal received by a microphone array and a method for reducing noise in a signal received by a microphone array. The signal to noise ratio in handsfree systems may be improved, particularly in handsfree systems present in a vehicular environment.
US08483401B2
A noise-cancellation wired headset device has a left ear piece, a right ear piece, a control box, first and second cables, and a connector for connecting the control box to a third cable. Each of the ear pieces comprises its own speaker, microphone and battery. The control box includes circuitry including noise cancellation circuitry and a power management unit. The left ear piece battery is connected to supply power to the power management unit by means of the first cable; and the right ear piece battery is connected to supply power to the power management unit by means of the second cable. The power management unit in the control box regulates the supplied battery power and supplies regulated power to control box circuitry. The noise cancellation circuitry is for noise cancellation processing of signals provided by the first and second microphones.
US08483398B2
Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to adaptive methods for reducing acoustic echoes in multichannel audio communication systems. Acoustic echo cancellation methods determine approximate impulse responses characterizing each echo path between loudspeakers and microphones within a room and improve performance based on previously determined impulse responses. In particular, the methods adapt to changes in the room by inferring approximate impulse responses that lie within a model of an impulse response space. Over time the method improves performance by evolving the model into a more accurate space from which to select subsequent approximate impulse responses.
US08483392B2
Methods and apparatus that correct for corrupted user identification or other data based on reciprocal transmission channel characteristic. In one embodiment, a level of tolerance is disclosed which provides a degree of leniency in user identification. In alternate embodiments, a level of tolerance is disclosed which provides a narrow window for “guessing” of user identification. Various methods for quantization and specification of tolerances are also disclosed. Methods and apparatus useful for implementing variation-tolerant encryption schemes are also provided.
US08483391B2
Optical communication system and method for secure data communication using quantum key distribution
The invention provides time-synchronised transmission of data on the (polarisation or phase-modulated) QKD channel and the (on-off modulated) conventional channel such that a QKD bit is only transmitted when a zero, or sequence of zeros, is transmitted on the conventional channel. Also, there is co-directional propagation of the QKD and conventional channel. Further, there is dispersion management through wavelength selection or control of fibre properties or other means such that the “walk-off in time of the QKD pulses and the Raman pulses generated by the ones on the conventional channel is less than or of the order of one bit period. The latter can be achieved, for example, by placing the conventional and QKD channel wavelengths close to the point where the group velocity-induced time delay for optical pulses propagating in the fibre reaches a minimum. This dispersion minimum occurs at a wavelength of 1.3 microns in standard fibre. The invention discloses a receiver embodiment to implement the invention.
US08483388B2
A method for verifying the authenticity and integrity of an ordered sequence of digital video frames, without having access to the original recording, by embedding therein a respective series of digital signatures based on a secret key, or keys, and on the video content of respective frames. Signatures are camouflaged by embedding in transform coefficients of a transformed representation of the video data in parts of the frame corresponding to motion. If there is sufficient motion to contain all of the signature bits, a supplementary technique embeds in high-texture areas of a frame. A final fall-back is to embed in a pre-defined default zone. A method of predicting when supplementary embedding is needed enables the process to be applied in a single pass allowing real-time operation. Verification is done during decoding by comparing, for identity, embedded signatures with signatures calculated anew using the method employed to embed.
US08483383B2
An apparatus and method are provided for scheduling calls. The method includes the steps of providing a calling period with a plurality of sub-periods and determining a set of historical call completion ratios associated with the plurality of sub-periods. The method further includes the steps of exponentially scaling the respective determined call completion ratios and placing a number of calls during each sub-period of the calling period where the number of calls placed during each sub-period is based upon the respective exponentially scaled call completion ratio.
US08483380B2
The invention relates to a method for providing communication, comprising a plurality of communication subscribers, comprising at least one first piece of address information associated with a first communication subscriber, a second and at least one third piece of address information associated with at least a second communication subscriber and a fourth piece of address information associated with a central control function, wherein in the event of a failure of a first connection attempt made to a second communication subscriber by a communication subscriber determined by the first piece of address information while using the second piece of address information, during a second attempt at a connection following the failure by the first communication subscriber determined by the first piece of address information to the central control function determined by the fourth piece of address information, the control function initiates the forwarding of the second connection to the second communication subscriber while using the third piece of address information. The invention further relates to a communication system for carrying out the method.
US08483373B2
Methods of avoiding or minimizing cost of stateful connections between application servers (ASs) and S-CSCF nodes in an IMS network with multiple domains. S-CSCF service logic is provided and connected to a co-located AS. The IMS includes a network operator administration domain and an MVNO service domain, and the S-CSCF logic and AS are maintained in the same domain, e.g., the MVNO or network operator domain.
