US08731907B2
A method and apparatus for estimating speech intelligibility in a mobile communications network component handling two-way communication between two ends of a signal path. Test signals adapted for speech intelligibility measurements are inserted into the signal path to simulate two-way communication. Double-talk is detected during the communication, and speech intelligibility measurements are performed only during periods of double-talk. This enables the effect of echo to be taken into account while avoiding undesirable effects from non-linear processing, and comfort noise if present, in the signal path. Voice enhancement devices may then be adjusted in response to the estimated speech intelligibility.
US08731896B2
A virtual testbed for system verification test is provided in which emulated responses are associated with certain steps of a system verification test. The emulated responses can be manually entered or populated with previous test results obtained from execution of the emulation-enabled steps on a real testbed. When the emulation-enabled steps are executed, the system verification test uses the emulated responses as the responses corresponding to the actions of the emulation-enabled steps as if the steps were executed on the real testbed, without actually executing the emulation-enabled steps on the real testbed. Therefore, the virtual testbed of the present invention allows development of test scripts for system verification test without constant, actual access to the real testbed.
US08731893B2
An arithmetic device calculates the surface potential of a silicon layer by performing computation based on a mathematical expression and device parameters stored in a storage device. Likewise, the arithmetic device calculates the surface potential of a bulk layer under a buried oxide film when the silicon layer is in a partially depleted state and when the silicon is in a fully depleted state. The arithmetic device then performs computation based on the calculated surface potential of the silicon layer, the calculated surface potential of the bulk layer, and mathematical expressions stored in the storage device, and obtains the surface potential of the bulk layer by iterative calculation. The arithmetic device performs computation based on the surface potential of the bulk layer obtained by iterative calculation and mathematical expressions stored in the storage device, and calculates the lower surface potential of the silicon layer.
US08731891B2
Reservoir properties or attributes such as water saturation, porosity and permeability are determined directly at each cell of a three dimensional grid of a subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir. Input parameters based on original data from petrophysical measurements and other attributes of the reservoir and its subsurface features are generated over a range of uncertainties for the individual cells. The predicted input parameters for the individual cells are provided as processing inputs for petrophysical algorithms. The input parameters at different measures of possible uncertainties for the cells of the reservoir are processed using cluster computers to determine on a cell-by-cell basis a number of possible scenarios or results for the reservoir attributes of interest. The determinations made for the different scenarios can then be assembled as postulated models for sections of interest of the reservoir grid, and the postulated models evaluated to more accurately obtain reservoir attributes over the reservoir, even for areas where no well intersects the reservoir.
US08731886B2
A simulator (10) for estimating a life of a speed reducer includes a rotation speed and load calculator (21) for simulating the operation program of a robot (12) and calculating the rotation speed of the robot speed reducers (G1-Gm) and the load exerted on the individual speed reducers; a storage (22) for chronologically correlating the rotation speed and the load and storing the rotation speed and the load; a speed reducer life calculator (23) for calculating the life of the individual speed reducers, based on the rotation speed and the load; an operating ratio setter (24) for setting an operating ratio of the robot; and a speed reducer life estimator (25) for estimating the life of the speed reducers, based on the life of the individual speed reducers and the operating ratio.
US08731882B2
Improved convergence in the volume-integral method (VIM) of calculating electromagnetic scattering properties of a structure is achieved by numerically solving a volume integral equation for a vector field, F, rather than the electric field, E. The electric field, E, is determined from the vector field, F, after solving of the volume integral equation. The vector field, F, may be related to the electric field, E, by a change of basis, and may be continuous at material boundaries where the electric field, E, has discontinuities. Convolutions of the vector field, F, are performed using convolution operators according to the finite Laurent rule, which allows for efficient matrix-vector products using Fast Fourier Transforms. An invertible convolution-and-change-of-basis operator, C, is configured to transform the vector field, F, to the electric field, E, by performing a change of basis according to material and geometric properties of the periodic structure.
US08731875B2
There is provided a system and method for providing a visualization of data describing a physical structure. An exemplary method comprises defining an unstructured grid that corresponds to a three-dimensional physical structure, the unstructured grid comprising data representative of a property of interest. The exemplary method also comprises defining a probe as an object that comprises a set of topological elements, at least one of which does not share a common plane. The exemplary method additionally comprises providing a visualization of the unstructured grid data on the geometry defined by the probe.
US08731872B2
There is provided a system and method for providing a visualization of data describing a physical structure. An exemplary method comprises defining an unstructured grid that corresponds to a three-dimensional physical structure, the unstructured grid comprising data representative of a property of interest. The exemplary method also comprises defining a probe as an object that comprises a set of topological elements, at least one of which does not share a common plane. The exemplary method additionally comprises providing a visualization of the unstructured grid data on the geometry defined by the probe.
US08731859B2
An apparatus, consisting of a rolling element, which is resting on a surface, and a force-sensing device, which is coupled to the surface. The force-sensing device is configured to make a first measurement indicative of a force exerted in a direction perpendicular to the surface. The force is exerted by a force-sensing probe pressing against the rolling element so as to hold the rolling element stationary. The apparatus further includes a calibration processor, which is configured to collect the first measurement from the sensing device, to collect a second measurement indicative of the force from the force-sensing probe, and to calibrate the force-sensing probe based on the first and second measurements.
US08731855B2
A method and device for monitoring the noise from a sensor and a use of the method in automobiles for determining a frictional value between tires of a motor vehicle and a road surface, in particular an economical and reliable method for monitoring a sensor noise and a corresponding device for obtaining, amongst other things, system-relevant information may be achieved, wherein an influence on spectral components of the sensor noise signal is determined and compared with set values.
US08731852B2
A method for the evaluative analysis of a photovoltaic layer system is described. The method applies to a semiconductor layer forming a pn junction: an electric current is generated in the layer system; a spatially resolved thermal image of the surface of the layer system is generated; an intensity distribution of the thermal radiation relative to the respective number of pixels with the same intensity value is determined; an intensity mean/median from the intensity distribution is determined; an intensity interval based on a specifiable measure for a scattering of the intensity distribution is determined; a characteristic number is determined; and the characteristic number or a calculation value based thereon is compared with a specifiable reference characteristic number.
