US08690696B2
Systems and methods are provided relating to martial arts competitions including martial arts games, team competitions, and a martial arts combat league. A martial arts combat league may combine traditional aspects of martial arts competitions with the appeal of rooting for a favorite team or individual competitor. Martial arts competition rules and scoring systems may be provided for the martial arts combat league. A martial arts competition area may be provided for presentation of martial arts combat league events. A novel scoring system may involve and inform fans of the martial arts combat league.
US08690695B1
This invention provides a terrain system comprising a set of metal tubes having a rounded cross section The tubes are separated at a width that defines the appropriate terrain. The tubes are supported by a base located on at least two spaced apart positions therealong. Each leg assembly includes a bottom bar that allows it to be implanted in packed snow. Optional outriggers can be attached to each side of the bottom bar so that the legs can afford increased stability. The legs include telescoping sections that allow for height adjustability. One leg can be omitted, thereby creating a ramp. Each end of the top portion contains male and female connection points, which accommodate curved end caps. Two end caps can also be joined with a double-axis hinge assembly that allows the adjacent top portions to be joined together and articulated along two parallel hinge axes.
US08690690B2
A shaft assembly that includes a propshaft member and a constant velocity joint. The constant velocity joint has an outer race, which is coupled for rotation with the propshaft member, an inner race, a plurality of bearing balls disposed between the outer and inner races to transmit rotary power therebetween, a shaft member coupled for rotation with the inner race, and a boot assembly that is sealingly engaged to the outer race and the shaft member. The shaft member defines a coupling portion that extends from the boot assembly. A method for coupling a shaft member to a driveline component is also provided.
US08690683B2
Example systems and methods related to a social requirement for acquiring an asset, such as a reward, in an online game are presented herein. In one example, an online game for a plurality of players is hosted. Information describing a social network of friends of a player of the game is accessed. An asset is provided to the player based satisfaction of an acquisition requirement to acquire the asset. The acquisition requirement includes a social requirement that is satisfied by a new association of a predetermined number of friends of the social network of the player with the online game.
US08690682B1
A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include presenting a web browser on a display associated with a wagering game machine and receiving a request to present wagering game content on the display, via the web browser. The operations can further include determining a web address stored in a setting associated with a wagering game machine and sending the web address associated with the wagering game machine to a wagering game server. The wagering game server is configured to provide a webpage document described in the web address. The web address can be stored in the setting prior to the request to present the wagering game content on the display. The operations can further include receiving the webpage document from the wagering game server; and presenting the webpage document on the display of the wagering game machine via the web browser.
US08690679B2
A gaming system is provided. The gaming system allows users to access applications via gaming communication devices coupled to a communication network. At least a portion of the network may be wireless. The gaming applications include gambling, financial, entertainment service, and other types of transactions. The system may include a user location determination feature to prevent users from conducting transactions from unauthorized areas.
US08690670B2
Systems and methods for indicating the performance of a plurality of players playing a video game simulating a rock band experience may include: calculating a player score for each player playing a rhythm action game within a band, each player score representing the performance level of a particular player; calculating a composite score for the band playing a rhythm action game, the composite score based in part on a performance level associated with each player within the band; displaying the composite score on a performance meter as a performance level; and displaying each player score on the performance meter as a graphical indication positioned on the meter at a position corresponding to the calculated player score.
US08690663B2
Methods and systems for providing low denomination payline and wagering options for “penny” gaming machines and systems are disclosed. A gaming machine or system configurator can provide various operator adjustable settings, including minimum overall wager, maximum overall wager, available denominations for play, minimum number of paylines that must be played, and incremental amount of paylines to be played. The configurator can include manual devices, an interface to a remote server or internal gaming machine logic. Player adjustable game parameters can include a play denomination, an overall wager, the number of paylines played and the number of credits per payline. Parameters not set by the player are automatically calculated by the gaming machine for faster game play. Residual awards or credit balances of less than a whole coin can be squared by payout mechanisms including a ticket printer, a player accounting system, a charity feature or a bonus play feature.
US08690659B2
A player plays a first round of a casino slot machine game. If the player achieves a winning outcome on the first round of play, the payouts for the next round of play of the casino game will be increased. The amount of the increase is based on the category of the winning outcome on the first round of play. Each subsequent round of play continues to have increased payouts if the player continues to achieve winning outcomes. When the player has a losing outcome, the payouts revert to the base level. An extra wager may be required from the player to activate this feature during the play of the casino game.
US08690652B1
A concave includes a frame and an array of threshing elements supported by the frame, the threshing elements being spaced apart and extending generally parallel to one another. The threshing elements are configured in the form of round bars each having formed on an upper portion thereof disposed adjacent to an upper portion of the frame a longitudinally-extending notch respectively defining an aggressive threshing edge. The spaced apart relationship and round configuration of the threshing elements reduce plugging of the concave. The threshing edges facing in a direction opposite to the direction of crop material flow restrict crop material flow and thereby enable more effective threshing.
US08690648B1
Penetrating the skin of a poultry item with an array of small holes accomplished by using a plurality of circular blades laterally spaced apart and substantially parallel and having a plurality teeth protruding from the edge of the blades and forcibly engaging and penetrating the skin of the poultry item with the plurality of teeth. The plurality of circular blades can have a common axis of rotation and rotating about a shaft extending along the common axis thereby forming a roller of blades.
US08690647B1
A field dressing attachment for a hunting knife preferably includes a support plate, an end hook, a bottom gusset and a finger ring. One end of the support plate is terminated with the end hook. The bottom gusset extends downward from a bottom of the support plate. The finger ring extends from the bottom gusset and is located at an opposing end of the support plate. A blade groove is formed in the support plate to receive a non-cutting edge of a knife blade. A tip cavity is formed in the end hook. A tip of the knife blade is inserted into the tip cavity. A user's finger is inserted through the finger ring and a remainder of the hand is wrapped around a handle of the knife. The forefinger is used to keep the tip of the knife blade in the tip cavity.
US08690645B2
Methods and systems for processing fish are provided which enable cutting of the fish and removal of the viscera without damage to either the viscera or the remaining fish product. The systems may include an adjustable cutting device to cut the belly in a particularly unobtrusive manner and/or an adjustable gutting device to severe a gullet of the fish from the fish body and to gather and remove the viscera without significant damage to the viscera or the remaining fish product. Extractors for severing the connection between the gullet and the fish are also provided to assist in removal of the viscera, including the gonads. Vacuum head assemblies for cleaning a cavity of the fish after the viscera is removed are also provided.
US08690641B2
An apparatus for supplying a constant amount of abrasive which can supply even dry ice particles, ice particles, or the like as abrasive in a constant amount is provided. In order to take out abrasive contained in measuring holes 21 of a rotating disc 20, an abrasive mixing section 40 for blowing a compressed gas into each of the measuring holes 21 has a cylinder 41′ which opens toward one surface of the rotating disc at the position where the measuring holes are formed. A piston 43′ is inserted into the cylinder. A fluid channel 45 opens toward the cylinder 41′ through the intermediary of the rotating disc 20 and whose opening rim 45a is in sliding contact with another surface of the rotating disc 20. One of the cylinder 41′ and the fluid channel 45 communicates with a compressed-gas supply source through the intermediary of a compressed-gas introduction path 52. The other one of the cylinder 41′ and the fluid channel 45 communicates with the abrasive transport path 51. The piston 43′ has a through-hole 43a passing therethrough in such a manner as to coincide with the position where the measuring holes are formed.
US08690637B2
Disclosed is a flex-arm device including a base, at least one support block attached to the base, the support block including a shaft aperture, a shaft engaged with the shaft aperture of the support block, and a flex-arm mount attached to the shaft. When the device is in an unlocked orientation, the shaft is capable of rotation within the shaft aperture such that the flex-arm mount may be angularly displaced about multiple positions, and when the device is in a locked orientation, the shaft is restricted from rotation within the shaft aperture.
US08690630B2
A bubble generating toy includes a bubble forming assembly mounted inside a housing behind a front opening thereof. The bubble forming assembly includes a cylindrical body having diametric inlet and outlet, a cylindrical air gate having diametric inlet and outlet. The air gate is rotatable in the cylindrical body between a closed position and open position when the inlets and outlets are aligned. A sleeve extends perpendicularly from the outlet of the cylindrical body and has a bubble ring. Bubble forming liquid is pumped from a container, through a tube and into the sleeve by a pump to form a bubble film across the bubble ring. An air blower blows are through the sleeve and the bubble ring to generate bubbles.
US08690627B2
Provided is a method for producing an organic EL element wherein a leak current is reduced, the visual quality is high, and the heat resistance is high. The method for producing an organic EL element formed by holding at least an organic light emitting layer between a pair of electrodes is comprised of an energization treatment process (S3) for energizing the organic EL element while the organic EL element is heated, and a storage treatment process (S4) for storing the organic EL element while the organic EL element is heated. Further, the method for producing an organic EL element is characterized in that the energization treatment process (S3) and the storage treatment process (S4) are performed in an atmosphere having a temperature of 80 DEG C. or more.
US08690626B2
A surfboard leash system for a surfboard and a method of making it are disclosed. The system may include an insert or receptacle adapted to be disposed within a portion of the surfboard, a reel assembly releasably connected to the insert and having an arm portion terminating in an annular flange, a first elongated line having a first end attached to the reel assembly and a second end capable of being extended from and retracted to the annular flange of the reel assembly, and a second elongated line releasably connectable at a first end to the second end of the first elongated line and adapted to be releasably attached at a second end to a user of the surfboard.
US08690620B2
Boat (10) comprising a steering and propelling unit comprising at least one driving shaft (11, 11′) passing in an opening of the transom (12) for transmitting the motion from a motor to at least one propeller (21, 21′), at least one steering (14) provided at the top with at least one rotation pin (13), and a through-hull support (100) able to be associated with the opening and equipped with a plate portion (101) able to be fixed on the outside to the hull (12) of the boat (10) and with a through-hull tubular portion (102) for support of the at least one driving shaft (11, 11′), in which the through-hull support (100) also comprises at least one bush (103) passing through the plate portion (101) to support, in a rotary manner, the pin (13) bearing the steering (14) and in which the wall (12) of the hull where the passage opening of the at least one driving shaft (11, 11′) is formed is inclined from the top to the bottom in the direction of the stem of the boat (10).
US08690615B2
An electrical contact includes a body having a mating segment. At least a portion of the mating segment defines a first conductive element having a three-dimensional (3D) surface. A dielectric layer is formed directly on the 3D surface of the first conductive element in engagement with the 3D surface. A second conductive element is formed on the dielectric layer such that the dielectric layer extends between the first and second conductive elements. The first and second conductive elements and the dielectric layer form a capacitor.
US08690613B2
A conductive terminal member is disposed at a portion between an insulating base film and an insulating cover film while insulating intermediate members are disposed at other portions therebetween. In this event, the intermediate members are formed in predetermined shapes and are located so as not to overlap the terminal member. The base film and the cover film are each melt-fixed to the intermediate members so that the terminal member is fixedly held between the base member and the cover film and with the terminal member 14 bent to penetrate windows 11b, 11c in the base and cover to form contact portions 14a, 14c.
US08690612B2
An electrical connector is provided. The electrical connector includes a first mounting portion. The electrical connector further includes a first clamping portion coupled to the first mounting portion. The first clamping portion has a first coupling tab and a second coupling tab. The first and second coupling tabs define a first gap. The first and second coupling tabs are configured to form an electrical connection with the first busbar in the first gap.
US08690610B2
A joint connector comprises a plurality of terminals, a housing having a space with a size such that the plurality of terminals is capable of being accommodated in a contact state in parallel, and a terminal insertion slot allowing the terminals inserted into the space to be laterally moved from the side of one side wall to the opposite side wall, and a spring interposed between a terminal close to the one side wall among the plurality of terminals accommodated in the space, and the one side wall to press the plurality of terminals in a mutual contact state toward the opposite side wall.
US08690606B2
A mounting base is disclosed comprising: a base housing configured to retain an electrical connector at a first base housing end and a flexible shaft at a second base housing end, the base housing providing an electrical path between the electrical connector and a first electrical wire in the flexible shaft; a contact spring for providing an electrical connection to a power terminal on the electrical connector; a insulation sleeve enclosing the contact spring; a contact eyelet electrically attached to a second electrical wire in the flexible shaft, the contact eyelet in electrical contact with the contact spring; and a grounding collar disposed against an end of the flexible shaft, the grounding collar disposed within an interior channel in the second base housing end.
US08690605B2
An I/O connector (100) includes an insulative housing (10) having a base portion (11) and a fitting portion (12) extending forwardly from the base portion, a number of terminals (30) retained in the insulative housing, and a metal covering portion (20) integrally molded with the insulative housing. The metal covering portion has a main portion (21) embedded with the base portion, a pair of deflexed side portions (22) engaging with two sides of the fitting portion, and a front portion (23) engaging with a front edge of the fitting portion. The main portion defines a slit (212) and forms a corresponding slant portion (213) extending into the slit. The fitting portion forms an upper hook (124). The upper hook is received in the slit and engages with the slant portion.
US08690600B1
An electronic device protective case with a built-in capability to have a connector or cable that enables it to interface to power and communication sources without the need for a separate cable. The connector can be an AC connector for power, or a DC connector for power and/or signals, such as an universal serial bus (USB) connector or similar connector. The connector or cable can the move between a stowed position within the protective case housing and a deployed positions where it is external to said case.
US08690598B2
A communication plug having a plug body and a plurality of contact pairs at least partially within the plug body, the contact pairs including an inherent asymmetric coupling between individual contacts of one of the contact pairs and other individual contacts of another of the contact pairs. Second asymmetric coupling elements are connected between the individual contacts of one of the contact pairs and the other individual contacts of another of the contact pairs. The second asymmetric coupling elements, when combined with the inherent asymmetric coupling, provide a balanced symmetric coupling between the individual contacts of one of the contact pairs and the other individual contacts of another of the contact pairs.
US08690594B2
An electrical connector electrically connecting a chip module to a printed circuit board, has includes an insulative housing having a number of terminals received therein and a loading plate covering on the insulative housing. The loading plate comprises a first rotating element rotatably attached to one end of the insulative housing and a second rotating element rotatably attached to the other end of the insulative housing, the two rotating elements interlocked with each other.
US08690589B2
A card-edge connector has a housing that includes a housing body, and a plurality of electrical contacts carried by the housing body. The electrical contacts include a plurality of electrical signal contacts and a plurality of electrical power contacts. The electrical signal contacts are sized thinner than the electrical power contacts. The card-edge connector includes a mounting fastener extending out from only one side wall of the housing body at a location adjacent the electrical signal contacts.
US08690588B2
A junction box assembly includes a housing member and an electrical component. The housing member has a housing surface and a component receptacle having a pair of opposing sidewalls coupled to the housing surface. Each sidewall has a locking opening disposed therein and each locking opening defines a locking surface. A post is arranged within the component receptacle and extends from the housing surface for a predetermined distance to a post surface. The electrical component is received in the component receptacle and has a component surface adjacent the post surface and a barb received in each locking opening. The post applies a force to the electrical component for retaining the barb against the locking surface.
US08690583B2
A probe connector (1) connects a circuit board (2) and a coaxial plug (3) including an axial terminal (162) and a surrounding terminal (163). A coaxial probe (51) of the probe connector includes a center terminal (52) connected to the circuit board and the axial terminal; and an outer terminal (61) coaxial with the center terminal and connected to the circuit board and the surrounding terminal. The outer terminal includes an cylindrical outer conductor (62) surrounding the center terminal and mated with the surrounding terminal; an anchor (63) formed, as a projection (69), on part of an outer surface of the outer conductor by machining process so that a hole is formed on the part of the outer surface; and a conductive cover (91) covering and closing the hole and electrically conducted to the outer conductor. Thus, the position of the coaxial probe is slightly shifted even when the coaxial plug is inserted thereto or pulled therefrom.
US08690581B2
An ophthalmoscope simulator for simulation and a method for simulation of the handling of an ophthalmoscope, having a support that can be attached to a head of an observer, at least one first imaging display disposed on said support, wherein the display can be placed in front of an eye of the observer for displaying a virtual reality, an ophthalmoscope dummy that can be supported by one hand of the observer, a position recognition system for determining the spatial position and/or orientation of the support and of the ophthalmoscope dummy and a computer for displaying an image of an environment, a patient head and/or at least a portion of the ophthalmoscope dummy on the display. In particular, a patient head dummy is provided that comprises at least one peripheral surface with a patient eye position defined therein, wherein the spatial position and/or orientation of the patient head dummy can be determined and displayed by way of the position recognition system and that in addition to or alternative to the ophthalmoscope dummy an image portion can be added to the image displayed to the observer, wherein the image portion represents a virtual retina as could selectively appear to the observer, taking into account the spatial position of the support, the ophthalmoscope dummy and the patient head dummy.
US08690580B2
A cannulation simulator. The simulator comprises a frame (1) shaped like a part of the human body, on the surface of which a cannulation zone (4) is arranged for insertion of a needle, in particular a cannulation needle. According to the invention, the cannulation zone (4) comprises a layer formed of a gel-like, at least essentially transparent polymeric material, which layer in regard to its mechanical properties at least approximately corresponds to human loose connective tissue, at least one vein simulating polymeric hose (5) arranged inside the polymeric material layer, as well as an elastic polymeric film (6) covering the polymeric material layer on the surface of the body. The simulator facilitates cannulation training.
US08690579B2
The dental position tracking system includes a toothbrush (30) which has a system (20) for determining the orientation of the toothbrush in the mouth of a user relative to the earth, based on measured stored information. Information is stored in the toothbrush concerning target ranges of expected measured toothbrush orientations for each of a plurality of dental zones (22). A processor (24) compares the measured toothbrush orientation information with the target orientation ranges, following conversion of both the target orientation information and the measured toothbrush orientation information to the same coordinate system. The processor then determines which if any of the target ranges matches, within a selected tolerance thereof, with the toothbrush orientation information. Any difference between the target range and the measured toothbrush orientation information is then used to partially adjust the target information range, in order to compensate for a change of position of the user's head.
US08690575B1
The present invention is a weapon simulator that is at least partially controlled by a host computer and simulates near actual recoil forces of a weapon via a gun active recoil unit.
US08690573B2
Artificial teeth arranged in plates attachable in an oral cavity as a dental prosthetic appliance, in which arrangement direction indication parts showing a directivity of arrangement in the plates extending in an apical-cervical direction or in a mesiodistal direction are provided at a vestibular side or an oral side. The arrangement direction indication parts extending in the apical-cervical direction are positioned linearly as seen from the vestibular side in an occluded state of mandibular teeth and maxillary teeth. The arrangement direction indication parts extending in the mesiodistal direction are positioned linearly as seen from the vestibular side in the state in which the teeth are arranged in the plates. The artificial teeth are arranged at an appropriate position according to an oral environment of each patient, without requiring advanced skill and experience.
US08690565B2
The invention relates to a shaft furnace (10) and a method for heat treating carbonaceous molded parts, particularly anodes (17), having an arrangement of the molded parts in at least one molded part column (11 to 15) disposed between tempering shaft devices (19, 20, 21) comprising a plurality of molded part rows (16) disposed above each other in a conveyor shaft, the rows being moved past temperature fields of the tempering shaft devices (19, 20, 22) and passing through a heating zone (25), a firing zone (27) having a burner device (28), and a cooling zone (26), wherein thermally insulating intermediate layers are disposed both between the temperature fields of the tempering shaft devices (19, 20, 22) and between the molded part rows of the molded part columns.
US08690557B2
A variable displacement vane pump includes: a plate side high pressure introduction groove formed in the pressure plate or in the cam ring, formed so that an entire is positioned within a radial width of the cam ring, and a part is positioned in a circumferential region between the suction port and the discharge port, and arranged to receive a hydraulic pressure larger than a suction pressure; and a housing side high pressure introduction groove formed in the second housing or in the cam ring, formed so that an entire is positioned within the radial width of the cam ring, that a radial center is positioned radially outside the radial center of the plate side high pressure introduction groove, and that a part is overlapped with the plate side high pressure introduction groove in the circumferential direction, and arranged to receive the hydraulic pressure larger than the suction pressure.
US08690544B2
An oil pump includes a capacity adjustment mechanism that changes the pump capacity by moving a tubular body in a tube radial direction, with a pump chamber formed between the tubular body and an outer circumference side of a rotor, a first spring biasing the tubular body in a direction in which pump capacity increases, a control valve that converts oil pressure of the oil pump into control pressure and causes the control pressure to act on the capacity adjustment mechanism, and a second spring biasing a valve body in order to set the control pressure in the control valve. The relationship of the biasing forces of the first and second springs is set so that pump capacity is set to maximum when the engine rotational speed is less than a predetermined value, and so that pump capacity is reduced when the engine rotational speed exceeds a predetermined value.
US08690541B2
A water powered turbine (1) comprises a main support frame-work (2) which rotatably carries a rotor (3) comprising a main shaft (5) to which three blades (7) are attached by carrier discs (8) and (9). The carrier discs (8, 9) are rigidly secured to the main shaft (5), and the blades (7) are pivotally connected to the discs (8) and (9) by pivot shafts (16) and (17). Each blade (7) is of constant hydro-foil cross-section along its entire length and defines a first upper spiral (12) and a second lower spiral (13). The first spiral (12) extends from a first end (10) which is coupled to the main shaft (5) by the carrier disc (8), and the second spiral (13) of each blade (7) extends from a second end (11) of the blade (7) which is coupled to the main shaft (5) by the carrier disc (9). The first and second spirals (12) and (13) are of opposite hand and extend from the respective first and second ends (10, 11) to meet midway between the respective first and second ends (10, 11). The first and second spirals (12, 13) define respective central spiral axes which substantially coincide with a main central rotational axis (4) about which the rotor (3) is rotatable. The pivot shafts (16, 17) of each blade (7) define a corresponding secondary axis (18) about which the blades (7) are pivotal for selectively altering the dive angle of the first and second spirals (12) and (13) of the blades (7).
US08690540B2
A lubrication system is provided for a bearing with a stationary inner ring and a rotating outer ring. The lubrication system includes a distribution ring attached to the outer ring for distributing a lubricant in the bearing. The distribution ring includes transport openings directed towards the bearing for transportation of the lubricant from a lower position of the outer ring to an upper position of the outer ring.
US08690538B2
A turbine engine component has an airfoil portion having a leading edge, a suction side, and a pressure side and a radial flow leading edge cavity through which a cooling fluid flows for cooling the leading edge. The turbine engine component further has a first set of trip strips and a second set of trip strips which meet at the leading edge nose portion of the leading edge cavity to form a plurality of chevron shaped trip strips and for generating a vortex in the leading edge cavity which impinges on the nose portion of the leading edge cavity and enhances convective heat transfer.
US08690536B2
A turbine blade for a turbine engine having a tip with one or more vortex generators for reducing tip leakage during operation of the turbine engine. The vortex generators may extend radially outward from the radially outer surface of the tip wall. The vortex generator may be positioned between a rib extending radially outward from the radially outer surface of the tip wall and an intersection between the outer surface of the tip wall and an outer surface on the pressure side. The vortex generators may include a base and three sides forming a triangular point with a first side having a larger surface are than second and third sides. One or more film cooling holes may be formed in the tip wall to provide cooling air to the tip. In one embodiment, film cooling holes may be positioned in one or more vortex generators.
US08690533B2
A remote adjustment and measurement system for a steam turbine nozzle assembly is disclosed. In one embodiment, a steam turbine casing segment is disclosed including: a horizontal joint surface; a pocket having a first opening at the horizontal joint surface and a second opening substantially opposing the first opening; and a path accessible from a radially outward surface of the steam turbine casing segment, the path fluidly connected to the second opening of the pocket.
US08690528B2
A counter-rotating axial flow fan in which the shape of stationary blades of a middle stationary portion is optimized to reduce noise is provided. Defining the maximum axial chord length of front blades as Lf, the maximum axial chord length of rear blades as Lr, and the maximum axial chord length of stationary blades as Lm, a relationship of Lm/(Lf+Lr)<0.14 is satisfied. Defining the maximum dimension between the blade chord for lower surfaces of the stationary blades and the lower surfaces as K1, the maximum axial chord length Lm of the stationary blades satisfies a relationship of Lm/K1>5.8.
US08690523B2
A fluid flow machine includes a main flow path which is confined by a hub (3) and a casing (1) and in which at least one row of blades (5) is arranged, with a blade end with gap being provided on the blade row, with the blade end and the main flow path confinement performing a rotary movement relative to each other in a vicinity of the blade end, with at least part of the running gap (11) retracted radially from the main flow path confinement into the main flow path, with the running gap (11) at the retractions no longer being confined by the main flow path confinement, but by a peripheral guiding device (10) passed by the main flow and firmly connected to the main flow path confinement and having a row of profiles (12).
US08690515B2
A coupler for receiving first and second pins of an accessory. A first latching mechanism is associated with a first jaw, having an arm connected to and extending away from a latching member thereof, and a second latching mechanism is associated with a second jaw, the first and second latching mechanisms adapted to latch the first and second pins of an accessory in or on the first jaw and the second jaw, respectively. The second latching mechanism is powered for movement between a latching position and a non-latching position. The first latching mechanism is connected to, or connectable with, the second latching mechanism to allow operation of the second latching mechanism selectively to operate the first latching mechanism between its own latching and non-latching positions by means of a groove or flange or finger provided on the second latching mechanism.
US08690514B2
A heavy duty vehicle recovery system employs a crane/tow boom assembly which is pivotally mounted to an upright assembly and is transformable between various positions. Two variably positionable booms with slidable extensions are provided. The crane/tow boom assembly extends rearwardly from the lower portion of the upright assembly. When the upright assembly is in an upright position, the boom assembly is upwardly pivotal from the upright assembly. When the upright assembly is in a reclined position, the crane/tow boom assembly is pivotally transformable to a transport position generally parallel to the upright assembly. The crane booms may be independently positioned at different elevational angles and different extensions.
US08690512B2
Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for use thereof for loading bulk material into freight containers. One apparatus comprises a hopper configured to receive bulk material that is sized and shaped to be at least partially enclosable by a container to occupy a substantial volume of the container and a ram. The ram comprises a plate and a driver configured to move the plate from a back end of the hopper to an open end of the hopper to expel material into a container. Another apparatus comprises a hopper configured to receive bulk material that is sized and shaped to be at least partially enclosable by a container to occupy a substantial volume of the container and a reciprocating conveyor floor system. Optionally, the apparatuses further include a stand and/or collapsible legs to further support the hopper.
US08690510B1
A robotic device movable in a vertical direction and in prescribed horizontal directions along rails arranged in the prescribed horizontal directions in multiple rows provided at various levels with respect to ground. The robotic device has a frame, wheels coupled to the frame and configured for moving the frame along the rails, and support handles for lifting the frame in the vertical direction from first rails arranged in a first row of the rails to second rails arranged in a second row of the rails. The support handles are configured for providing engagement with the second rails to lift the robotic device in the vertical direction, and for turning the frame into a desired horizontal direction by pushing against the second rails on an intersection between the second rails and third rails arranged in the same row as the second rails.
US08690502B1
A buckle-engaging apparatus includes a stationary plate, a rotational receptacle and a pivot. The stationary plate includes a central aperture defined therein. The rotational receptacle includes a rotational plate and a shell. The rotational plate includes a central aperture defined therein. The shell is attached to the rotational plate and includes a slot in a raised portion. The pivot is inserted in the central aperture of the stationary plate and the central aperture of the rotational plate to rotationally connect the rotational plate to the stationary plate.
US08690500B2
A tool interface that is easy to produce but also precise, for coupling a tool head to a tool shank in a centered manner in respect of a shank axis, comprises a first interface part that is connected to the tool shank or to the tool head, and a second interface part that is connected to the respectively other tool part, namely, to the tool head or to the tool shank. The two interface parts have interface surfaces that substantially complement each other and are intended to bear flatly on each other. The interface surface of the first interface part comprises an inner cone surface and an outer cone surface, which surrounds the latter on the outside and coaxially. The interface surface of the second interface part comprises an outer cone surface, which corresponds with the inner cone surface of the first interface part, and an inner cone surface, which corresponds with the outer cone surface of the first interface part. In the case of a first invention variant, an annular web formed between the inner cone surface and the outer cone surface of the first interface part is slotted by at least one recess. In the case of a second invention variant, the second interface part has a central bore surrounded coaxially by its outer cone surface, an annular web formed between the outer cone surface and this bore being in this case slotted by at least one recess.
US08690499B2
High precision machining is enabled by eliminating the need for a conventional swiveling table, and by enhancing rigidity for supporting a work by relatively reducing the distance from the top surface of a stationary body section (1) to the position for machining a work by means of a tool on a rotary spindle (17). A pair of guide tracks (28a, 28b) respectively passing two positions separated in the X axis direction of the stationary body section (1) and in the Z axis direction intersecting the X axis direction perpendicularly are allowed to guide feed tables (30a, 30b) to be movable independently. A support/feed/turn output member (25) is latched to bridge the feed tables (30a, 30b) on the guide tracks (28a, 28b), one feed table (30a) and the support/feed/turn output member (25) are coupled to rotate relatively about a line in the Y axis direction which intersects perpendicularly both the X axis direction and the Z axis direction, the other feed table (30b) and the support/feed/turn output member (25) are coupled to rotate relatively about a line in the Y axis direction and to displace relatively in a specific direction related to the positions of the both feed tables (30a, 30b), and a means (35) for regulating relative displacement in the specific direction is provided additionally.
US08690494B2
A cutting tool system is designed to have a combined sinusoidal-shaped and helical-shaped cutting edge formed by an assembly of aligned common cutting inserts each having a sinusoidal and helical cutting edge.
US08690493B2
An end mill including multiple spiral flutes in a helical shape around an axis that are formed in a periphery of the top portion of an end mill body which rotates on the axis. Cutting edges are formed at peripheral side ridge portions of wall surfaces of the flutes facing a front side in an end mill rotating direction. Honing is applied along each peripheral cutting edge such that the cutting edge has a variable honing width in the direction of the axis.
US08690489B2
A non-contact support platform system is provided for supporting a substantially flat object. The system includes a platform with a first plurality of pressure ports and a first plurality of vacuum ports for inducing a fluid cushion to support the object at a distance from the platform. The system further includes a second plurality of pressure ports located at a predetermined zone of the platform for increasing the distance of the object from the platform at the predetermined zone.
US08690486B2
The present invention relates to in-place soil stabilization. Specifically, the present invention relates a method and device for measuring the increase in subsurface earth pressure during the injection of a stabilizing agent into the soil. The rise in sensor pressure indicates an increase in soil strength and bearing capacity. Therefore, real-time monitoring of these pressures may serve as a guide during the injection process.
US08690481B2
A removal impact cover (14) for a marine riser buoyancy module (10) has an arcuate shape with an open face (21). The cover (14) has a number of recesses (18) arranged to engage with recesses (22) on the module (10). The recesses (18) each contain an aperture (20) and the recesses (22) each contain an aperture (23). The cover (14) and the module (10) are engaged by fastening means preferably extending the apertures 20 and 23. More preferably the engaged cover (14) is spaced from the module (10) to reduce direct transmission of forces to the module (10).
US08690479B2
A speedy construction method for the penstock of a large scale hydraulic turbine is provided. The construction sequence thereof is as follows: the spiral case of the hydraulic turbine is installed firstly, then, upwards along the water flow direction, the penstock is arranged in turn from the intake section of the spiral case. The penstock is assembled and welded on a roll welding rack or on a penstock pallet car by use of segments so as to be installed rapidly.