US08483360B2
The techniques described herein provide for correcting projection data that comprises contamination due to source switching in a multi energy scanner. The correction is a multi-neighbor correction. That is, it uses data from at least two other views of an object (e.g., generally a previous view and a subsequent view) to correct a current view of the object. The multi-neighbor correction may use one or more correction factors to determine how much data from the other two views to use to correct the current view. The correction factor(s) are determined based upon a calibration that utilizes image space data and/or projection space data of a phantom. In this way, the correction factor(s) account for source leakage that occurs in multi energy scanners.
US08483356B2
A system for scanning aircraft for concealed threats is provided. The system comprises a vehicle and a manipulator arm attached with a scanning head that can be maneuvered in multiple directions to completely scan an aircraft from the outside. The system uses transmission based X-ray detection, backscatter based X-ray detection or a combination thereof, in various embodiments. The system also includes gamma-ray and neutron detectors, for detection of nuclear and radioactive materials.
US08483352B2
An x-ray detector assembly includes a curvilinear detector assembly that has a first side section that includes a first plurality of detector modules, a second side section that includes a second plurality of detector modules, and a third section that includes a third plurality of detector modules. The third section is positioned between the first and second side sections in a channel direction. The x-ray detector assembly also includes a first flat panel digital projection detector and a first detector mounting structure that is configured to align the first flat panel digital projection detector in a first position to block the third section of the curvilinear detector assembly from receiving x-rays emitting from an x-ray source toward the curvilinear detector assembly in the x-ray penetration direction.
US08483351B2
The present invention provides systems, methods, and devices for improved computed tomography (CT). More specifically, the present invention includes methods for improved cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) resolution using improved filtered back projection (FBP) algorithms, which can be used for cardiac tomography and across other tomographic modalities. Embodiments provide methods, systems, and devices for reconstructing an image from projection data provided by a computed tomography scanner using the algorithms disclosed herein to generate an image with improved temporal resolution.
US08483345B2
A receiving circuit which receives serial data, includes: a voltage controlled oscillator which generates a sampling clock signal having a frequency based on an input control voltage; a first frequency divider which divides the frequency of the sampling clock signal at a division rate M; a second frequency divider which divides a frequency of a clock signal based on the received serial data at a division rate N, N being a real number represented by M×q/p; a frequency comparator which generates a phase/frequency difference signal based on a phase difference between an output signal of the first frequency divider and an output signal of the second frequency divider; and a control voltage generating circuit which generates the control voltage to control a frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator based on the phase/frequency difference signal.
US08483338B2
A method and system for wireless communication channel estimation. A frequency offset hypothesis is determined. An interchannel interference (“ICI”) matrix based on the frequency offset hypothesis is generated. Pilot channel estimates based on the ICI matrix are obtained. A correlation error of the pilot channel estimates to the frequency offset hypothesis is calculated. The correlation error is compared with a predetermined correlation error value. The frequency offset hypothesis is updated and the aforementioned steps are iteratively repeated if the correlation error is greater than the predetermined correlation error value. The pilot channel estimates are used to estimate the wireless communication channel.
US08483335B2
A hybrid receiver apparatus, a method, and a computer readable storage media encoded with a program are provided. The hybrid receiver apparatus a first receiver processor and a second receiver processor and a signal input by the hybrid receiver apparatus is processed by both the first receiver processor and the second receiver processor. The hybrid receiver apparatus includes a combiner unit combining data output from the first receiver processor with data output from the second receiver processor based on a weight values assigned to the data.
US08483322B2
A receiver front end receives a local frequency reference signal and a Frequency Shift Keying modulated signal comprising a synchronisation sequence, and downconverts the Frequency Shift Keying modulated signal to provide baseband in-phase and quadrature signals. A pulse generator receives the in-phase and quadrature signals, generates an in-phase pulse signal ILEAD comprising pulses aligned with edges of the baseband in-phase and quadrature signals when the baseband in-phase signal leads the baseband quadrature signal, and generates a quadrature pulse signal QLEAD comprising pulses aligned with edges of the baseband quadrature and in-phase signals when the baseband quadrature signal leads the baseband in-phase signal. A frequency corrector receives the in-phase and quadrature pulse signals during receipt of the synchronisation sequence, compares the pulse signals to a target, and generates a control signal for controlling the local signal generator in dependence upon the result of the comparison.
US08483304B2
A radio transmitter of the present invention includes a scheduler for assigning a communication time or a communication frequency to each radio receiver based on quality information of a received signal transmitted by the radio receiver, a transmission circuit controller for transmitting either a frequency diversity region or a multiuser diversity region to be selected with respect to each chunk, and a transmission circuit for applying different delay times to signals of a plurality of transmission antennas based on a transmission result of the transmission circuit controller.