US08731848B2
Various embodiments include apparatus and methods to monitor flow of single and multiple phase fluids. Sensors of a tool can be dispersed along the tool to collect measurements to be processed using an autocorrelation operation on the collected measurements to provide information relative to the phases of the fluid. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08731846B2
A measuring arrangement of the invention includes: At least one measuring device, which generates, repeatedly during operation, measured values, especially digital, measured values, representing the at least one measured variable to be registered; as well as an electronic data processing system superordinated to the at least one measuring device, especially a data processing system which is spatially distributed and/or spatially remote from the measuring device. Measuring device and data processing system are connected together by means of at least two line-pairs, through each of which an electrical current flows, at least at times, during operation. According to the invention, the measuring device transmits the internally generated, measured values to the data processing system via both line-pairs. In this way, it is then possible to transmit a plurality of measured values simultaneously, when each of the two line-pairs is embodied as part of a two-conductor current-loop.
US08731842B2
Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to compositions, methods, devices, systems, and products regarding frozen particles. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles include materials at low temperatures. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles provide vehicles for delivery of particular agents. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles are administered to at least one biological tissue.
US08731840B2
Certain embodiments disclosed herein relate to compositions, methods, devices, systems, and products regarding frozen particles. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles include materials at low temperatures. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles provide vehicles for delivery of particular agents. In certain embodiments, the frozen particles are administered to at least one biological tissue.
US08731838B2
A stable method for using fat-ray tomography to determine a high-resolution velocity model of the subsurface from seismic data (71). The velocity model (72) may be used in migrating the seismic data (76) to image the subsurface. Rays are traced from a subsurface reflection point to surface source and receiver locations (73), using Fresnel zone construction methods (74) that honor correct initial conditions, with the Fresnel radius being a function of velocity.
US08731837B2
A system and a method for associating measurements from a wellbore with times and depths is provided. Tools located in a wellbore obtain the measurements and provide time data used to determine the times. The tools and a surface clock may be synchronized. The times may be used to associate the measurements with corresponding depths of the wellbore.
US08731830B2
Methods, apparatus and systems for marking a presence or absence of an underground facility. Marking material is dispensed, via actuation of an actuation system of a marking device, onto a target surface. Environmental information regarding at least one environmental condition of an environment in which the marking device is located is received via at least one communication interface of the marking device, and marking information is logged into local memory of the marking device. In one aspect, the stored marking information includes at least some of the environmental information.
US08731826B2
A system and method improve guidance system performance. An accuracy improvement module (AIM) can be configured to compare observed and expected inclination compensation factors (ICFs) at a plurality of inclination angles to detect an inaccuracy in antenna height. In response to detecting an inaccuracy, an AIM can determine a revised antenna height that more accurately represents the height of an antenna above ground. A proposed antenna height can be determined using an observed ICF. A fixed vehicle body height can be subtracted from the proposed antenna height to provide a proposed tire radius. The proposed tire radius can be compared to a table of standard tire radii to determine a tire radius value, which can then be added to the fixed vehicle body height to provide a revised antenna height. The revised antenna height can improve the accuracy or calculated ground positions, thereby improving guidance system performance.
US08731808B2
A road network analysis system detects major changes in a road network based on probe information from a plurality of vehicles. The probe information is tabulated and the change in the amount of traffic is calculated for each road with a predetermined time interval. If a remarkable change in the amount of traffic is detected for a road before and after a specific baseline day, it is determined that a major change in the road network affecting the traffic has occurred in the vicinity of the road, and the road is specified as a change-related road. A path search may be performed between the endpoints of a plurality of change-related roads, and the searched paths that have the most overlap with the searched paths are selected so as to identify the change-related roads which are commonly affected by the same cause and the endpoints thereof.
US08731807B2
A method, system, and/or computer program product evaluates a real-time condition of a construct of a roadway. A processor receives a set of roadway acoustic sound patterns from a mobile microphone that is mounted on a terrestrial vehicle as it travels along a roadway. This set of roadway acoustic sound patterns is created by a physical contact between a roadway surface of the roadway and a tire on the terrestrial vehicle. The processor also receives a set of transient data from a probe on the terrestrial vehicle. This transient data describes a real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway. The set of roadway acoustic sound patterns and the set of transient data are input into an analysis algorithm to determine a real-time physical condition of a construct of the roadway. Data describing the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway is then transmitted to a remote computer.
US08731802B2
A method for compensating for thermal transient conditions of an engine that can cause valve growth or contraction is disclosed. In one example, the method provides cylinder air amount compensation during non-blow-through and blow-through conditions. The approach may improve cylinder air amount estimates, thereby improving engine emissions.
US08731800B2
An apparatus for controlling a motor determines whether or not to control the motor in order to control the variable valve lift device by using a measurement value of a valve lift and a target value of the valve lift, compares a predetermined base voltage range with a battery voltage in order to control the motor, determines a voltage factor corresponding to the battery voltage when the battery voltage is included in the base voltage range; and determines a driving signal value for the motor by applying the voltage factor to a predetermined base signal value.
US08731796B2
A device for the energy management of a vehicle, which has an air-conditioning system and a controller controlling the air-conditioning system. The air-conditioning system includes an air-conditioning compressor coupled mechanically to the drive train and a thermal storage unit. The controller controls the air-conditioning compressor in such a way that the energy efficiency of the vehicle is improved.
US08731794B2
In a control system for a four-wheel drive vehicle, when the four-wheel drive vehicle is four-wheel driven full time (that is, at all times), the difference in rotation of each wheel occurring due to the difference in air pressure within each tire, is differentiated from the difference in rotation of each wheel occurring due to cornering or the state of the road surface, and is correspondingly corrected so as to distribute the driving force to the four wheels. Thus, even if the difference in rotation of each wheel occurs due to the air pressure within each tire, the malfunction in which four-wheel driving is controlled based on the erroneous determination that the difference in rotation of each wheel is due to cornering or the state of the road surface can be prevented from occurring.