US08690476B2
A novel method and system for storing high purity hydrogen into a salt cavern is provided. Particularly, the storage process involves storing high purity hydrogen into a salt cavern without seepage or leakage of the stored hydrogen through the salt cavern walls, by creating a permeation barrier along the salt cavern walls. The cavern pressure is monitored and controlled to ensure formation and maintenance of the permeation barrier. Optional temperature treatments may also be incorporated as desired.
US08690468B2
A dispenser has a body defining with a variable-volume storage chamber for storing product. A compression chamber is in fluid communication with the storage chamber for receiving substance therefrom A one-way valve of the dispenser includes valve seat and flexible valve cover seated on the valve seat and defining a normally-closed seam therebetween forming a fluid-tight seal between the valve cover and valve seat. The flexible valve cover is movable relative to the valve seat to allow the passage of substance through the seam and out of the dispenser. A manually-engageable actuator connected to the dispensing portion is movable between first and second positions to dispense substance within the compression chamber out of the dispenser.
US08690466B2
The invention relates to a wiper for wiping a cosmetics applicator upon withdrawing the same from a storage chamber filled with a cosmetic to be applied, comprising a wiper section and a holding section for fixing the wiper on a storage container, wherein, at least in some areas between the wiper section and the holding section, a functional section is disposed having a screen structure of several passage openings that are disposed immediately next to one another, which connects the storage chamber with the wiper antechamber.
US08690461B2
A system and method are provided for controlling a printing press including a plurality of print units and, optionally, a folder. Each print unit has one or more cylinders, a motor for driving the cylinders; an encoder for providing a cylinder position signal, a controller coupled to the encoder, the motor, a bus which interconnects each of the controllers and an input port for designating the controller as either master or slave. Any one of the controllers is selectively set as a master controller and the remaining controllers are set as slave controllers. The master controller generates a control signal based on a signal from the input port and outputs the control signal to the motor via the output port and to the slave controllers via the bus. Each of the slave controllers outputs a signal on the respective output port based on the received control signal.
US08690460B2
An attachment assembly for attaching a camera phone to a weapon scope is provided. The attachment assembly includes a camera phone mount having at least one camera phone clamp for the selective retention of a camera phone in the camera phone mount, the camera phone mount rotatably and slidably coupled to a mount bracket. A scope mount assembly is coupled to a portion of a weapon scope, the scope mount assembly being slidably received by a portion of the mount bracket, wherein the camera phone mount is rotatable between a first position and a second position, wherein the first position has a camera lens of the camera phone in alignment the view through the scope, and the second position has the camera lens of the camera phone outside of alignment from the view through the scope.
US08690455B2
An apparatus includes an optical Input/Output (I/O) connector, which has a central axis that is mounted in a plane and which is configured to connect to external optical fibers for transferring input optical signals to the apparatus and output optical signals from the apparatus. A first optical ferrule is mounted perpendicularly to the optical I/O connector in the plane, and is configured to transfer the input optical signals from the optical I/O connector to respective optical detectors. A second optical ferrule is mounted perpendicularly to the optical I/O connector in the plane, and is configured to transfer the output optical signals from respective optical emitters to the optical connector. A light rotation module is configured to bend and transfer the input and output optical signals between the optical I/O connector and the perpendicularly-mounted first and second optical ferrules.
US08690452B2
A cage for roller bodies, for example axial bearings or flat guides, which is approximately W-shaped in the longitudinal cross-section, having side walls forming W-shaped limbs and webs connecting them, between which the roller bodies are accommodated. The profile of the webs is suitable for limiting the freedom of movement of the roller bodies to at least two degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the profile of the webs is designed such that the freedom of movement of the roller bodies can be limited in at least one additional degree of freedom.
US08690441B2
A wheel bearing device for a motor vehicle, having an inner ring arrangement, formed for rotationally fixed reception of a first rotary partner, particularly an axle stump, or a shaft, an outer ring arrangement, which is connected and/or connectable and rotationally fixed with a second rotary partner, a multitude of rolling elements, which roll between the inner ring arrangement and the outer ring arrangement, so that inner ring arrangement and outer ring arrangement and/or the rotary partners are rotatable against each other, and an electric sensor device, which, using mechanical contact, is arranged and/or formed for detecting an operating status of the wheel bearing device. The sensor device has a stationary sensor element and a rotating sensor element, which can work together to form the mechanical contact. One of the sensor elements is connected with the inner ring arrangement without the interposition of the first rotary partner.
US08690437B2
Disclosed is a connecting rod bearing for a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, the connecting rod bearing comprising a pair of semi-cylindrical bearings. In at least one of the semi-cylindrical bearings, a front side circumferential groove is formed from the front side circumferential end surface, and in the opposed semi-cylindrical bearing, a rear side circumferential groove is formed from the rear side circumferential end surface. A circumferential length of the front side circumferential groove is larger than a circumferential length of the front side crush relief, and a circumferential length of the rear side circumferential groove is smaller than a circumferential length of the rear side crush relief.
US08690433B2
A sliding device for an electronic apparatus includes a contact piece projecting outward in a widthwise direction from a sliding plate and a contacted part with which the contact piece is caused to come into contact when the sliding plate is caused to slide with a maximum displacement in a rear direction relative to a base plate. The contact piece includes a partially cylindrical surface and a connecting surface. The contacted part includes a contacted shape part configured to be contacted by a boundary part of the partially cylindrical surface and the connecting surface to provide the sliding plate with a rotational force to cause a front direction end portion of the sliding plate to move in the bottom direction relative to a rear direction end portion of the sliding plate, and an engaged shape part with which the partially cylindrical surface and the connecting surface are caused to engage.
US08690428B2
A bag has two juxtaposed face panels of plastic film and each having two parallel side edges and top and bottom edges. A gusset extends between one of the side edges of one of the panels and the juxtaposed side edge of the other of the panels. The gusset is movable between a folded-in condition lying mainly between the panels and an extended condition projecting laterally past the panels and forming a spout generally at the top edges. A slide fastener at the top edges has two profile strips that can be locked to each other and that each have an attachment flap, and a slider shiftable along the profile strips in a closing direction to close the strips together and in an opposite opening direction to separate the strips. Joints secure the attachment flaps directly to inner faces of the respective face panels at the respective upper edges.
US08690424B2
The invention relates to a medical x-ray imaging apparatus including a support structure (1) which supports a substantially ring-shaped structure, an O-arm (2) supporting imaging means (21, 22), to which O-arm (2) is arranged an examination opening (4). The ring-shaped structure (2) supporting the imaging means is arranged movable with respect to said support construction (1) at least in vertical direction. A patient stool (30) is arranged to be positioned in connection with the apparatus, as well as positioning means (32, 33, 34) in connection with said examination opening (4) for positioning the patient stool (30) in the examination opening (4).
US08690414B2
A plurality of display panels include a display region and a frame region. The plurality of display panels include first and second display panels adjoining each other; the frame region of the first display panel is overlapped by a side face of the second display panel so that an angle defined by viewer-side surfaces is more than 0° but less than 180°; first and second light guide elements are disposed on the viewer's side of peripheral display regions; the light guide elements have incident and outgoing faces and a plurality of light guiding portions; the distance between the incident and outgoing faces increases away from the peripheral display region toward the frame region; the volume of the first light guide element is larger than that of the second light guide element; and the outgoing faces of the first and second light guide elements are covered by a functional film.
US08690412B2
An electronic device may have a liquid crystal display with backlight structures. The backlight structures may produce backlight that passes through the display layers in the display. The display layers may include a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between a color filter layer and a thin-film transistor layer. The backlight structures may include a light guide plate. A plurality of light-emitting diodes mounted on a flexible printed circuit may be coupled to an edge of the light guide plate. The flexible printed circuit may be curled into a spring element to bias the light-emitting diodes against the edge of the light guide plate. A plurality of gaps may be formed in the flexible printed circuit and may be used to separate and mechanically decouple adjacent light-emitting diodes. Individual light-emitting diodes may independently register to the light guide plate to maximize optical efficiency in the display.
US08690410B2
Methods and aparatuses disclosed herein relate to backlit visual display elements. A visual display element may include a base layer defining one or more microperforations and a light guide coupled to a light source. The light guide may be positioned adjacent the base layer and include one or more microlenses in alignment with the one or more microperforations along at least one vertical axis.
US08690398B2
A vertically adjustable cubicle lamp may be suspended on two vertical rods configured to grip the upper edge of a cubicle wall. The lamp may be vertically positioned and secured through a frictional fit, a mechanical interface, or a wirelessly controlled traction motor. Lamp intensity may be controlled through a microprocessor.
US08690375B2
A cap lamp system features a battery pack, a cap lamp housing containing a cap lamp bulb and a power cord connected between the battery pack and the cap lamp housing. The power cord provides power to the cap lamp bulb from the battery pack. An electronic module includes a housing defining a chamber and electronic circuitry is positioned within the chamber of the housing. The electronic module is positioned in circuit with the power cord. The electronic module may receives power from the battery pack and the electronic circuitry of the electronic module may includes a battery that powers the module.
US08690371B2
A hole that penetrates each light emitting diode board in the thickness direction of the board is provided, on one end portion in the longitudinal direction of each of a plurality of light emitting diode boards which have a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted on one surface, respectively have substantially a strip shape, and are arranged in a plurality of rows. The board holder has: protruding sections which are inserted into the holes of the adjacent light emitting diode boards; and a coupling section which is disposed in the direction orthogonally intersecting the longitudinal direction of the light emitting diode board, has a strip-shape, and couples respective base ends of the protruding sections. The plurality of light emitting diode boards disposed in parallel are held by inserting the protruding sections into the holes.
US08690358B2
A mobile device such as a robot includes a processor, a memory that stores components executable by the processor, and a projection assembly. The projection assembly includes a projector, a lens, a movable mirror, and a first projection surface integral with a surface of the mobile device. The components include a projection component and a control component. The projection component determines the projection parameters, and projects the image onto the movable mirror, dependent upon the projection parameters. The control component causes the projector and the lens to focus the image onto the first projection surface, and further causes the movable mirror to reflect the image onto the first projection surface.
US08690357B2
A safe, highly bright projector is to be implemented. A projector directs a light beam from a light source (101) to an image modulating device (105), and magnifies and projects an image formed at the image modulating device (105) through a zoom lens (102). This projector has a light transmitting window (103) movably disposed in front of the surface of the light outgoing side of the zoom lens (102) along the optical axis. The projector further has a window position control unit (108) to control the position of the light transmitting window (103) so as not to change the light beam region that appears on the outer surface of the light transmitting window (103) as the focal length of the zoom lens (102) is varied.
US08690354B2
It is a task to provide a mobile electronic device with high operability and high safety. The mobile electronic device includes an image projector that projects an image, a cabinet, an input unit that is disposed on the cabinet and detects an operation input by an operator, and a control unit that controls the operation of the image projector and the state of the input unit. The task is solved in such a manner that when a predetermined operation is detected by the input unit, the control unit stops emission of light from the image projector or reduces an amount of light emitted from the image projector.
US08690345B2
There is provided a projection image display apparatus which is excellent in quality of a display screen image even if a projection lens using a plastic lens having an asymmetrical shape with respect to an optical axis is used. The apparatus includes a projection lens which obliquely projects video light on a screen, an integrator which aligns a polarization direction of light from a light source, and an image display element (P, PL) which modulates light having the aligned polarization direction by an image signal. The projection lens includes multiple plastic lenses, and each of the multiple plastic lenses is arrayed, respectively, by shifting a gate direction to each other by 180 degrees. When the projection lens includes n sheets (n is a natural number) of plastic lenses, each of the multiple plastic lenses may be arrayed, respectively, by shifting a gate direction to each other by (360/n) degrees.
US08690338B2
A reflective liquid crystal projector according to the aspect of the invention includes a light source, a reflective liquid crystal panel, and a wire grid polarization beam splitter element. The wire grid polarization beam splitter element is provided with a polarization beam split surface that reflects a first polarized light component and transmits a second polarized light component. The reflective liquid crystal projector also includes a projection optical system that projects the first polarized light component, and an aperture stop that is disposed on an optical path of the light beam emitted from the light source. The aperture stop limits the amount of first light more than that of second light. The first light is divergent from the reflective liquid crystal panel to the polarization beam split surface. The second light is divergent from the reflective liquid crystal panel to the polarization beam split surface.
US08690334B2
A projector includes an image projection unit that projects an image for left eye and an image for right eye, and a transmitting unit that transmits a synchronizing signal for synchronization with switching between the image for left eye and the image for right eye. The transmitting unit is arranged to adjust a transmission direction of the synchronizing signal.
US08690332B2
The present invention is a glare tester attachment for use with a conventional ophthalmic instrument, comprising a pair of eye cups, both eye cups each comprising a wall partially enclosing a hollow interior chamber and having a viewing aperture defining a respective viewing line of sight axis for each eye cup, a portion of each wall being provided with a plurality of lights disposed around said line of sight axis. The invention may be incorporated into a phoropter or a hand-held device.
US08690330B2
A device for swept-source optical coherence domain reflectometry (SS OCDR) on moveable samples, particularly human eyes, for obtaining A-scans, having a measuring range according to the sample length and having a laser light source which can be adjusted by a main wave number k0 and at least one receiver for the light dissipated from the sample, wherein the sample is illuminated on the sample surface by a measurement beam having a diameter D by way of a coupling device. The light source has a spectral line width of δk<168 m−1 and the adjustment of the light source is carried out in τ<44 s/(D*k0).
US08690324B2
A method for modifying spectacle frame shape data, comprising the steps of: generating spectacle frame data by measuring the shape of a rim of a spectacle frame with a spectacle frame shape measuring apparatus, determining the principal axes of inertia of the measured shape of the rim of the spectacle frame using the rim spectacle frame data, and calculating new spectacle rim frame data expressed in the principal axes of inertia of the measured shape of the rim of the spectacle frame.
US08690318B2
The present application provides glasses including a frame, temple bars and hinges connecting the temple bars with the frame. One end of each of the hinges is provided with a snap-in spring bow and the other end thereof is provided with a connecting hole hinged to the frame. Accordingly, each of the temple bars is provided with a snap groove cooperated with the snap-in spring bow of the hinge. When mounting the hinge, it only needs to insert the hinge into the temple bar such that the snap-in spring bow of the hinge is cooperated with the snap groove of the temple bar. Thus, in the glasses according to the present application, the hinge and the temple bar may be connected by a snap-fit connection instead of a soldering process or a screw connection, the connecting process is simple since neither a soldering process nor an additional screw is required.
US08690313B2
A conveying device comprising a conveying body that conveys a recording medium; and a press roller comprising a large diameter portion that is formed at an axial direction central portion of the press roller and makes contact with the conveying body, and small diameter portions formed at both axial direction sides of the large diameter portion with a smaller diameter than the large diameter portion. Only a width direction central portion of the recording medium is pressed against the conveying body by the large diameter portion.
US08690309B2
A process including disposing at least one phase separation ink in an imagewise fashion onto a final image receiving substrate to form an ink image, wherein disposing is at a first temperature at which the at least one phase separation ink is in a molten, unseparated state; cooling the ink image to a second temperature sufficient to initiate crystallization of at least one component of the at least one phase separation ink, wherein at the second temperature the at least one phase separation ink comprises a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase; wherein the amorphous phase of the at least one phase separation ink substantially penetrates into the final image receiving substrate; and wherein the crystalline phase of the at least one phase separation ink substantially remains on the surface of the final image receiving substrate; applying pressure to the ink image on the final image receiving substrate; and allowing the ink to complete crystallization.
US08690300B2
An ink tank, which is mountable on an ink jet printer, includes an ink outlet adapted to supply ink stored in the ink tank to the ink jet printer through the outlet; an air communicating hole configured to introduce air into the ink tank through the hole in accordance with an amount of the ink supplied to the ink jet printer from the ink tank; a passage communicating with the ink outlet; a prism formed in the ink tank and adapted to detect whether a remaining amount of the ink in the ink tank is below a predetermined level or not; a filter disposed between the prism and the passage; and an ink chamber connected to an upstream opening of the passage. The prism and the filter are disposed in the ink chamber.
US08690295B2
A method for fabricating a fluid nozzle array includes forming a circuitry layer onto a substrate, the substrate comprising a stopping layer disposed between a membrane layer and a handle layer, forming a fluid feedhole extending from a surface of the membrane layer to the stopping layer, and forming a fluid supply trench extending from a surface of the handle layer to the stopping layer. A fluid nozzle array includes a substrate including a membrane layer, a stopping layer adjacent to the membrane layer, a handle layer adjacent to the stopping layer, and a set of fluid chambers disposed on a surface of the membrane layer above and along a width of a fluid supply trench extending from a surface of the handle layer to the stopping layer.
US08690289B1
A printing device and a printer using the same are provided. The printer includes a body and the printing device installed therein. The printing device includes a shaft, an inkjet module disposed on the shaft, and a cleaning module disposed under the shaft. The inkjet module has a nozzle and at least one electromagnet around the nozzle. The cleaning module includes a scraper and a cap disposed aside of the scraper, wherein the cap is magnetic or has at least one magnet disposed therein. Whether the cap attracts the nozzle or the cap repels the nozzle is determined by the current applied to the electromagnet.
US08690286B2
An apparatus which prevents an increase in a print suspension time or the time required to print because of a remaining ink detection operation when there is a sufficient amount of remaining ink. At least one ink tank is monitored to determine if the remaining ink is less than a given amount. If the remaining ink in an ink tank is less than a given amount, printing is suspended and it is determined which ink tank has ink less than the given amount.
US08690280B2
A printing apparatus includes: a holder in which a printing material cartridge set is mounted; and a mounting detection circuit for detecting mounted states of printing material cartridges in the holder. Each of the N printing material cartridges includes a storage device for storing information regarding a printing material which is contained, an electric device for mounting detection, a terminal for the storage device, and a terminal for the electric device. The electric devices of the N printing material cartridges are configured so that a detection voltage becomes equal to or greater than a threshold voltage set in advance when the N printing material cartridges are all mounted in the holder.
US08690265B2
A dual wheel assembly for a vehicle having a common hub adapter. The assembly includes an inner wheel having an inner rim; an outer wheel having an outer rim; and a hub portion having a central cylindrical portion disposed between first and second end face portions, wherein the inner rim is mounted to the first end portion, and the outer rim is mounted to the second end face portion. The assembly may further include radially spaced apart holes disposed on the central cylindrical portion, wherein the spaced apart holes have end openings on opposite sides thereof and first and second fasteners extending in opposite directions in an alternating arrangement from the first and second end portions of the hub portion. Each of the first fasteners extends through an end opening of a spaced apart hole and the inner rim, and each of the second fasteners extends through an end opening of a spaced apart hole and the outer rim.
US08690255B2
A seat back frame for a seat of a vehicle includes: a pair of side frames placed at a left side and a right side in a width direction of a seat; a head rest supporting frame supporting a head rest; a supporting plate, a both ends of the supporting plate being connected to a lower portion of each of the side frames; an upper opening provided above the supporting plate, the upper opening being opened in a front-rear direction; a planar elastic body provided across the upper opening; and a connection member elastically connecting a lower portion of the planar elastic body and an upper portion of the supporting plate.
US08690250B2
An infant carrier apparatus comprises a seat assembly, a backrest assembly including a first and second backrest frame, and a backrest holding mechanism. The first backrest frame includes first side and transverse segments, the second backrest frame includes second side and transverse segments, the first side segment being coupled with the seat assembly via a first pivot point. The backrest holding mechanism can be movably assembled between the first and second transverse segment, and include a latch element movable between a first and second position. The first position of the latch element causes the backrest holding mechanism to be in locking engagement with the first transverse segment to prevent rotation of the backrest assembly relative to the seat assembly, and the second position of the latch element removes the locking engagement of the backrest holding mechanism to permit rotation of the backrest assembly relative to the seat assembly.
US08690248B2
An auxiliary moving device contains a first cushion and two support members disposed on two sides of the first cushion. The first cushion is allowed to move on the support members, with one of the two support members including a plurality of holes. A positioning mechanism is fixed on the first cushion and includes a post. The post is inserted into one of the holes of the one of the two support members to fix the support member.
US08690244B2
A child restraint includes a base, a seat, and an anchor belt. The anchor belt holds the base in place on a passenger seat of a vehicle. The seat mounts on the base and supports a child or infant for travel in the vehicle above the base.
US08690239B2
The chair-type massage apparatus is characterized in that, when placed with its back facing a room wall, it can be located near the wall and, when its seat is made movable back-and-forth, the leg kneading device mounted at the front of the seat can be used without being obstructed by the back-and-forth movement.The chair-type massage apparatus 1 comprises the seat 2, the base frame 6, and the backrest 3 reclinably mounted at the rear of the seat. During reclining, the upper end of the backrest moves vertically along one vertical line. The leg kneading device is mounted at the front of the seat. The base frame has the seat moving mechanism 15 for moving the seat at least in the front-rear direction, and the seat has the position changing mechanism 16 for effecting positional change of the leg kneading device relative to the seat while maintaining the relative distance.
US08690235B2
An operating device for a sunroof of a vehicle may include a motor housing disposed at a rear side of a roof panel and a mounting space, an operating motor disposed at one side of the motor housing and a worm inserted into the mounting space, a gear unit rotatably disposed in the mounting space engaged with the worm and is rotated by the operating motor, a glass cable connected to the gear unit and to a moving glass disposed outside of the roof panel to move the moving glass, a sun shade cable connected to the gear unit at an upper side of the glass cable and is connected to the sun shade inside the roof panel to move the sun shade, and a locking unit disposed on the motor housing corresponding to the gear unit and selectively locks the gear unit such that the cable is separately operated.
US08690211B2
A securement device to make it much easier for a user to securely hold onto a personal, hand-held, tablet-shaped device such as an electronic reader, a tablet computing device, a cellular phone, a personal data assistant, and a common clipboard—while minimizing the fatigue and discomfort on the user's hands: A typical device solves this problem by providing a system of one or more finger holds formed with a fabric or pliable material that are disposed on the back side of the personal, hand-held, tablet-shaped device. In many devices, the position and fit of the finger holds are easily adjustable by a user via hook-and-loop schemes.
US08690207B2
A method for manufacturing an impact absorbing member, starting with a closed or substantially closed hollow section with a mid section and two end sections, wherein at least one the end sections is bent to form a supporting member, whereby at least one imprint is made in the part of the section to be deformed by the bending operation. The invention also relates to an improved impact absorbing member formed by a manufacturing process including bending.
US08690205B2
A sensor assembly for generating a request to exit (REX) signal for a door lockset operable with a latch operator and a controller that can signal an alarm. In one embodiment, the sensor assembly includes a mounting member adapted to be in a fixed position in the door lockset, a rotatable member adapted to rotate in response to rotation of the latch operator, and a sensor mounted to the mounting member. The sensor is spaced from the rotatable member and is configured to detect rotation of the rotatable member. When the rotatable member is rotated corresponding to rotation of the latch operator, the sensor detects the rotation, and a switch in the sensor, which may be magnetic, is actuated, closing a circuit to send a REX signal to the controller. The sensor assembly may be associated with a chassis of the door lockset.
US08690198B2
A connector for high amperage, AC or DC connection includes a plug and a receptacle configured to securely mate and lock with each other. Connector receptacles include a locking mechanism having a sleeve unit having a plurality of openings configured to receive a plurality of alignment members, a control unit in communication with the alignment members, and at least one extension member coupling the sleeve unit to the control unit. The control unit is configured to bias the alignment members to engage a groove in a plug in a locked position. Upon rotation of the control unit, the control unit engages the sleeve unit and allows the alignment members to freely move, thus allowing a user to connect or disconnect the plug from the receptacle.
US08690197B2
A bearing structure for a pivoting irrigation system apparatus having a rotatable vertical section with a plurality of annular assemblies mounted thereon. The assemblies include a plurality of components that are rotatable and non-rotatable with the rotatable vertical section so as to facilitate movement with decreased friction therebetween.
US08690190B2
A work vehicle includes a vehicle frame extending between a right and left pair of rear wheels. An engine is mounted in a vertical position on a horizontal mounting surface defined in the vehicle frame in a peripheral area of the rear wheels in a central portion of a transverse direction of the vehicle. A fuel tank includes a main tank body mounted under a driver's seat and an auxiliary tank body mounted on the mounting surface on one lateral side of the engine in the transverse direction of the vehicle. A canister is mounted adjacent to the engine on one lateral side of the engine and rearwardly of and adjacent to the auxiliary fuel tank.
US08690188B2
A restraint seat for use in vehicles with restraint systems having inflation devices is disclosed; the seat has a seat body housing, a seat body attachment means for securing the seat to a vehicle seat assembly, the seat body means securable to the seat body and a child restraint harness affixed to the seat body housing for restraining a child. The child restraint harness includes one or more inflatable belts. The harness is connectable to the vehicle restraint system which includes an inflation device, wherein the actuation of the vehicle inflation device inflates the one or more inflatable belts of the child seat. The harness further has a tongue for connecting the harness of the child seat to the buckle of the vehicle restraint system.
US08690176B2
A vehicle suspension component includes a first metal sheet having a center portion bounded by a first outer wall and a second outer wall. A second metal sheet includes a center portion in engagement with the center portion of the first sheet. The second sheet includes a first downturned wall engaging a surface of the first outer wall as well as a second downturned wall engaging a surface of the second outer wall. One of the first and second sheets includes a first hemmed flange portion wrapping around a first edge of the other of the first and second sheets and engaging another surface of the other first and second sheet. One of the first and second sheets includes a second hemmed flange portion wrapping around a second edge of the other of the first and second sheets and engaging another surface of the first and second sheets.
US08690173B2
The invention relates to a motor vehicle steering system, comprising a steering housing (7) in which a steering rack (6) is mounted in a longitudinally displaceable manner and is connected to tie rods (8) to swivel steerable wheels (9), the steering rack (6) being provided with a first toothed segment (5) which meshes with a first steering pinion (4) and the steering pinion (4) being connected to a steering wheel (1) for conjoint rotation by a steering shaft (2, 3), the steering rack (6) having a second toothed segment (13) which is opposite the first toothed segment (4) relative to the longitudinal axis of the steering rack (6), and that a second steering pinion (12) is provided which meshes with the second toothed segment (13).
US08690164B2
A hand tool with bit release device includes a connecting shaft, a block, a positioning bead and a cover. When the user wants to insert a tool bit into the connecting shaft, the user pushes the tool bit into the connecting shaft directly and the positioning bead engages with the tool bit firmly. When the user wants to release the tool bit from the connecting shaft, the user moves the cover axially relative to the connecting shaft and the positioning bead disengages with the tool bit so that the tool bit is released from the connecting shaft.
US08690157B2
The instant invention describes a new method of poker card games which allow a player to form a winning hand based on the five best cards chosen from at least two whole cards, at least three community cards, and one or more partial community cards. The format of the game in accordance with the instant invention provides card games using community style card distribution with a plurality of additional cards to be used by players during game play.
US08690151B2
An apparatus to separate out printed products from a stack including a pushing device to separate out a respective printed product from the stack. The pushing device includes a first rotary drive. The apparatus further includes a downstream-arranged removal device to convey away the respective separated out printed product. The removal device also includes a second rotary drive separate from the first rotary drive.
US08690148B1
A method for removing a sheet of paper from a substrate includes providing an air exhaust stream from an outlet of an air amplifier to the sheet of paper on the substrate to perturb the sheet of paper and lifting the perturbed sheet of paper from the substrate using a sub-atmospheric intake of the air amplifier.
US08690147B2
A sheet stackable device includes a sheet stackable plane. The sheet stackable device includes a first tray and a second tray, each of which is formed in a shape of a flat plate. The first tray includes a first contact part. The second tray is slidable along a slidable direction between a first position, in which the second tray overlaps the first tray, and a second position, in which the second tray is dawn out of the first tray. The second tray includes a second contact part, which is slidable on the first contact part. At least one of the first contact part and the second contact part includes a rack with rack teeth, which are aligned along the slidable direction. An upper plane of the first tray and an upper plane of the second tray in the second position form at least a part of the stackable plane.
US08690143B2
A post-processing device includes a processing tray on which sheets are to be stacked, a transport portion for transporting, a sheet introduced through an introduction port, a turn-aside portion for turning aside the sheet to delay arrival of the sheet at the processing tray, and a delivery mechanism for delivering the sheets stacked on the processing tray to a delivery tray on a boundary between copies. When a remaining number of sheets of one copy unstacked on the processing tray exceeds a maximum number of stacked sheets that is an amount of sheets stackable on the processing tray, the delivery mechanism delivers a sheet stack of the one copy a plurality of times so as to avoid delivery of only one sheet on a last page of the one copy, and the turn-aside portion turns aside a sheet on a first page to be stacked after delivering the sheet bundle.
US08690140B2
A fixture to be connected to an end of a large member, such as wind turbine blade and wind turbine tower sections is provided. The fixture allows for a high degree of flexibility with regard to size of the end and arrangement of holes in the flange of the member.
US08690139B2
An adapter (10) for a magnetic clamp (12) includes a body (14) having an element engaging portion (16) for engaging an element (18) to be supported in position by the magnetic clamp (12). A height compensation mechanism (20) is carried by the body (14) For compensating for height variations between the clamp (12) and the element (18).
US08690138B2
A coaxial concentric double-jaw vice comprises a base frame defining a longitudinal sliding groove, first and second movable jaws mounted on the base frame and movable along the sliding groove, a control rod set inserted through the first and second movable jaws and received in the sliding groove, a fixed screw rod mounted on the control rod set and screw-connected with the first movable jaw, a movable screw rod sleeved onto the control rod set and screw-connected with the second movable jaw and rotatable with the control rod set and movable axially along the control rod set by an external force, a clutch mounted in the control rod set, and a driving mechanism mounted in the control rod set and connectable to the control rod set by the clutch for rotating the control rod set.
US08690132B2
A hydraulically damping axial mount includes a housing with an elastomeric support spring with an insertion part, a mount core part extending in axial direction (a) in the housing and supported by a support spring, and two chambers arranged underneath one another in axial direction (a) for fluidic damping. A working chamber and an equalization chamber are spatially separated by a channel unit and are hydraulically coupled with one another by a channel. One or several insertion parts which are partially covered by the elastomer of the support spring and reinforce the support spring are inserted in the elastomeric support spring. The support spring is secured in the housing by a thread pitch, formed on the outside contour of the elastomeric support spring in the circumferential direction (u) of the elastomeric support spring and brought into engagement with a corresponding inside contour of the housing during installation of the mount.
US08690131B2
The invention relates to a damping device, particularly earthquake damper, comprising a hollow spherical body filled with a damping fluid (5) and comprising a plurality of damping bodies (10) disposed in the radial direction, the radially interior ends thereof being mounted on a common mounting element disposed in the center of the spherical body, and the radially exterior ends thereof being mounted directly or indirectly on the inner wall of the spherical body.
US08690128B1
An anodized aluminum hydraulic leveling cylinder 10 for a vehicle includes an extruded hollow body 20 having a vehicle attachment portion 24 for attaching the body to the underside of a vehicle. A piston 80 is slidably fitted into the interior of the body. The piston is formed of ductile aluminum capable of being machined to a desirable shape and dimensions. The piston is hard anodized and PTFE coated for durable and silent operation. Hydraulic oil passage means 23a, 23b is formed in the body, and a cap 50 with a pair of dual flow-through passages 53 is attached to the top end 30 of the body for permitting the flow of pressurized hydraulic oil into and out of the interior of the body to effect axial movement of the piston. Hydraulic fluid may be transferred through one or more hollow mounting bolts.