US08483302B2
The present invention relates to methods and devices for use in multi carrier communication systems in which secondary downlink and secondary uplink carriers may be dynamically activated/deactivated by means of transmitting an HS-SCCH order from a radio base station to a user equipment. The HS-SCCH order is encoded by the radio base station according to an order mapping. The order mapping maps a desired activation status of a set of carriers to a corresponding encoded HS-SCCH order. The user equipment interprets the encoded HS-SCCH order to derive the desired activation status of the set of carriers. By using an appropriate order mapping, operations in the radio base station and/or the user equipment may be simplified, e.g. by allowing the radio base station to calculate the encoded HS-SCCH order based on the desired activation status.
US08483291B2
An analog to digital converter with increased sub-range resolution and method for using the analog to digital converter is described herein. The device includes an analog front end that produces an analog communication signal, a digital front end that receives a digital communication signal, and an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) that samples the analog communication signal across a full-range. The ADC includes a plurality of sub-range ADCs, each sub-range ADC measuring the analog communication signal across at least one respective sub-range of the full-range, the plurality of sub-ranges extending across the full-range, a central sub-range ADC having greater quantization accuracy than at least one other sub-range ADC. The ADC also includes signal combining circuitry operable to process outputs of the plurality of sub-range ADCs to create the digital communication signal.
US08483284B2
Methods and apparatus for generating an interactive video stream from a plurality of multimedia components based on a state definition is disclosed. A plurality of multimedia components are retrieved in accordance with the state definition. The plurality of multimedia components are decoded. The plurality of multimedia components are retimed to a common frame rate. The multimedia components are then scaled and multiplexed into a multiplexed video stream, in accordance with the state definition.
US08483283B2
An apparatus, a method, and a computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that when executed cause a method to be carried out. The method includes dividing at least a portion of a picture of a video stream into parts of blocks, and processing the parts in parallel by a plurality of interconnected processors. The processing of a respective part by its respective processor includes edge detection and color segmentation to determine block-level edge features including block-level color-segmented edge features. Each processor also performs coding functions on its respective part of the picture. The method also includes block-level processing using the block-level edge features to determine which blocks in the picture are likely to be that of a face, the block-level processing being at the granularity of at least a block.
US08483281B2
Apparatus, systems and techniques based on an integer transform for encoding and decoding video or image signals, including transform of encoding and decoding of image and video signals and generation of an order-2N transform W from an order-N transform T in the field of image and video coding. For example, a retrieving unit is configured to retrieve an order-N transform T, where N is an integer; a deriving unit is configured to derive an order-2N transform W from the retrieved order-N transform T, and a transforming unit configured to generate an order-2N data Z using the derived transform W.
US08483274B2
Data processing including encoding and sending is disclosed, which includes: encoding data using a selected one of a plurality of parameter sets each of which has at least one encoding parameter; calculating a length of an assigned time not exceeding a time limit for an original data set to be sent, per each data sub-set; calculating an estimate of an individual processing time TP to encode and send each data sub-set using a successively-selected one of the plurality of encoding parameter sets, based on the assigned time, an estimate of an encoding time TE to encode each data sub-set using the successively-selected one encoding parameter set, and an estimate of a sending time TT to send the encoded data sub-set; and selecting one of the plurality of encoding parameter sets to allow a total processing time not to exceed the time limit.
US08483273B2
The method includes obtaining identification information representing a multi-view video data stream, obtaining initialization information of a reference picture list for a random access slice based on the identification information, initializing the reference picture list using the initialization information, obtaining modification information for the initialized reference picture list, determining an assignment modification value for modifying an inter-view reference index in the initialized reference picture list according to the modification information, and modifying the initialized reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the determined assignment modification value.
US08483272B2
Methods and systems to determine a quantization parameter (QP) that may then be used in a bit rate control process during video compression and decompression. The QP for a frame may be derived by determining an initial QP, adapting this value, and applying a final control calculation. The QP for a frame may be calculated from a variety of variables, that may include the frame type (intracoded (I), predictive (P), or bipredictive (B)), the fullness of a hypothetical reference decoder (HRD) buffer, the instant and target bit rates, a total encode size, a total target size, the number of P frames between I frames in a group of pictures (GOP), the number of B frames between I frames in the GOP, and the size of previous frames.
US08483262B2
A system for monitoring and distinguishing occurrences along a perimeter bounded by at least one piezoelectric cable that completely defines the perimeter. The monitoring system utilizes at least one piezoelectric cable that generates electrical signals in response to mechanical stress events. The electrical signals from each piezoelectric cable are analyzed by a processing system to determine event classification and location. The monitoring system alerts users and connects to an existing security system to notify third-parties. The monitoring system includes functionality to communicate with a calibration unit and calibrate itself. The monitoring system also includes functionality to interface with a pet containment system.