US08731792B2
A control system for a dry dual clutch transmission (DCT) includes first, second, and third modules. The first module detects whether a hydraulic pressure sensor of a hydraulic fluid delivery system in the dry DCT has failed. The second module estimates a pressure of hydraulic fluid within an accumulator of the hydraulic fluid delivery system based on one of (i) torque generated by and temperature of a hydraulic fluid pump and (ii) a drain down period of the accumulator and a period since the hydraulic fluid pump was on. The third module controls start/stop of the hydraulic fluid pump based on the estimated hydraulic fluid pressure when the hydraulic pressure sensor has failed.
US08731770B2
The present invention is a data logger for collecting information about operation of vehicle for monitoring by a parent or supervisor. The data logger includes speed limits for highway and local streets. The data logger includes an algorithm estimating whether the vehicle is being operated on a highway or local street. An alert status is determined when the corresponding speed limit is exceeded. Alert information is recorded for later display and review by the parent or supervisor.
US08731769B2
An inertial sensor calibration method has steps of mounting an observer device and an inertial sensor of a vehicle carrying on an inertial move, acquiring actual vehicle motion data from the observer device and inertial signal data of the inertial sensor, calculating an integral corresponding to the vehicular dynamic variation model with respect to the inertial signal data to obtain predicted vehicle sensor data and calculating variations of the actual vehicle motion data, acquiring differences between the two calculated data, applying an energy optimization and a discretization to the differences so as to obtain parametric error variances, and feeding back the parametric error variances to the vehicular dynamic variation model to calibrate the parameters associated with offset and scale factor and acquire a calibrated vehicular dynamic variation model. Under the premise of no GPS, electronic compass or pressure sensor, the present invention can secure positioning continuity and reliability.
US08731765B2
A method for operating a powertrain system including a torque machine mechanically coupled to an internal combustion engine includes, upon detecting a pending fault associated with a power switch configured to control power flow to the torque machine, disabling torque output from the torque machine and executing retry events. The retry events are iteratively executed with a debounce time period preceding each retry event. Presence of a fault associated with the power switch is detected when a quantity of the retry events during a time window exceeds a threshold.
US08731758B2
A vehicle control apparatus includes state measurement means for measuring states of the vehicle; required power estimation means for calculating an estimated required power indicating a motor power required to operate the vehicle based on the states of the vehicle measured by the state measurement means; critical power estimation means for calculating a critical power when the motor power saturates based on the states of the vehicle measured by the state measurement means; modified reference input means for modifying a reference input so that the estimated required power falls within the estimated critical power when it is determined that the estimated required power estimated by the required power estimation means exceeds the estimated critical power estimated by the critical power estimation means; and control means for controlling a motor of the vehicle based on the reference input modified by the modified reference input means.
US08731755B2
A drive device for a hybrid vehicle, which has a first driven axle and a second driven axle, including: a first motor/generator unit, which is connected to the first driven axle; an internal combustion engine unit, which is connected in a rotationally fixed fashion to a differential/transmission unit which is connected to the rear axle; a second motor/generator unit, which is connected in a rotationally fixed fashion to the differential/transmission unit, parallel to the internal combustion engine unit; a clutch unit, which is designed to disconnect and connect a force flux between the differential/transmission unit and the second driven axle; and a control unit, which actuates the clutch unit, the internal combustion engine unit, the first motor/generator unit and the second motor/generator unit as a function of predefined operating states.
US08731754B2
A controller for a motorised vehicle is provided which is arranged to receive control signals from a user input device and the controller is configured to control a motor arrangement of the motorised vehicle in dependence on the control signals. The controller comprises an acceleration control unit configured to determine a centripetal force factor corresponding to a centripetal force which is currently acting on said motorised vehicle as a result of the control signals and is configured to calculate an acceleration limit for the motorised vehicle in dependence on the centripetal force factor. The acceleration control unit is configured to apply the acceleration limit by modifying a response of the controller to the control signals, such that the motorised vehicle does not exceed the acceleration limit.
US08731748B2
A method includes receiving, at a computing device, a search request that includes one or more search criteria for a body of water. The one or more search criteria include an identification of a fish species. One or more locations on the body of water that satisfy the one or more search criteria are identified. The one or more locations include at least one predicted location of the fish species within the body of water. The one or more locations are highlighted on a map of the body of water.
US08731740B2
An automatic warehouse includes multiple guided vehicles disposed at different heights along a rack and a storage shelf with a hoist in line with the rack. The storage shelf includes an intra-shelf conveyor that stores articles, and multiple shelf frames configured to vertically pass the transportation surface of the intra-shelf conveyor. The interval between the plurality of shelf frames may be varied. In parallel with the storage of articles using the intra-shelf conveyor, the shelf frames are caused to pass the transportation surface of the intra-shelf conveyor upward from below, and the articles are sequentially transferred from the intra-shelf conveyor onto the shelf frames. After the articles have been transferred to all the corresponding shelf frames, the guided vehicles store the articles on the shelf frames into the rack simultaneously.
US08731739B2
A drive supporting device includes a GPS, a front camera, and a communication device that acquire traffic signal information related to the time-series on/off state of a traffic signal and an ECU that supports the driving of a vehicle on the basis of the traffic signal information acquired by, for example, the communication device. The ECU changes a driver support aspect on the basis of the level of proficiency of the driver of the vehicle in a region in which the vehicle is currently located. In this way, even when the driver is in a strange place, it is possible to appropriately support the driving of the vehicle.
US08731731B2
There is provided a power management device including a load current control unit configured to set an upper limit on a load current supplied from a connected feeding device and to control the load current on the basis of the upper limit, and a determination unit configured to, when the load current control unit has reset the upper limit to a higher value, determine if the upper limit has exceeded a current capacity of the feeding device on the basis of a voltage drop level of an input voltage. The load current control unit may reset the upper limit in increments or decrements of a predetermined value, and the load current control unit may, when the determination unit has determined that the upper limit had exceeded the current capacity of the feeding device, control the load current by resetting the upper limit to a value not exceeding the current capacity.
US08731729B2
A process develops controls for microgrid systems. The process models physical systems of increasing complexity. Candidate control algorithms are implemented as state machines that can affect state variables which represent control signals for elements of the physical system. A simulation of the physical system is operated according to the control algorithms.