US08690120B2
A disposable device for the sterile transfer of fluids, such as liquids or gases, includes a body, a bore formed through at least a portion of the interior of the body, and a linearly moveable plunger contained within the bore. The body is formed from a rotating section and a stationary section. Partial rotation of the rotating section around a portion of the stationary section and the plunger drives the plunger linearly within the bore, opening and closing the device. The plunger includes at least a first and a second opening, and a fluid channel in the interior of the plunger connecting the first and second openings forming a fluid pathway to downstream components when the device is open. A termination component at one end of the plunger connects to a downstream component. A flange at one end of the body attaches to an upstream component. When the device is closed, the upstream end of the plunger is in alignment with the upstream flange of the body, forming a steamable sterilized in place face and a sterile barrier.
US08690118B2
A solenoid actuated device such as a fuel injector includes an actuator body having a plurality of body pieces, and a single-pole solenoid actuator assembly positioned at least partially within the actuator body. The single-pole solenoid actuator assembly includes a one-piece compound armature housing having a load carrying component clamped between the first body piece and the second body piece, and a flux carrying component. The load carrying component includes a high structural strength and a low flux permeability, and the flux carrying component includes a low structural strength and a high flux permeability. A method of making a solenoid actuated device includes placing an armature at a sliding radial air gap with a flux carrying component of a one-piece compound armature housing, and establishing a structural load path by placing a load carrying component of the compound armature housing between a first actuator body piece and a second actuator body piece. A method of operating a single-pole solenoid actuator device includes supporting a flux carrying component of a one-piece compound armature housing with a load carrying component of the compound armature housing, channeling magnetic flux across a sliding air gap between a flux carrying component and the armature, and channeling a clamping load between a first actuator body piece and a second actuator body piece through the load carrying component of the compound armature housing.
US08690112B2
A video image display apparatus is configured such that a monitor case includes a first gear unit that rotates according to a screen angle of the monitor case, and a clutch mechanism includes: a first torsion coil spring; a second gear unit that is meshed with the first gear unit, wherein a cylindrical portion is fitted to one end of the first torsion coil spring so as to rotate; a cam unit that rotates with a cylindrical portion being fitted to the other end of the first torsion coil spring; and an engagement unit that restricts the rotation of the cam unit, wherein when the screen angle of the monitor case is changed in a near direction, the restriction for the rotation of the cam unit by the engagement unit is removed, and the second gear unit, the first torsion coil spring, and the cam unit are rotated as being interlocked with one another, and when the screen angle of the monitor case is changed in a push-in direction, the restriction for the rotation of the cam unit by the engagement unit is not removed, and only the second gear unit is rotated through the first torsion coil spring.
US08690109B2
An automatic gap adjustor is provided. The automatic gap adjustor includes an upper cammed disk, a lower cammed disk spaced apart from the upper cammed disk, and a resilient spring element therebetween. The upper cammed disk includes a first plurality of cams on an upper axial surface and a second plurality of cams on a lower axial surface. The lower cammed disk includes a third plurality of cams on an upper axial surface and a fourth plurality of cams on an undercut portion spaced apart from the upper axial surface. Opposing cams can be radially offset from each other, such that reciprocating axial movement of the upper disk relative to the lower disk can achieve a stepped rotation of the upper disk. Rotation of the upper disk can drive the automatic gap adjustor along a threaded support to eliminate a gap along a portion thereof.
US08690108B2
A rail vehicle has at least one vehicle antenna of a train safety system directed toward the track. To increase resistance to interference, the rail vehicle is configured such that the body of the rail vehicle and an axle arranged in the region of an end of the rail vehicle are electrically connected by way of a capacitive connection and the at least one vehicle antenna is arranged at a greater distance from the end of the rail vehicle than the axle that is electrically connected to the body.
US08690096B2
The aircraft is capable of two distinct fuel-efficient flight regimes: one is a vertical flight regime supported by two large two-bladed rotors with low disc loading located on right and left longitudinal booms. The booms extend between outboard regions of a front wing and inboard regions of a rear wing that has a larger span an area than the front wing. The other flight regime is high speed up to high subsonic Mach number with the aircraft supported by wing lift with high wing loading, and with the rotors stopped and faired with minimal local drag contiguous to the booms. The longitudinal location of the aircrafts center of gravity, aerodynamic center and the center of the rotors are in close proximity. The front wing is preferably swept back, and the rear wing is preferably of W planform.
US08690094B2
A film packing device includes an axle rod and a grasp pipe. The axle rod includes at least one engaging block protruding from one side thereof. The pipe body is fitted on the axle rod. The pipe body includes a semi-circle brake block at one end thereof close to the engaging block. The brake block is coupled with a semi-circle elastic brake member. The elastic brake member has a slide block corresponding to the engaging block. When in use, the elastic brake member cooperates with the brake block to press the axle rod, such that the axle rod stops rotating. The slide block can be pushed to engage with the engaging block to stop rotation of the axle rod, so that the user can pack an article conveniently.
US08690088B1
A food ingredient grinder (30) having a grinding chamber (158) with an electrically powered grinding mechanism (130, 150, 154) has an ingredient hopper has a pivotally mounted cover (57) that is automatically moved between open and closed positions and a controller (202, 204, 208) responsive to a cover position sensor (81,82) failing to sense the cover in a closed position disables a start switch (212) from starting a grinding operation. The grinding chamber (156) is toolessly mounted to the top of a frame member (96) of the grinder to facilitate removal of the chamber for cleaning or replacement.
US08690086B2
Processing waste materials to recover valuable metals, such as copper, from the materials. The disclosed systems and methods employ processes that further refine the waste materials to concentrate the metallic material after the waste materials are initially processed. Processes include employing air separation and screening. Processes also include employing a dynamic sensor and a vacuum pressure separator to separate metals from other materials.
US08690083B2
The present technique provides a system and for improving control of a needle valve in a spray coating device. An exemplary spray coating device of the present technique has a needle valve assembly that controls entry of a fluid to a fluid delivery tip. The needle valve assembly includes an adjustment element that is at least partially located on an exterior of the spray coating device such that the adjustment element is accessible by an operator. The adjustment element may be actuated to improve a seal around the needle so that fluid does not leak from around the needle valve assembly.
US08690082B2
An LPI injector includes an injector body that is supplied with fuel from the upper portion and injects the fuel down, an icing tube of which the upper end is coupled to the lower portion of the injector body and that injects the fuel inside the injector body through a fuel injection channel therein, a valve seat disposed between the injector body and the icing tube and fitted in the lower portion of the injector body, having an injection hole to inject the fuel and a tube-fastening groove fitted on the icing tube around the injection hole, and a ball valve that is seated at the injector body of the valve seat and opens/closes the injection hole.
US08690075B2
A common rail fuel injector includes a needle valve member that moves to open and close nozzle outlets for a fuel injection event responsive to pressure in a needle control chamber. Between injection events, the needle control chamber is fluidly connected to the fuel inlet by a first pathway that includes a Z orifice, and fluidly connected to the fuel inlet by a second pathway that includes an F orifice, an intermediate chamber and an A orifice. During an injection event, the needle control chamber is fluidly connected to a drain outlet by a third pathway that includes the A orifice, the intermediate chamber an E orifice and a buffer chamber, which may assist in avoiding cavitation erosion in a sensitive area associated with a flat control valve seat. Different performance characteristics are achieved by adjusting the sizes of the respective of F, A, Z and E orifices.
US08690074B2
The invention provides for a controller such as a thermostat for an air handler including a housing having a circuit board and a display screen, the display screen having at least one alpha-numeric icon and a group of touch sensitive areas having at least two displayable touch sensitive areas. A microprocessor provided for the display screen. A sole mechanical button or switch is mounted in the housing and the button has a first end and second end and a touch surface extending between the first end and second end. The sole mechanical button signals the microprocessor in order to adjust the alpha-numeric icon, so that the combination of inputs received by the microprocessor from the group of touch pad sensitive areas and sole mechanical button provide for each and every adjustment required for all of the operational functions of the controller. The mechanical button may be a rocker switch.
US08690063B2
An apparatus and method electro-optically read indicia, such as a direct part marking (DPM) code, that is raised or sunken relative to a target surface on a target. A solid-state, distance imaging sensor captures a target image comprised of a first set of pixels having first distance values that correspond to a first distance of the code from the sensor, and a second set of pixels having second distance values that correspond to a second distance of the target surface from the sensor. A controller reads the indicia by distinguishing between the first set of pixels and the second set of pixels within the image, by determining abrupt changes in the distance values among neighboring pixels.
US08690054B1
A system, method and computer program product is capable of proactive assessment of transactions and communication of alerts based on pre-set rules to increase transaction integrity and mitigate fraud. Unauthorized transactions may be stopped before processing through an account to enhance the security of transactions and decrease fraudulent transactions without the account holder seeing a negative transaction in their account. Chip-enabled cards may be configured to alert account holders of transactions prior to being processed through an account based on pre-set rules stored on the chip or in a remote data store. The transaction can be stopped until the account holder authorizes the transaction based on the alert. The alert can be sent through the merchant system or wirelessly from the chip-enabled card.
US08690052B1
A banking system operates responsive to data read from data bearing records. The system includes an automated banking machine comprising a card reader. The card reader includes a movable read head that can read card data along a magnetic stripe of a card that was inserted long-edge first. The card reader includes a card entry gate. The gate is opened for a card that is determined to be properly oriented for data reading. The card reader can encrypt card data, including account data. The card data is usable by the machine to authorize a user to carry out a financial transfer involving the account.
US08690051B1
An envelope-free deposit mechanism of a transaction machine receives a deposit from an account holder. The deposit comprises papers includes a combination of cash and checks. The deposit mechanism scan images from the cash and checks. For each paper, it is determined whether the paper is a check or cash. The determining is performed based on a characteristic of the paper scanned by the deposit mechanism.
US08690050B2
Apparatus useful for obtaining and displaying information. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a network interface, display device, and speech recognition apparatus configured to receive user speech input and enable performance of various tasks via a remote entity, such as download of digital music such as MP3s. The downloaded may also, in one variant, be transmitted to a personal user device, such as via a wireless interface.
US08690043B2
The present invention is directed to a reducible carton formed from a one-piece unitary blank of material. The reducible carton comprises a top wall, a bottom wall, opposite side walls, a front wall and a back wall. Means enabling the reducible carton to transversely separate it into a reusable rear carton component and a discardable front carton component. The reusable carton component comprises the back wall and a rear portion of each of the top wall, the bottom wall and the side walls, wherein the rear top wall portion, the rear bottom wall portion and the rear side wall portions in the reusable carton component each terminate in a forward edge defining an open forward end of the reusable carton component. The forward edge of one of the rear top wall portion or the rear bottom wall portion defines a seal flap that is foldable into closing relationship over the open forward end of the reusable carton component. The seal flap has a locking tab on a free edge thereof. The forward edge of the other of the rear top wall portion or the rear bottom wall portion includes a recess therein for frictionally receiving the locking tab to lock the seal flap in closed position.
US08690038B2
The invention is a surgical instrument comprising a first toothed rack which can be pushed, in a linear manner, via a gear pair. The pushing causes an oppositely running linear movement of a slide, thereby opening and closing the surgical instrument. The first toothed rack is capable of being moved in a linear manner into a handle piece, or pulled out from the handle piece, via the corresponding movement of a lever. The lever is pivoted in the handle piece, and opened by a spring pair. A first gear and a second gear form the gear pair, and a size ratio of the gears determines the step-up, or the step-down, ratio of the surgical instrument. A cover guides the first toothed rack and the gear pair laterally and holds them in engagement. A screen protects the second toothed rack and the slide against damage.
US08690037B2
The present invention relates to a magazine of a setting device for storing and feeding a plurality of joining elements, particularly of joining elements, such as setting fasteners, to a provisioning module for joining elements and a setting device in combination with the joining elements. The magazine has a base element within the setting device including a storage groove, in which the joining elements can be received in an aligned and jointly moveable manner and one end of the base element ends in a head piece of the setting device. The magazine further includes an advancing mechanism, by which the joining elements can be moved within the storage groove towards the head piece of the setting device, as well as a dispensing mechanism, by which the joining elements can be fed individually from the storage groove to the head piece of the setting device.
US08690029B2
The invention provides a backpack (10) and cooperating waist bag (100) carrying system. In one embodiment the backpack has a lower or lumbar region below the bag portion of the backpack that releasably contains the receiver of the waist bag when the belt of the waist bag is secured around the bearer's waist and the backpack is worn on the bearer's back. The receiver of the waist bag can be moved without having to take off the backpack so that the receiver of the waist bag is disposed to the bearer's front and the bearer can gain access to the contents of the receiver. The bearer can then move the receiver back to the lower region of the backpack and the combination of the backpack and the waist bag then will appear to be a normal backpack with a waist belt. While moving the receiver, the waist bag remains operatively connected to the backpack.
US08690027B2
An ice dispensing assembly in an appliance and a method of controlling a duct door in an ice dispensing assembly is provided. A duct door is actuated to dispense ice using a motor. The motor can be variably driven using an electrical signal having a plurality of different levels or slopes during the actuation of the duct door. The electrical signal can have an increasing slope when the duct door is actuated into an open position. When the duct door is held in the open position, a constant electrical signal can be applied to the motor. The constant value can be lower than a peak value of the increasing slope of the electrical signal. To return the duct door to a closed position, an electrical signal having a decreasing slope can be applied to the duct door motor.
US08690026B2
A fluid dispensing valve assembly comprises a housing, a lever, a resilient member, and a seal. The housing defines a fluid dispensing port and a vent opening. The fluid dispensing valve can be operated with a single hand to dispense liquid from a container. Further, upon release of the lever, the fluid dispensing valve automatically returns to a sealed configuration, thereby preventing fluid from leaking out of the container.
US08690024B2
The invention relates to a spray can comprising a can member (12) for holding a material that is to be sprayed, and a spray head (14) which is plugged onto a can valve located on the top face of the can member (12) and is fitted with a discharge tube (24). The spray can has an adapter which connects the spray head (14) to the discharge tube. The discharge tube (22) is connected to the adapter (16) by means of a plug-on and/or screwed connection.
US08690019B2
A head for dispensing liquid as a drip, includes a nozzle onto which a channel for ejecting the liquid leads. Air sucked in from the outside is returned through the channel in the opposite direction. In the nozzle, on the ejection channel, the drip dispensing head of the invention includes a valve functioning as a non-return valve for the circulation of the liquid being ejected. A mobile disc of the valve is produced so as to selectively enable air to pass through the valve when the disc is bearing against the seat thereof in a position for closing the liquid ejection channel. The disc is returned to the position by negative pressure applied upstream, which tends to suck in outside air. The disc is advantageously made of a microporous material, which provides antibacterial filtering of the return air.
US08690016B2
A product storage and handling system for a beverage dispenser is characterized by a cabinet in which a plurality of bins are removably supported on one or more shelves that may be slid into and out of the cabinet. Each bin is for containing a removable container of liquid beverage component, a fluid valve of which container extends downward through and is releasably secured against vertical movement in a lower opening in the bin. A connector coupled to a fluid line leading to a beverage valve of a beverage dispenser is arranged to be conveniently fluid coupled with and decoupled from the fluid valve of the bag. When a shelf of slid out of the cabinet, the bins supported by it may, if desired, be lifted off of and replaced on the shelf for during replacement of a depleted bag of liquid beverage component. Alternatively, the bins may remain supported on the shelf during replacement of a depleted bag of liquid beverage component.
US08690015B2
A dispenser for oil and vinegar, the dispenser comprising: (a) an outer container defining an internal space for receiving oil and having a top rim defining an opening; (b) an inner container defining an internal space for receiving vinegar, the inner container being at least partially located within the internal space of the outer container, the inner container having a shoulder projecting outwardly and being located above the top rim of the outer container; (c) a cap having a top wall and a peripheral wall for enclosing the top rim of the outer container and the shoulder of the inner container, the top wall and peripheral wall defining an internal space; (d) a first tube having a bottom end defining a bottom opening facing the internal space of the outer container and a top end defining a top opening opened to the atmosphere, wherein the first tube defines a first passage for allowing fluid communication between the internal space of the outer container and the atmosphere; and (e) a second tube having a bottom end defining a bottom opening facing the internal space of the inner container and a top end defining a top opening opened to the atmosphere, wherein the second tube defines a second passage for allowing fluid communication between the internal space of the inner container and the atmosphere.
US08690003B2
A method of forming an inner can of a gas cartridge including securing inner can material and pre-stressing the material such that flexion thereof during gas cartridge use is distributed.
US08689993B2
Systems and containers for holding and transporting potentially hazardous materials are disclosed. Assembled containers may have locking mechanisms reducing the possibility of the containers being opened by persons that are not opening the container in a safe environment. Moreover, containers with releasably securable members for carrying substances such as frozen carbon dioxide, used for maintaining cold temperatures of various items are disclosed.
US08689990B2
The present invention relates to a metal cap which seals the mouth of a bottle for drinking or the like, and a bottle with the cap which is furnished therewith.
US08689987B2
A container adapter for use in feeding human infants and animal infants is shown. The container adapter has an internal threaded portion that can comprise a set of thread segments sized and configured to match the external threads of a commercially available soda or bottled liquid container, and can have an external threaded portion sized to match the internal threads of a standard nipple ring for an infant feeding bottle. The container adapter includes a funnel that provides a user with assistance in inserting infant feeding ingredients into the liquid container by placing the container adapter on the liquid container to use the funnel of the container adapter to place infant feeding ingredients into the liquid container. The container adapter is then inverted and installed onto the liquid container. A nipple within a collar is attached to the container adapter thus converting the liquid container to an infant feeding bottle.
US08689985B2
Filtration media including at least one layer of nanofibers having average diameters less than 1000 nanometers with optional scrim layer(s) are disclosed for filtering particulate matter in liquid. The media achieve flow rates of at least 0.055 L/min/cm2 at relatively high levels of solidity. The media have also advantageously been found to have non-diminishing flow rates as differential pressures increase between 2 psi (14 kPa) and 15 psi (100 kPa).
US08689984B2
A device for separating components of a mixture, particularly industrial fluids but also gases including air, allows for targeted components of the mixture to be attached onto a separating bar and removed from the mixture. The separating bars traverse a track formed within the body of the separating device and through respective tank, cleaning, free roll, and compression regions in a controlled cleaning system. The separating bars are detached from one another and allowed to move through the separating device independently of one another. The device removes the use of chains to connect cleaning bars traversing through a cleaning system.
US08689981B2
Systems and methods for the manipulation of particles within channels such as microfluidic channels are provided. In one set of embodiments, magnets are positioned around a channel. As a fluid containing magnetic and non-magnetic particles flows through the channel, the magnetic field created by the magnets can be used to transport the magnetic and/or non-magnetic particles to desired locations within the channel, which may useful in some cases for causing some separation of the particles. For example, the magnetic field may be used to transport magnetic or non-magnetic particles from a core fluid to a surrounding sheath fluid. In some cases, the magnetic field is used to transport non-magnetic particles to a small volume within the channel (e.g., a single-file row within the channel). The systems and methods described herein may find application in a variety of fields including, for example, continuous sorting of cells, removal of targeted cells from a stream of blood, or the arrangement of non-magnetic particles in channels for analysis.
US08689978B2
There is shown in three embodiments a pill blister pack container for holding a pill blister pack. The container having a first portion highedly attached to a second portion. The first portion being sized to fit within the second portion when the container is closed. Both the first and second portions have defined side walls and a front wall. In addition, the first portion includes flanges in the side walls that engage apertures in the second portion to lock the two portions. Furthermore, at least one support post extends between the two portions.
US08689975B2
An apparatus includes a bulk wire container comprising coiled wire and an isolator. The isolator includes an attachment means to said bulk wire container, an inlet, an outlet, and a wire engaging means. The wire engaging means translates longitudinal axial movement of the wire in the inlet into circumferential tangential movement about the wire engaging means.
US08689964B2
A piece goods conveyance system has individual containers for transporting luggage on a conveyor belt and an unloading and loading station for loading the containers. The storage space is formed by an endless stable carrier belt spanning each container and driven guided perpendicular to the transport direction of the container. There is a stationary drive for driving the carrier belt in the region of the loading and/or unloading station. In order to create a functional drive for the container that undertakes the transport and sorting of luggage in a cost-effective and low-maintenance manner, a drive element is configured as flat belts circulating endlessly around deflection wheels parallel to the transport direction. At least one deflection wheel is positively connected to the carrier belt and can be frictionally engaged to a second flat belt of a stationary drive station driven endlessly circulating parallel to the first flat belt.
US08689957B2
A two-wheel drive motorcycle having a drive train that supplies power to the front wheel and includes a series of rigid shafts or other internalized drive systems. The front wheel drive consists of components located on the axis of steering within the head tube and positioned symmetrically in a counterbalancing fashion within the front fork in order to counteract the torque reactions from the rotating front wheel drive while providing a full range of steering. The front wheel drive lengthens and shortens in parallel with the shock-absorbing front fork. An engagement clutch, a one-way hub, and torque limiting clutch operatively engaged with the front wheel drive are also disclosed.
US08689956B2
A torsional vibration damper with a receptacle for several absorber masses pivotally held relative to the receptacle disposed around an axis of rotation in radial and circumferential direction. To be able to increase the mass of the absorber masses, the absorber masses have outside contours formed by several outside contour radii that remain within the receptacle over their entire swivel angle, and swivel over the entire swivel range near the outer circumference of the receptacle.
US08689952B2
A damper includes a housing, a cap, a rotor portion, and blade portions projecting from the rotor portion. The blade portions include deformation portions in which the blade portions expand the diameter in one rotational direction in response to a resistance received from a viscous fluid, and in which the blade portions reduce the diameter in the other rotational direction. The blade portions engage a ring member provided on an inner circumference of the housing at a time of diameter expansion, and drag the ring member around.
US08689944B2
The invention relates to an electricity supply apparatus, an elevator system and a method for limiting the electricity consumption of an elevator system. The electricity supply apparatus according to the invention is fitted to supply electricity to one or more devices in an elevator system. The minimum value of the permitted supply voltage with which the apparatus still operates is determined for one or more appliances of the elevator system, and the electricity supply apparatus is equipped to change the supply voltage of the one or more appliances of the elevator system towards the minimum value of the permitted supply voltage for limiting electricity consumption of the elevator system.
US08689942B2
The technology is directed to an energy storage and release system that stores energy and enables a repeatable and accurately timed release of energy. A shaft member supports a drive assembly, a locking assembly and a lever member there between. The lever member and locking assembly are attached to the shaft. The drive assembly rotates freely about the shaft and loads energy into a torsion spring in communication with the lever member. The torsion spring connects at one end to the drive assembly and at the other end to the lever member without contacting the shaft member. The locking assembly provides a triggered release mechanism for selective release of stored energy from the torsion spring that accordingly rotates the lever member. The system can automatically reload the torsion spring once a signal is received from any number of events including, when the rotating lever member contacts a stop member or limit sensor that signals the end of travel for the lever member in either rotational directions.
US08689941B2
A lubricating apparatus for lubricating a panel assembly prior to vehicle installation includes a lubricating jig assembly. The lubricating jig assembly includes a front guard wall and a rear guard wall connected to the front guard wall defining a panel receiving volume therebetween. At least one nozzle opening is located in the receiving volume. A pump is fluidly connected to the at least one nozzle opening for delivering a lubricant fluid thereto. A lubricant reservoir is in fluid communication with the receiving volume.
US08689936B2
An acoustic absorber includes a wall provided with a plurality of apertures as well as a substantially non-perforated second wall, with the first wall and the second wall being spacedly arranged to one another, and at least one honeycomb structure being provided between the walls, with the honeycomb structure having a substantially cylindrical recess in at least one area, with a funnel element opening to the first and second walls being provided in the recess, and having a height greater than the distance of the walls, with the second wall being designed pot-like in the area of the funnel element.
US08689933B2
A resonator is provided, having an adaptable resonator frequency for absorbing sound generated by a gas stream of a gas turbine. The resonator includes a neck section, a chamber and a deformable element being deformable under influence of a change of a gas turbine temperature of the gas stream. The shape of the deformable element is predetermined with respect to a respective gas turbine temperature. The neck section and the chamber form a volume of the resonator. The neck section forms a passage coupling the volume with the gas turbine. The deformable element is thermally coupled to the gas turbine in such a way that the shape of the deformable element depends on the respective gas turbine temperature. The deformable element forms a spiral and is installed to the neck section in such a way that an effective diameter of the neck section depends on the gas turbine temperature.
US08689923B2
A saddle riding vehicle includes a vehicle body frame, a front wheel, a rear wheel, a power unit, a shift actuator, and an actuator guard. The power unit has a transmission and a shift mechanism for the transmission. The shift actuator is to actuate the shift mechanism and is attached to a lower portion of a side face of the power unit. The actuator guard is to protect the shift actuator from an obstacle and includes a guard frame and a guard member. The guard frame extends in a forward and backward direction of the saddle riding vehicle below the shift actuator. The guard frame is connected to the vehicle body frame. The guard member is connected to the guard frame and covers a lower face and an outer side face of the shift actuator.
US08689917B2
A method of monitoring operation of an adjustable shutter adapted for cooling a powertrain in a vehicle includes commanding the shutter to adopt a position and assessing whether the shutter has adopted the commanded position. The method also includes generating a first signal if the shutter has adopted the commanded position, and commanding the shutter to perform a first retry to adopt the commanded position if the shutter has not adopted the commanded position. The method additionally includes generating a second signal if the shutter has adopted the commanded position on the first retry. A vehicle using a controller to perform such a method is also provided.
US08689915B2
The present invention provides a heat dissipating system for an electric vehicle drive controller. The heat dissipating system for electric vehicle drive controller includes: high power MOS transistors for controlling magnitude of power supplied to an electric vehicle drive motor and for switching current direction, and a radiator connected to bodies of the MOS transistors, the radiator being made of aluminum alloy material, and a surface of the radiator being plated with a metallic nickel layer. Compared with existing electric vehicle drive controller, the electric vehicle drive controller of the present invention has advantages of low operating temperature, high reliability and long service life.
US08689903B2
A coring apparatus is provided, which apparatus, in one exemplary embodiment, includes a rotatable member coupled to a drill bit configured to drill a core from a formation, a substantially non-rotatable member in the rotatable member configured to receive the core from the formation, and a sensor configured to provide signals relating to rotation between the rotatable member and the substantially non-rotatable member during drilling of the core from the formation, and a circuit configured to process the signals from the sensor to estimate rotation between the rotatable member and the non-rotatable member.
US08689901B2
An electric power tool receives an input power from an electric power source and converts the input power to a driving power to drive an electric motor. The electric power tool further includes a manual control mechanism, a magnetic control element and a power modulation circuit. The manual control mechanism includes a trigger portion movable by depressing of a user and a magnetic element movable with the trigger portion. The magnetic control element outputs an output control signal in proportion to alterations of a magnetic field caused by movements of the magnetic element. The power modulation circuit gets the input power and modulates to the driving power controlled by the output control signal to drive the electric motor. Thus by depressing the trigger portion, output power of the electric motor can be controlled to provide precise control of rotational speed and torque alterations.
US08689899B2
A micro assembly having a substrate and an operating plane coupled to the substrate. The operating plane is movable from an in-plane position to an out-of-plane position. One or more electric connections provide electric power from the substrate to the operating plane in the out-of-plane position. A tool is coupled to the operating plane. The tool is operable to receive electric power from the operating plane to perform work.
US08689891B2
A universal dart launcher launches a dart by moving a dart from a first position to a second position. The universal dart launcher has a launcher body defining a central bore having an axis and lower and upper ends configured to attach to a string of pipe. A cartridge housed within the launcher body may move perpendicular to the axis from a first position to a second position. A drop member is positioned within the cartridge so that it will not be in axial alignment with the central bore while in the first position, and will be in axial alignment with the central bore while in the second position. An actuator assembly couples to the launcher body to move the cartridge from the first position to the second position when actuated.
US08689888B2
An outer wellhead member has a bore with a first profile portion and an annular recess. A tubular inner wellhead member with a centralizer/overpull ring is lowered into the outer wellhead member. The centralizer/overpull ring is biased to expand outward to engage the bore of the outer wellhead member to center the inner wellhead member within the bore as the inner wellhead member is lowered through the bore. The recess of the outer wellhead member is adapted to receive the centralizer/overpull ring and oppose axial movement of the centralizer/overpull ring to enable an upward test pull of the inner wellhead member.
US08689886B2
A gate valve has a body, the body having a cavity and a flow passage intersecting the cavity. A seat is mounted to the body at the intersection of the flow passage and the cavity. A gate is installed at the cavity and has an engaging face that slidingly engages the seat while the gate is being moved between open and closed positions. The end faces between a seat pocket and the seat are hard-coated and smooth-finished to provide sealing when mated. The hardcoated pocket and seat sealing surfaces extend the life of the valve by eliminating the need for an elastomeric seal of limited life.
US08689874B2
A spacer for use in an oil well cementing operation comprises an aqueous solution of a visco-elastic surfactant. A method of treating a well in a cementing operation comprises pumping the spacer into a well ahead of a cement slurry, thereby minimizing or preventing commingling of drilling fluid and the cement slurry.
US08689870B2
Methylhydroxyethyl cellulose may be used as an additive in cement slurries in the treatment of wells to prevent or reduce the occurrence of gas channeling. In addition to acting as a gas control additive, methylhydroxyethyl cellulose controls fluid loss, minimizes free fluid and stabilizes foam during cementing of the well.
US08689868B2
Apparatus and methods for controlling and communicating with one or more tools in a downhole tool string including a tractor, an auxiliary tractor tool, a logging tool, a safety sub, a release mechanism, a unit containing sensors for monitoring downhole conditions, a setting tool, and a perforating gun. Control and communication are accomplished by sending signals from the surface to control switches in the control units on the tool, with redundant switches for safety, to state machines in the respective control units, each state machine returning a signal verifying switch status to the surface. The state machine need not return a signal including a unique identifier.
US08689863B2
A method for running a tubular string in wellbore operations according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure includes providing a tubular running tool comprising gripping assembly rotationally connected to a carrier, the gripping assembly comprising a body and slips; connecting the carrier to a quill of a top drive of a drilling rig; positioning an end of a tubular for gripping with the slips; actuating the slips into gripping engagement with the tubular; and rotating the tubular with the slips in gripping engagement therewith.
US08689860B2
In a vehicular air conditioning apparatus, a first blower unit is connected by a connection duct to a side of a casing constituted by respective air passages. On a lower portion of the casing, a second blower unit different from the first blower unit is connected. A center plate is disposed centrally in a lateral direction of the casing. Air is supplied from the first blower unit to the interior of the casing, whereby cool air cooled by an evaporator and warm air heated by a heater core are mixed together and blown respectively and separately to a driver's seat side and a passenger seat side of the front seats. Also, Air supplied from the second blower unit to the interior of the casing, after being adjusted to a predetermined temperature in the evaporator and the heater core, is supplied to a rear seat side of the vehicle.
US08689859B2
A total heat exchanging element includes a partitioning component to which a water-soluble moisture-absorbing agent has been added that is a component partitioning between a first laminar air-flow path and a second laminar air-flow path that are layered; a spacing component that forms the first laminar air-flow path and the second laminar air-flow path and maintains a space between adjacent partitioning components; and an adhesive agent that adheres the partitioning component and the spacing component. The adhesive agent is a water-solvent-type adhesive agent impregnated with a water-soluble moisture-absorbing agent. The partitioning component and the spacing component are made from a liquid-absorbing material that absorbs water and substances dissolved in the water.