US08483254B2
A surface-emitting laser device configured to emit laser light in a direction perpendicular to a substrate includes a p-side electrode surrounding an emitting area on an emitting surface to emit the laser light; and a transparent dielectric film formed on an outside area outside a center part of the emitting area and within the emitting area to lower a reflectance to be less than that of the center part. The outside area within the emitting area has shape anisotropy in two mutually perpendicular directions.
US08483252B2
A semiconductor light emitting device includes a lower cladding layer, an active layer, and an AlGaAs upper cladding layer mounted on a GaAs substrate. The semiconductor light emitting device has a ridge structure including the AlGaAs upper cladding layer. The semiconductor light emitting device further includes an InGaAs etching stop layer provided in contact with the lower side of the AlGaAs upper cladding layer. The InGaAs etching stop layer has a band gap greater than that of the active layer.
US08483250B2
A semiconductor laser driving device and an image forming apparatus are disclosed that are capable of accurately detecting the deterioration of the semiconductor laser with a smaller circuit size and regardless of the variation of the characteristics of the semiconductor laser and the use conditions of the semiconductor laser by adding a minimum circuit are disclosed. In the semiconductor laser driving device, the output voltage generated by an operational amplifier circuit by amplifying a voltage difference between a monitoring voltage (Vm) and a predetermined reference voltage (Vref) is transmitted to a bias current generating circuit unit as a bias current setting voltage (Vbi) through a sample/hold circuit having a switch (SW1) and a sample/hold capacitor (Csh). When the bias current setting voltage (Vbi) is greater than a predetermined voltage, a deterioration detecting circuit transmits a deterioration detecting signal indicating that the deterioration of the semiconductor laser is detected.
US08483247B2
An external-cavity tuneable laser includes a gain medium and a tuneable mirror wherein at least the tuneable mirror is in thermal contact with a thermally conductive platform. The tuneable mirror lays substantially horizontally on the thermally conductive platform significantly improving the thermal contact of the tuneable mirror with the platform. A laser beam from the gain medium is directed onto the tuneable mirror, which is mounted substantially horizontally with respect to the thermally conductive platform, by means of a deflector that deflects the beam or a large part of it toward one of the principal surfaces of the tuneable mirror. The resulting laser cavity is a folded cavity. The thermally conductive platform is preferably thermally coupled to a TEC that provides thermal control for the platform. The deflector may be a beam splitter that deflects part of the incoming light and transmits the remaining part. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the portion of light transmitted through the beam splitter forms the output laser beam, i.e., the external-cavity laser outputs a laser beam on the side of the wavelength selective elements (the tuneable mirror and, if any, the channel grid), i.e., on the side of the front facet of the laser diode.
US08483241B2
The invention includes a method and apparatus for determining the performance of a virtual concatenation group (VCG) signal transporting a client signal over a transport network. A method includes collecting a plurality of performance monitoring indicators associated with a plurality of VCG member signals of the VCG signal, synchronizing the performance monitoring indicators with respect to each other, combining the synchronized performance monitoring indicators to form VCG-level performance monitoring indicators, calculating VCG-level performance monitoring primitive measurements based on the VCG-level performance monitoring indicators, and processing the VCG-level performance monitoring primitive measurements to determine VCG performance.
US08483229B2
Described are methods and communications network for carrying pseudowires over packet-switched network. A communication network includes a packet-switched network (PSN), a first provider edge (PE) device in communication with a second PE device through the PSN, and a pseudowire (PW) established between the PE devices for emulating a service across the PSN. The PW has a Virtual Circuit Connection Verification (VCCV) control channel that carries an Ethernet Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) message. In some embodiments, various data plane encapsulation formats enable a PW to emulate an Ethernet or a non-Ethernet service over an Ethernet PSN. Each encapsulation format includes an Ethernet tunnel header and a PW header that encapsulates an Ethernet or non-Ethernet payload.
US08483221B1
High-speed processing of packets to, and from, a virtualization environment can be provided while utilizing segmentation offload and other such functionality of commodity hardware. Virtualization information can be added to extension portions of protocol headers, for example, such that the payload portion is unchanged and, when physical address information is added to a frame, a frame can be processed using commodity hardware. In some embodiments, the virtualization information can be hashed and added to the payload or stream at, or relative to, various segmentation boundaries, such that the virtualization or additional header information will only be added to a subset of the packets once segmented, thereby reducing the necessary overhead. Further, the hashing of the information can allow for reconstruction of the virtualization information upon desegmentation even in the event of packet loss.
US08483217B2
Methods, apparatuses, and systems are provided for improving utilization of a communications system through various atom-based techniques for enhancing the viewing experience for Internet protocol content. Some embodiments exploit atom-based processing to determine which content atoms to broadcast (e.g., multicast) over which channels to which subscribers. Other embodiments make atom-based filtering, caching, and/or other determinations at the user terminal. For example, low-level (e.g., physical layer) filtering may be used to limit the amount of user-layer processing needed, and to facilitate delivery of content to those users most likely to desire that content. Still other embodiments allow users to create customized channels of cached content for viewing as a shared channel. Embodiments include techniques for addressing synchronization of channel content and viewing, and social networking, for subscribers to the shared channel. The shared channels may be further used to facilitate social networking among subscribers.