US08731728B2
A power distribution system is provided, including at least one capacitor bank with a capacitor bank controller, a transformer, at least one voltage regulating device with a voltage regulating device controller, and a controller. The capacitor bank is selectively connected to the feeder and a capacitor bank controller. The capacitor bank controller controls a switch for selectively connecting the capacitor bank to the feeder. The transformer delivers power to the power distribution system through the feeder. The transformer converts a transmission or a sub-transmission voltage into a distribution voltage. The controller is in communication with the capacitor bank controller, the voltage regulating device, and the transformer. The controller selectively switches the at least one capacitor bank to adjust voltage in the feeder. The controller selectively sends commands to the voltage regulating device to change a source voltage.
US08731719B2
The invention relates to a method for processing video signals from a video sensor, in order to extract 3d shape information about objects represented in the video signals, the method comprising the following steps: providing a memory in which objects are stored in a 3d shape space, the shape space being an abstract feature space encoding the objects' 3d shape properties, and mapping a 2d video signal representation of an object in the shape space, the coordinates of the object in the shape space indicating the object's 3d shape.
US08731713B2
A prescription dispensing system having a dispensing station for holding an inventory of prescription medications, a secure internet connection to the dispensing station for access by a potential prescription medication recipient, by healthcare personnel in a physician office and by pharmacy personnel at the pharmacy distribution center in a remote location, at least two webcams for visual and auditory communication between the location of the dispensing station and the pharmacy personnel via the internet to allow identification of the correct medication, identification and communication with the correct potential prescription medication recipient, and visual validation and recording of all documentation from the physician's office or potential prescription medication recipient, and a biometric reader disposed at the dispensing station for identifying a potential prescription medication recipient. The system may include various enhancements to allow accurate dispensing of the proper medication and direct secure internet communication between the pharmacist and the authorized recipient of the medication.
US08731711B1
Method and systems for sorting are described. In one embodiment, a container is released into a pocket section, with the pocket section being at a first alignment stage. The pocket section is rotated with the container away from the first alignment stage to a second alignment stage. Attributes of the container are acquired at the second alignment stage. An order to which the container belongs is identified with the acquired attributes. The pocket section with the container is rotated to a third alignment stage. The location of the third alignment stage is selected based on the identified order. The container is received to group with one or more containers in the identified order. Additional methods and systems are disclosed.
US08731702B2
In mill stands of a continuous rolling train, a product passes through the train is rolled such that the product upon leaving the train has predetermined final characteristics. To remove one of the stands, the mill stand to be removed is completely relieved of load according to a defined temporal load relieving sequence. Locally simultaneously with the load relieving, at least one other mill stand is placed under load according to a defined temporal loading sequence. The load-relieving and loading sequence are mutually adjusted to preserve the final product characteristics. A circumferential roll velocity is controlled until the stand has been completely relieved such that a discharge velocity corresponds always to a predetermined desired discharge velocity. After the complete load-relieving, a correspondence of the circumferential roll velocity to the desired discharge velocity is maintained and the working rolls are lifted off. The mill stand is then deactivated.
US08731699B2
A dynamic insulated glass unit (IGU) assembly line scheduler is provided for production control of an IGU assembly line. When calculating the IGU assembly line order and controls, the scheduler evaluates at least i) a changeable set of uniquely identifiable glass lite storage loading locations adjacent a loading station, ii) a changeable set of uniquely identifiable IGU storage locations adjacent a unloading station, iii) a changeable identifiable subset of the set of uniquely identifiable IGU storage locations, and iv) a assembly line change outs to be performed at least in the production of the IGUs for the next in line set of IGUs to be shipped from the IGU assembly line. The scheduler is configured to re-evaluate the IGU assembly order at least with the filling of each next in line set of IGUs to be shipped.
US08731696B2
A method of making an article of footwear is disclosed. The method includes the steps of designing an article of footwear via a website, converting a footwear representation into a set of two-dimensional portions, printing the two dimensional portions onto a sheet material, cutting and assembling the two dimensional portions into a finalized article of footwear. The method further includes a step of shipping the article of footwear to a pre-designated shipping address. Systems for receiving an order for a customized article of footwear are also disclosed.
US08731695B2
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for allowing independent control of a formant position and inharmonic content in sound synthesis. In one aspect, this allows continuous shifting of the formant across a spectrum without producing any inharmonic spectral content. In a second aspect, this also makes it possible to generate sound with a defined inharmonic content amount and still move a formant position without changing the inharmonic content amount or to continuously change the amount of inharmonic content without significantly changing the formant position. The disclosed technology uses multiple modulators that are applied to a carrier signal by a weighted sum of their outputs.
US08731693B2
A voice input device includes a first microphone (710-1) that includes a first diaphragm, a second microphone (710-2) that includes a second diaphragm, and a differential signal generation section (720) that generates a differential signal that indicates a difference between a first voltage signal and a second voltage signal, the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm being disposed so that a noise intensity ratio is smaller than an input voice intensity ratio (input voice component intensity ratio), and the differential signal generation section (720) including a gain section (760) that amplifies the first voltage signal by a predetermined gain, and a differential signal output section (740) that generates and outputs a differential signal that indicates a difference between the first voltage signal amplified by the gain section and the second voltage signal.
US08731683B2
A stimulation system and method for providing training therapy to a human subject having a weakened voice includes an activating switch configured to generate a first signal, and a processor configured to receive the first signal from the sensing electrode and to generate at least one stimulation parameter based on the first signal. The system further includes a stimulating electrode configured to receive the stimulation parameter from the processor and to activate a recurrent laryngeal nerve or vagus nerve of the subject in response to the stimulation parameter.
US08731682B2
In one embodiment, an external charging device for recharging an implanted medical device, comprises: a battery for powering the external charging device; a coil for radiating RF power; drive circuitry for driving the coil according to a duty cycle; circuitry for generating a signal that is indicative of an amount of current flowing through the coil; and control circuitry for controlling the drive circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is operable to process the signal from the circuitry for generating to detect when a coil of the implantable medical device temporarily ceases absorbing RF power, the control circuitry modifying the duty cycle in response to detection of the coil of the implantable medical device temporarily ceasing absorbing RF power.