US08689858B2
A soldered cooler block, especially for a charge air cooler/coolant cooler, is constructed in a packet-type manner. Cooling channels for a liquid coolant are arranged in the cooler block in a crossways manner in first layers, and gas channels for a gas which is to be cooled are arranged in a crossways manner in second layers. The cooling channels are respectively formed by two wall areas which are arranged at a distance and by intermediate strips and connection strips that include groove profiles.
US08689856B1
A continuous casting furnace is configured for efficiently continuously casting ingots, including titanium alloy ingots. The furnace is configured with an internal cutter for cutting an ingot within the furnace interior chamber. The furnace typically includes a first interior chamber in which a continuous casting mold is disposed and a withdrawal chamber which is separable from the first interior chamber to facilitate withdrawal of finished ingots therefrom while casting continues within the first chamber.
US08689851B2
A machine for waterproofing semimanufactured products including footwear, clothing items, and accessories. The machine has a pressing device with at least one pair of deformable plates that have a hollow body. The pressing surface is elastic and suitable for being urged outwards by a fluid pressure. At least one of the deformable plates is fixed in a mobile manner to a support structure for opening or closing the pressing device around at least one shaped support which is provided with transport means to and from the pressing device and is suitable for supporting the semimanufactured product during the pressing with at least one waterproofing sheath.
US08689848B2
This invention relates to a bead lock arrangement for use in tire building equipment, and to tire building equipment utilizing such a bead lock arrangement. A bead lock assembly is disclosed comprising first and second parallel, coaxial, axially spaced bead lock arrangements (13, 14), each bead lock arrangement including an annular, extensible, bead seating ring (38) encircling the radially movable segments (33) of the bead lock arrangement and having, at its radially outermost face, a circumferentially extending bead seating surface (39), and an annular sealing ring (42) positioned coaxial with the respective bead seating ring (38) and disposed adjacent a side face of the respective bead seating ring (38) presented generally towards the bead seating ring (38) of the opposing bead lock arrangement. The use of a bead seating ring (38) and a separately formed sealing ring (42) has considerable advantages over the use of a conventional bead seating ring. The use of a separate, extensible bead seating ring (38) and a non-expanding sealing ring (42) allows the production of less complex items having extended service life.
US08689845B2
Wheels and methods of making wheels are disclosed including an inner portion and a tread mechanically coupled to the inner portion. The tread may be mechanically coupled to the inner portion on an inside and an outside of the wheel. The inner portion may include a rim including a plurality of apertures. The inner portion may be high density polyethylene and the tread may be thermoplastic elastomer.
US08689839B2
A conduit for facilitating the installation of insulation is disclosed. In one embodiment, the conduit comprises a body having one or more ribs and a collar having a forward end taper. In another embodiment, two or more pieces of conduit are joined to form a conduit network, with at least one piece of conduit comprising a body having one or more ribs and a collar having a forward end taper.
US08689837B1
A downspout extension has a low-profile to direct rainwater away from a building. A transition adapter can be used to transition from a generally circular or square cross-section of a downspout to a low-profile cross-section of a corrugated duct of the extension. The extension can include internal supports to withstand being stepped on and can have a generally rectangular or trapezoidal cross-section with a longer width than height. The corrugated duct can also be comprised of integrated accordion corrugation sections and transverse non-collapsible ribs to give the corrugated duct extension greater flexibility. The extension can be connected to a downspout using a flexible elbow duct, a downspout connector, and a downspout adapter. The transition adapter of the extension can also be connected directly to a downspout.
US08689826B2
A hermetically-sealed valve position indicator is provided with a valve control handwheel. Indicator includes a magnetic-coupling with a stationary mount for the valve control handwheel. During operation of valve control handwheel, its handwheel and shaft rotate along with a housing, housing cover, housing window, primary shaft, and drive gear about the actuator's central axis of rotation—clockwise or counterclockwise. Drive gear engages with drive train to rotate a needle across a dial face to indicate the position of a valve. Drive train includes two gears rotatably attached to a secondary shaft and an indicator gear attached to a back end of sleeve slid over a front portion of primary shaft. The needle is disposed on the front end of sleeve with the dial face positioned between the indicator gear and the needle.
US08689820B2
The present invention relates to a Pneumatic System that can be employed within the residential environment. The system includes both a section mode and a pressure mode. Both of these modes, in turn, have both a low and a high pressure range. A variety of applications are disclosed for use in conjunction with the various modes of the system. These various applications are described in greater detail hereinafter.
US08689818B2
A faucet assembly (10, 200, 300) including a waterway (28, 228, 328) fluidly coupled to a valve assembly (26). In one illustrative embodiment, a valve body (54, 206, 306) receives the waterway (28, 228, 328), and at least one retainer (64, 66, 216, 316, 318) restrains movement of the waterway (28, 228, 328).
US08689814B2
A regulated automatic changeover valve is provided. A device engages the first and second high pressure gas source for providing a lower pressure gas source downstream of the changeover valve. An eccentric is provided between two valve assemblies, with each valve assembly having a piston with a valve arm projecting therefrom. The eccentric moves a block selectively closer to one of the two valve assemblies. Each valve assembly is engaged to a high pressure source, such as a tank of compressed gas. When a first tank begins to run low, the valve will automatically begin drawing from the second valve assembly. A tank that has run low of compressed gas may be changed out while the second, non-exhausted gas continues to feed the downstream device at a regulated gas pressure.
US08689810B2
A device installation and methods for extracting dust during the transfer of pulverulent products from a first container to a second container, the combination of the first container and of the second container forming, with the dust extraction device, a closed containment volume with connection between the two containers. A hollow connector with a side wall between its two ends defines an external wall and an internal wall so that the connector is pierced with several inlet pipes connected to hoses fed with a stream of pressurized fluid and also pierced with at least one fluid discharge pipe. The pipes projecting from said external wall of the connectors and opening onto the internal wall via orifices allows fluid to be introduced, the orifices being oriented relative to one another in such a way as to cause the fluid to flow in a cyclone within the connector, carrying with it any pulverulent product that remains on the internal wall and/or upstream and/or downstream of said connector.
US08689805B2
An atomizing electronic cigarette has an atomizing core component and a liquid storage component, including an electric heater. The electric heater may have a through hole aligned with a channel passing through the liquid storage component. The cigarette can heat and uniformly vaporize liquid from the liquid storage component, with the user inhaling the vaporized liquid. The vapor generated by the atomizing process may be cooled as it flows through the channel.
US08689787B2
There is described an apparatus (1) for respiratory support and non-invasive detection of alveolar derecruitment for patients suffering from respiratory failure. Such an apparatus (1) generally comprises a mechanical ventilator (3) for inspiration/expiration functions and means (15) allowing to impose an additional periodic pressure component (Pstim) having a higher frequency than the spectral content of the inspiration/expiration pressure component (Presp). There are provided computing means (12) to obtain the inspiratory average reactance (Xrs) of the respiratory system of the patient (2) as the positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) varies, in order to detect the presence of alveolar derecruitment. There is also described a procedure allowing to obtain an optimal positive end-expiratory pressure.
US08689784B2
An improved solar concentrator, where because sunlight is focused into parallel or collimated beams the light can be reflected and controlled by a series of mirrors and collected to form increasingly powerful collimated beams targeted onto a reactor; where each array tracks the sun with a dual-axis solar tracker, an array has multiple units that have a collecting fresnel lens, a collimating lens and a mirror, an array has a centralizing mirror which gathers the fresnel unit light in middle of each array, the array beams are then reflected off of a series of mirrors that bounce the light beams form mirror to mirror and collect the beam energy from multiple arrays into one or more high power beams, which are bounced off mirrors until they hit the reactor.
US08689783B2
A cooking appliance for insertion into a cut-out in a work top includes a peripheral lateral wall having four wall sections. Each wall section has on the outer face thereof at least one resiliently deformable compression element. Two such cooking appliances disposed adjacently in the shared cut-out in the work top can be mounted by inserting a first one of the two cooking appliances into the cut-out. An intermediate wall is arranged on a free face of the first cooking appliance so that compression elements of the first cooking appliance adjoining the intermediate wall engage in a first group of recesses in the intermediate wall, and a second one of the two cooking appliances is inserted into the cut-out so that compression elements of the second cooking appliance adjoining the intermediate wall engage in a second group of recesses in the intermediate wall.
US08689781B1
An oven appliance is provided. The oven appliance includes a cabinet and a pair of doors mounted to the cabinet. A latch selectively secures one of the pair of doors in a closed position. A pair of seals assists with sealing the chamber of the cabinet when the pair of doors is in the closed position. The seals of the pair of seals overlap and engage each other when the pair of doors is in the closed position such that both doors of the pair of doors are secured in the closed position when the latch secures the one of the pair of doors in the closed position.
US08689772B2
A common rail fuel injector includes a fuel inlet, a set of nozzle outlets, a drain outlet, a nozzle chamber and a needle control chamber. A needle control valve includes a ceramic control valve member movable between a closed position in contact with a flat valve seat to block the needle control chamber from the drain outlet, and an open position at which the needle control chamber is fluidly connected to the drain outlet. A solenoid actuator is mounted in the injector body and includes an armature movable between an overtravel position and an energized position, but the armature has a stable un-energized position between the overtravel position and the energized position. A needle valve member is positioned in the injector body and includes an opening hydraulic surface exposed to fluid pressure in the nozzle chamber, and a closing hydraulic surface exposed to fluid pressure in the needle control chamber. Armature overtravel is facilitated by a telescoping armature pin that includes a stem affixed to the armature and telescopically received in a pusher in contact with the ceramic control valve member.
US08689763B2
The rotary engine includes a circular stator, a circular rotor rotating about the stator; the rotor and the stator being separated by a circular cylinder and at least one element with two flanges. The rotor includes two compression pistons attached to the inner surface of the rotor. These two pistons are located at the two extremities of a first diameter of the rotor and kept substantially in contact with the outer surface of the stator. The stator includes a recess at each extremity of a diameter. Each recess forms a compression chamber with the compression piston positioned at the end of the recess in the direction of rotation of the rotor and one of the flanges of the element with two flanges, referred to as the cylinder head flange. The motive force is applied to the compression piston when the pressure of the gases inside the compression chamber is suddenly increased to a predefined value.
US08689756B2
A method for generating and applying at least one voltage pulse, which provides a cleaning effect for a stop switch, to a stop connection assigned to the stop switch, which stop connection is provided on a digitally controlled magnetic ignition circuit of an electrical device, wherein the magnetic ignition circuit generates a voltage wave series from half waves, the amplitude of which decreases over time, and/or at least one voltage pulse in a medium voltage range, wherein if a voltage wave series is generated, at least one later half wave in the voltage wave series, which half wave follows the first half wave temporally and therefore has a lower amplitude, is applied as a voltage pulse to the stop connection, and/or in that if at least one voltage pulse in a medium voltage range of 12 V to 50 V is generated, the one or more voltage pulses are applied to the stop connection and thereby exert a cleaning effect on the stop switch.
US08689749B2
A valve timing controller has a control valve and a linear solenoid. The control valve is disposed in an interlocking rotor constructed by a vane rotor and a camshaft. The linear solenoid includes a movable member having an output shaft, and a bearing portion supporting the movable member to reciprocate and rotate. A spool of the control valve is contact with the output shaft. The output shaft contacts a sphere-shaped end surface of the spool, at a contact position offset in a radial direction from a center axis of the spool.
US08689742B2
A coolant flow control system (100, 200) includes an integrated coolant flow control and heat exchange device (10, 50). The device includes a valve body part (20, 60) and a heat exchange part (30, 70). According to the system, all the coolant flow from the engine is delivered back to the engine after passing through the valve body part (20, 60) and then the heat exchange part (30, 70) in which it passes over the heat exchanger part (40, 80). The valve body part (20, 60) by positioning of the coolant flow wall (26, 66) allows multiple flow modes and coolant paths to branch out (or converge) from (or to) thereby controlling the flow in all coolant circuit branches.
US08689738B2
Feeding method and production technology of a vegetarian feed for carnivorous fish prepared from Spirulina and Chlorella algae that are produced by cell proliferation in production tanks in electrolyzed water with chlorine-neutralizing sodium thiosulfate and are subsequently dried, pelleted and packaged. The fish feed can be employed without the fish having diarrhea. As a result, the water in fish breeding tanks does not become immoderately eutrophic and at the same time the daily weight gain of the fish is not affected. An optimum daily growth rate and a fish flesh quality can be achieved without the use of animal and fish-based proteins in the fish food ration. The fish food is also inexpensive and ecologically sustainable and ethically acceptable, since it contributes to the rescue of the remaining fish stocks in waters worldwide.
US08689734B2
A plasma reactor (1) for treating a substrate (40), comprises at least two electrodes (20, 30) arranged within the reactor (1) defining an internal process space (13) there between, whereas the two electrodes (20, 30) are located opposed to each other and parallel with respect to a first surface (20a) of the electrodes (20, 30). Further it comprises a gas inlet (11) and a gas outlet (12) for transporting gas in and out of the plasma reactor (1), a radiofrequency generator (21) connected to at least one of the electrodes (20, 30). At least one of the electrodes (20, 30) has a corrective layer having a non planar shape along a surface (20a) facing the internal process space (13) which has in a first cross section along a radius of the electrode (20) a profile comprising three consecutive and adjacent segments, namely a first, a second and a third segment, where the third segment is adjacent to an edge of the electrode (20) and whereas medium gradient in the first segment is less than a medium gradient in the second segment and a medium gradient in the second segment is larger than a medium gradient in the third segment. An electrode (20) shaped in the above described manner provides for uniform plasma intensity along the surface of the substrate (40) and therefore provides for a treating which is homogenous and features uniform thickness. This invention further allows a compact construction of the vacuum treatment apparatus (1).
US08689728B2
The present invention is directed towards the holding of medical devices during manufacture to enable the application of therapeutic and/or protective coatings. More specifically, the present invention provides medical device holders that securely retain stents and other medical devices during the application of a coating while minimizing compressive and tensile forces applied to the stents. The invention avoids disruptions to coating quality due to holder blockage during coating deposition. The invention discloses an improved device containing a mandrel and frame that may improve coating uniformity by eliminating shadowing from the frame of the medical device holder when applying coatings to stents and other medical devices.
US08689724B2
A transfer roll rotates to have a coating liquid in a coating liquid tank filled in recesses formed on a roll surface thereof and to have a surplus coating liquid scraped off by a doctor blade, and rotates contacting with a coating roll. Thereby, the coating liquid in the recesses of the transfer roll is transferred to the coating roll. Thereafter, while the transfer roll is moved upward, an arm is rotated counterclockwise whereby the coating roll is separated from the transfer roll. The arm is further rotated whereby the coating roll is moved along an inner surface of a half bearing fixed to a jig and the coating roll applies the coating liquid to the inner surface of the half bearing.
US08689720B2
A mono hull vessel for retrieving and deploying equipments in offshore region comprising a deck box with an upper deck (2) at its top said upper deck having a lifting and lowering device (3,3′), a hull/pontoon (1) at the base of said vessel, the vessel is characterized in that said hull/pontoon (1) is connected to the deck box by a plurality of columns (4) and said hull/pontoon (1) is made in one piece and is continuous to form the platform for a lower deck (5), the upper and lower deck being configured to allow lifting and lowering of equipment therefrom and thereon respectively.
US08689715B2
An actuator (10) for use in controlling movement of a component (22) of a seagoing vessel comprises a cylinder (12) for coupling to a vessel hull (14) and an actuator shaft (18). A distal end (20) of the shaft (18) is coupled to the component whose movement is to be controlled and, in use, a control force (Fc) is applied to the shaft (18) to control movement of the shaft (18) from a first position, retracted, position to a second, extended, position. The actuator (10) is compliant in response to an opposing force exceeding a selected force to prevent or mitigate damage to the component (22) and/or the actuator 10 which may otherwise result from the opposing force.
US08689711B1
This method of producing quilts, or quilt components, uses a patterned quilt foundation to assist in the creation of reversible quilts, and reversible quilt components. The method uses a batting, layered between and affixed to patterned web material wherein the pattern lines match the front layer to the back layer for various patterns. This allows the quilter to create quilt block designs on the front as well as the back of a block using the pattern lines for the accurate placement of material on each of the two faces. The method is applicable to strip, square, triangle, rectangle and diamond shapes as well as any combination of those shapes. To maintain registration from one face to the other, the quilting of the piece is accomplished at the same time as the front and back pieces of material are sewn to the pattern.
US08689710B2
A precombustor having a chamber having a first end and a second end, and an inlet configured to deliver a substantially parallel flow of solid fuel surrounded by oxygen at the first end. The first end further includes a recirculation step and the second end fluidly communicates with a furnace. The inlet and the recirculation step are arranged to form a recirculation zone of at least a portion of the solid fuel and the oxygen. A combustion system and method for operating a combustion system are also disclosed.
US08689709B2
A pressurized transport oxy-combustor with different configurations is disclosed. Substantially pure oxygen is fed to the transport oxy-combustor under pressure to combust fossil fuels, generating steam for power generation. The end product is the flue gas containing substantially pure CO2 after moisture condensation. The low excess oxygen necessary to achieve complete combustion in the combustor is scavenged by adding another fuel so that substantially all oxygen fed to the combustor is completely consumed. The capability to operate the transport oxy-combustor as a circulating fluidized bed combustor at very high solids circulation rates makes it unnecessary to use recycled CO2 or flue gas as a means to moderate and control the combustion temperature. The temperature in the combustor is effectively controlled by relatively cooler circulating solids that enter the combustion zone. A small amount of CO2 is recycled for aeration and to convey solids fuel to the combustor.
US08689695B2
A propelled lance provides a wounding non-lethal anti-insurgent action when stepped on by piercing an enemy insurgent's foot with a lance penetrator. The lance penetrator lodges in the foot and further penetration is impeded by a stop plate. The lance penetrator may insert an RFID or other identifiable device or other payload into the insurgent. The lance penetrator provides anti-personnel, anti-vehicle and anti-robot action.
US08689688B2
A pattern transcription apparatus comprises a cliché including a concave portion, a convex portion and a printing stopper, the printing stopper formed on a bottom surface of the concave portion; and a blanket, on which a resist material layer is coated, rotatable on the cliché, wherein a surface energy density of the blanket is greater than a surface energy density of the printing stopper and is smaller than a surface energy of the cliché.
US08689685B2
In some embodiments, a dough pressing system includes a cover coupled to a pressing platen, wherein the cover can reduce the wear caused to the pressing platen by the heat and pressure used to process one or more products. The cover optionally can be configured to be removably attached to the pressing platen with vacuum pressure. In some implementations, one or more spacers are placed between the cover and the pressing platen. The thickness of the spacers can adjust the thickness and diameter of products processed by the pressing platen. For example, to increase uniformity among products pressed together in a press cycle, the spacers can have different thicknesses that correspond with the location of the spacer in the pattern of dough balls.
US08689681B1
A dual-purpose urn-shaped clay oven is traditionally configured for baking flatbread on the inner sidewalls thereof. To increase its utility in a commercial bakery, a removable tray system is provided allowing using the oven for baking conventional bread products. The tray system includes a number of frame segments extending radially from a common vertical axis and rotatably supported below the oven cover. The oven cover has a door to partially access the oven and allow rising of one frame segment at a time from the oven to replace the bread products with unbaked dough. Each frame segment supports a number of vertically stacked baking trays configured for holding bread while baking. Also described is a conversion kit to adapt an existing oven for dual-purpose use.
US08689679B2
An automatic cooking medium level control system for a cooking apparatus, e.g., a fryer, may include a cooking vessel having a first temperature sensor at a first level of the cooking vessel and a second temperature sensor at a second level of the cooking vessel. A reservoir holding a cooking medium, such as cooking oil, may be in fluid communication with the cooking vessel. A controller may monitor temperature data from the first and second temperature sensors to determine whether the level of cooking oil in the cooking vessel has lowered. Upon determining that the cooking oil level has lowered, the controller may actuate a supply mechanism, such as a pump, which may be disposed on a fluid communication path between the reservoir and cooking vessel, which may enable the introduction of cooking medium from the reservoir to the to the cooking vessel.
US08689678B2
A device for the non-deleterious, passive aging of wine wherein the interior of the semi-permeable wall of the aging container, which provides the interface between the wine and the atmosphere, has a substantially larger interface area per unit volume of wine than does that of the prior art device. The device employs a polyhedron shaped aging container or vessel having a volumetric capacity of greater than 30 gallons; and, a relationship (ratio) of the interior surface area of the container to the volume of the container from 0.33 square inches to 1.0 cubic inch to 4.0 square inches to 1.0 cubic inch. In one advantageous embodiment, the container is a rectangular hexahedron. In another advantageous embodiment, the container is a trapezoidal hexahedron.
US08689674B2
A reciprocator restraint assembly for a Z-crank axial piston machine is described. The assembly includes two gimbal arms each linked together at gimbal link joint that intersect at a point T. Point T lying in a medial plane M being defined as the plane passing through the point of coincidence of the crank and crankshaft axes to which the line that bisects the crank angle is normal. Each of the gimbal arms is pivotally mounted at an identical distance L from point T. A cylinder gimbal is pivotally mounted from the cylinder cluster and a reciprocator gimbal is pivotally mounted from the reciprocator. The reciprocator gimbal pivot axis is equidistant from point X and T as is the cylinder gimbal pivot axis. The orientations of the pivot axes of the two gimbal arms being mutual reflections in the medial plane M resulting in the point T lying on the medial plane M as the crankshaft rotates with respect to the cylinder cluster, and thus ensuring homo-kinetic rotational restraint between the reciprocator and the cylinder cluster.
US08689669B2
The present invention is directed to a method for production preformed fabrication casing or associated parts intended to generate fragments initiated by the explosive of contained warhead charges. Molded parts having fragmentation bodies (4, 21, 34) embedded therein are produced by a two-stage powder compaction method followed by sintering together the compacted powder metal. The method described in the present invention defines how in an initial stage the fragmentation bodies (4, 21, 34) are fixed in position using a fixture (2) after which the bodies are covered with powder metal that is then compacted until the powder forms a single molded part (2) after which the fixture is replaced with a secondary quantity of powder that is also compacted to form a self-supporting unit (12) together with the first quantity of powder.
US08689666B2
Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide a drive link for a saw chain including a body portion adapted to couple to adjacent side links and a tang extending from the body and sized to engage a guide bar groove. The tang may include a through hole extending from a first tang side to a second tang side and including a through hole center. In various embodiments, a material directing feature may be disposed adjacent to the through hole on at least one of the first side and second side of the tang. The material directing feature may include a recession in the tang which encourages oil and/or wood chips to pass through the through hole.
US08689665B2
An emergency braking system for a machine tool for abruptly braking a revolving shaft includes at least one brake drum and at least one brake shoe which are engaged with one another in order to brake the shaft. The braking intervention between the brake drum and the brake shoe takes place under the influence of a centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of a shaft as soon as a locking device is released. Also provided in the braking system is a diagnostic system which allows the functionality of the locking device to be checked.
US08689661B2
A curled variable radius lever comprises a lever arm 2 of variable effective length that curls and uncurls about a drive axis. In a preferred arrangement the lever assembly has a plurality of rigid blocks 3 articulated together by a chain 4 with link pivots 5 which are affixed to respective blocks 3. Each block 3 has a pair of facing walls 11 and a pair of facing mutually inclined sloping walls 12 which abut when the lever arm 2 is in a curled condition. The lever arm 2 is pulled into the curled condition by a coiled tension spring 13 and restrained in this position by a magnet 9. When it is uncurled the walls 11 abut. The chain 4 then prevents the arm 2 from bending further when a driving force is applied by users to a handle 6. The lever may be used with socket sets, yacht winch, fishing rod reel, a bicycle crank or a jack assembly.
US08689657B2
A gearbox transmits rotational movement from a driving member to a driven member. The gearbox includes a pinion gear disposed inside a housing. The gear defines an axial bore and rotates in response to rotation of the driving member. An output member extends through the axial bore and engages therewith such that the output member rotates in response to rotation of the gear. The output member extends to a position outside the housing to rotate the driven member. A clamping nut is threadably coupled to the output member and abuts the gear thereby retaining the output member and the gear together. A bearing is disposed radially between the gear and the housing. The bearing rotatably supports the gear and the output member.
US08689656B2
A shifting device for a gearbox which has at least one sliding sleeve that is placed on a transmission shaft in a rotationally fixed and axially movable manner. One idler gear, which is rotationally supported on the transmission shaft, is located at on one side adjacent the sleeve. The sliding sleeve can be axially moved, by an actuating element, from a neutral position into a shifting position toward the idler gear, and upon reaching the shifting position, couples the idler gear with the transmission shaft. The associated actuating elements are arranged in a stationary manner and, upon actuation, engage with at least one shifting groove, provided on an outside diameter of the at least one sliding sleeve and has a curve-shaped path, in the axial direction, so that rotation of the transmission shaft axially shifts the sliding sleeve according to the further path of the shifting groove.
US08689652B2
This invention relates to a method for determining the average surface radius ro and/or the density r of the particles of a nanopowder in a sample levitating in an electropositive plasma with a volume V formed between a first electrode powered by a radiofrequency voltage and a second electrode with a fixed voltage, in particular a ground one, characterized in that: V is the amplitude at the measuring time t of the radiofrequency voltage RF powering the first electrode when the powder is present in the plasma, V is the amplitude of said radiofrequency voltage powering the first electrode in the absence of powder in the plasma, V is the self-polarization voltage of the first electrode at the time t when the powder is present in the plasma, V is the self-polarization voltage of the first electrode in the absence of powder in the plasma, ΔAB is the surface variation of the second electrode in the presence of powder at the time t relative to a situation in which powder is absent, and the values of n and K are determined by means of calibrating by tracing a curve in which ro is a function of ΔAB and of VRF from experimental data obtained from powders having a known particle diameter by measuring VRF, VRF(O), VDC, and VDC(0) and by applying a regression to said curve. n D = 1 4 π K 2 V Δ A B × ( 1 V RF - 1 V RF ( 0 ) ) 2 n r D = K Δ A B ( 1 V RF - 1 V RF ( 0 ) ) n Avec AA : K = ɛ 0 C q V D n , Δ A B = δ ( t ) δ ( 0 ) - 1 1 A M 0 + 1 A B 0 , δ ( t ) = π arccos ( V DC V RF ) - 1 et BB δ ( 0 ) = π arccos ( V DC ( 0 ) V RF ( 0 ) ) - 1 AA with BB and
US08689650B2
An improved immersible oxygen probe for molten metals has a gas permeable body including an immersion end and a support end adapted for being supported by a lance. An oxygen cell and a thermocouple are supported in the immersion end of the body. An unobstructed gas flow passageway is provided through the gas permeable bodies and through the probe body from the immersion end to the support/connector end whereby gases released from the molten metal and sensor body during immersion readily pass through the probe and can escape from within the probe. Thus rapid analysis of the molten metal with improved accuracy within a few seconds after immersion is achieved. The probe contains a sample mold at least partially positioned in an unconfined portion of the permeable body.
US08689649B2
Automated methods and systems for punching out pieces of a porous substrate for biological samples comprising: loading the porous substrate onto a support comprising a die and an opening; moving a receptacle support in at least a z-direction to position a receptacle relative to the support so that an opening in the receptacle is aligned and substantially flush with the opening in the support; actuating a punching head so that the punching head passes through the die, thereby punching a piece out of the porous substrate; and actuating an ejector pin to eject the punched piece from the porous substrate support and into the receptacle aligned with the opening in the support.
US08689648B1
Provided is an aerosol collector of reduced size having an aerosol inlet, an impactor plate containing several particle size-selecting nozzles therethrough, a replaceable collection layer and a fan having a power supply such as a battery pack, all of which fits a small container, attachable to, e.g., the lapel of the user, means to rotate the fan and move the aerosol through the sampler, so as to draw airborne particles through the inlet and through one or more nozzles, to impact the particles on the layer for analysis of same.
US08689639B2
Ultrasonic transducer having a matching layer between a piezoelectric element and a coupling element
An ultrasonic transducer for determining and/or monitoring flow of a measured medium through a measuring tube, which includes at least one piezoelectric element, at least one coupling element and at least one adapting, or matching, layer between the piezoelectric element and coupling element. The adapting, or matching, layer has a thickness smaller than a fourth of an uneven integer multiple of a wavelength of an ultrasonic signal being used.
US08689637B2
Maximum allowable load values of a welded portion in respective fracture modes of a load fracture, a moment fracture, and a nugget interior fracture are found based on at least one of a sheet thickness t, a tensile strength TS, an elongation El, and a chemical composition of a nugget portion in each of spot-welded steel sheets, a nugget diameter d of a welded portion, an effective width B of the welded portion determined by a distance between adjacent welded portions, edges or ridge lines, and a sectional height H. Then, according to these fracture modes, an allowable load value at every moment after the maximum allowable load value of the welded portion is reached is found, and a displacement or a time at which the allowable load value becomes 0, that is, at which a complete fracture occurs is found, thereby finding a fracture limit.
US08689630B2
A detecting element for an inertial force sensor includes a mass section, an excitation section, and a detecting section. The excitation section excites the mass section along a third direction among a first direction, a second direction, and the third direction that are perpendicular to each other. The detecting section outputs a signal corresponding to displacement of the mass section along at least one of the first direction and the second direction. Resonance frequencies of the first direction and the second direction are set greater than a resonance frequency of the third direction.
US08689629B2
A sensing unit for a bicycle speedometer is disclosed. The bicycle speedometer has a meter body and the sensing unit for detecting pedaling and generating a signal related to bicycle pedaling. The sensing unit includes a sensor mounted on a bicycle frame and a fixture for carrying a sensed member. The fixture has a fixing end coupled with a bicycle crank and a coupling arm for carrying the sensed member. The fixture allows positional adjustment of the sensed member with respect to the bicycle crank, thereby facilitating aligning the sensed member with the sensor, so as to ensure proper sensing of the sensor to the sensed member.
US08689628B2
A dust-proof structure for a measuring tool, includes: a case provided with an opening formed through a surface opposed to a protection plate thereof; a solar panel accommodated in the case through the opening of the case; an intermediate panel pressing an outer circumferential portion of the solar panel against a bottom wall of the case; a display device disposed at an inward portion of the intermediate panel and opposed to the solar panel with a gap; a cover attached to close the opening of the case; a screw used to secure the cover and the intermediate panel to the case; and a temporary-fixing unit disposed between the intermediate panel and the case, the temporary-fixing unit temporarily fixing the intermediate panel to the case while the outer circumferential portion of the solar panel is pressed against the bottom wall of the case.
US08689620B2
A pressure balancing device for a transducer is provided. The pressure balancing device comprises: a pressure transmission device having a cross-sectional area and arranged, in use, to be exposed to a fluid; and a fluid chamber having a hollow shaft, the fluid chamber being arranged to be acted on by the pressure transmission device; wherein the cross-sectional area of the hollow shaft is less than the cross-sectional area of the pressure transmission device.
US08689598B2
A method of forming a tenon on one side of a metal plate member by means of punching the wall of one side of the metal plate member with a punch or punches to form a protrusion and then punching the protrusion with a punch rod to extend the height of the protrusion and to deform the protrusion into a tubular configuration.