US08483215B2
The present invention includes a method and apparatus for autonomously determining by a first UE the identities (IDs) of one or more other UEs that are operating in or around the same network area as the first UE. More particularly, the first UE determines with a defined reliability the UE ID of an otherwise unknown UE based on receiving and processing an HS-SCCH transmission targeted to the unknown UE. By learning actual UE IDs for one or more other UEs operating in or around the same area as the first UE, the first UE can then properly decode HS-SCCH transmissions to those other UEs, and thereby gain knowledge of the signal structures used for data (HS-PDCH) transmissions to those other UEs. Advantageously, the first UE applies such knowledge in its desired-signal receiver processing, such as for enhancing channel estimation and/or performing structured-signal interference cancellation.
US08483214B2
Information can be transported over domains operated by different service providers at required Quality-of-Service (QoS) levels without disclosing inter- and/or intra-domain information to ensure that the topology of a given service provider's domain (e.g., network) is not disclosed.
US08483212B2
A method and system for processing data packets is described within. The method executed by the system includes the steps of receiving a first data packet, determining if the first data packet is a first expected data packet, determining if the first data packet is a next expected date packet, storing the first data patent if the first data packet is the next expected data packet and waiting a period of time for a second data packet.
US08483198B2
Communication terminal 1 receives an MCC (Mobile Country Code) from a wireless base station located in one country and a wireless base station located in another country adjacent to the one country, using first communication unit 108A. Communication terminal 1 obtains from storage unit 105 setting data on a wireless LAN, which is commonly associated with the countries indicated by the received MCCs. Second communication unit 108B carries out wireless LAN communication using the obtained setting data.
US08483189B2
A transmission method of a digital broadcast, which is compatible with a DVB-T terrestrial digital broadcast system in Europe, saves a battery in a mobile terminal. Superframes in DVB-T are divided into units each including plural symbols so that an integer number of TS packets can be carried in each slot. At least one slot is used to transmit one service. Energy dispersion, Reed-Solomon coding, byte interleaving, convolutional coding, and time interleaving are applied to each service. When services for mobile terminal reception and services for fixed terminals are transmitted as the provided services, null packets may be transmitted before and after the slot carrying the mobile receiver service so that the fixed reception service and the mobile reception services are not mixed.
US08483188B2
A MIMO system supports multiple spatial multiplexing modes for improved performance and greater flexibility. These modes may include (1) a single-user steered mode that transmits multiple data streams on orthogonal spatial channels to a single receiver, (2) a single-user non-steered mode that transmits multiple data streams from multiple antennas to a single receiver without spatial processing at a transmitter, (3) a multi-user steered mode that transmits multiple data streams simultaneously to multiple receivers with spatial processing at a transmitter, and (4) a multi-user non-steered mode that transmits multiple data streams from multiple antennas (co-located or non co-located) without spatial processing at the transmitter(s) to receiver(s) having multiple antennas. For each set of user terminal(s) selected for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink, a spatial multiplexing mode is selected for the user terminal set from among the multiple spatial multiplexing modes supported by the system.
US08483183B2
Wireless access points detect neighboring wireless access points in different subnets. Upon connecting with a wireless client, a wireless access point determines predictive roaming information for the wireless client. Predictive roaming information identifies the wireless client; its home network subnet; and includes connection information associated with the wireless client. The wireless access point forwards the predictive roaming information associated with a wireless client to neighboring wireless access points while the wireless client is still connected with the wireless access point. Neighboring wireless access points store received predictive roaming information. Upon connecting with a wireless client, a neighboring wireless access point determines if the wireless client matches the stored predictive roaming information. If so, the neighboring wireless access point uses the predictive roaming information to quickly connect with the wireless client and to establish a tunnel to redirect network traffic associated with the wireless client through to its home subnet.
US08483181B2
A method and apparatus of updating a forwarding plane of a network element in response to receiving a mobility event is described. The network element receives a mobility message indicating a mobile node has coupled to a new access port associated with the network element. The message further indicates that the mobile node moved from an old access port to a new access port. The network element adds an entry in a forwarding table of the old egress engine to redirect a set of packets destined to the mobile node to a new egress engine, where the new egress engine is associated with the new access port. Furthermore, the network element redirects the set of packet from the old egress engine to the new egress engine.
US08483174B2
An apparatus and method for providing gateway relocation to an external network wherein a user equipment (UE) includes an initial external network connection via a source core node, comprises initializing a mobility event, reallocating the initial external network connection from via the source core node to via a target core node to create a new external network connection, allocating the new IP address to the UE for the new external network connection, and using the new IP address.