US08731680B2
Therapeutic system with implantable therapeutic unit (ITU) comprising control unit (CU), memory, telemetry unit connected (in)directly to CU for wireless bidirectional transmission of data to/from external device (ED) and detection unit for detecting physiological patient data or operational data. CU triggers outgoing data transmission (DT) from ITU to ED based on preselected internal events and establishes standby mode for reception on part of telemetry unit for receiving beginning (header) of incoming DT from ED to therapeutic unit exclusively within preselected response time window after DT from ITU to ED. System designed to add to incoming DT follow-up signaling data which signals an imminent follow-up examination, whereby CU also prompts sensor unit at preselected time point in response to receipt of follow-up signaling data to detect preselected physiological data required for follow-up examination or to detect operational data of therapeutic and store in memory and transmit with subsequent outgoing DT to ED.
US08731671B2
An implantable medical device includes a housing, a header mounted to the housing, the header including a header body having a bore with an electrical contact located within the bore, wherein the electrical contact includes a plurality of contact points, wherein at least two of the contact points are longitudinally offset from each other along the bore.
US08731669B2
An implantable medical device system includes a medical electrical lead having a connector assembly and a connector bore for receiving the lead connector assembly. The lead includes a distal portion having a first outer diameter and a distal sealing member, an intermediate portion having a second outer diameter smaller than the first outer diameter, and a connector pin extending from the intermediate portion, the connector pin having an outer diameter corresponding to a DF-1 standard.
US08731668B2
An apparatus and method for enabling an implanted fractal antenna for radio frequency communications between an implantable medical device and an external device. The fractal antenna may be disposed within or outside of a header assembly of the device housing. Various examples include a three dimensional patterned cylinder usable as a tissue anchor or stent. In another embodiment the antenna may be cast, molded, stamped, punched, milled, laser cut, etched or other methods to form a fractal pattern in conductive media. In another embodiment the antenna may be formed of a printed circuit board (PCB) either with or without an included ground reference plane. In another embodiment the antenna may be formed in a fractal pattern and then wrapped around a part of the implantable device.
US08731667B2
Cardiac therapy systems include multiple electrodes respectively positionable at multiple left ventricular electrode sites. A pulse generator is coupled to the electrodes and configured to deliver a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). A processor is configured to measure, for each left ventricular electrode site, a timing interval between first and second cardiac signal features associated with left ventricular depolarization. The timing interval is associated with a degree of responsiveness of each left ventricular electrode site to CRT. The processor is configured to determine a pacing output configuration that provides improved patient responsiveness to CRT based on the timing interval measurements and to select at least one left ventricular electrode site from the plurality of left ventricular electrode sites based on the timing interval measurements. The processor may be configured to monitor for a change in hemodynamic status of the patient based on a change in the timing interval.
US08731654B2
An automated system, method, apparatus, device and/or computer program product for detecting positioning effect is set forth, the apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment may include an output operable to couple to one or more stimulating electrodes to stimulate one or more peripheral nerves of the patient, an input operable to couple to one or more recording electrodes to record resultant electrical waveforms generated by a nervous system of a patient in response to the stimulating module, and one or more processors operable to identify the positioning effect based on the resultant electrical waveforms.
US08731652B2
A method and an apparatus for monitoring the autonomous nervous system of a sedated patient. The method comprises steps of providing a skin conductance signal measured at an area of the patient's skin through a measurement interval, calculating a characteristic of said skin conductance signal, establishing a first output signal indicating the state of pain or discomfort in the patient, and a second output signal indicating the state of awakening in the patient, based on said characteristic of said skin conductance signal. The calculating of the signal characteristic comprises calculating a value representative of a statistical dispersion, e.g., the standard deviation, of the values of the skin conductance signal through the measurement interval.
US08731650B2
An EEG cap (8) having 64 or 128 electrodes (10) is placed on the head of the subject (11) who is viewing CRT monitor (14). The signals on each channel are amplified by amplifier (17) and sent to an analog-to-digital converter (20). PC (23) captures and records the amplified signals and the signals are processed by signal processing PC (26) performing linear signal processing. The resulting signal is sent back to a feedback/display PC (29) having monitor (14).
US08731649B2
A system is provided including a cardiac output monitor configured to be operatively connected to a detection module that obtains electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from the patient. The monitor includes an axis analysis module and a cardiac output module. The axis analysis module is configured to obtain ECG axis information including information corresponding to at least one ECG axis of a patient. The axis analysis module is also configured to determine ECG axis change information corresponding to a change in the ECG axis information of the patient. The cardiac output analysis module is configured to determine a change in cardiac output using the ECG axis change information.
US08731642B2
A method for determining by an x-ray projection a position of a target radiopaque marker disposed on a catheter in a subject's body, comprising assigning a landmark in the body as a reference point compensated for periodic movements of the body, determining an auxiliary location relative to the reference point using at least one additional radiopaque marker disposed on the catheter and based on the auxiliary location determining the position of the target radiopaque marker with respect to the reference point.
US08731638B2
Methods and systems for determining the concentration of one or more analytes from a sample such as blood or plasma are described. The systems described herein can be configured to withdraw a certain volume of sample from a source of bodily fluid, direct a first portion of the withdrawn sample to an analyte monitoring system and return a second portion of the sample to the patient. The analyte monitoring system can be connected to the source of bodily fluid via a connector that is configured to maintain uniform velocity across the connector and reduce the dead space volume.
US08731636B2
A diagnostic system for monitoring changes in a medium is disclosed. The system includes a transmitter configured to generate and transmit a time-varying magnetic field into a medium responsive to a first signal. The system also includes a receiver positioned on an opposite side of the medium from the transmitter and configured to generate a second signal responsive to a received magnetic field at the receiver. The system also includes a processing unit configured to determine a phase shift between the transmitted magnetic field and the received magnetic field for a plurality of frequencies of the transmitted time-varying magnetic field.
US08731632B1
An electrocardiogram device, and a corresponding method of administering an electrocardiogram, includes a housing that is placed over a patient's chest, a plurality of electrodes mounted on the housing that align with precordial positions, a conductive gel pad detachably affixed on the housing between the electrodes and the patient's body, and an attachment mechanism for attaching the electrocardiogram device to the patient's chest. The electrocardiogram device of the present invention is suitable for portable or remote testing, and it ensures proper placement of the electrodes for accurate and consistent results.