US08689589B2
A washer/extractor having a one-piece plastic water hose connecting fitting having a base plate, a tubular hose connection portion that defines a passageway communicating between a hose connected to the fitting and an opening in the wall to which the fitting is mounted, and a pair of clamping members disposed in parallel relation to a rear side of base plate. The wash tub opening has a key hole configuration which enables the arms of the fitting to be positioned into the opening in a first position of the base and upon rotation of the base plate to a second position locates the clamping arms behind mounting portions of the wall for securement by respective fasteners extending through the base plate, wall mounting portions, and clamping arms.
US08689587B2
Methods to fabricate an optical preform for draw into Polarization Maintaining (PM) or Polarizing (PZ) optical fiber are provided. The methods involve assembly of pre-shaped and pieced together bulk glass elements into preforms (“assembled preforms”) for simultaneous fusing and drawing into optical fiber. These preforms form a stress-induced birefringent optical core when drawn to fiber.
US08689583B2
A turbo compressor train is provided. The turbo compressor train includes a turbo compressor unit and a drive assembly for driving the turbo compressor unit. The drive unit has a gas turbine and a generator and a steam turbine. The steam turbine may be coupled together with the generator to the turbo compressor unit and the gas turbine by means of a coupling device. The coupling device has an overrun coupling and a coupling exciter with which the overrun coupling may be taken from a disengaged condition to an active condition by engaging of the overrun coupling at synchronous speed of the gas turbine and the steam turbine and if the overrun coupling is engaged, disengages upon a speed increase to the steam turbine and generator so that the generator may be driven by the steam turbine at a higher speed than the turbocompressor unit by the gas turbine.
US08689578B2
Provided are an ice maker and a refrigerator including the same. The ice maker for making ice is provided on a rear side of a refrigerator door. A tray cover, a water flood prevention rib, and a rotation guide are provided to prevent flooding of water stored in an ice tray forming the ice maker while the refrigerator door is opened/closed. According to the ice maker and the refrigerator, reduction in a storage capacity of the refrigerator is prevented, flooding of water for making ice is prevented, and the ice maker can be more easily used.
US08689572B2
A thermostat is provided that receives one or more inputs from at least one heating system of a climate control system, and initiates an appropriate action in response to the input. The thermostat can turn off a heat pump providing substandard heat and responsively turn on a fuel-fired auxiliary furnace. The thermostat may discontinue further operation of the auxiliary furnace upon receiving an operating error signal associated with the auxiliary furnace, and responsively turn on the heat pump to provide for continued heating. The thermostat may also discontinue operation of the fuel-fired furnace and turn on a circulating fan in response to an input signal indicating a furnace high-temperature or a carbon monoxide presence.
US08689571B2
Provided is a dryer for minimizing moisture entrained within a refrigerant used to provide a cooling effect to a temperature-controlled environment, and a refrigeration appliance including such a dryer. The dryer includes a housing defining a drying chamber and a desiccant disposed within the drying chamber for removing at least a portion of the moisture from the refrigerant. A first outlet is formed in the housing adjacent a lower region of the drying chamber when the drying chamber is viewed in an operational orientation. A second outlet is also formed in the housing at an elevation vertically above the first outlet when the dryer is viewed in the operational orientation for discharging at least a portion of the refrigerant introduced into the drying chamber to be delivered to a second heat exchanger with a relatively-low internal pressure. The elevation of the second outlet relative to the first outlet promotes the discharge of the refrigerant through the first outlet instead of through the second outlet.
US08689566B1
An apparatus performs a power cycle involving expansion of compressed air utilizing high pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP) air turbines located upstream of a gas turbine. The power cycle involves heating of the compressed air prior to its expansion in the HP and LP air turbines. Taking into consideration fuel consumption to heat the compressed air, particular embodiments may result in a net production of electrical energy of ˜2.2-2.5× an amount of energy consumed by substantially isothermal air compression to produce the compressed air supply. Although pressure of the compressed air supply may vary over a range (e.g. as a compressed air storage unit is depleted), the gas turbine may run under almost constant conditions, facilitating its integration with the apparatus. The air turbines may operate at lower temperatures than the gas turbine, and they may include features of turbines employed to turbocharge large reciprocating engines.
US08689564B2
A fossil-fueled power station including a steam turbine is provided. A steam generator is mounted downstream of the steam turbine via a steam return line and a carbon dioxide separation device. The carbon dioxide separation device is connected to the steam return line via a process steam line and a backpressure steam turbine is mounted into the process steam line.
US08689554B2
An engine arrangement of the type including an internal combustion engine having an EGR line, wherein at least one turbine is located on an exhaust line, is provided. The arrangement includes a water vapor generating arrangement using exhaust gases energy to transform liquid water into water vapor. The water vapor is injected in the exhaust line upstream of the turbine. The EGR line is branched off the exhaust line upstream of the turbine and the water vapor generating arrangement includes at least one EGR/water heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the EGR line and the water to be vaporized.
US08689553B2
An internal combustion engine comprises an intake system to deliver a compressed intake charge thereto. A venturi assembly is disposed in the intake system and defines a venturi defining a low pressure zone “Z” for the intake charge passing therethrough. An annular exhaust gas recirculation conduit distribution passage extends circumferentially about an inlet annulus of an intake manifold and receives diverted exhaust gas from an exhaust system for delivery to the intake charge through exhaust gas recirculation diffuser passages disposed at circumferentially spaced locations about the annular exhaust gas recirculation conduit distribution passage.
US08689551B1
A hydraulic drive unit having a center section for a hydraulic pump and hydraulic motor mounted in a casing. The center section includes a cylindrical protuberance for locating the center section in the casing, and at least one fastener opening formed in the center section for receiving a fastener engaged to the casing. The drive unit may also include a pair of flat surfaces formed on the center section and adapted to mount with features in the casing, and a bypass shaft extending into the casing and at least partially disposed in the center section.
US08689548B2
A power system for a vehicle includes a hydraulic pressure generating device, a first hydraulically operated device, a second hydraulically operated device, a common oil channel, a first bifurcated oil channel, a second bifurcated oil channel, and an oil state detector. The first hydraulically operated device is configured to be operated by liquid supplied from the hydraulic pressure generating device. The second hydraulically operated device is configured to be operated by liquid supplied from the hydraulic pressure generating device. The common oil channel is connected to the hydraulic pressure generating device. The first bifurcated oil channel connects the common oil channel and the first hydraulically operated device. The second bifurcated oil channel connects the common oil channel and the second hydraulically operated device. The oil state detector is provided in the common oil channel and configured to detect the state of the liquid.
US08689546B2
An exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine is provided with an exhaust purification catalyst which removes NOx and a post treatment device. The exhaust purification catalyst has the property of reducing NOx if making the concentration of hydrocarbons vibrate by within a predetermined range of amplitude and within a predetermined range of period and furthermore has the function of oxidizing hydrocarbons. The exhaust purification system feeds hydrocarbons to the exhaust purification catalyst and raises the temperature of the post treatment device as temperature elevation control. The exhaust purification catalyst has a high purification rate range where the NOx purification rate becomes higher than a predetermined rate. In the temperature elevation control, the total feed amount of hydrocarbons is set and the feed period of hydrocarbons is set in the high purification rate range in a region at the end at the short side of feed period of hydrocarbons.
US08689528B1
A method of adapting a plurality of tissues for dispensing, includes cutting each tissue into a rectangular shape having a length and a width; folding each tissue in half lengthwise into a first attitude having the same length and one-half of the width; folding each tissue in half lengthwise again into a second attitude having the same length and having only one-quarter of the original width; placing an even number of equally spaced, widthwise folds, in the tissue dividing the tissue into an odd number of rectangular portions arranged in a Z-folded accordion arrangement; and aligning the plurality of folded tissues in a linear sequence with one rectangular portion of each succeeding folded tissue in the sequence engaged between two adjacent rectangular portions of a preceding folded tissue in the sequence.
US08689525B2
A machine (M) for filling and capping vials (F), comprising, arranged in a cascade fashion: a supply station (1) of empty vials (F); an Archimedes screw (2) having a rotation axis parallel to a longitudinal development of the machine (M), supplied with the vials (F) in arrival from the supply station (1); a device (D) for disengaging a predetermined number of vials (F) from the screw (2), activated in phase relation with the screw (2), and for transferring the vials (F) transversally; a comb conveyor (3), step-moved and designed to receive the predetermined number of vials (F) from the device (D); a filling station (6, 7), designed for introduction of a liquid solution contemporaneously into a plurality of vials (F); a capping station (10, 11) for contemporaneously sealing a plurality of vials (F); an outlet zone (U) for conveying the vials (F) out of the operating line of the machine.
US08689523B1
An ice bagging assembly and related method with a horizontal ice bag cassette, a pair of opposing ice bag ply graspers configured to move an empty ice bag from the horizontal ice bag cassette to a vertical position to receive cubed ice before it is sealed shut and dropped to an ice bag merchandiser. The opposing graspers may be configured as rotating wheels and may have a grasping sensor. The ice bag cassette may be slidably and tiltably supported for easy replacement of horizontal bags. A load sensor, optical or mechanical, may be associated with the ice hopper to sense how much ice has been put in each bag. A pair of angled guides may guide a hopper into a support frame for the system.
US08689522B2
A tile aligning and lippage tuning method and system that uses an under tile base reusable upright connecting tab, which is detachably connected to said under tile base, a reusable flexible edge slotted cap configured to slip over the connecting tab and latch thereto as the cap is slid further down the connecting tab. The cap has an edge slot so that the connecting tab can be separated from the cap, by merely sliding the cap, so that the connecting tab passes through the slot. A flexible spring-like portion of the cap provides increased force on the tile even if undesired elongation of the connecting tab occurs.
US08689521B1
A tile aligning and leveling method and system that uses an under tile base re-usable upright connecting tab, which is detachably connected to said under tile base, a re-usable flexible edge slotted cap, configured to slip over the connecting tab and latch thereto as the cap is slid further down the connecting tab. The cap has an edge slot so that the connecting tab can be separated from the cap by merely sliding the cap, so that the connecting tab passes through the slot. A flexible, spring-like portion of the cap provides increased force on the tile, even if undesired elongation of the connecting tab occurs.
US08689514B1
An expandable structure formed from a single piece of material is moveable between a stowed position and an extended position. The structure has a base and a plurality of support members integral with the base that move between a stowed position and an extended position. In the stowed position, the base and the plurality of support members are essentially a two dimensional shape. A biasing force makes the structure self-erecting and moves it to the extended position. In the extended position, the expandable structure has a hollow interior and a cross-section that is bounded by a closed path.
US08689513B2
Floor covering (10) including panels (12,14; 112) having a core (24) of a plastic material and at least one cover layer (28,30) covering the upper side of the core, the panels being provided with complementary and mutually engaging locking profiles (20,22; 120) at their connected lateral edges (16,18). For forming a groove between two connected panels (12,14; 112) at least one of these panels is provided with a milled-out portion (60,160) at the upper side of its lateral edge, with the cover layer (28,30) excavated completely over the width of the milled-out portion (60,160) so that the bottom (62,162) of the milled-out portion (60,160) is formed by the material of the core.
US08689512B2
Floor panels (1, 1′, 1″) are shown, which are provided with a mechanical locking system on long and short edges (5a, 5b, 4a, 4b) allowing installation with vertical folding and where the long edge (5a, 5b) locking system prevents separation of the short edges (4a, 4b) during the folding action.
US08689508B2
Disclosed herein is an elongated C-shaped backing stud having a plurality of receiving notches positioned along its outer flanges. The backing stud is fastened to the studs of a sheet metal wall assembly by means of a plurality of fasteners, and such that the plurality of studs of the wall assembly abuts a planar web portion of the backing stud. The backing stud may be characterized in that (i) the ratio of the width of the web portion to the width of the backing stud flanges ranges from about 8 to 16, (ii) the ratio of the width of the backing stud flanges to width of the outer returns is at least about one, and (iii) the ratio of the width of the plurality of studs to the width of the outer returns ranges from about 6 to 8. The backing stud is configured to support wall hung grab bars, hand rails, cabinets, shelves, and the like.
US08689504B2
A fire protection module is provided for wall and ceiling openings. The fire protection module includes a sheath for insertion into the wall or ceiling opening and a flange to be placed at the wall or ceiling. The assembly of the fire protection module may be performed with few steps. For example, the sheath and the flange are embodied in one piece.
US08689493B2
A display unit comprising a plurality of vertical truss members anchored to a floor surface; a plurality of horizontal rails attached to the vertical truss members thereby forming a frame; a horizontal track anchored to a floor surface in front of the vertical truss members; a plurality of cantilever supports attached across the top of the frame, the cantilever supports each having a front portion providing an upper frame and lower frame; a plurality of upper rectangular panels mounted in a first row adjacent one another in the upper frames; a plurality of lower rectangular panels mounted in the lower frames adjacent one another a second row below the first row; first and second side panels anchored to the floor track and to a plurality of the horizontal rails; a plurality of cabinets located adjacent one another between the first and second side panels and anchored to the floor track and at least one of said horizontal rails; and a plurality of display panels disposed between the top surfaces of the cabinets and the lower edges of the lower rectangular panels.
US08689490B2
A four component roofing system uses three reflective subsystems and one radiant subsystem to provide passive temperature control of a building comprising: (1) Shingles that reflect high angle summer sun light back to the sky, but absorb low angle winter sunlight; (2) A temperature sensitive attic insulator placed under a sunlit roof that reflects radiation and blocks convection from the roof to the attic at hot temperatures, permits radiation and convection at warm temperatures, and blocks radiation and convection from the attic at cold temperatures; (3) A temperature sensitive attic insulator placed under a shaded roof that permits radiation and convection at warm or hot temperatures, and blocks radiation and convection from the attic at cold temperatures; (4) Non-reflective shingles on a shaded roof that emit radiation continuously, but that are heated by air and radiation from the attic only when the second temperature sensitive attic insulator permits convection, so that radiant heat loss is reduced at cold temperatures.
US08689482B2
An apparatus and method are described for producing and harvesting algae. The orientation of the production substrates is critical for maximizing production as a function of water area utilized. By employing an array of algae production substrates in a vertical configuration relative to the water surface, the yield of algae production per area of open water is increased substantially relative to prior art algae production systems.
US08689459B2
Method for spray drying a high-viscosity fluid product using a spraying device, wherein the method comprises projecting the fluid product out of an outflow opening of the spraying device for obtaining droplets of the fluid product, wherein the spraying device is arranged to cause a pressure drop in the fluid product across the outflow opening which is larger than 15 bar and at least partially drying the droplets in a drying medium, such as air, to become particles.
US08689449B2
A power driven tube cutter having a power source and an open end for receiving the tube to be cut is provided. A tool housing encloses a circular tube cutter and opposed rollers as well as a pair of gear trains which can rotate at different speeds. One of the trains drives tool rotation and the other of the trains drives the tube cutter. Tool rotation can be reversed for setting the cutter and rollers in starting positions, along with setting and presenting the open end for the next tube to be cut. Two power-take-offs for treating the tube are also provided.
US08689442B2
With the fabrication of integrally bladed rotors or stators (blisks) for gas-turbine engines, where the space confined by the pressure and suction side as well as the annulus surface is shaped by cutting and machining from the solid material, starting at the periphery of a ring or disk, a stiffness-optimized pre-machining contour is cut out in a cutting process at a certain distance from the pressure and suction side along straight control surfaces at a cutting angle varying in correspondence with the blade twist and along a conical surface extending at a certain distance from the annulus surface as well as along transition surfaces between the conical and the control surfaces, and subsequently finish machined by finish milling to produce the final contour of the blade, annulus and transition surfaces. The method reduces tool wear and is cost-effective.
US08689434B2
An ICs modeling manufacturing procedure is disclosed. A first pattern is printed on a first surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). The first pattern includes a first barcode and a plurality of production codes. A plurality of elements are disposed on the first surface of the PCB. The PCB is heated to fix the elements on the first surface and secure the first pattern on the first surface of the PCB. When the first pattern is read, a first production information is obtained.
US08689418B2
Instead of a conventional slide arrangement Z/X/Y and a B-axis that is pivotable thereon, a more compact and less complex configuration is achieved in that a tool support that is pivotable about the B-axis is directly placed onto the X-slide and only a single rotationally drivable tool spindle is additionally movable in Y-direction in this pivotable tool support, whereas all other tool receivers for stationary tools are fixated at the support.
US08689416B2
A method for manufacturing a surface acoustic wave element that prevents curvature of a piezoelectric substrate when forming an electrode pattern includes a first step of bonding to a first principal surface of a piezoelectric substrate a support member having a linear expansion coefficient lower than a linear expansion coefficient of the piezoelectric substrate to form a composite substrate, a second step of forming a plurality of grooves in the support member of the composite substrate from a surface that is opposite to a bonding interface between the support member and the piezoelectric substrate, a third step of forming electrode patterns including at least one IDT electrode on a second principal surface of the piezoelectric substrate of the composite substrate, and a fourth step of dividing the composite substrate on which the electrode patterns are formed to form individual surface acoustic wave elements.
US08689407B2
A hose clamp includes: a clamp body having a plurality of screw holes passing therethrough; a coupling housing disposed at one side of the clamp body and into which an opposite side of the clamp body is inserted; and a coupling screw rotatably disposed in the coupling housing and engaged with the screw holes of the clamp body inserted within the coupling housing, wherein the clamp body includes a compensating means including at least one compensation bead formed at one side of the clamp body for resiliently fastening a hose by a degree by which a diameter of the hose is decreased so as to firmly tighten the hose. The hose clamp can prevent the compensation means from being deformed over the resilient area, so that the compensation means is not deformed over the resilient area.
US08689399B2
A floor cleaner including a nozzle and a handle assembly pivotably mounted to the nozzle. The handle assembly including a handle, a motor housing supporting a suction source in fluid communication with the nozzle, and a bag housing defining a filter cavity. A door is removably coupled to the handle assembly and includes a retainer configured to secure a filter bag including a bag aperture to the door such that the door and the retainer are removable from the handle assembly as an assembly. The retainer includes a retainer handle positioned above the bag aperture.
US08689391B2
A mop press for wringing liquids out of a cleaning device includes a housing having a fastening mechanism; a lever-actuated wringing device disposed in the housing; and a support device disposed on the housing at a horizontal distance from the fastening mechanism.
US08689376B2
A patient handling device includes a controller, with a plurality of sensors, control panels, and lamps electrically connected to the controller. The patient handling device records the normal/desired state of the various components when power is applied. When one of the components goes outside the normal/desired state, the controller issues an alarm. This alarm includes illuminating a plurality of amber alert lamps which can normally be viewed by a user at any position around the outside of the patient handling device. The patient handling device also includes a position control. This control restricts movement of an upper (fowler) portion of the patient handling device in a certain range of angular positions, while permitting movement of the upper portion outside the certain range.
US08689372B2
A perimeter panel for a person-support apparatus comprises a panel body and a handle. The panel body includes a perimeter edge. The handle is movably coupled to the panel body and configured to move between a storage position and a deployed position. The handle forms a portion of the perimeter edge of the panel body when the handle is in the storage position and extends from the panel body in the deployed position.
US08689368B2
A flushing mechanism includes a housing, an upper cover on the housing, a sleeve, a first piston, a first piston sealed module, a first piston loading spring, a second piston and a second piston loading spring. Wherein a pressure-relief and/or ejection-proof part is provided in the housing, the second piston sealed module are respectively provided surround the periphery of the bottom end and the central hole of the second piston. The bottom end of the second piston, the second piston sealed module and the lower end of the housing define an exterior lower cavity and an interior lower cavity used for cooperating with the second piston loading spring in course of drainage, sequentially the second piston are moved upward and the outlet is opened. A toilet bowl employing said flushing mechanism can reduce the flushing water consumption.
US08689367B2
An adjustable toilet seat handle including a clamping assembly, a spring member, and a knob is provided. The clamping assembly having a first clamp and a second clamp is removably connected to an undersurface of a toilet seat. A spring member connects the first clamp to the second clamp for defining a receptacle that compression fits the undersurface of the toilet seat. The spring member is operably connected to a lower surface of the clamping assembly and extends a distance between the first clamp and the second clamp to allow the undersurface of the toilet seat to be compression fitted in the receptacle. The knob is rigidly attached to and extends outwardly from the first clamp and can be gripped by a user to allow the user to raise or lower the toilet seat without direct contact with the toilet seat.
US08689363B2
A glove with a coating layer of rubber containing air bubbles formed at least on the surface of a back portion of a glove base material made of fibers is provided, wherein the moisture permeability of the coating layer of the back portion ranges from 1000 to 9000 g/m2·24 hrs in terms of a measured value according to JIS L 1099 A-1 method (calcium chloride method) and the wear loss of the coating layer of the back portion is 40 mg or less in terms of a value measured after 100 revolutions by use of a tester, Nu-Martindale Abrasion and Peeling Tester, specified by EN ISO 12947-1, according to the European Standard EN 388; 2003. The glove of the present invention is excellent in moisture permeability and abrasion resistance of a back portion.
US08695099B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for login initiated remote scanning of computer devices. The present invention detects login to the network via access management systems. The login data provides information that identifies the device so that the device can be checked against a scan database to determine if and when a previous scan occurred. Based on the findings in the scan database determinations are made as to whether to perform a scan. Additionally, the level of scanning can be determined based on previous scan dates and previous scan results, which may dictate customized scanning. In addition, the priority of the impending scan may be dictated by previous scan dates and results. Further embodiments provide for assessing risk, such as risk scoring or the like, concurrently or in near-real-time with the completion of the scan so that alerts may be communicated.
US08695086B2
A system and a related method are disclosed for authenticating a user of an electronic system. The system, and related method access (a) data relating to a defined interaction with an input device for a purported authorized user, (b) a probability distribution representation for the defined interaction for an authorized user, and (c) a probability distribution representation for the defined interaction for a wide population, from which it can determine value indicative of whether the purported authorized user is the authorized user. The purported authorized user can be authenticated as the authorized user, if the value satisfies a prescribed threshold.
US08695077B1
Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for establishing and controlling communication sessions between SIP devices and website application servers. An access portal computing device is coupled between one or more SIP devices and one or more website application servers. The access portal is configured to authenticate SIP user credentials based upon receipt of a SIP message from a SIP device and determine website user credentials associated with a website application server based on the SIP user credentials. The access portal is configured to receive, from the website application server, a communication services application based upon transmission of the website credentials to the website application server, translate SIP requests received from the SIP device into web-based commands for transmission to the website application server, and translate web-based commands received from the website application server into SIP requests for transmission to the SIP device.
US08695075B2
The system and method described herein for discovery enrichment in an intelligent workload management system may include a computing environment having a model-driven, service-oriented architecture for creating collaborative threads to manage workloads. In particular, the management threads may converge information for managing identities and access credentials, which may provide information that can enrich discovery of physical and virtual infrastructure resources. For example, a discovery engine may reference federated identity information stored in an identity vault and enrich a discovered infrastructure model with the federated identity information. Thus, the model may generally include information describing physical and virtualized resources in the infrastructure, applications and services running in the infrastructure, and information derived from the federated identity information that describes dependencies between the physical resources, the virtualized resources, the applications, and the services.
US08695066B1
A method for secure communications between first and second domains where a first logical unit calculates timestamps and hashes and transmits web forms to a node of a first domain responsive to a request. The first unit further receives data input to the web form by the user and enhances and translates that data and transmits the translated data across the public network. A second logical unit de-enhances the translated data, filters the translated data authorizes the filtered data and adds security services without modifying the application.
US08695063B2
In the event of an authentication process failure, a mobile station bans a connection profile storing the credentials provided by the mobile station when initiating the failed authentication process, thus affecting how subsequent scans—other than discovery scans—and connection attempts are handled. In the event of an authentication process failure, a mobile station bans or suppresses an access point with which the mobile station initiated the failed authentication process. The mobile station refrains from transmitting any communications addressed to the unique identifier of any banned access point. The mobile station may ignore any communications received from a banned access point. Suppressed access points are occasionally not made available to the mobile station for selection as a target for a connection attempt.
US08695057B2
When exchanging communication parameter setting information on a wireless network, a communications apparatus selects between a first operation mode in which communications parameter information is exchanged with a specific communications apparatus and a second operation mode in which communications parameter information is exchanged with an unspecified number of communications apparatus. Depending on the selected operation mode, the communications apparatus control security upon holding the communications parameter information exchanged with the specific communications apparatus and the communications parameter information exchanged with the unspecified number of communications apparatus.
US08695050B2
A multicasting system includes a delivery server for multicasting a content via at least one upper router and a plurality of lower routers, a plurality of client devices for playing the content multicast by the delivery server, an upper router controller for controlling the upper router and a lower router controller for controlling the plurality of lower routers. The client device includes a play history storage unit, an individual storage unit, a content retrieving unit, and a content playing unit. The delivery server includes a master storage unit, an optimizer optimizing the identifier and the session information of the content stored on the individual storage unit, and a content delivery unit. The upper router controller includes a session information retrieving unit, a book scheduling unit, and a schedule information notifier.
US08695041B2
A method for transferring DHCT settings includes receiving by a first digital home communication terminal (DHCT) a request for transmitting a DHCT setting from the first DHCT to a second DHCT, and transmitting the DHCT setting from the first DHCT to the second DHCT. Systems and other methods for transferring DHCT settings are also provided.
US08695037B2
In a system and method for enabling a user to simultaneously display a set of selectable categories, a set of channels related to a selected category, and individual content associated with a selected channel, of potential interest to the user. The system includes a graphical user interface which includes a set of selectable categories, sets of channels, each set of which includes channels which are relevant to each selectable category, and individual content, each of which is associated with a selectable channel and a selectable category. The graphical user interface uses hypertext markup language as the content description language, for enabling generation of guide information with links to related information and search functionality. The graphical user interface is further adapted to enable the selection of a category, a related channel, and associated individual content by the user. The internet websites and the internet content may be displayed in the same context as the video content.
US08695027B2
A system and method in one embodiment includes modules for running a test script to generate a request to a target application, receiving a response from the target application, and running a detector script to inspect the response for a vulnerability. More specific embodiments include a target web site, populating a work in a queue, where the work corresponds to content in the response, and running a second test script or detector script to generate a follow-up request to the application if the vulnerability has been identified in the response. Other embodiments include extracting the work from the queue, and running a second test script corresponding to the extracted work. Other embodiments include storing an injection in an injection cache, de-registering the injection from the injection cache if it is identified in the response, and re-crawling the application, if the injection has not been de-registered from the injection cache.
US08695023B2
A holding portion includes at least three pressing members which are operable to press an inner peripheral of a hole formed on the medium. The pressing members are movable between first positions where the pressing members do not come in contact with the inner peripheral and second positions where the pressing members come in contact with and press the inner peripheral. Each of the pressing members is adapted to interlockingly move with each other when moving toward the first positions and to press the inner peripheral independently from the other members when positioning the second positions.
US08695021B2
Information about the operating system application programming interfaces is stored in a known format in a known location. This information fully describes the APIs exposed by the operating system and is stored in API metadata files. A language compiler or interpreter uses this API information to build a natural and familiar representation of the native system API in the target language. The language compiler or interpreter can read the API information at compile time and/or runtime. The metadata is used to allow an application to refer to named elements in the API. Projections are built that use the metadata to map named elements in the API to named elements in the target language, and to define wrappers that marshal data of those elements between the target representation and the native operating system representation.
US08695019B2
In a computer system including a computer terminal, an operating system installed on said computer terminal, a virtual machine running on the operating system, a server communicatively coupled to the computer terminal and a process including instructions that when executed on a virtual machine define a user interface; a Single Sign On (SSO) system comprising a database of authentication credentials accessible to the computer terminal, and instructions executable on the virtual machine operative to: obtain user interface state data from the process; query the virtual machine to obtain component data related to the user interface state data; and manipulate the component data so as to deliver authentication credentials to the process.
US08695009B2
Allocating tasks to machines in computing clusters is described. In an embodiment a set of tasks associated with a job are received at a scheduler. In an embodiment an index can be computed for each combination of tasks and processors and stored in a lookup table. In an example the index may be include an indication of the preference for the task to be processed on a particular processor, an indication of a waiting time for the task to be processed and an indication of how other tasks being processed in the computing cluster may be penalized by assigning a task to a particular processor. In an embodiment tasks are assigned to a processor by accessing the lookup table, selecting a task for processing using the index and scheduling the selected task for allocation to a processor.
US08695004B2
The invention relates to a method for distributing computing time in a computer system on which run a number of partial processes or threads to which an assignment process or scheduler assigns computing time as required, priorities being associated with individual threads and the assignment of computing time being carried out according to the respective priorities. According to said method, the individual threads are respectively associated with a number of time priority levels. A first time priority level contains threads to which computing time is assigned as required at any time. A first scheduler respectively allocates a time slice to the individual time priority levels, and respectively activates one of the time priority levels for the duration of the time slice thereof. A second scheduler monitors the threads of the first time priority level and the threads of the respectively activated time priority level, and assigns computing time to said threads according to the priorities thereof.
US08695000B1
A system for providing model level protection for resources holding data accessed by multiple tasks in a model is discussed. The protection occurs at the model level so that the protection mechanism does not interfere with model dynamics. Resources concurrently accessed by multiple tasks are identified so that a unified protection mechanism can be applied to the resource. A user interface may be provided which enables the selection of a particular type of protection mechanism for the data in the resource. User supplied protection mechanisms may also be implemented.
US08694980B2
An embodiment of the invention pertains to a weighted directed graph comprising multiple nodes and edges that each extends between two nodes. The embodiment includes processing edges to generate a forward and reverse edge corresponding to each edge. Forward and reverse edges are processed to generate indirect edges, each comprising two edge components, and extending between two nodes. One node associated with each forward edge, each reverse edge, and each indirect edge is selected to be the key node of its associated edge. All forward, reverse and indirect edges having a particular node as their respective key nodes are placed into a group. All edges of the group are then selectively processed to provide information pertaining to an egonet of the graph that has the particular node as its egonode.
US08694977B2
A compiler module for providing instruction signature support to a compiler includes a language construct identifier and a placeholder insertion component. The language construct identifier is configured to identify an instruction signature-relevant language construct in a high level language source code supplied to the compiler. The placeholder insertion component is configured to interact with the compiler for inserting at least one instruction signature-related placeholder based on the instruction signature-related language construct into a compiled code processed by the compiler on the basis of the high level language source code.
US08694971B2
A novel system, computer program product, and method are disclosed for transforming a program to facilitate points-to analysis. The method begins with accessing at least a portion of program code, such as JavaScript. In one example, a method with at least one dynamic property correlation is identified for extraction. When a method m is identified for extraction with the dynamic property correlation, a body of the loop l in the method m is extracted. A new method mp is created to include the body of the loop l with the variable i as a parameter. The loop l is substituted in the program code of the method m with the new method mp to create a transformed program code.
US08694965B2
A system and method for creating customized documentation is disclosed. The method comprises storing one or more documents such that each of the one or more documents corresponds to one of a plurality of versions of a software product. The version of the software product which is installed in an installation environment is detected. The configuration of the installation environment is also detected. At least one document from the one or more documents that corresponds to the version of the software product installed in the installation environment is selected. A subset of the selected document that includes the version of the software product installed in the installation environment and the configuration of the installation environment is then determined. A customized document is composed, based on one ore more subsets of the selected document.
US08694963B2
Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which an evolutionary system is managed and viewed as a software product line. In some embodiments, the core architecture is a relatively unchanging part of the system, and each version of the system is viewed as a product from the product line. Each software product is generated from the core architecture with some agent-based additions. The result may be a multi-agent system software product line.