US08483171B2
A method of searching a compatible beam link is disclosed. The present invention includes receiving a channel time for communicating data from a coordinator, the channel time being previously allocated for communicating data between other stations, determining an occurrence of interference during the allocated channel time, and transmitting a feedback signal to the coordinator, the feedback signal including an interference information indicating an occurrence of interference. According to embodiments of the present invention, stations of network search for compatible beams whenever necessary, whereby loads of energy management and operations of a main station can be reduced.
US08483158B2
A method for allocating uplink resource in a network terminal of a wireless communication system includes informing a user equipment (UE) about resource allocation via a resource allocation field in a UL grant message, to indicate the UE to use M clusters out of N radio units to perform uplink transmission, wherein each of the M clusters includes at least one consecutive radio units, and the message indicates a starting location and an ending location of each of the M clusters.
US08483156B2
A method includes simultaneously receiving a first communication using a first radio access technology and a second communication using a second radio access technology, and using only the first radio access technology, transmitting first feedback information for the first communication and second feedback information for the second communication to a network device that performed the first communication. A method includes, using a first radio access technology, receiving first feedback information for a first communication that used the first radio access technology and second feedback information for a second communication that used a second radio access technology. The method also includes, using the first feedback information in association with a subsequent communication using the first radio access technology, and communicating the second feedback information to a network entity that performed the second communication. Program products and apparatus are also disclosed.
US08483139B2
A circuit includes a first wireless interface circuit that transceives packetized data between a host module and a first external device in accordance with a first wireless communication protocol, wherein the first wireless protocol carries wireless telephony data for communication with a wireless telephony network. A second wireless interface circuit transceives packetized data between the host module and a second external device in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol. The second wireless interface circuit includes at least one module that is shared with first wireless interface circuit. The first wireless interface circuit and the second wireless interface circuit operate in accordance with a wireless interface schedule that includes a first time interval where the first wireless interface device and the second wireless interface device contemporaneously use the at least one module.
US08483136B2
An Apparatus and methods for communicating in a wireless access system using a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) is disclosed. The method comprises steps of receiving, by a mobile station (MS) from a base station (BS), a dynamic service addition request (AAI_DSA-REQ) message requesting to create a service flow, wherein the AAI_DSA-REQ message comprises a first MAC header type parameter indicating a type of a MAC header included in the MAC PDU of the service flow and a flow identifier (FID) identifying a connection associated with the service flow; transmitting, by the MS to the BS, a dynamic service addition response (AAI_DSA-RSP) message in response to the AAI_DSA-REQ message, wherein the AAI_DSA-RSP message comprises a second MAC header type parameter indicating the type of a MAC header included in the MAC PDU of the service flow; and communicating with the BS using the MAC PDU comprising the MAC header indicated by the second MAC header type parameter; wherein the MAC header type parameter indicates one of a generic MAC header (GMH) for general data packet transmission and a short-packet MAC header (SPMH) for small data packet transmission and a non-ARQ connection.
US08483133B2
An approach is provided for providing a reliable transmission of data associated with different traffic types over a common communication session. A temporary block is established between an apparatus and another apparatus. The apparatus multiplexes Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledged mode data and at least one of RLC unacknowledged mode data and RLC non-persistent mode data. The apparatus then determines to transmit the multiplexed data in the temporary block flow to the other apparatus.
US08483131B2
A method for negotiating and transmitting location update time length information, applied in a Wimax network architecture, comprises: a mobile station initiating a request for initially accessing a network, a request for entering an idle mode, or a request for a location update to a services access service network gateway; when receiving said request, said services access service network gateway negotiating an idle mode timer length, and notifying said mobile station of the negotiated idle mode timer length. The present invention can implement the negotiation and transmission of location update time length information between access service network gateways as well as between an access service network gateway and a mobile station in a Wimax network so that the location update time lengths of the network side and the mobile station maintain consistent.
US08483126B2
A mobile communications handset (12) is capable of connection through two different networks (2, 27). When it is out of contact with its preferred local wireless access system (27), the handset will seek a hand-over to the cellular network (2), and will become registered as a “roaming” handset currently connected to the cellular network (2). The cellular network (2) reports this location information to the call server (28), as it would to the HLR of any normal visiting handset, so that incoming calls to the PSTN (6) destined for the user (12) can be routed by way of the cellular network. Outgoing calls are handled as conventional cellular telephony calls. When contact with a local wireless access system (27) is re-established, the contact information is passed to the call server 28, which reports to the cellular network (2) that a handover has occurred. An interface between the call server (28) and cellular network (2) is configured such that the call server (28) emulates a base site controller of the cellular network (2). The cellular network therefore operates conventionally, with the handset (12) logged as operating through this quasi-base site controller. However, the cellular system would continue to register the presence of the handset as co-operating with the quasi-base station (28), even though it would have no visibility of most calls being made to and from the handset (12). This avoids the cellular system (2) attempting to seize control of the handset through a normal cellular base station (21).