US08731630B2
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring an analyte in a host. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for transcutaneous measurement of glucose in a host.
US08731627B2
A system and method for controlling a vehicle telematics unit via a smart phone using the steps of: storing a software application for remotely controlling the telematics unit at the smart phone; using the stored software application to communicatively connect the smart phone with the telematics unit via a short-range wireless communication link; receiving data from the telematics unit that is used to display a menu of telematics service selections at the smart phone; receiving a telematics service selection from a vehicle occupant at the smart phone that is chosen from one of the displayed telematics service selections; and transmitting a command that controls at least one function of the vehicle based on the received telematics service selection from the smart phone to the telematics unit over the short-range wireless communication link.
US08731625B2
A mobile terminal and method to write protect a memory card in the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprises a body, a battery and a battery cover. The battery cover has a short-circuit connecting member. A memory card socket accommodates a pluggable memory card. A writing control unit has input and output ports, and when the battery cover is jointed with the body, the input and output ports contact the short-circuit connecting member to form a short-circuit connection therebetween; the writing control unit detects whether the battery cover is removed by outputting a test signal from the output port and detecting for the test signal at the input port; if the battery cover is removed, the test signal is not detected at the input port and data is prohibited from being written into the memory card.
US08731613B2
This mobile phone includes a control portion controlling an imaging portion to execute an imaging operation when detecting that a communication state established by taking a telephone call has been disconnected after a ringtone in taking the telephone call is repeated the first number of times in a case where a first communication portion capable of telephone communication takes the telephone call from an operating-side mobile phone.
US08731610B2
A system and method for providing a zone-based user interface (UI) on a mobile device are provided. The method includes defining usage zones and associating at least one user interface with each one of the defined usage zones. When the mobile device is within one of the defined usage zones, displaying the associated user interface.
US08731604B2
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a first processing module that converts inbound data into an inbound digital audio signal and converts an outbound digital audio signal into outbound data. A second processing module performs a user application that includes at least one of generating of an inbound analog audio signal and generating an outbound analog audio signal. A third processing module performs an operating system algorithm to coordinate operation of at least one user application.
US08731603B2
A radio frequency signal distribution module and panel for receiving such a module are disclosed. One module includes a housing having a front and a rear, a radio frequency signal input connection positioned on the rear of the housing, and a plurality of radio frequency signal output connections positioned on the rear of the housing. The module also includes a splitter within the housing and connecting the radio frequency signal input connection to the plurality of radio frequency signal output connections. Certain modules include an active attenuation component connected to and providing programmable attenuation of a radio frequency signal output connection from among the plurality of radio frequency signal output connections. Other modules include a data port on the housing, the data port configured to communicate information about radio frequency signals within the module to a computing system remote from the module.
US08731601B2
An energy saving (ES) management method for a base station includes: An integration reference point manager (IRPManager) initiates an ES enable/disable procedure or an ES activation/resumption procedure to an integration reference point agent (IRPAgent), where the ES enable/disable procedure is used to allow or prohibit an ES operation on the base station or a cell, and the ES activation/resumption procedure is used to cause the base station or the cell to go into or go out of an ES state. The technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present invention enable operators to perform unified management on an ES procedure for a base station at a base station level or a cell level.
US08731600B2
A system and method are provided for boosting power for a communications link between a base station and a user device, or user equipment, over a communications link channel in a cellular communications network. In one embodiment, the base station determines whether a communications link for a user device located within a sector of a cell served by the base station needs a power boost. If a power boost is needed, the base station provides a power boost for the communications link for the user device and, for each of one or more neighboring sectors that neighbor the sector in which the user device is located, coordinates the power boost in both frequency and time with a power backoff for a downlink to another user device located in a cell center area of the neighboring sector.
US08731598B2
There is described a method of controlling a basestation in a cellular wireless communications network, the method comprising, within the basestation, autonomously and dynamically adapting a maximum value for a total transmit power of the basestation, such that interference between the basestation and other access points in the vicinity is minimized.
US08731588B2
The technology disclosed in this specification includes a method and system for analyzing text messages, and more particularly a method and system for providing an alert feature for text messages based at least in part on an analysis of the signaling data associated with the text messages. Subscribers of a family plan wireless account (e.g., parents or guardians) or a designated third party may receive a report if an account member's text message contains objectionable material, such as content relating to explicit sexual matters, drugs, alcohol, gangs or violence.
US08731579B2
The position of a mobile device served in a cell of a serving node of a wireless communication network is estimated by estimating an angle-of-arrival (AoA) between the mobile device and the serving node based on a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) determined for the serving node in a downlink direction or for the mobile device in an uplink direction. Also estimated is the AoA between the mobile device and a non-serving neighbor node of the wireless communication network based on a PMI determined for the neighbor node in the downlink direction or for the mobile device in the uplink direction. The downlink and/or uplink AoA estimation can be further enhanced by employing interference cancellation in the mobile device and in the radio node, respectively. The position of the mobile device is estimated based on the estimated AoAs.
US08731566B2
The invention discloses a method (500) for a cellular communications network (100), according to which there can be a plurality of users (110, 120) in the network; said network comprises control functions (NodeB, RNC, MSC, HLR) for receiving, connecting and directing traffic to and from users. According to the method (515), at least a number of said users are associated with individual user identities which are unique in said network, and least two addresses such as numbers which may be used by a first user (110) in order to establish communication with a second user (120) in the network are mapped (525) to the unique user identity which is held by the second user, so that the entering or dialling of either of said at least two addresses by said first user will result (540) in an attempt by the network to establish communication with the second user.
US08731563B2
The present invention discloses a method for reporting a mobility state of a mobile terminal comprising: a User Equipment (UE) evaluating its own mobility state under a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state based on a first evaluation parameter sent by an evolved Node B (eNodeB), and obtaining an evaluated first determination result; and the UE reporting the first determination result to the eNodeB through a measurement report message in the RRC connection state. The present invention also discloses a mobile terminal configured to report determination result of its own mobility state to an eNodeB such that the eNodeB can adopt different pertinent processing strategies for UEs in different mobility states, thereby bringing convenience to practical application.