US08694957B2
An invention is provided for generating an XML test result file. A key parameter and a value parameter are received, wherein the key parameter relates to a tag. A first string is then generated based on the key parameter and the value parameter. Included in the first string is a first beginning tag and a first ending tag, each based on the key parameter. In addition, the first string includes the value parameter positioned between the first beginning tag and the first ending tag. The first string is then inserted into a test results file that stores a second string that has a second beginning tag and a second ending tag. In particular, the first string is inserted between the second beginning tag and a second ending tag. By continuing in this manner, an XML test results file can be generated using the embodiments of the present invention.
US08694950B2
Disclosed are a method, system, and computer program product for implementing electronic circuit designs with electrical awareness. The method or the system updates the schematic level tool(s) and physical design tool(s) with electrical parasitic data or electrical characteristic data associated with electrical parasitics so both schematic and physical design tools are aware of the electrical parasitic or characteristic data in performing their functions such as extraction based simulations. The methods or systems are also aware of EM or IR-drop constraint(s) while implementing or creating a partial layout less than a complete layout. The method or the system also provides a user interface for a design tool to provide in situ, customizable, real-time information for implementing electronic circuit designs with electrical awareness. The methods or systems also support constraint verification for electronic circuit design implementation with electrical awareness.
US08694928B2
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for test pattern selection for computational lithography model calibration. According to some aspects, the pattern selection algorithms of the present invention can be applied to any existing pool of candidate test patterns. According to some aspects, the present invention automatically selects those test patterns that are most effective in determining the optimal model parameter values from an existing pool of candidate test patterns, as opposed to designing optimal patterns. According to additional aspects, the selected set of test patterns according to the invention is able to excite all the known physics and chemistry in the model formulation, making sure that the wafer data for the test patterns can drive the model calibration to the optimal parameter values that realize the upper bound of prediction accuracy imposed by the model formulation.
US08694925B1
Systems and techniques for producing graphical user interfaces on handheld mobile devices include generating a markup language code defining a graphical user interface component for display on the handheld mobile device and rendering the generated markup language code to produce the graphical user interface component. In some cases, the graphical user interface component includes at least one adaptable attribute based on a selection made by a user. In other cases, a graphical user interface component is generated using static markup language code or a combination of static and dynamically generated markup language code. Graphical user interface components defined by markup language codes can be displayed in an overall graphical user interface along with components that are native to the device and/or that are defined by an application development platform.
US08694924B2
A mobile terminal having a function of managing files and folders is disclosed. In one embodiment, the mobile terminal displays folder items representing one or more memory elements installed in or joined to the mobile terminal on a display unit when a request to perform a search function is inputted, and displays selection items corresponding to at least one of files included in the folder item and subfolders on the display unit when a select command for a folder item is inputted. At least one embodiment of the invention allows easy management of data (e.g., files, folders, etc.) stored in one or more memory devices installed in or joined to the mobile terminal.
US08694919B2
The menu display device of the present invention includes: a display section 182 configured to display selectable menu items in a plurality of lines; a menu item selector 184 configured to select one of the menu items; and a control section 170 configured to execute a control so that when the menu item is selected by the menu item selector 184, the plurality of lines are displayed overlapped with each other and the line including the selected menu item is displayed at a forefront, and a selection item corresponding to the selected menu item is displayed under the selected menu item.
US08694915B2
Enhanced telephony computer user interfaces seamlessly integrate and leverage the features of personal computers and telephones. The manner in which media is presented at a computing system can also be modified automatically in response to detected telephone operations. These modifications can include pausing media in response to a detected telephone call and/or adjusting a volume of the media presentation. The media presentation/volume can also be resumed/restored upon detecting that the telephone call has terminated.
US08694910B2
Techniques pertaining to efficient scrolling are disclosed. One of the features of the efficient scrolling is the enablement of a search right at an appropriate item in a large list of items, thus avoiding going through the long list and wandering back and forth around a desired item. According to one embodiment, an indexing display is used. The indexing display includes a list of indexes, each corresponding to a group of items that sharing one or more common characteristics (e.g., a character or a kind). The indexing display is allowed first to be scrolled for a desired index. Once the desired index is confirmed, searching for a desired item in the large list starts at an item indexed by the desired index.
US08694903B2
Exemplary methods and systems for managing an e-reader interface are disclosed herein. An exemplary method includes an e-reader interface management system directing an e-reader device to display a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication, detecting a user interaction with a graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments, and directing the e-reader device to remove at least one other graphical object within the graphical objects from the display of the graphical objects, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment within the plurality of segments that is unrelated to the segment. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08694900B2
The subject disclosure relates to applying layout changes and/or animations in a computing system by statically defining unknown visual layout positions of elements within a user interface. Changes that are to be applied to the elements in a user interface are intercepted by mechanism as described herein that applies the changes as a function of a static reusable component. The static reusable component can be applied across various platforms. Animation is performed on a first element as described herein based at least in part on layout input properties of the first element or layout input properties of a second element that is associated with the first element. As additionally described herein, a dynamic graphical layout position can be described based on a definition of an initial layout position and calculation of a resultant layout position, wherein the positions are defined relative to an element or set of elements.
US08694898B2
An electronic device which includes a widget management module, a processor, a source acquiring module, and a display. The widget management module adds a new window and new viewable symbols or representations (views) inside the new window. The processor counts a number of existing windows and a number of existing views in each of the existing windows, calculates a new window identification code for the new window according to the number of existing window and the number of existing views in each of the existing windows, and calculates a new view identification code for each of the new views according to the new window identification code. The source acquiring module acquires sources and data from the sources based on each of the new view identification code and associates the source information with new view corresponding to the new view identification code, leading to the display of the new views.
US08694891B2
In one aspect of the present description, in response to receiving a request from a system administrator or other user of a distributed computing system for a log report generated by the system, the system can remotely access various nodes of the system and obtain the log reports at those nodes in response to that user request. In the illustrated embodiment, such remote access and log retrieval may be undertaken whether or not the system administrator is logged into any of the reporting nodes or has direct access to the reporting nodes. As a result, obtaining pertinent log reports from various nodes of the distributed computing system may be facilitated. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application.
US08694889B2
Approaches are described in which objects within slides are identified, automatically or by a user, and each object is individually manipulable during slide transitions. The individual manipulation applied to each object during a transition may also be automatically determined or specified by a user. The persistence of an object between slides may be taken into account in the manipulation of the object during slide transition such that objects present on both a incoming and outgoing slide are handled differently than those objects present on only one of the slides.
US08694887B2
Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to dynamically selecting and/or determining terms for use with contextual shortcuts in electronic documents such as, for example, web pages.
US08694884B2
A method and system for screen capture are provided. The method includes: selecting a screen area; determining properties of an open window displayed in the screen area, including determining the position of the window and the application and current application data; using image processing to detect scroll bars within the application data of the open window, including detecting the position of the slider in the scroll bar; and saving metadata of the screen area including the open window and the scroll bars as a file. The metadata file re-creates the screen area including the open window with the application data in the correct position within the application.
US08694883B2
The document management system assigns property information of a scanned document when transmitting the scanned document from an MFP to a document management server PC, and stores history information related to the transmission job in a memory. Further, the MFP, on receipt of incorrectness information related to property information from the document management server PC, adds the incorrectness information to the history information. Thereafter, when a user logs into the MFP, the MFP determines whether incorrectness information is included in history information having the same user ID as a user ID of the user, and if incorrectness information is included, displays a modification screen for modifying incorrect property information. Further, once the property information has been modified via the modification screen, the MFP transmits the modified information to the document management server PC, and causes information managed by the document management server PC to be updated.
US08694880B2
Tools for updating business objects. The tools include an update utility that can allow a user to identify a selection tool to select a population to be updated. Further, the update utility can provide an interface to allow any of a number of available update tools to be used to update the selected data population. In some cases, the update utility adheres to a framework that employs metadata to identify available update tools, their capabilities, and/or their requirements. This framework can allow the utility to be configured to support new update tools without requiring extensive modification of the underlying framework or its implementing software.
US08694869B2
Transmission techniques are provided that improve service continuity and reduce interruptions in delivery of content that can be caused by transitions that occur when the User Equipment (UE) moves from one cell to the other, or when the delivery of content changes from a Point-to-Point (PTP) connection to a Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) connection in the same serving cell, and vice-versa. Such transmission techniques enable seamless delivery of content across cell borders and/or between different transmission schemes such as Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) and Point-to-Point (PTP). Mechanisms for adjusting different streams and for recovering content from each data block during such transitions are also provided so that data is not lost during a transition. In addition, mechanisms for realigning data during decoding at a receiving terminal are also provided.
US08694864B1
Error detection and error location determination circuitry is provided for detecting and locating soft errors in random-access-memory arrays on programmable integrated circuits. The random-access-memory arrays contain rows and columns of random-access-memory cells. Some of the cells are loaded with configuration data and produce static output signals that are used to program associated regions of programmable logic. Cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are computed for each column of an array. The cyclic redundancy check error correction check bits are stored in corresponding columns of cells in the array. During normal operation of an integrated circuit in a system, the cells are subject to soft errors caused by background radiation strikes. The error detection and error location determination circuitry uses parallel processing to continuously monitor the data to identify the row and column location of each error.
US08694861B2
Operations within a memory device to replace one or more selected failing memory cells with one or more repair memory cells and to correct data digits read from other failing memory cells in the memory device.
US08694859B2
A method for data storage in a memory that includes a plurality of analog memory cells includes estimating respective achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells. The memory cells are assigned respective storage configurations defining quantities of data to be stored in the memory cells based on the estimated achievable capacities. The data is stored in the memory cells in accordance with the respective assigned storage configurations. The achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells are re-estimated after the memory has been installed in a host system and used for storing the data in the host system. The storage configurations are modified responsively to the re-estimated achievable capacities.
US08694851B1
A system including a first receiver module and a first interference canceller module. The first receiver module is configured to receive a first signal including a first set of codewords and to generate a first set of decoded codewords by decoding at least one of the first set of codewords. The first interference canceller module is configured to measure first reliability metrics of codewords corresponding to the first set of decoded codewords; based on the first reliability metrics, select a second set of decoded codewords from the first set; generate a second signal based on the second set of decoded codewords; and subtract at least a portion of the second signal from the first signal to cancel interference of codewords corresponding to the second set of decoded codewords on the second set of codewords in the first signal.
US08694847B2
The present inventions are related to systems and methods for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for data set quality determination.
US08694844B2
A 1149.1 TAP performs at-speed Update & Capture, Shift & Capture and Back to Back Capture & Shift operations. In a first embodiment the at-speed operations are achieved by time division multiplexing CMD signals onto the TMS input to the TAP. In a second embodiment the at-speed operations are achieved by detecting the TAP's Exit1DR state as a CMD signal. In a third embodiment the at-speed operations are achieved by detecting the TAP's Exit1DR and PauseDR states. In a fourth embodiment the at-speed operations are achieved by detecting the TAP's Exit1DR and PauseDR states and inputting these states to a Dual Port Router to control the at-speed operations of a circuit. The improvements are achieved without requiring any additional IC pins beyond the 4 required TAP pins. Devices including the TAP improvements can be operated compliantly in a daisy-chain arrangement with devices that don't include the TAP improvements.
US08694816B2
A system is disclosed. The system includes a load, a voltage regulator circuit coupled to the load a power supply, a load coupled to the power supply to receive one or more voltages from the power supply, and a digital bus, coupled between the power supply and the load. The digital bus transmits power consumption measurements from the load to the power supply and transmits power consumption measurements from the power supply to the load.
US08694805B2
A system and method for multiple power over Ethernet (PoE) power supply management. Power supply status signals indicative of an operating condition of a plurality of PoE power supplies are provided to a plurality of power sourcing equipment (PSE) controller chips. Pre-configured combination logic within each of the PSE controller chips converts an indicated operational state of the plurality of PoE power supplies into a powering decision for each of the Ethernet ports served by the PSE controller chip within one microsecond.
US08694803B1
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that enables a portable computing device to receive power through multiple bus interfaces at the same time. When the system senses that a first power source is plugged into a first bus interface in the portable computing device, the system determines whether the first power source is a host or a power adapter. Next, based upon whether the first power source is a host or a power adapter, the system uses a first power manager coupled to the first bus interface to limit a first input current received from the first power source to power the computing device. The system also provides the maximum charging current to a rechargeable battery for the portable computing device by chaining together a second bus interface whether power is present on the second bus interface or not.
US08694801B2
A method of securely storing data comprising the steps of: dividing the data into a plurality of secure components; encrypting the secure components; moving each secure component to a different location which is substantially inaccessible to an unauthorized request; storing the secure components at the different locations for a period of time; repeating the moving and storing steps; moving all of the secure components to a single location in response to an authorized request; decrypting each of the secure components; and assembling the plurality of secure components to reconstruct the original data.
US08694797B2
A method for preventing malicious software from execution within a computer system is disclosed. Before any actual execution of an application program on a computer system, the application program needs to be cross-compiled to yield a set of cross-compiled code of the application program. The set of cross-compiled code of the application program can then be executed in an execution module that is capable of recognizing and translating the set of cross-compiled code of the application program to the actual machine code of the processor.
US08694793B2
Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure provide devices and methods for biometric authentication of a user during access control transactions. In one aspect, an access control processor device, comprising a biometric input sensor configured to receive user biometric information; a biometric verification processor configured to authenticate the input user biometric information; and a communication element configured to activate when the biometric information entered into the biometric verification system is authenticated and maintain an inactive status for the communication element on the payment processor device when the biometric information entered into the biometric verification system is not authenticated.
US08694787B2
A security token includes a wireless interface to communicate with a secured device. A cryptographic module generates cryptographic information, encrypts messages to the secured device, decrypts messages from the secured device and coordinates the encryption and decryption of data on the secured device.
US08694786B2
A host machine provisions a virtual machine from a catalog of stock virtual machines. The host machine instantiates the virtual machine. The host machine configures the virtual machine, based on customer inputs, to form a customer's configured virtual machine. The host machine creates an image from the customer's configured virtual machine. The host machine unwraps a sealed customer's symmetric key to form a customer's symmetric key. The host machine encrypts the customer's configured virtual machine with the customer's symmetric key to form an encrypted configured virtual machine. The host machine stores the encrypted configured virtual machine to non-volatile storage.
US08694785B2
The present invention provides a system and method for providing certified voice and/or multimedia mail messages in a broadband signed communication system which uses packetized digital information. Cryptography is used to authenticate a message that has been compiled from streaming voice or multimedia packets. A certificate of the originator's identity and electronic signature authenticates the message. A broadband communication system user may be provisioned for certified voice and/or multimedia mail by registering with a certified mail service provider and thereby receiving certification. The called system user's CPE electronically signs the bits in received communication packets and returns the message with an electronic signature of the called system user to the calling party, along with the system user's certificate obtained from the service provider/certifying authority during registration. The electronic signature is a cryptographic key of the called party.
US08694782B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with wireless authentication using beacon messages are described. According to one embodiment, an access point controller includes a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit a beacon message. The beacon message is configured to announce to a remote device that a wireless access point is available to provide access to a network. The beacon message includes a security identifier that identifies a public key for the wireless access point.
US08694780B2
The disclosure discloses a service providing client, a wireless terminal and a method for implementing binding. The service providing client comprises a transmission module, which is configured to transmit authentication information to the wireless terminal (701); a judgment module, which is configured to judge whether the wireless terminal is a legal binding object according to a response of the wireless terminal for the authentication information (702); and a processing module, which is configured to provide service to the wireless terminal (703) if the wireless terminal is a legal binding object, otherwise, restrict the service provided to the wireless terminal.
US08694773B2
A method of verifying a validity of a Secure Micro (SM) is provided. The method of verifying a validity of an SM, the method including: storing and maintaining a validity verification message used to verify the validity of the SM, the validity verification message being generated by a Trusted Authority (TA) based on unique information of the SM, and the SM and the TA sharing the unique information of the SM; and verifying the validity of the SM using the validity verification message and the unique information shared by the SM, when an SM client is executed.
US08694772B2
A method and a system for managing network identity are provided. The method and the system realize a management mechanism of temporary identification (ID) and real ID, which simultaneously achieves functionalities such as anonymity, accounting, and authorization. A short-term certificate and a corresponding public/private key pair are used to protect a temporary ID usable for accounting. This protection prevents the temporary ID from theft. The user generates a digital signature in the reply to a charge schedule statement from the visited network. This procedure is incorporated into an existing authentication framework based on Transport Layer Security (TLS) in order to provide an undeniable payment mechanism. The payment mechanism is applicable in an environment of multiple network operators and reduces the difficulty of integrating network operators. The method and the system do not have to consult a certificate revocation list (CRL) for authentication and thus are able to shorten authentication time.
US08694763B2
A method and system for the provisioning of software that enable large scale installation and management of software in computer units in a highly secure manner. The BIOS of the target computer unit is adapted such that upon power up the system attempts to boot from an external media. The BIOS features functions within the code for the implementing a system watchdog for assuring the system remains in a known state, a function for digital signature verification, and loads drivers for a file system. The external media includes the operating system (OS) image and other bootstrap files, each having been digitally signed with an asymmetric private key that corresponds to the public key. A programmable read-only parameter memory on the motherboard is configured to store the public keys and the (failure) state of the system independently of the primary and secondary media enabling reboot from an alternative boot path.
US08694760B2
A branch prediction mechanism within an information processing device comprises a call stack where function arguments are stacked when function calls are performed. The call stack stores arguments relating to branch instructions within the function. The branch prediction mechanism stores the branch instruction address, the leading value of the call stack, and the branch destination address at branch instruction execution time, which are in correspondence, in a branch result buffer. A branch prediction unit obtains the branch instruction address and leading value of the call stack when notified of branch instruction execution, searches the branch result buffer for a branch destination corresponding to the address and leading value, and predicts the search result as the branch destination of the executed branch instruction. An instruction fetch unit fetches instructions from the branch destination predicted by the branch prediction unit.
US08694747B2
A method and device for loading and executing a plurality of instructions in an avionics system including a processor including at least two cores and a memory controller, each of the cores including a private memory. The plurality of instructions is loaded and executed by execution slots such that, during a first execution slot, a first core has access to the memory controller for transmitting at least one piece of data stored in the private memory thereof and for receiving and storing at least one datum and an instruction from the plurality of instructions in the private memory thereof, while the second core does not have access to the memory controller and executes at least one instruction previously stored in the private memory thereof and such that, during a second execution slot, the roles of the two cores are reversed.
US08694745B2
A virtual disk can be created by using data from critical sectors of a primary physical disk. The creation of a virtual disk involves receiving sector numbers and corresponding data for critical sectors of a primary physical disk on a primary computing system, creating a virtual disk that comprises sectors, and writing data from the critical sectors of the primary physical disk into respective sectors of the virtual disk.
US08694744B1
A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for backing up mobile device data is disclosed. In some embodiments, this includes using a processor to identify a mobile device, creating a snapshot of the mobile device, and storing the created snapshot in a server. In some embodiments, the snapshot includes all of the mobile device data. In some embodiments, the snapshot includes a portion of the mobile device data.
US08694743B2
Disclosed is an information processing apparatus having a first memory and being capable of installing a second memory. The apparatus moves target data to be backed up stored in the first memory into the second memory, in a case that the second memory is installed in the information processing apparatus, and releases an memory area of the first memory in which the target data was stored, and sets the second memory to be backed up in a case that the second memory is installed in the information processing apparatus, and sets the first memory to be backed up in a case that the second memory is not installed in the information processing apparatus.
US08694740B2
A counters array system comprises a memory device having a plurality of addressable memory locations for storing counter-values; a plurality of delta-counter devices. Each delta-counter device is operable to hold a maximum delta-value corresponding to a maximum number of occurrences of an event during a time duration between two counter scans controlled by a scan control unit. Each delta-counter device has an input connected to receive a signal from an event source corresponding to an occurrence of the event, and an output connected to provide a delta-value representing an accumulated number of occurrences of the event to a delta-count update circuit. The delta-count update circuit is connected to the memory device and the counter scan control unit, and being arranged to receive the delta-value and an address of a corresponding counter-value, read the counter-value from the memory device, and provide an updated counter-value incremented by the delta-value to the memory device.
US08694732B2
A method and system for precisely tracking lines evicted from a region coherence array (RCA) without requiring eviction of the lines from a processor's cache hierarchy. The RCA is a set-associative array which contains region entries consisting of a region address tag, a set of bits for the region coherence state, and a line-count for tracking the number of region lines cached by the processor. Tracking of the RCA is facilitated by a non-tagged hash table of counts represented by a Region Victim Hash (RVH). When a region is evicted from the RCA, and lines from the evicted region still reside in the processor's caches (i.e., the region's line-count is non-zero), the RCA line-count is added to the corresponding RVH count. The RVH count is decremented by the value of the region line count following a subsequent processor cache eviction/invalidation of the region previously evicted from the RCA.
US08694731B2
Hybrid automatic repeat request combiner and method for storing hybrid automatic repeat request data
The invention provides a method for storing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) data, the method including: when receiving new data of a coded block, a HARQ processor writing the new data into a high rate buffer memory (Cache) and a channel decoder; the Cache writing the new data into a data memory of the Cache or an external memory; and when receiving retransmitted data of the coded block, the HARQ processor obtaining a previous data corresponding to the retransmitted data from the data memory of the Cache or the external memory through the Cache, combining the retransmitted data and the previous data, and writing the combined data to the Cache and the channel decoder; the Cache writing the combined data into the data memory of the Cache or the external memory. The invention also provides a HARQ combiner.
US08694730B2
A binary tree based multi-level cache system for multi-core processors and its two possible implementations LogN and LogN+1 models maintaining a true pyramid is described.
US08694717B2
A manufacturing cost of an integrated circuit chip used in a program update system or in an electronic device with program update function is reduced. A first integrated circuit chip has a USB interface circuit, a compression decoder, a CPU and a mask ROM. The first integrated circuit chip is a single chip consolidating a microcomputer with a USB host function and the compression decoder. A second integrated circuit chip has a CPU and an FROM, and serves as a system microcomputer to control the whole system of a car audio. A control program stored in the mask ROM is updated using the FROM incorporated in the second integrated circuit chip.
US08694716B2
A method for writing and reading data in a main nonvolatile memory having target pages in which data are to be written and read, the method including providing a nonvolatile buffer having an erased area, providing a volatile cache memory, and receiving a write command to update a target page with updating data the length of which can be lower than the length of a page. The method also includes, in response to the write command, writing the updating data into the erased area of the nonvolatile buffer, together with management data of a first type, and recording an updated version of the target page in the cache memory or updating in the cache memory a previously updated version of the target page.
US08694712B2
Various operations are disclosed for improving the operational efficiency of a virtual translation look-aside buffer (TLB) in a virtual machine environment. For example, operations are disclosed that allow for determination of whether present entries in shadow page tables (SPTs) are stale by comparing shadowed guest page table (GPT) entries against snapshots taken when the entries were cached. Other operations are disclosed that allow a virtual machine monitor (VMM) to access shadow page table trees (SPTTs) by walking trees in software or in hardware. Still other operations are disclosed allowing the VMM to use a hash table to relate GVA ranges to SPTs that map them, thus significantly reducing the cost of having to walk each SPTT in order to invalidate desired GVA(s). And, finally, operations are disclosed allowing the VMM to determine global GVA ranges by checking a bitmap, when invalidating global GVAs.
US08694707B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing a DMA process. Accordingly, a DMA process is initiated for moving data from contiguous first locations to contiguous second locations and to a third location or third locations. Within the DMA process the data from each of the contiguous first locations is retrieved and stored in a corresponding one of the contiguous second locations and in the third location or corresponding one of the third locations. The DMA process is performed absent retrieving the same data a second other time prior to storing of same within the corresponding one of the contiguous second locations and in the third location or corresponding one of the third locations.
US08694698B2
According to a prior art data transfer method of a storage subsystem, when competition of data transfer accesses occurs, a free access destination port is allocated uniformly without determining the access type or the access state of the access destination, so that the performance of the device is not enhanced. The present invention solves the problem by selecting a data transfer access for completing data transfer with priority based on the access type or the remaining transfer data quantity of competing data transfer accesses, or by changing the access destination of an access standby data transfer access, thereby performing data transfer efficiently.
US08694691B2
A system includes an initiator device including an initiator interface. A target device includes a target interface that communicates with the initiator interface via a protocol. The protocol supports commands being sent from the initiator device to the target device. The protocol does not support commands being sent from the target device to the initiator device. The target interface is configured to send a command to the initiator device via the protocol. The initiator interface is configured to execute the command.
US08694689B2
In a storage system which includes a plurality of microprocessors, it is desired to prevent delay in I/O responses due to synchronous processing waiting for asynchronous processing, while still ensuring the throughput of asynchronous processing. In a plurality of microprocessors possessed by a controller, synchronous processors and asynchronous processors are mixed together. The synchronous processors are microprocessors whose duty is to perform synchronous processing and not to perform asynchronous processing. And the asynchronous processors are microprocessors whose duty is to perform asynchronous processing and not to perform synchronous processing.
US08694686B2
A user profile based configuration of user experience environment is disclosed. One embodiment of the present disclosure pertains to a method for generating a user experience environment for a device. The method comprises accessing a user profile associated with a device in a computing network in response to a request by the device for initializing or refreshing a user experience environment of the device. In one example embodiment, the user profile comprises data and metadata defining a communal user experience environment shared by the device and one or more other devices through the computing network. The method further comprises determining a type of the device, and generating the user experience environment of the device based on the user profile and the type of the device.
US08694683B2
A method and system for demultiplexing packets of a message is provided. The demultiplexing system receives packets of a message, identifies a sequence of message handlers for processing the message, identifies state information associated with the message for each message handler, and invokes the message handlers passing the message and the associated state information. The system identifies the message handlers based on the initial data type of the message and a target data type. The identified message handlers effect the conversion of the data to the target data type through various intermediate data types.
US08694682B2
A virtual execution system that is configured to be used in a resource-constrained device. The resource-constrained device includes an operating system and an application program that includes instructions. The virtual execution system includes an execution engine that is configured to execute the application program, and to facilitate the compatibility of the application program with the operating system. Non-functional aspects characterize the instructions and the operating system. The execution engine has access to the non-functional aspects, and implements improvements during the execution of the application program based on the non-functional aspects.
US08694679B2
A control device includes a storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between a first information processing device and attribute information of a first virtual machine provided by the first information processing device, and a correspondence relationship between a second information processing device and attribute information of a second virtual machine provided by the second information processing device; and a processor that refers to the storage unit and deploys a deployment object virtual machine to the first information processing device when the number of the first virtual machines with the same attributes as the attributes of the deployment object virtual machine among the first virtual machines provided by the first information processing device is detected to be fewer than the number of second virtual machines with the same attributes as the attributes of the deployment object virtual machine among the second virtual machines provided by the second information processing device.
US08694673B2
A system and process may include assigning a unique host identifier to a host that is a node of a network. The host is adapted to host at least one network interface. The system and process may further include creating a host/guest relationship for each hosted network interface by associating a network interface identifier of the hosted network interface with the unique host identifier.
US08694672B2
A method is disclosed for communicating using a device having a PALM® OS. SMB is used to communicate with a node, and if use of SMB is not possible, FTP is used, and if use of FTP is not possible, BLUETOOTH® is used. If FTP or BLUETOOTH® is selected, file sharing between the device and node that entails a read or write is executed by temporarily copying a file to an internal PALM® OS memory of the device, performing the read or write on the file, and then copying the file back to the node to overwrite a previous version of the file at the node. For non PALM® OS file transfer to the internal memory, the file is wrapped in a PALM® OS stream in the internal memory for executing reads or writes.
US08694671B2
In transmitting stream data to a recording unit through a network, there is a method to detect that a synchronous recording has been designated from an input unit to transmit mute data to a recording unit through the network for a first predetermined time period during which the streaming data is held in a data holding unit for the first predetermined time value. In the case where it is determined that the data that the data holding unit holds is held for a second predetermined time value, the inputted stream data is transmitted to the recording unit through the network. The recording unit is permitted to record, in the state where sound is not interrupted, and it is permitted to execute data recording, in which operating time of mechanical parts is required so that the operating state of the recording unit shifts to the recording state, and/or responses relating to the control of the recording unit are taken into consideration.
US08694659B1
A computer-implemented method for enhancing domain-name-server responses may include: 1) receiving a domain-name-system request, 2) identifying a domain of the domain-name-system request, 3) retrieving classification information relating to the domain from a third-party system, and 4) including the classification information in a response to the domain-name-system request. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08694651B2
A method and system for implementing network proxy are provided. The method includes: establishing a first connection between a client and a server through a proxy adapter, so as to enable the client to acquire status information of the server through the first connection; and if the status information of the server shows that the server is in a turn-on state, establishing a second connection between the client and the server, so as to enable the client and the server to transmit a data packet through the second connection. Through the method for implementing network proxy, the client acquires the status information of the server through the first connection, and only when the status information of the server is the turn-on state, could the second connection between the client and the server be established, thereby ensuring the reliability of establishing the second connection, and improving the user experience.
US08694646B1
A method and system for anonymizing data to be transmitted to a destination computing device is disclosed. Anonymization strategy for data anonymization is provided. Data to be transmitted is received from a user computer. Selective anonymization of the data is performed, based on the anonymization strategy, using an anonymization module. Anonymized data is transmitted to the destination computing device over a network.
US08694637B1
A server includes a host running an operating system kernel. Isolated virtual private servers (VPSs) are supported within the kernel. At least one application is available to users of the VPS. A plurality of interfaces give the users access to the application. Each VPS has its own set of addresses. Each object of each VPS has a unique identifier in a context of the operating system kernel. Each VPS is isolated from objects and processes of another VPS. Each VPS includes isolation of address space of each user from address space of a user on any other VPS, isolation of server resources for each VPS, and failure isolation. The server includes a capability of allocating (or reallocating) system resources to a designated VPS, allocating (or reallocating) system resources to a VPS in current need of such resources, dynamically allocating (or reallocating) VPS resources to a VPS when additional resources are available, and compensating a particular VPS in a later period for a period of under-use or over-use of server resources by the particular VPS in a current period. VPS resources are allocated for each time cycle. All the VPSs are supported within the same OS kernel.
US08694625B2
An event notification system for distributed processing systems provides remote and local node event notification in systems that require local registration of an event consumer in order produce an event notifications. To provide notification of an event occurring on a remote node, either event consumers on all nodes in the cluster register locally to receive event notifications and specify that the event is a cluster event, in which case the nodes send notification of their locally-occurring events to all nodes, or remote registrations are accepted at nodes and if a local consumer for the event is not present, a listener thread registers as an event consumer. The listener thread sends the event notifications to the remote nodes registered as consumers for the event by observing communication between the event producer and the local consumer, or receiving the event notifications directly if there is no local consumer.
US08694620B2
A method and system extends the functionality of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM) standard to manage vendor specific configuration parameters and settings. An OMA DM structure is provided as an extension to the tree structure of the OMA DM standard. The OMA DM extension allows selected vendor specific parameters and settings to be managed under the OMA DM protocol.
US08694619B2
A method of handling packets within a packet-based communication system implementing a policy and charging control architecture. The method comprises, at one or more policy and charging enforcement functions within a packet switched access network or networks, monitoring packet flows to determine user usage on a per service class basis, and periodically reporting the determined usage from the policy and charging enforcement functions to a policy and charging rules function. At the policy and charging rules function, the received usage information is used in order to generate one or more one or more rule sets, each rule comprising one or more packet properties and one or more actions for handling a packet. The or at least one rule set is sent to the or each policy and charging enforcement function where they are applied in order to determine an action or actions for handling a packet.