US08483111B2
A mesh node of an infrastructure wireless local area network ‘WLAN’ is coupled to a battery which is coupled to a device that is able to harness energy from a source of renewable energy. Energy management of the mesh node includes conducting simulations of a system comprising the mesh node, the device, and the battery in its current state of charge, determining an admissible load for the mesh node from the simulations, and withholding communication services by the mesh node for one or more periods of time a cumulative duration of which is related to power consumption of the mesh node when handling the admissible load. The simulations involve meteorological data related to the source of renewable energy in the vicinity of the mesh node.
US08483105B2
Embodiments disclosed herein for MAC processing for efficient use of high throughput systems and that may be backward compatible with various types of legacy systems. In one aspect, a data transmission structure comprises a consolidated poll and one or more frames transmitted in accordance with the consolidated poll. In another aspect, a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) data transmission structure comprises a pilot, a consolidated poll, and zero or more access point to remote station frames in accordance with the consolidated poll. In one aspect, frames are transmitted sequentially with no or substantially reduced interframe spacing. In another aspect, a guard interframe spacing may be introduced between frames transmitted from different sources, or with substantially different power levels. In another aspect, a single preamble is transmitted in association with one or more frames. In another aspect, a block acknowledgement is transmitted subsequent to the transmission of one or more sequential frames.
US08483103B2
A method for determining a data transmission offset includes: synchronizing a first time division duplex TDD system with a second TDD system (a500); determining a transmission timing advance of a user terminal according to a deviation between random access time and desired time of the user equipment during establishing the uplink synchronization of the second TDD system (a501); determining an offset of a time slot of the second TDD system according to a time difference between the time slots of the first TDD system and the second TDD system (a502); and obtaining a data transmission offset of the time slot by adding the determined offset of the time slot to the determined transmission timing advance (a503). A system and a base station for determining a data transmission offset are provided.
US08483102B1
A method and system includes: one or more phone systems; a policy processor coupled to the phone systems; and a voice identity mapping policy stored in a data storage, the data storage being accessible to the policy processor. The voice identity mapping policy includes: a plurality of search voice identities mapped to one or more target voice identities, where the plurality of the search voice identities are applicable to a plurality of users, where each of the search voice identities and the target voice identities comprises a username for one of the plurality of users, and time attributes indicating when the voice identity mapping policies are valid. When a voice identity for a recipient of a call is received, the policy processor checks for the voice identity mapping policy associated with the voice identity. The call is then forwarded to the target voice identity in the voice identity mapping policy.
US08483098B2
Disclosed are conferencing systems, devices, architectures, and methods for managing a conference spanning system to facilitate participation in a plurality of conferences at the same time. An exemplary system having devices and/or structures in accordance with embodiments can include: (i) a plurality of conferences, each conference being configured to support a plurality of media modes; (ii) a presentation mechanism configured to support the plurality of media modes from the plurality of conferences; and (iii) a selector for selecting a conference from the plurality of conferences and designating the selected conference as an active conference and designating non-selected conferences as background conferences, wherein the active conference is assigned at least one enhanced media mode in the presentation mechanism.
US08483095B2
A network communication device can implement configurable network socket retransmission timeout parameters on a per socket basis. In one embodiment, it is determined, at a first network device, whether to define a network socket with a custom or a default retransmission timeout value to transmit data to a second network device. In response to determining to define the network socket with the custom retransmission timeout value, the network socket is defined with the custom retransmission timeout value, the data is transmitted to the second network device, and it is determined whether response data is received from the second network device prior to expiration of a time period associated with the custom retransmission timeout value. In response to determining that the response data is not received from the second network device prior to the expiration of the corresponding time period, the data is retransmitted to the second network device.
US08483092B2
A method for deploying a cellular wireless communication network is provided. The method consists of: providing one or more micro base stations; autonomously deploying the micro base stations using a network access point linked to a cellular wireless communication network; and enabling configuration of the micro base stations to execute network operation commands from a network controller associated with the wireless communication network. Another aspect consists of enabling cooperation and network connectivity between micro base stations and other base stations, including micro base stations and large network base stations. Network connectivity to one or more cellular communication terminals associated with individuals or businesses subscribing to the cellular wireless communication network is enabled. A wireless network is also provided which is configurable to link a cellular wireless network through a high data transmission connection so as to define at least one access point between the micro base station and the wireless network. The network includes a wireless interface and receives operation commands from a network controller for configuration of micro base stations, to support the linking of cellular wireless terminals to the wireless network via the wireless interface by operation of the micro base station, as an intermediary. A corresponding system and computer readable medium is also provided.