US08731549B2
Techniques are disclosed that involve the indication of neighbor base stations. For instance, a base station may generate and wirelessly transmit a message that indicates a plurality of neighboring base stations. This message may include an indicator having one or more wildcard values. Through the employment of such wildcard values, the indicator may provide information corresponding to the plurality of neighboring base stations. For instance, the indicator may indicate a plurality of base station identifiers (BSIDs). Alternatively, the indicator may indicate a plurality of preamble indices. As a further alternative, the indicator may indicate a plurality of carrier frequencies. Through the employment of such techniques, overhead can be saved without causing ambiguity in mobility management.
US08731545B2
The present invention discloses a method for implementing service roaming. The method includes: receiving a roaming registration request that includes a service identifier (ID); obtaining a physical access address of a service according to the service ID, and generating and storing service registration route information that includes the service ID and the physical access address of the service; obtaining an address of a home service router or a service router to which the service belongs before the service roams, and sending a roaming notification message to the home service router or the service router to which the service belongs before the service roams. In this way, a user may access the service, thus the user experience and the universality of services created by the user are improved.
US08731538B2
A wireless telecommunication system that automatically enforces a quiet time mode of operation for a wireless handset comprises a cellular telecommunication network, and a wireless handset configured to transmit voice and data information to, and configured to receive voice and data information from the cellular telecommunication network. The wireless handset comprises a quiet time controller configured to disable the wireless handset from issuing the audible notification during scheduled quiet time periods.
US08731529B2
In particular implementations, a mobile device management system allows network administrators to control the distribution and publication of applications to mobile device users in an enterprise network.
US08731527B1
Computer storage media may have stored thereon a voicemail application. The voicemail application may be configured to determine whether messages in a voicemail box meet a preservation criterion. If the messages do meet the preservation criterion, the voicemail application may be configured to cause a replica of at least one of the messages to be made and stored outside of the voicemail box. After a message is replicated successfully, it may be deleted from the voice mail box.
US08731526B2
Various embodiments relate generally to providing upcoming event notification and mobile purchasing and, more specifically but not exclusively relate to a system and methods for providing notifications of upcoming events to users of an online secondary ticket marketplace and allowing the users to purchase tickets to upcoming events using a mobile device. In one embodiment, a network-based system may receive a registration request from a user to receive alert notifications for upcoming events. The registration request may comprise a telephone number for a mobile device of the user. The network-based system may send an alert notification for an upcoming event to the mobile device of the user over a mobile telephone network. The alert notification may comprise a text message including relevant static or dynamic event information as well as an embedded hyperlink for allowing the user to transact a mobile purchase.
US08731522B2
Mailbox pooling pre-emptive criteria is set forth for use in an adaptive polling system for synchronizing data between a mail server and a mobile communication device. The polling engine stores an indication of the number of messages in the mailbox, the total mailbox size (i.e. the used storage size in bytes), and the last message ID from the last poll. In the next poll, the polling engine retrieves this information from the mailbox and checks against the values stored from the last poll. If the information is the same, then there is no need to compare the message ID list. Whenever either the number of messages in the mailbox or the mailbox size or last message ID has changed, then the full comparison of the message ID list is performed.
US08731517B1
A system and method for the real-time management of a device, and more particularly to the establishment and enforcement of policies or rules associated with the feature or functions that may be performed with the device, such as making and receiving calls, exchanging data, playing games and music, sending and receiving email, accessing web sites, and paying for goods and services. If a child or employee is using the device, there may be a need to regulate how that device can be used and to determine who will pay for what goods or services. In addition to providing all of the features associated with a device, service providers need to be able to establish and enforce rules (policies) regulating how and when that device can be used and who will pay for a good or service requested by the user of the device.
US08731516B2
An emergency message handling system manages emergency SMS text messages sent by mobile stations. The system also includes an emergency handling platform comprising an SMS gateway server, an SMS application server, and an SMS-To TTY message converter. In response to an emergency SMS text message received via a mobile communication network, the emergency handling platform determines the location of the mobile station and identifies the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) assigned to cover the location of the mobile station. If the PSAP assigned is only TTY compatible, the text message is converted to TTY. A TTY selective router is configured to deliver each of converted emergency SMS text message in TTY format to the TTY messaging system of the TTY PSAP. However, if the PSAP assigned is IP network compatible, then the text message is delivered directly to the IP compatible PSAP without any TTY conversions.
US08731504B2
A method of filtering and a RF filtering circuit comprising a LO adapted to generate in-phase and quadrature LO signals; a quadrature passive mixer operatively connected to the LO; a filtering impedance operatively connected to the quadrature passive mixer, wherein the voltage at an input node of the quadrature passive mixer comprises the voltage across the filtering impedance up-converted to a frequency of a LO signal received by the quadrature passive mixer. Preferably, the voltage across the filtering impedance comprises a frequency of an input signal of the quadrature passive mixer down-converted by a frequency of the in-phase and quadrature LO signals and filtered by the filtering impedance.
US08731498B2
A direct current (DC)-DC converter and radio frequency (RF) power amplifier (PA) circuitry are disclosed. The DC-DC converter provides an envelope power supply signal to the RF PA circuitry based on a first power supply output control signal. As a temperature of the RF PA circuitry changes, the envelope power supply signal may need to be adjusted to meet temperature compensation requirements of the RF PA circuitry. With adequate thermal coupling between the DC-DC converter and the RF PA circuitry, adjustments to the envelope power supply signal may be based on temperature measurements of the DC-DC converter. A desired correction of the first power supply output control signal is determined based on a measured temperature of the DC-DC converter and the temperature compensation requirements of the RF PA circuitry. The first power supply output control signal is adjusted based on the desired correction.
US08731492B2
A system for monitoring and controlling the power of a Radio Frequency (RF) signal in a short-range RF transmitter. An RF signal-generation unit generates the RF signal. A power amplifier amplifies the RF signal. An impedance-matching network matches the output impedance of the power amplifier to input impedance of an antenna. One or more RF power monitors monitor the voltage amplitude of the RF signal at the output of at least one of the RF signal-generation unit, the power amplifier and the impedance-matching network. The one or more RF power monitors further generate at least one alarm signal, based on the voltage amplitude of the RF signal. A control unit modifies at least one operating parameter of at least one of the RF signal-generation unit and the power amplifier, based on the at least one alarm signal generated by the one or more RF power monitors.