US08694618B2
A first computer utilizes a logical connection with a second computer. The logical connection comprises multiple physical network connections using multiple physical network devices on the first computer. Two or more of the physical network devices of a logical connection are used to transfer packets of a single data transfer such as a database request or response. A logical connection can include a single physical network device on the second computer creating a one-to-many logical connection or may also include multiple physical network devices on the second computer creating a many-to-many logical connection.
US08694612B1
A computer-implemented method includes receiving by one or more computer systems, a request from a client system of a consumer for a live, real-time video having specified attributes of a performance embedded in the live, real-time video; searching by the one or more computer systems a database of attributes of performances associated with live, real-time videos; and causing by the one or more computer systems a connection between the client system of the consumer with a system of a provider of a live, real-time video captured performance based on the specified attributes included in the request for the live, real-time video.
US08694607B2
At a client device, a user subscribes to a specified stream, where the specified stream includes one or more other streams. A respective stream of the one or more other streams includes two or more content feeds, and each content feed includes a set of content items published by a respective publication source. The client devices presents to the user (e.g., on a display of the client device) content items associated with the specified stream. In some embodiments, streams can be recursively defined to include combinations of other streams, and users who subscribe to a recursively defined stream receive content items from the content feeds associated with that stream.
US08694606B2
An apparatus, method and system to improve data transfer across a communications network by employing an acknowledgment independent equalized data packet transfer mechanism on a peer-to-peer basis. The present disclosure teaches how many computers can send data to many other computers, with particularity on a peer-to-peer basis when desired, without requiring acknowledgements of safe receipt by the receiving computer. By aggregating several computers to send data in a collection to a requesting computer, transfer rates may be increased. Further, by not requiring acknowledgment of receipt from the receiving computer, and by treating all data packets with equal utility, the present disclosure teaches a mechanism that reduces file transfer administration bandwidth, increases file transfer scalability on demand, and increases overall network transfer efficiency.
US08694603B2
Techniques are disclosed for rendering geographic information system (GIS) data. A server component responding to a request for GIS data for a given area combines contiguous elements that share the same dynamic characteristics. For example, a map server may combine the polylines of contiguous road segments sharing the same current speed/congestion conditions. Doing so may greatly reduce the number of individual polylines that are sent to a client for rendering.
US08694600B2
A remote monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of medical devices at a patient care or home care facility. The system includes a device integration server in communication with wireless relay modules for receiving data packets from the medical devices including an identifier and data for each medical device. The system also includes a data management system and an outbound web server. The data management system is configured to log data for the medical devices. The web server is configured to provide webpages including the data of the medical devices for display on a remote monitoring computer, subject to authentication of an associated data request from the monitoring computer. The Web server is configurable to look up patient information from a secure source when user has appropriate permissions. In addition, the device integration server is configured to process alert messages received from the wireless relay modules and, in response, to transmit text message information to the wireless relay modules to be relayed to one or more text messaging recipients.
US08694599B2
Information codes are arranged in pieces comprised of chunks of bytes over a network, such as a Peer-to-Peer overlay network, including a set of peer terminals. A first peer identifies missing chunks in the received pieces and requests such missing chunks from other peers. The chunks are subjected to a fountain code encoding wherein the chunks in a piece are X-ORed. The first peer is therefore capable of reconstructing a received piece encoded with fountain codes from a combination of linearly independent chunks corresponding to the piece. The chunks are transmitted over the network with a connection-less protocol, without retransmission of lost packets, preferably with a UDP protocol.
US08694593B1
A system and method for associating users with a micro-community that is relevant to an object reference. The object reference is anything that can be perceived either physically or conceptually, such as a location, a document, a calendar entry, a document, a news feed, a biometric key, an image, a news feed, etc. A micro-community engine identifies users who are associated explicitly with the object reference as well as people who would be interested in the object implicitly and associates them with a micro-community. The micro-community engine provides an intuitive and flexible means for communication between members of the micro-community.
US08694585B2
Cross-interface communication is described, including generating data associated with a synthetic environment, the synthetic environment comprising one or more communication protocols, converting the data using one of the one or more communication protocols to generate converted data, wherein the converted data is interpreted using another of the one or more communication protocols, and transmitting the data over a communication path between two or more endpoints using one or more communication interfaces, wherein the data, after being interpreted by the another of the one or more communication protocols, is used to present information associated with the synthetic environment on at least one of the two or more endpoints.
US08694580B2
A selection algorithm corresponding to process identification information specified by a process request from a client is chosen based on a stored correspondence relationship between process identification information indicating a requested process and the selection algorithm to select a server from among a plurality of servers. Then, a server to execute a process requested by the process request is selected from among the plurality of servers based on the decided selection algorithm, and the process request is transmitted to the selected server.
US08694566B2
This method for decomposing an anharmonic periodic signal, the general form of which may be expressed as x(t)=x0+x1 cos(Φ(t)), wherein Φ(t) is the phase of the signal, is characterized in that it consists of: determining an expression of the phase equation F ( Φ ) = ⅆ Φ ⅆ t , determining an expression of the phase Φ(t) as a function of de parameters (r, rk, Φ1, pk) measuring the anharmonicity of the signal and its morphology, from p cosn and p sinn functions defined by: p cos n ( t , r ) = ∑ k = 1 ∞ cos ( kt ) r k k n and p sin n ( t , r ) = ∑ k = 1 ∞ sin ( kt ) r k k n .
US08694564B2
A method of providing on-demand service through a virtual file system is implemented at a computing device. In response to receiving a request for a file associated with an instance of the virtual file system, the computing device checks the metadata of the requested file in the virtual file system to identify a first set of data blocks of the requested file that is not present at the computing device and retrieves the first set of data blocks from at least one of a plurality of storage devices associated with the virtual file system. The computing device generates a copy of the requested file using the retrieved first set of data blocks and returns the generated copy of the requested file to the requesting application or user.
US08694563B1
Methods are provided to write zeroes to logical blocks of a thin-provisioned volume mapped to a deleted file or a dummy file in the host file system. This causes the thin-provisioned volume to map these logical blocks to a common storage space that contains all zeroes so that storage space previously mapped to these logical blocks is free to be reused.
US08694554B2
Cluster storage is disclosed. A data stream or a data block is received. The data stream or the data block is broken into segments. For each segment, a cluster node is selected, and a portion of the segment smaller than the segment is identified that is a duplicate of a portion of a segment already managed by the cluster node.
US08694550B2
A merge method includes determining whether a source item in a source file directory is a file or a subdirectory. If the source item is a file, any conflicting items in a destination file directory are deleted and the file is moved from the source file directory to the destination file directory without copying the file. If the source item is a subdirectory that has no corresponding destination subdirectory in the destination file directory, the subdirectory is moved from the source file directory to the destination file directory without copying the subdirectory. If the source item is a subdirectory that does have a corresponding destination subdirectory, the merge method is repeated for each item of the source subdirectory.
US08694549B2
Dynamic management of multiple persistent data stores is disclosed. One or more data objects are retrieved from two or more of a plurality of persistent data stores and provided to the client context in a manner such that the one or more data objects appear to the client context to come from a single source, even if in fact the objects have been retrieved from two or more different persistent stores.
US08694544B2
Various embodiments of systems and methods for a layering concept for a repository of a user interface framework for Web applications are described herein. The content of a repository provided by different parties (e.g., vendor, partner, customer, user, etc.) is separated. The separation is achieved by assigning solutions to the parties that store content in the repository. Simplified access to the repository is achieved by layering the solutions in a stack and implementing a layer strategy for the layers and their order of access.
US08694540B1
A computer-implemented method includes obtaining a database table, the database table including data arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, each column of data being associated with a different tag that specifies a category for data in the column, using one or more processors to identify a first predictive model, from a collection of predictive models, that can be applied to the database table to generate a predictive output, in which identifying the first predictive model is based on one or more of the different tags, adding a name associated with the first predictive model to a set of names of predictive models that are compatible with the database table, and providing the set of names of predictive models to a client device.
US08694536B2
Disclosed are systems and methods for efficient matching for content-based addressing wherein the systems and methods may: accept, at a receiver machine, a query; generate, at the receiver machine, a tree structure ordered by one or more fields of the query; analyze, at the receiver machine, a message from the sender machine; search, by the receiver machine, the tree structure using content from one or more fields of the message; determine, by the receiver machine, if the content values of the message match a content value of the query stored in the tree structure; and accept, by the receiver machine, the message if the content value of the message matches one or more content values of the query.
US08694531B1
A system and method matches individuals based on the content of their media libraries. The system has a media content processor that extracts information from a media file, and creates one or more media records. The system further includes a matching engine that compares the media records associated with different people, and determines the similarities between the media libraries of the different people. The matching engine may generate a match score for each pair of media records. The system also includes a presentation engine that provides an indication of the degree of match between the media file of one person and the media files of others.
US08694522B1
Context data can be used to determine the current context and/or to predict the future context of a user. When the disclosed technology knows of the user's likely context, it can prepare for object recognition (e.g., image recognition, speech recognition, etc.) by (downloading and) locally storing (i.e., holding) object data related to the context. This allows for the object recognition to be performed locally and for any additional information about the object to be provided without communication over a network, thereby reducing resources such as time, cost, and processing power. If, however, the object data related to the context is not available locally, such object data can still be downloaded from a server/cloud. In some embodiments, if a likely future context is predicted and the object data related to that future context is not available locally, the object data can be downloaded from a server/cloud prior to the future context.
US08694513B2
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a graphical user interface as a means of inputting search parameters to database search engines. In some embodiments, two or three dimensional projections spatially represent relationships between search parameters, located along the periphery of the projections and search hits whose significance are represented by position relative to the center of the projection and comparative distance from each of the search parameters. As the user manipulates the overall shape of the search projection, the weighting of search parameters adjusts, reconfiguring the search. The present disclosure also provides, in some embodiments, an intuitive means of assimilating search parameter weightings based on peer or social network preferences with global search results.
US08694510B2
Information hierarchies are efficiently stored and accessed in a relational or object-relational database system. A path signature, similar to a pathname, is stored in a database system in association with data for the node identified by the pathname. For example, a path signature identifying an element is stored in a row that holds data for the element. To retrieve data for a hierarchical query that identifies the data requested using, for example, an XPATH string, a string pattern is generated that is matched by path signatures identified by the XPATH string. Pattern matching is then used to select rows associated with matching path signatures, and data from the selected rows is used to compute the XPATH query. Furthermore, hash values representing path signatures are generated in a way that preserves the ordering of data in an information hierarchy. The hash values can be indexed to provide quick access.
US08694508B2
A database query of point data among two or more axes of a database is received. The database stores point data in distinct integer vectors with a shared dictionary. Thereafter, the dictionary is scanned to determine boundaries for each axis specified by the query. In response, results characterizing data responsive to the query within the determined boundaries for each axis are returned. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US08694504B2
Systems and methods for cladistics-based content searching, analysis, and/or diagrammatic representation of results in graphical user interface format for viewing by at least one user on a computer-type device or network, in particular for technology and patent-related content stored in at least one database.
US08694491B2
A method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of links recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of links are determined by the search engine by: producing search results by rerunning a plurality of search queries that have been performed previously for the computer user; and evaluating the produced search results to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria. At least one of the criteria is based on Internet usage data for the user.
US08694485B2
A method is disclosed wherein a capsule is searchable, the capsule of data having data stored in multiple data stores. In use, a portion of the capsule is displayed and the searched data includes data that is not displayed but is retrievable via the search operation.
US08694484B2
A content management device for managing acquired content in a searchable manner, includes a storage device that stores a search database in which a plurality of keywords and content are registered; a registration unit that registers new content in the search database; and a search unit that searches content registered in the search database. The registration unit performs operations includes: extracting a plurality of keyword candidates associated with the new content from the search database; displaying the extracted keyword candidates; and registering a keyword candidate designated from among the displayed keyword candidates in the search database, as a search keyword in association with the new content. The search unit performs operations includes: displaying a plurality of search keywords registered in the search database; extracting content associated with a search keyword designated from among the displayed search keywords from the search database; and displaying the extracted content.
US08694482B2
Improved approaches to domain name monitoring. The monitoring of domain names, e.g., registrations therefor, is beneficial to holders of similar domain names, trademark owners, and competitors. Such monitoring can be automatically performed.
US08694479B1
An electronic marketplace for used digital objects is disclosed. Digital objects including e-books, audio, video, computer applications, etc., may be placed in a personalized data store upon purchase from a merchant. Placement may be manual or occur automatically. A server prompt or downloader application may be used to set preferences for manual or automatic placement. Placement may be direct or indirect. Direct placement occurs upon placement of the digital object in the personalized data store directly by the merchant. Indirect placement occurs upon transfer of the digital object to an intermediate storage location, such as the user's electronic device, then placing the digital object in the personalized data store. The user, via streaming, download, or other transfer, may then access content placed in the personalized data store.
US08694475B2
Method and apparatus for situation-based management of natural and artificial systems using event correlation and a situation manager. Input is provided from multiple sources in the form of a collection of events. A first level of processing performs event correlation over the collection of events and infers new events and new qualities of events. A second level of processing manages situations based on the collection of events, where situations are recognized, maintained, and given a degree of confidence. Situations are periodically updated based on incoming events. The assertion of a situation may call for information from external sources, provide information for external sources, and provide control instructions to external sources. Given a current situation, past, and possible future situations are inferred. Additionally, a method and apparatus for bi-directional communication between the event correlator and situation manager.
US08694466B2
Embodiments deploy delayering techniques, and the relationships between successive versions of a rich-media file become apparent. With this, modified rich-media files suddenly present far smaller storage overhead as compared to traditional application-unaware snapshot and versioning implementations. Optimized file data is stored in suitcases. As a file is versioned, each new version of the file is placed in the same suitcase as the previous version, allowing embodiments to employ correlation techniques to enhance optimization savings.
US08694458B2
Data trends that are based on historical data of a database can be used to make estimations and/or predications about the database. In other words, historical trends of a database can be used to make estimation about the data of the database. By way of example, a prediction can be made regarding the data change in the data since the Statistics has been collected. An estimation about data in a database can be used instead of actual data that would have to be collected as Statistics for the database. As a result, Statistics can be collected less frequently but estimation and/or predictions about the database can be used to optimize the execution of queries of the database. Also, collection of Statistics for database can be altered by using estimation about the Statistics of the database by collecting Statistics less frequently or for longer periods of time.
US08694456B2
Methods, apparatus and computer-program products are described for providing travel-location merchant offers to users who are determined to be travelling based on Point-Of-Sale (POS) transaction data. Embodiments of the invention compare the location of the POS transaction to the user's domicile location and if the transaction occurs a predetermined distance or greater from the domicile location, the user is determined to be travelling. Once the travelling determination is made, travel-location merchant offers are identified and communicated to the user.
US08694453B2
A dialogue control system that uses an ontology that systematically expresses domain knowledge representing concepts and relationships between concepts to determine questions for a user and implements the questions, and implements a dialogue in accordance with received user answers. One or more dimension-classified ontologies and a basic ontology are stored, a concept from a user response is specified as a condition, and one or a plural number of the dimension-classified ontologies that meet the specified condition are fetched. The content of the fetched dimension-classified ontology/ies is overwritten on the basic ontology, in order according to dimension priorities from the dimension-classified ontology with the lowest dimension priority, and a multidimensional ontology is generated. The dialogue control system uses this multidimensional ontology to control the dialogue.
US08694446B2
A contingency planning system apparatus including a world description subsystem responsive to data representing a description of the world related to a planning problem and configured to instantiate a plurality of world codelets in a codelet workspace. A coderack subsystem is responsive to a slipnet network and is configured to instantiate a plurality of codelets in the codelet workspace each having one or more slots for binding with binding sites of lower level codelets and configured to monitor constraint changes thereto and propagate those changes to any related codelets. A temperature subsystem is configured to detect when temperature in the codelet workspace has reached a predetermined level indicating a satisfactory solution to the planning problem has been achieved. A plan extractor is responsive to the temperature subsystem and is configured to extract one or more contingency plans from the codelet workspace when the predetermined temperature is reached and configured to cause the temperature subsystem change the temperature in the codelet workspace such that the plurality of codelets will develop new bindings representing new solutions to the planning problem.
US08694439B2
The present invention provides a method and system for a Global Internet Goal based Social Networking Platform—Linkagoal. The Linkagoal provides an organized online forum for setting goals and finding solution by mutually sharing knowledge, expertise and experience with the like-minded goal oriented other Linkagoal user. The user links one or more goals and the corresponding action items on the Linkagoal platform. The user completes specific actions required to complete his goals. The Linkagoal forum is configured to have features including, but not limited to, a Linkagoal Goal Meter, a Linkagoal Chat' Aura, that further includes a Chat' Aura Integrated, a Chat' Aura Station, and a Chat' Aura Mobile. These features facilitate the Linkagoal users to achieve their goals efficiently, and successfully. The utility of the present invention extends to numerous commercial and non-commercial applications.
US08694438B1
Payment tokens designed for display on a consumer's mobile device include dynamic trust data (e.g., transaction history and/or token generation date) along with financial account information, enabling merchants to make an informed decision about whether to accept payment without communication with the central processing system, and also protecting the consumer's account information from theft. In particular embodiments, a displayed token is used for payment via one communication channel (i.e., the merchant's network) but tokens are flagged for expiration via a different network (i.e., a public wireless telephone network).
US08694435B1
A system and method for interconnecting multiple point of sale devices creating a mesh-like network structure which reduces connectivity costs while providing greater reliability due to multiple network paths is disclosed. By linking point of sale devices within a virtual network, the need for individual connections to a point of sale controller is eliminated and alternative network paths are provided, thereby ensuring maximum up-time and optimal connection speeds.
US08694427B2
A number of memory spaces are defined for a memory structure. Transaction data is received, and financial transactions are scored based on the transaction data to generate a batch of scores for the financial transactions. A score range is divided into k bins, each of the k bins representing one memory space of the memory spaces of the memory structure. The batch of scores are aggregated by storing a count of each score in a memory space, and a percentile is computed for each score in the batch of scores based on a set of values associated with each score. Each new financial transaction is scored to generate a new score, and a new percentile is assigned to the new score according to the set of values. The new percentile is then translated to a calibration score with fixed percentile characteristics according to a fixed reference curve.
US08694416B2
A system and method for providing back-end functionality for order processing in electronic order book trading. A sell/buy order is received comprising a lower/upper limit and a conditional lower/upper limit defining a conditional selling/buying price range for executing the sell/buy order under certain selling/buying conditions. It is determined whether the selling/buying conditions are fulfilled, including determining whether the sum of the first and second part of the buy/sell order is superior or equal to a threshold volume. The sell/buy order and the buy/sell order are executed against each other if at least the selling/buying conditions are fulfilled. Embodiments allow rapidly executing large trading interests with minimized market impact and opportunity costs.
US08694413B1
Computer-based systems and methods that determine interest profiles of contacts of work product. The contact interest profiles may indicate the contacts' interests in particular topics of research work product and/or analyst teams within the research department that produced the research work product. The contacts' interest profiles may be determined based on research work product accessed by the contacts according to topic and/or analyst team that produced the research work product, the interaction of the contacts with the research department, and any other reliable information indicative of the contacts' topic and/or team interests. Also, research work product items produced by the entity may be rated for each contact based on, for example, the topic(s) of the research work product items and the analyst teams that produced the research work product items, as well as the contacts' topic and/or analyst team interests.
US08694411B2
A system and method for linking and managing linked orders are described. According to one method, a trader may first link two or more orders into a linked order, and then one or more parameters associated with one of the orders may be dynamically changed based on user inputs or information being received from an exchange. For example, a trader may link any two orders as an order cancel order, and each linked order may be associated with the same or different tradable objects, order quantities, and may be submitted to one or more exchanges. The order quantities may be then dynamically updated based on updates being received from the one or more exchanges and further based on a quantity ratio between the two orders. Further, the linked order may be submitted upon detecting a fill for another order.
US08694408B1
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, systems and securities for assuring a company an opportunity to sell stock after a specified time. More particularly, one embodiment relates to a method including the steps of: receiving data regarding the sale, by the first entity to a second entity, of a security comprising a post-paid forward contract which obligates the second entity to purchase a fixed number of shares stock of the first entity and debt; receiving data regarding the purchase, by the first entity from the second entity, of a prepaid forward contract which obligates the second entity to deliver to the first entity a variable number of shares of stock in the first entity; inputting a then current stock price associated with the stock of the first entity; and calculating a number of shares underlying the pre-paid forward contract.
US08694402B2
A system, method and computer program product creates an index based on accounting data, or a portfolio of financial objects based on the index where the portfolio is weighted according to accounting data. Indexes may be built with metrics other than market capitalization weighting, price weighting or equal weighting. Financial and non-financial metrics may be used to build indexes to create passive investment systems. A combination of financial non-market capitalization metrics may be used with non-financial metrics to create passive investment systems. Once built, the index may be used as a basis to purchase securities for a portfolio. Specifically excluded are widely-used capitalization-weighted and price-weighted indexes, in which price of a security contributes in a substantial way to calculation of weight of that security in the index or the portfolio, and equal weighting weighted indexes. The indexes may be constructed to minimize volatility.
US08694396B1
Methods and systems for an interactive media guidance application to prevent a user from experiencing an episodic advertisement out of order. Each episodic advertisement includes a plurality of advertisements intended to be viewed in an ordered sequence, and each advertisement of the sequence is part of a story that the episodic advertisement tells. The interactive media guidance application determines whether the user's viewing activity may cause the user to experience a particular advertisement of an episodic advertisement out of order, identifies an alternative advertisement of the episodic advertisement to present in place of the particular advertisement, and presents the alternative advertisement so as to prevent the user from experiencing the particular advertisement out of the ordered sequence of advertisements.
US08694392B2
An aggregation of functionality related to a product within an electronic catalog hosted by a wholesaler web system is provided by presenting on a client computing device a webpage in which a single product is directly associated with a single access point. The single access point provides a means by which plural wholesaler web system functions related to the single product are made available to a consumer. A listing of the plural wholesaler web system functions related to the single product is displayed within the webpage in response to an activation of the single access point by the consumer. In response to a selection by the consumer from the displayed listing the wholesaler web system initiates a performance of the one of the plural wholesaler web system functions so selected.
US08694391B2
The present invention relates to a method and system for configuring products, such as branded promotional products, where products may be divided into items and processes. Item parameters and process parameters may be separately specified and linked together to create a unique product where a product identifier (e.g., SKU) may be dynamically created when the product is sourced, quoted, ordered or otherwise accessed. For example, an item may involve a product to which an imprint or logo is to be affixed. A process may involve a screening printing process or other process for affixing a customer's artwork, logo or identifier. In addition, the method and system of the present invention may be applied to other applications, such as office supplies, furniture, aviation supplies, marine supplies, interior design, beauty salon and spa supplies, medical office supplies, restaurant and bar supplies, gift shops and clothing boutique, and other industries where products and services may be ordered.
US08694387B2
A method of providing published articles linked to geographical locations, the method including the steps of providing to a user a graphical user interface including a representation of a geographic area, providing selectable identifications of one or more remotely published articles relating to locations within the geographic area, receiving a selection of the one or more remotely published articles, facilitating transmission of the one or more remotely published articles to computer-readable memory, and facilitating display of the one or more remotely published articles.
US08694384B2
The method and system manages supply chain purchases of goods and services (G-S) using a distributed computer system coordinating interested customers with vendors who offer G-S. The system uses a database or accesses a vendor's database having default offer records which include G-S descriptions, price, payment terms, delivery data, and set-aside parameters. A sophisticated system includes customer specific offer records for approved customers with specific price, payment, delivery and set-aside parameters. Customers search the database, and if previously registered and accepted by the vendor, the customer can reserve a defined quantity of G-S in accordance with set-aside parameters, request a quote, and/or purchase G-S from the vendor. Further, the system rates the vendor and the customer based upon timely performance of, for the customer reservation followed by purchase of G-S within the defined quantity, and for the vendor, timely delivery of G-S and timely notice of customer acceptance.
US08694381B1
A PC lifecycle management (PCLCM) program assists an organization or set of organizations in the tracking and managing a PC inventory. At least one PC in the inventory is assigned to a primary user. The responsibilities regarding PC inventory tracking and maintenance are decentralized such that the primary user is responsible for tracking and maintaining accurate information regarding the PC assigned to the primary user. To support the decentralization, a computer-based tool is provided. The tool includes a database of information related to the PC inventory. The database has one or more records containing information regarding the PC assigned to the primary user. The tool also includes a PC validation component. The PC validation component includes processes and interfaces for accessing the database such that the primary user can view and update information in the database regarding the PC assigned to the primary user.
US08694367B2
Techniques are provided for allowing a user to access a coupon. In one approach, a social network coupon platform receives a request to display coupon data regarding a particular coupon that is provided by a coupon provider, wherein a user that is registered with a social network provider initiated the request. In response to receiving the request, sending the coupon data is sent form the social network coupon platform to be displayed to the user. Profile data that includes profile information of the user is received at the social network coupon platform from the social network provider. In response to receiving the profile data, the user is allowed access to the particular coupon.
US08694361B2
Systems and methods that identify and manage partner relationships are disclosed. A third-party trustee collects and processes confidential customer information from more than one interested parties. The third-party trustee acts as a neutral intermediary between the parties. The third-party trustee processes and analyzes the information received from the various parties to identify mutual and/or prospective customers between the interested parties. The processing results may then be used for further analysis to help at least one of the interested parties to improve their marketing efforts, risk management, and servicing of their customers.
US08694353B2
A method and device are provided for scheduling an event. Text is detected in a text application of a computing device. The detected text includes at least one keyword from one or more types of keyword. At least one event associated with a user of the computing device to be scheduled based on the detected text is determined. The at least one event is automatically scheduled based on the detected text.
US08694347B2
A knowledge base and methods for use in connection with a policy compliance monitoring system operative to determine exceptions to policies expressed by computer-executable policy statements. The system allows establishment, codification, and maintenance of enterprise policies, monitors electronic transactions of the enterprise from various and possibly heterogeneous data sources, detects exceptions to established policies, reports exceptions to authorized users such as managers and auditors, and/or provides a case management system for tracking exceptions and their underlying transactions. The knowledge base comprises extractor files that are utilized for extracting information from data sources for utilization in policy compliance monitoring, a mapper for normalizing data from the data sources against a system ontology and storing normalized data in a monitoring database, and computer-executable compliance policy statements used by a transaction analysis engine. The policy statements represent predetermined policies of the enterprise that apply to data stored in the monitoring database.
US08694344B2
The present invention provides a data management apparatus (i-Win (trademark)) which carries out centralized management of data containing data on each product during the management of product data having different data items to be handled and which has increased maintenance-ability in system and program(s).A data storage part 13 stores transaction data (contract data) including class ID (logic key) and data contents ID (variable). A data definition part 17 records data contents IDs and data contents (clause data) for each clause ID. A data processing means 15 acquires combination data of a data contents ID and data content from the data definition part 17 (definition body) in accordance with a class ID recorded in the data storage part 13 and performs processing which relates to data contents of a predetermined data item (contract condition). In this way, centralized management of plurality of product data having different product features from its clause and prospectus and the like can be carried out.
US08694342B2
Insurance policy management includes: interpreting an insurance product model to facilitate collecting supplemental policy-specific data, the insurance product model defining structures of a plurality of derived insurance policies; obtaining the supplemental policy-specific data; and performing an insurance-related action based at least in part on the supplemental policy-specific data.
US08694331B2
Various software features useable in a medical infusion pump are disclosed. In certain aspects, localized alarm and message handling systems are disclosed. In other aspects, variable intensity alarms are disclosed. In further aspects, cost tracking systems and methods for medical infusion pumps are disclosed. In still further aspects, methods and systems implementing a variable delay of pressure decay in a medical infusion pump are disclosed. In other aspects, methods and systems implementing a timed intermittent bolus by pressure are disclosed.
US08694330B2
Methods, computer program products, and systems are described that include measuring at least one effect of an inhalation device-dispensed bioactive agent and artificial sensory experience on an individual and modifying at least one of the inhalation device-dispensed bioactive agent or the artificial sensory experience at least partially based on the at least one effect.
US08694328B1
Systems and methods are provided that are directed to vehicle pre-acquisition activities, vehicle post-acquisition modification, customization and/or personalization, fleet management, including proactive fleet monitoring fleet services and/or vehicle, vehicle market and related analysis.
US08694323B2
The present invention provides a technique, by speech input, to specify a location, even when a name or the like of the location is not accurately known, while driving. An in-vehicle apparatus mounted in a vehicle has a speech recognition function, and stores information shown on a signboard and a noun substitute in storage. If speech inputted from a speech input device includes a noun substitute and further includes at least a part of the information shown on the signboard, a response is decided according to the information shown on the signboard, and the decided response is outputted from an output device.
US08694313B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for disambiguating contact information. A method includes receiving an audio signal, generating an affinity score based on a frequency with which a user has previously communicated with a contact associated with an item of contact information, and further based on a recency of one or more past interactions between the user and the contact associated with the item of contact information, inferring a probability that the user intends to initiate a communication using the item of contact information based on the affinity score generated for the item of contact information, and generating a communication initiation grammar.
US08694307B2
A method and apparatus for speech analysis, comprising detecting an at least one temporal characteristic of an at least one speech of an at least one speaker, and deducing an at least one quantitative score from the at least one temporal characteristic, where the at least one quantitative score indicates an at least one extent of an at least one behavioral aspect of the at least one speaker.
US08694306B1
A method of processing a signal, including taking a signal formed from a plurality of source signal emitters and expressed in an original domain, decomposing the signal into a mathematical representation of a plurality of constituent elements in an alternate domain, analyzing the plurality of constituent elements to associate at least a subset of the constituent elements with at least one of the plurality of source signal emitters, separating at least a subset of the constituent elements based on the association and reconstituting at least a subset of constituent elements to produce an output signal in at least one of the original domain, the alternate domain and another domain.
US08694298B2
Method and actuator system for a Kellyguard valve disposed in a drill string. The actuator system includes a sleeve that includes a cavity; an actuator disposed inside the cavity and configured to rotate the Kellyguard valve; first and second external regions of the sleeve having plural holes configured to receive a medium under pressure for actuating the actuator; a ring provided around the first and second external regions of the sleeve and configured to be fixed, the ring having first and second internal grooves facing the first and second external regions, respectively; and first and second seals provided inside the first and second grooves, respectively, at least one of the first and second seals being configured to not touch the first or second external regions of the sleeve when in a collapsed state and to touch the first or second external regions when in an inflated state.
US08694292B2
There is provided a system of estimating a building performance, the system comprising a memory configured to store instructions comprising a method of estimating the building performance and a processor interactively linked to the memory. The processor is configured to execute the method by designating a plurality of building performance variables for estimating the building performance, identifying an interaction network correlating a model building performance representative of the building performance with the designated plurality of building performance variables, selecting a known performance of at least one model structure as a proxy for the building performance, determining learned values for a plurality of initially unknown parameter values from the interaction network and the at least one model structure having the known performance, and utilizing the learned values in the interaction network to estimate the building performance.
US08694287B2
An optical system including at least one light source, such as a LED source (10), and an optics (30) subjected to aging as a result of exposure to the light source (10) is designed by: defining an aging model for the optics (30), defining a thermal model for the light source (10, 100) as a spatial function representative of the temperature generated by the light source (10, 100), and defining the distance of the optics (30) from the light source (10) as a function of the aging model and the thermal model. The optical overall system (single or multiple reflector and lens) is finally optimised starting from the results achieved in the previous steps.