US08483089B2
The invention provides a server, a method and a system for providing node information for P2P network. A server in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprises: a location information storage unit which stores coordinate information indicating a coordinate of each data node in the P2P network in a coordinate system that is created based on communication delays among data nodes in the P2P network; and a node information providing unit which, upon receipt of a request for information on data nodes having a first data item, selects one or more data nodes from data nodes having the first data item based on the coordinate information, and provides information indicating the selected one or more data nodes.
US08483088B1
A method and a utility to assist configuration of high complexity hierarchically and deeply channelized telecommunication systems using a network language configuration application program interface. The invented method and utility removes major complexity from the process of configuring such devices and systems by accepting a minimal high level description of the required configuration, including an input language used for defining rules and requirements.
US08483085B2
A method and apparatus for measuring and reporting a rank and/or a precoding matrix for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication are disclosed. A metric indicating a channel condition is measured and a rank is selected based on the metric. The metric may be a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), throughput, a block error rate (BLER), system capacity, a sum rate, or the like. An SINR for each radio block group (RBG) for each rank is calculated. A data rate is calculated for each RBG based on the SINR for each rank. An overall rate for all RBGs is calculated for each rank. At least one rank is selected based on the overall rate. At least one precoding matrix may be selected jointly with or separately from the at least one rank.
US08483069B1
A method of tracing Ethernet frame delay between network devices is described that includes outputting a delay trace message Ethernet frame to a target MEP network device. The method also includes receiving one or more delay trace response Ethernet frames from one or more MEG intermediate point (MIP) network devices positioned along a network path from the originating MEP network device to the target MEP network device. The method also includes receiving a delay trace response Ethernet frame from the target MEP network device. In some embodiments, the method includes calculating delay associated with portions of the network between each of the network devices using the received responses.
US08483066B2
Networks, devices and methods related to wireless networking. A wireless network using nodes that perform both distribution and backhaul functions is provided. These nodes constitute the key elements of a wireless network that would be deployed and controlled by a wireless network operator. Each node contains a distribution wireless module which is wirelessly coupled to the wireless end user device using a point to multipoint scheme. Also integrated into each node is at least one backhaul wireless module with a directional wireless antenna. Each backhaul wireless module communicates by way of a point to point wireless link with the backhaul module of one other node. The nodes in the wireless network are interconnected to form a mesh backhaul network. Because of the nature of a mesh network, data traffic can be routed around obstacles that may prevent line of site links. Furthermore, the mesh network allows dynamic routing of data traffic to avoid congestion points or downed links in the network.
US08483058B2
Systems and methods for policing traffic in communications systems are described herein. According to systems and methods herein, tokens are generated for a packet data network based on a peak transmission rate associated with the packet data network. Packets are selected for transmission over the packet data network based on availability of tokens.
US08483052B2
Communication network system, communication device, route design device, and failure recovery method
A communication network system including a plurality of communication devices each including a switching unit which switches traffic routes, and transmission links which connects the plurality of communication devices, wherein a start-point communication device of the plurality of communication devices including: a storage unit which previously stores information of a plurality of detour paths corresponding to but having routes different from a working path that is transferring traffic between the start-point communication device and an endpoint communication device; and a setting unit which receives a failure notification when a failure occurs in the working path, selects a detour path that is switchable and has the highest priority from among the plurality of detour paths stored in the detour path information storage unit, and then sets relevant communication devices among the plurality of communication devices along the route of the detour path to recover from the failure.
US08483041B2
Methods and apparatus for allocating a data region (termed “sticky region allocation”) in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame so that a user terminal can receive/send data bursts for multiple OFDM/OFDMA frames, rather than inserting a MAP information element (MAP IE) for each user terminal in every frame, are provided. In this manner, the size of the control overhead, such as the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) MAP messages, may be reduced. The reduced control overhead may increase the frame resources available for data traffic and thus, may boost the overall efficiency and performance of wireless systems using OFDM/OFDMA.
US08483037B2
A method for transmitting a signal for cell searching in a mobile communication system having a multi-cell environment includes transmitting the signal to one or more receiving party devices within a cell, wherein the signal is used for a synchronization of the one or more receiving party devices within the cell, the signal is defined by a combination of a first code sequence derived from a first index and a second code sequence derived from a second index, and an identity of the cell is used for defining the combination of the first code sequence and the second code sequence.
US08483027B1
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk including a plurality of tracks, a head coupled to an actuator arm actuated over the disk, and control circuitry operable to first seek the head from a first track to a second track, read data from the second track to generate a first read signal, second seek the head from the second track to a third track, read data from the third track to generate a second read signal, third seek the head from the third track to a fourth track, and read data from the fourth track to generate a third read signal. The first, second, and third read signals are evaluated to qualify the disk drive, wherein the first, second, and third seeks are executed in proximity so as to excite the actuator arm with a jitter motion.