US08694284B2
The invention provides a computer implemented method for designing a part. The method comprises a step of providing a surface and a base curve lying on the surface. The method also comprises a step of sampling the base curve into a list of base points. The method also comprises a step of determining a grid of points of perpendicular geodesic curves. The points of the grid each belong to a respective level. Each level of the grid corresponds to a respective geodesic distance to the base curve. Each perpendicular geodesic curve lies on the surface and departs perpendicularly from the base curve at a respective base point. The method then comprises a step of computing a plurality of parallel geodesic curves lying on the surface by using the grid of points. Each parallel geodesic curve corresponds to a respective level. A representation of the part is displayed.
US08694283B2
A method for predicting sensor output values of a machine sensor monitoring system includes providing a set of input sensor data X and a set of output sensor data Y for a plurality of sensors the monitor the performance of a machine, learning a functional relationship that maps the input sensor data to the output sensor data by maximizing a logarithm of a marginalized conditional probability function P(Y|X) where a dependence of the output sensor data Y with respect to unknown hidden machine inputs u has been marginalized, providing another set of input sensor data X′, and calculating expected values of the output sensor data Y′ using the input sensor data X′ and the marginalized conditional probability function P(Y|X′), where the calculated expectation values reflect the dependence of the output sensor data Y″ with respect to the unknown hidden machine inputs u.
US08694282B2
A method includes obtaining a first geo-location and a second geo-location. The first and second geo-locations are associated with a monitoring device. The monitoring device is configured to be used by a user. The first geo-location is determined at a first time and the second geo-location is determined at a second time. The first time and the second time are associated with a rate of obtaining geo-location data. The method includes calculating a difference in distance between the second and first geo-locations and changing the rate of obtaining a third geo-location associated with the monitoring device based on the difference in distance between the second and first geo-locations.
US08694278B2
A method for providing information handling system (IHS) security includes providing a plurality of monitored IHSs coupled to a monitoring IHS through a network. A physical lock status is determined for each of the plurality of monitored IHSs using a respective lock sensor located in each monitored IHS. The physical lock status is received by the monitoring IHS for each of the plurality of monitored IHSs over the network. A security report that includes the physical lock status for each of the plurality of monitored IHSs is created. The security report is displayed on a display coupled to the monitoring IHS.
US08694250B2
Computer-implemented methods and apparatus are presented for processing data collected by at least two receivers from multiple satellites of multiple Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), where at least one GNSS is Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). Data sets are obtained which comprise a first data set from a first receiver and a second data set from a second receiver. The first data set comprises a first FDMA data set and the second data set comprises a second FDMA data set. At least one of a code bias and a phase bias may exist between the first FDMA data set and the second FDMA data set. At least one receiver-type bias is determined, to be applied when the data sets are obtained from receivers of different types. The data sets are processed, based on the at least one receiver-type bias, to estimate carrier floating-point ambiguities. Carrier integer ambiguities are determined from the floating-point ambiguities. The scheme enables Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) carrier phase ambiguities to be resolved and used in a combined FDMA/Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)(e.g., GLONASS/Global Positioning System (GPS) centimeter-level solution. It is applicable to real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning, high-precision post-processing of positions and network RTK positioning.
US08694240B1
A map editing system for visually indicating the location of GPS devices on a map and identifying paths from the map. GPS data is received from a plurality of GPS devices. The data is filtered based parameters including the speed of the GPS devices. The filtered GPS data is displayed on a map using representations that visually indicate the location of the GPS devices that the data was received from. The representations can then be used for identifying and creating new paths on the map.
US08694236B2
A radar unit emits beams, and receives a reflection beam reflected by an object. A position of the object relative to a vehicle and an attribute of the object are recognized based on the emitted beams and the reflection beam. A coordinate position of the vehicle in an absolute coordinate is calculated based on a traveling amount of the vehicle, and a coordinate position of the object is calculated based on the calculated position of the vehicle and the position of the object relative to the vehicle. A road environment of the vehicle is recognized based on the coordinate positions and the attribute of the object.
US08694232B2
An object of the invention is to predict energy consumptions of a vehicle, using geographic characteristic values which are independent from particular driving patterns and vehicle parameters and unique to respective links. A navigation server predicts energies which are consumed when a vehicle runs on links. The navigation server calculates geographic characteristic values of respective links, the geography of the each link affecting the consumption energy with the geographic characteristic values, the calculation being based on energy consumptions collected from probe vehicles, and calculates predicted energy consumption of each link selected as a processing target, based on the geographic characteristic values. A navigation terminal obtains these predicted energy consumptions and performs route search with the obtained predicted energy consumptions as costs.
US08694226B2
A control apparatus for an internal-combustion engine includes a diagnosis device. The diagnosis device includes a determination section and an exhaust flow rate calculator configured to calculate an exhaust flow rate that reflects a volume flow amount of exhaust gas. A filter is configured to filter a signal representing an air-fuel ratio so that a 0.5th-order frequency component of engine speed is extracted from the signal. An integrator is configured to accumulate a filtered signal for a predetermined period of time to compute an integration value. A corrector is configured to correct the integration value to compute a corrected integration value each time the integration value is computed by the integrator. The determination section is configured to determine that cylinder-to-cylinder air-fuel ratio imbalance occurs in cylinders if the corrected integration value is greater than a predetermined threshold value after the predetermined period of time has elapsed.
US08694222B2
A collision avoidance system and method that may be used to prevent, avoid and/or mitigate a collision between a host vehicle and a target vehicle by engaging in autonomous braking once an imminent crash is detected. Unlike other methods that are only capable of autonomous braking according to predetermined and static brake commands, the present method may use dynamic brake commands throughout an autonomous braking event so that the deceleration of the host vehicle can be continuously adjusted such that it concludes at a reasonable distance away from the target vehicle. According to one example, the collision avoidance system maintains a relative distance (Δd) and/or a relative velocity (Δv) between the host and target vehicles during the autonomous braking event.
US08694219B2
The invention relates to a process of ending a clutch protection function against overload of an automated clutch. The clutch protection function is ended when, by actuating the gas- and brake pedals, an absolute value of a brake pedal signal falls below a default threshold value and the time derivative of the brake pedal signal is negative.
US08694218B2
The present invention provides a method of selecting and implementing a shift schedule for a transmission in a vehicle that includes an output speed sensor and a controller. The method includes measuring output speed with the output speed sensor and comparing the measured output speed to an output speed threshold. The controller receives throttle percentage and compares the throttle percentage to a throttle threshold. The method also includes calculating output acceleration and transmission gear ratio with the controller. The shift schedule is selected based on the measured output speed, calculated output acceleration, calculated transmission gear ratio, and throttle percentage.
US08694217B2
The present invention is directed to a method and system for adjusting a gear map. The present invention can be an automobile including a continuously variable transmission system, an ignition detecting ignition data, and/or a display unit. The continuously variable transmission system can include a continuously variable transmission, a memory storing a gear map including virtual gears, a gear adjustment mode input unit detecting gear adjustment mode data, and/or a processor. The processor can control the continuously variable transmission to operate at a desired engine speed for a specific automobile speed using the gear map. The processor can adjust the gear map using the gear adjustment mode data, and/or the ignition data. The processor can control the display unit to display information to prompt the user to supply the gear adjustment mode data.
US08694216B2
A method for control of a gearbox, installed in a motor vehicle (1): The method effects a downshift of the gearbox (20) from a first gear (G1), for which the acceleration α of the vehicle (1) is negative, to a second gear (G2), for which the acceleration α is positive or substantially equal to nil. The downshift involves at least one intermediate gear step between the first gear (G1) and the second gear (G2), using an engine speed ωG1 in the first gear (G1) as an input parameter when effecting the downshift. Also a system, a motor vehicle, a computer program and a computer program product for performing the method are disclosed.
US08694215B2
A gear ratio control unit is provided to set a target gear ratio on the basis of an operating condition of the vehicle. The gear ratio control unit controls a drive amount of a step motor such that an actual gear ratio converges with the target gear ratio, and when a deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold, controls the gear ratio by controlling the drive amount of the step motor such that a predetermined gear ratio is maintained. The gear ratio control unit determines the predetermined threshold on the basis of the actual gear ratio upon detection of an operation of a brake.
US08694212B2
A vehicle speed estimator includes a unit that selects a minimum rotation speed among rotation speeds of wheels detected by a rotation speed detector and calculates a reference wheel speed of a construction vehicle at every predetermined time. The unit includes: a variable filter processor that performs a low-pass filter processing to the minimum rotation speed, the variable filter processor having a variable time constant; and a time constant changer that changes the time constant of the variable filter processor in accordance with travel conditions of the construction vehicle.
US08694210B2
A saddle riding type vehicle that reduces steering pull of a handle caused by a disturbance and also prevents degradation in a steering feeling includes a detector that detects a steering angle of a steering shaft, a steering damper, and a control device. The steering damper is arranged around the steering shaft and includes an electromagnet, a magnetic member, and a magnetic fluid stored in a gap between the electromagnet and the magnetic member. The control device includes a steering angular velocity determiner adapted to determine a steering angular velocity based on a steering angle detected by the detector, an instructor adapted to instruct a supply of current to the electromagnet for a first reference time when the determined steering angular velocity exceeds a first reference velocity and to instruct a stopping or reduction of the current supply after the first reference time elapses, and a driver that supplies the electromagnet with current in response to an instruction from the instructor.
US08694208B2
A vehicle behavior control apparatus including a deceleration control mechanism decelerating the vehicle to reduce a deviation between a target turning index value, which is determined based on a steering angle of the vehicle, and an actual turning index value. The deceleration control mechanism reduces the decrease gradient of the deceleration when a roll motion index value of the vehicle exceeds a threshold roll motion index value.
US08694207B2
Methods, systems, and computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a vehicle. One system includes a plurality of sensors, an occupant restraint system, and a controller. The plurality of sensors are configured to sense operating parameters of the vehicle, and the occupant restraint system is configured to sense data about cargo located in the vehicle. The controller is configured to obtain the data about the cargo located in the vehicle, determine a control adjustment to account for an impact of the cargo on the vehicle's center of gravity based on the data about the cargo, and control the vehicle based on the control adjustment.
US08694200B2
An advice provision apparatus calculates the driving condition of the vehicle for every predetermined travel section, for the purpose of comparison with the driving condition in the previous travel section. The driving condition of the current section is evaluated in a relative manner based on the comparison of at least two travel sections, even when the absolute assessment of the driving condition is difficult. Thus, the advice provision apparatus can accurately and precisely diagnose the driving condition of the driver.
US08694188B2
A motor torque control device of an electrically-driven vehicle equipped with a motor serving as a driving source, is configured to limit an output of the motor when both a brake pedal and an accelerator pedal of the electrically-driven vehicle are stepped. A motor limit torque, which is an upper limit value of a command torque for the motor, is changed depending on a vehicle velocity of the electrically-driven vehicle detected by a vehicle velocity detecting unit and a stepping amount of the brake pedal detected by a brake pedal stepping amount detecting unit.
US08694185B2
A discharge control apparatus in an electric motorcycle includes a main battery; a motor driven based upon electric power supplied from the main battery and a lighting device that is a load other than the motor for consuming electric power. A BMU determines a remaining capacity of the main battery. A control member performs a discharge control of the main battery for supplying electric power to the motor and the lighting device. The BMU and the control member allow the discharge of the main battery until the remaining capacity becomes a threshold value higher than zero. When the control member receives an instruction of checking a deterioration state of the main battery from an external checking device, the control member performs a discharge of the main battery until the remaining capacity reaches zero, and then, allows the main battery to be fully charged so as to determine a chargeable capacity.
US08694182B2
A flight control system includes an Acceleration and Attitude Command/Velocity Hold mode (AACVH) algorithm which blends attitude commands with acceleration commands. This blending determines a trim attitude for a given rotorcraft flight condition.
US08694181B2
A method of calibrating an outflow valve on an aircraft may include determining if the aircraft has reached a predetermined cruise condition. The outflow valve may be moved until a closed position is reached, if the aircraft has reached the predetermined cruise condition. An actual position feedback value of the outflow valve may be determined while the aircraft is in the predetermined cruise condition. An offset calibration factor may be determined from the actual position feedback value of the outflow valve relative to a theoretical value.
US08694172B2
Systems and devices for controlling power generation are provided. One system may include an electrical generator controller. The controller may include a filter component, a frequency response schedule component, and a rate limiter component. The filter component may receive a power grid frequency signal and output the frequency signal when the frequency signal is outside a frequency band. The frequency response schedule component may determine an ultimate target power contribution using the filtered frequency signal, the ultimate target power contribution representing an ultimate amount of power contribution that the electrical generator should provide in a primary frequency response. The rate limiter component may determine an immediate target power contribution signal that varies over time and approaches the ultimate target power contribution. Thus, the controller may control the approach rate and/or arrival time, and so forth, of the primary frequency response to a power grid frequency disturbance.
US08694170B2
Provided is a gas turbine operation control device and operation control method that are capable of suppressing turbine inlet temperature and of satisfying the demand response for shaft output. An IGV emergency fully-open flag is activated when the output of a generator is in a high load band at or above a predetermined value, and the like. When the IGV emergency fully-open flag is activated, the degree of opening of an inlet guide vane is set to a predetermined degree of opening, a temperature adjustment setting is set by switching in accordance with the degree of opening of the inlet guide vane, and an exhaust gas temperature setting value or a blade path temperature setting value of a turbine, for controlling the fuel supply amount for a combustor, is generated based on the temperature adjustment setting.
US08694157B2
A remote workstation for the control of percutaneous intervention devices is provided. The remote workstation includes a control system for remotely and independently controlling at least two percutaneous intervention devices. The control system includes at least one input device to control the percutaneous intervention devices. The control system controls movement of at least one of the percutaneous intervention devices along at least two degrees of freedom. The remote workstation also includes a graphical user interface for displaying icons representative of the operational status of each of the percutaneous intervention devices.
US08694151B2
A removal apparatus for the removal of containers from a stream of containers moved in groups or lanes of a container treatment plant. The removal apparatus utilizes a suction cup of a handling element to remove containers in an undesired orientation out of a stream of containers.
US08694144B2
A difference between a first expected required polish time for a first substrate and a second expected required polish time for a second substrate is determined using a first pre-polish thickness and a second pre-polish thickness measured at an in-line metrology station. A duration of an initial period is determined based on the difference between the first expected required polish time and the second expected required polish time. For the initial period at a beginning of a polishing operation, no pressure is applied to whichever of the first substrate and the second substrate has a lesser expected required polish time while simultaneously pressure is applied to whichever of the first substrate and the second substrate has a greater expected required polish time. After the initial period, pressure is applied to both the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08694139B2
An information processing apparatus includes: a storage unit storing content data and first group identification information for identifying first groups in which the content data are arranged in a predetermined unit; a parameter output unit outputting a parameter representing an amount of displacement of an operating object in response to an operation on the operating object which can be displaced in a predetermined range by a user's operation; a selection unit sequentially selecting the content data while the parameter is in a first range and sequentially selecting the first groups by sequentially selecting the first group identification information stored in the storage unit while the parameter is a value in a second range; and a notification unit notifying what content data is selected when the content data are selected by the selection unit and notifying what group is selected when the first groups are selected by the selection unit.
US08694138B2
A sound data processing apparatus includes a central processing unit for controlling predetermined processing in the apparatus, a rewritable RAM, a decoder performing the decoding processing for sound data, and an interface unit for being fitted with an external memory. The sound data processing apparatus reads a driver from the external memory mounted in the interface unit and stores the read driver into the RAM, and reads the sound data from the external memory with the driver and processes the read sound data. As a result, the wastefully using of the memory capacity of the memory mounted in the sound data processing apparatus is reduced.
US08694133B2
A method is provided for controlling a machining operation wherein a tool performs a machining operation on a workpiece. The method includes providing a tool holder for holding a tool, a workpiece holder for holding a work piece, and a linear slide for linearly moving a linearly moving part that is either the tool or the workpiece. The step of selecting appropriate machining parameters includes the step of selecting an appropriate feed rate for the linear slide move the linear moving part and appropriate rotational speed is selected for the rotator to rotate the rotating part. The set of appropriate machining parameters are incorporated into the digital controller. The digital controller is then used to control the operation of a linear slide, rotator and modulator to execute the machining of the workpiece by the tool in accordance with a selected appropriate set of parameters.
US08694132B2
An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method improves the performance of an extremum seeking control strategy by limiting, removing or preventing the effects of an actuator saturation condition, particularly as the extremum seeking control strategy relates to HVAC applications.
US08694127B2
An electrical stimulation lead includes a lead body insertable into a patient. Electrodes are disposed along the lead body. The electrodes include at least two sets of segmented electrodes. Each set of segmented electrodes includes a first segmented electrode and a second segmented electrode radially spaced apart from one another around a circumference of the lead body. A tab is disposed on the first segmented electrode of each set of segmented electrodes. The tabs extend into the lead body. A guide feature is disposed on the tabs. The guide features are each radially aligned with one another along the length of the lead body. Conductors extend along the length of the lead body from a proximal end to the electrodes. Each of the conductors is electrically coupled to at least one of the electrodes. At least one of the conductors extends through the radially-aligned guide features of the tabs.
US08694125B2
Medical leads have one or more openly coiled filars and a distal body coupled to the openly coiled filars. The openly coiled filars provide a lead with compliance and elasticity while the distal body provides the firmness needed for placement and support of the electrodes. The openly coiled filars transition to a linear distal portion that extends to the distal body, and the distal body has proximal tines that fold proximally to a collapsed state. The linear distal portions of the filars pass through the tines when entering the distal body. Placing tension on the linear distal portions causes the tines to be rotated proximally to the collapsed state. Such tension may be created by a stylet pressing distally against the distal body during implantation. Such tension may also be created by applying a force in the proximal direction to the coiled filars during explantation.
US08694117B2
By incorporating magnetic field sensing coils in an external charger, it is possible to determine the position of an implantable device by sensing the reflected magnetic field from the implant. In one embodiment, two or more field sensing coils are arranged to sense the reflected magnetic field. By comparing the relative reflected magnetic field strengths of the sensing coils, the position of the implant relative to the external charger can be determined. Audio and/or visual feedback can then be communicated to the patient to allow the patient to improve the alignment of the charger.
US08694115B2
A programming device used to program delivery of therapy to a patient by a medical device, such as an implantable neurostimulator or pump, maintains or accesses a programming history for the patient. The programming history may take the form of a record of programs, e.g., combinations of therapy parameters, tested during one or more prior programming sessions. The programming device may analyze, or otherwise use the programming history to provide guidance information to a user, such as a clinician, which may assist the user in more quickly identifying one or more desirable programs during a current programming session.
US08694113B2
A method of fitting an auditory stimulation system to a recipient the system having a plurality of channels, and the method including the steps of establishing an initial current level profile representative of a current level setting spanning across at least some of the plurality of channels and adjusting parameters of the initial current level profile in the presence of a stimulation signal. There is further included a programming apparatus adapted to be interfaced with the auditory stimulation system to allow manipulation of threshold (T) and comfort (C) levels of the system. The apparatus includes a graphical display means adapted to display a graphical representation of the current profile of the channel array and means for adjusting a current level setting of the current profile of the array.
US08694112B2
An exemplary method of fitting a bilateral cochlear implant patient using a single sound processor includes a fitting subsystem using a first sound processor associated with a first cochlear implant to selectively fit the first cochlear implant and a second cochlear implant to a cochlear implant patient, automatically segregating fitting data generated during the fitting of the first cochlear implant from fitting data generated during the fitting of the second cochlear implant, and transmitting the fitting data generated during the fitting of the second cochlear implant to a second sound processor associated with the second cochlear implant after the fitting of the second cochlear implant to the cochlear implant patient is completed. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.
US08694106B2
This is a neurostimulator that is configured to treat epilepsy and other neurological disorders using certain stimulation strategies, particularly changing various pulse parameters, during the imposition of a burst of those pulses. The invention includes the processes embodying those stimulation strategies.
US08694097B2
An implantable medical device uses an implantable sensor for acquiring a physiological signal that is received by a digital signal processor. The digital signal processor is a multi-channel signal processor including a first signal processing channel having a first sensitivity for sensing the physiological signal and a second signal processing channel having a second sensitivity different than the first sensitivity for sensing the physiological signal.
US08694091B2
A bolus for use in a ruminant animal's reticulum includes a cavity (100) configured to receive ruminal fluids present in the stomach. The cavity has walls (110) of a dielectric material and is encircled by a coil member (120), which is configured to subject the ruminal fluids to an electro-magnetic field. A Sensor element (310) measures the electromag-netic field's influence on the ruminal fluids and thus register an electromagnetic property representative of an acidity level of said fluids. A transmitter (410) transmits a wireless output signal (SD) reflecting the acidity measure.
US08694086B2
An apparatus for non-invasively measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) in a conscious ambulatory subject includes an electrically conductive platform. The electrically conductive platform establishes an electrical connection with the subject at one of a position forward (e.g., rostral to) or a position rearward (e.g., caudal to) the heart. An additional electrical connection is established at the other of a position forward (e.g., rostral to) or a position rearward (e.g., caudal to) on the subject. The position rearward to (e.g., caudal to) the heart can be the tail of the subject. The additional electrical connection can be established by a movable electrode, an electrically conductive ringlet, an additional electrically conductive platform, a region of conductive material, an electrically conductive dome, a food element, or one or more electrically conductive posts.
US08694082B2
An implantable medical device is provided for detecting transportless ventricular rhythm of a heart lacking atrial transport and comprises a housing, sensors configured to be located proximate to a heart, a sensing module to sense cardiac signals representative of a rhythm originating from the heart and a rhythm detection module. The rhythm detection module determines a change in AV association and identifies a potential ventricular complex with loss of atrial transport (VCLAT) based on the change in AV association.
US08694073B2
Methods and systems are described for determining, in a patient that suffers from a mood disorder (e.g., depression), a propensity of the patient to manifest reduced symptoms or levels of indicators of the mood disorder in response to a psychiatric treatment. This can involve determining levels of a marker (e.g., a metabolite) indicative of a brain bioenergetic state of the patient that is predictive of whether the patient will response favorably to an antidepression treatment. Such bioenergetic state markers, tending to normalize in response to antidepression therapy, can include, e.g., a pH, a magnesium level, and a phosphorus level. Brain levels of such markers can be determined by, e.g., 31P MRS.
US08694071B2
Direct optical imaging of anatomical features and structures from within a biological organ in a dynamic environment (where the tissue being imaged is in motion due to cardiac rhythms, respiration, etc) presents certain image stability issues due (and/or related) to the motion of the target structure and may limit the ability of the user to visually interpret the image for the purposes of diagnostics and therapeutics. Systems and mechanisms for the purpose of actively stabilizing the image or for compiling and re-displaying the image information in a manner that is more suitable to interpretation by the user are disclosed.
US08694070B2
An applicator for applying an electrode to a patient, and a system for recording of the electroencephalographic potential, the evoked potential, and the ground and reference potentials in electroenceophalographic and evoked potential measurements, is disclosed herein. The applicator includes a main body and a plunger unit.
US08694063B2
A radio-frequency (RF) device for a wireless communication device includes an antenna disposition area, and a plurality of antennas of a same type, formed in the antenna disposition area by different arrangements, for receiving or transmitting a plurality of wireless signals of a same frequency band.
US08694062B2
A device includes an upper unit having a display screen thereon and a first slidable unit having a first keypad thereon. The first slidable unit is slidably connected to the upper unit on a side opposite the display screen. The first slidable unit is movable between a closed position in which the upper unit generally overlies the first keypad and an open position in which the first keypad is positioned generally adjacent the display screen. A second slidable unit has a second keypad thereon. The second slidable unit is slidably connected to the upper unit and the first slidable unit. The second slidable unit is movable between a closed position in which the upper unit generally overlies the second keypad and an open position in which the second keypad is positioned generally adjacent the display screen.
US08694061B2
The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for reducing power consumption of a receiver in a mobile communication network comprising a sender transmitting packet data on a downlink channel to one or more receivers over a radio interface. Inactive time instants and listening time instants are defined according to provided rules. The receiver is arranged to listen for information from the sender during the listening time instants and to sleep during the inactive time instants. Thus, less power will be consumed during the inactive time instants.
US08694059B2
According to an aspect, a mobile communication device includes a housing, a speaker, a microphone, a detecting unit, and a processing unit. The speaker is provided in the housing, and outputs an incoming voice according to an incoming voice signal. The microphone is provided in the housing. The microphone receives an outgoing voice and outputs an outgoing voice signal in response to reception of the outgoing voice. The detecting unit detects vibration of the housing and outputs a housing-vibration signal indicating the vibration of the housing. The processing unit performs echo cancellation to the outgoing voice signal based on the incoming voice signal and the housing-vibration signal.
US08694052B1
The communication device comprising a voice communication implementer, an auto time adjusting implementer, a moving picture replaying implementer, a multiple language mode implementer, and a remote control implementer.
US08694050B2
A system that facilitates detecting, analyzing, and selectively enabling mobility management messages in connection with providing dual mode services comprises a receiver component that receives a mobility management message from an enterprise network. An analysis component communicatively coupled to the receiver component determines a type of the mobility management message and further determines whether or not to allow a mobility management transaction corresponding to the mobility management message based at least in part upon the determined type.
US08694045B2
A radio communication apparatus including: a radio interface; and a processor configured to control the radio interface to transmit a Ranging signal to a base station and to control a transmission power level of the Ranging signal; when the processor controls the radio interface to retransmit the Ranging signal, the retransmission includes a first phase and a second phase, the first phase in which the processor controls the radio interface to retransmit the Ranging signal at substantially a same transmission power level as at the time of initial transmission, or performs substantially a same calculation as that made at the time of the initial transmission of the Ranging signal and retransmits the Ranging signal at the calculated transmission power level, the second phase in which the processor increases the transmission power level and retransmits the Ranging signal at the increased transmission power level.
US08694037B1
Method for optimizing the delay spread performance of a radio receiver (200) includes evaluating (306) a delay spread environment to determine if a desired RF signal is being received under conditions of low delay spread or high delay spread. If a low delay spread condition, the baseband digital data signal is filtered using a narrow filter (310). Otherwise, the signal is filtered using a wide bandwidth filter (312) having a bandwidth wider than the narrow filter. The center frequency of the wide bandwidth filter is selectively shifted (316, 320) in accordance with a predetermined frequency offset if a second received power level of an interfering signal in an adjacent channel exceeds the first received power level by a predetermined threshold amount. This frequency shift of the filter allows for improved delay spread performance while minimizing any performance degradation when an interfering signal is present on an adjacent channel.
US08694036B2
An apparatus and a method provide for uplink interference coordination in a radio communication system, such as a cellular communication system. Measurements are made at mobile stations associated with uplink-channel interference conditions. Reports are made to the network when a mobile station experiences interference conditions beyond a measurement threshold. If greater than a group-threshold number of mobile stations experience high levels of uplink-channel interference, communication resources are reallocated in compensation for the high interference conditions.
US08694033B2
A system and method is described for providing a dynamic interactive skin to at least one communications device. The dynamic interactive skin can be used to select one or more items. The items may be selected to send a message to at least one contact, send a vote for at least one contestant in a media program, send a vote for at least one ending of a media program, purchase an item in a store, preorder a product such as a meal or preorder a service such as a movie ticket, and perform various other wireless commerce functions.
US08694024B2
Methods and systems that facilitate data delivery to electronic devices are disclosed. One aspect pertains to data delivery to electronic devices that are portable, such as, mobile devices. In one embodiment, one mobile device discovers another mobile device within its vicinity. The mobile devices can then wirelessly transmit data from one mobile device to the other. The mobile devices, or their users, can control, request or influence the particular data content being delivered.
US08694021B2
A system and method to append an advertisement to a Short Messaging Service (SMS) message. The system, which is implemented in a communication network with an SMS, includes two units, a first unit to identify a message recipient's subscription status to determine whether the recipient is subscribed to receive advertisement based SMS, and a second unit that appends an advertisement to the identified message before delivery to the message's recipient. First, the first unit identifies whether the intended recipient of an SMS message is subscribed to receive advertisement based SMS. Second, the first unit routes a request to the second unit to insert an advertisement into the identified SMS message. Third, the second unit appends an advertisement to the SMS message. Lastly, the second unit routes the modified message to the SMS in the network for delivery to the recipient's device.
US08694015B2
A network system, a femtocell, a femtocell management apparatus, a resource allocation method and a computer program product thereof are provided. The network system comprises a piece of user equipment, a femtocell and a femtocell management apparatus. The user equipment is configured to transmit a request. The femtocell communicates with the user equipment and is configured to receive the request and establish an interference figure. The femtocell management apparatus communicates with the femtocell and is configured to receive the request and the interference figure and perform resource allocation to allocate a resource block to the request signal according to the request and the interference figure so that the femtocell and the user equipment may perform signal transmission according to the resource block.
US08694004B2
A mobile station in a communication system for sending packets, to which numbers indicating sequence are attached, from a base station to a mobile station and performing delivery of the packets in order of the sequence number in the mobile station, includes a buffer which stores packets received from both a source base station and a target base station; and a control unit which performs the delivery of the stored packets in order of the sequence number at the handover procedure based on information indicating whether packets which are not sent from the source base station to the mobile station, are forwarded from a source base station to a target base station is set, the information being received from the source base station.
US08694002B1
A method and system is disclosed for including an IMSI in an EVDO access request. When an access terminal determines that any access request it makes will be sent to a micro-type base station, the access terminal will include its IMSI in any EVDO access request. When a micro-type base station receives an EVDO access request containing an IMSI of the requesting access terminal, the micro-type base station will use the included IMSI to establish and identify a data connection to a PDSN.
US08693970B2
In an exemplary embodiment, a phased array antenna comprises multiple subcircuits in communication with multiple radiating elements. The radio frequency signals are independently adjusted for both polarization control and beam steering. In a receive embodiment, multiple RF signals of various polarizations are received and combined into at least one receive beam output. In a transmit embodiment, at least one transmit beam input is divided and transmitted through multiple radiating elements, with the transmitted beams having various polarizations. In an exemplary embodiment, the phased array antenna provides multi-beam formation over multiple operating frequency bands. The wideband nature of the active components allows for operation over multiple frequency bands simultaneously.
US08693962B2
An embodiment of the invention is a predistortion approach to linearize a power amplifier by using one or more analog multiplier(s) and a DSP-based processor. For the analog embodiment, the inherent nature of the analog circuitries allows digital predistortion processing structured directly at the RF band, and enables a single power amplifier to support multi-modulation schemes, multi-carriers and multi-channels. As a result, the predistortion architecture is particularly suitable for wireless transmission systems, such as base-stations, repeaters, and indoor signal coverage systems. The wireless system performance can be improved and upgraded just by using the new PA module rather than change or rebuild new subsystem in existing base station. The analog embodiment can also mix and match its analog multipliers with other analog components such as phase splitters, phase shifters, attenuators, filters, couplers, mixers, low-noise amplifiers, buffers, envelope detectors, and etc., to provide additional features.
US08693961B2
In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a circuit comprises a balun configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal at a first input port and a second input port of an input coil. The balun is further configured to output the RF signal at an output coil communicatively coupled to the input coil. The circuit also comprises a supply voltage selector circuit coupled to the input coil and configured to adjust a bias voltage at the input coil according to a power level of the RF signal received at the input coil.