US08731488B2
According to one embodiment, a wireless communication apparatus includes a perturbation vector addition unit, a weight multiplication unit and a normalization coefficient multiplication unit. The perturbation vector addition unit is configured to add a perturbation vector only to a first data signal of a first transmission signal containing a first pilot signal and the first data signal, and obtain a second transmission signal containing a second pilot signal and a second data signal. The weight multiplication unit is configured to multiply each of the second pilot signal and the second data signal by a weight for removing interference on a reception side, and obtain a third transmission signal containing a third pilot signal and a third data signal. The normalization coefficient multiplication unit is configured to multiply each of the third pilot signal and the third data signal by a common normalization coefficient for normalizing a total transmission power.
US08731482B2
A method of associating a controller to a console comprises, at the controller, establishing a connection with the console such that the controller is assigned to one of a plurality of different ports of the console over which different controllers may separately communicate with the console. A visual indication is then provided on the controller to indicate to the user of the controller which one of the plurality of different ports of the console has been assigned to the controller and over which the controller communicates with the console.
US08731481B2
A system and method for data sending and receiving processing using a secondary data transmit channel is disclosed. The system comprises a device and a device base in which a secondary data transmit channel on the device is enabled when the device is coupled to the device base and receives a triggering signal from the device base. The system implements a 2T2R RF design in which the use of an additional data transmit channel increases the uplink transmit gain and coverage and reduces the deployment costs of base stations.
US08731477B2
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for performing inter-frequency measurements in a mobile network are disclosed. An example method in a mobile station disclosed herein comprises receiving, from a network, a list specifying a set of frequencies for which measurements are to be performed, and if the set of frequencies exceeds a monitoring capability of the mobile station, prioritizing measurement of a subset of frequencies from the set of frequencies based on information separate from the list obtained from the network.
US08731476B2
A device for characterizing an object (100, 503, 504) is provided wherein the device comprises a first sensor element (310) and a determination unit (508), wherein the first sensor element (310) is adapted to measure a value of a physical parameter of an object (100, 503, 504), wherein the physical parameter has an impact on a signal of a contactless transmission element arranged (511, 512) on the object (503, 504), and wherein the determination unit (508) is adapted to determine an impact value based on the measured value of the physical parameter.
US08731470B2
Operation procedures for interoperable safety and non-safety communications in wireless environments
For enhanced interoperability of safety and non-safety communications, a dual-radio type T RSU for improving services includes a first radio dedicated to the control channel and a second radio dedicated to the safety channel. The control channel is divided into a number of synchronous intervals, each about 100 milliseconds in duration. The safety channel is also divided into a number of synchronous intervals, each about 100 milliseconds in duration.
US08731463B2
A technique for configuring, in real time, an equipment item receiving and processing primary signals which are transmitted to it by satellite link, the technique including transmitting secondary signals with frequencies spread over a band at least partially overlapping a frequency band occupied by the primary signals, the secondary signals including signalling parameters which are used, in real time, by the equipment item to configure processing applied to the primary signals. The technique is applicable to dynamic switching of beams in a multi-beam satellite and to dynamic switching of frames, for example in a time-division multiple access system.
US08731460B2
A wireless communication system and in particular a wireless communication system for digital audio players that provides for increased functionality, such as communication, interaction and synchronization between a computing platform and various mobile, portable or fixed digital audio players, as well as providing a communication link between the various digital audio players themselves. The computing platform may act, for example, through a wireless network or wireless communication platform, to control the digital audio players; to act as a cache of digital audio data for the digital audio players; as well as provide a gateway to the Internet to enable the digital audio players to access additional digital audio content and other information.
US08731457B2
A system and method for estimating a location of a subscriber station receiving a first signal from a first base station and receiving a second signal from a second base station where the first and second base stations are nodes in a WiMAX or LTE network. A message may be received from the subscriber station containing first and second information, and a range ring determined from the first base station using the first information. A location hyperbola may be determined using the second information wherein the location hyperbola has the first and second base stations as foci. A location of the subscriber station may be estimated using the range ring and the location hyperbola.
US08731456B2
Order requests for playing audio contents and/or video contents are transmitted by way of communication transmission apparatus (3) via a telecommunication network (2) to a computer-based central unit (1). The central unit (1) determines one of several geographically distributed play units (5, 6, 7) which are remote from the central unit (1) and are separate from the communication transmission apparatus (3), on account of details which are transmitted with the order requests, e.g. an identification or a location detail of a play unit (5, 6, 7), or a location detail of a mobile communication transmission unit (3), for playing the audio contents and/or video contents. The audio contents and/or video contents are transmitted from the central unit (1) as a continuous data flow to the selected play unit (5, 6, 7), and are played there via loudspeakers (51, 61, 71) or displays (52, 72). Several play units may be activated by users via their communication transmission apparatus (3) via a common central unit (1), without different address information and/or contact information of the play units (5, 6, 7) having to be used. Moreover, the play units (5, 6, 7) do not have to be provided with a receiver module (11) for the receiving and the processing of order requests for audio contents.
US08731454B2
Disclosed herein are e-learning lesson delivery platforms, products, programs, and methods comprising a digital processing device and a program that creates a lesson delivery server, wherein said server comprises: a plurality of learning activities, wherein said activities are organized according to an instructional plan designed to accomplish one or more educational objectives in at least one subject, wherein said plan identifies one or more activities for use in a guided environment and one or more activities for assignment as independent work; a module for displaying and providing access to said one or more activities in a guided environment; a module for assigning said one or more activities as independent work to one or more learners, wherein said module is only accessible by a mentor; and a module for displaying and providing access to activities assigned as independent work, wherein said module is accessible by a mentor or a learner.
US08731451B2
A fixing device includes a heater that transports a recording medium while rotating in a first direction and fixes an image formed on the recording medium to the recording medium by heating the image, a reducing member that rotates in a second direction different from the first direction, the reducing member and the heater contacting each other and rotating at different speeds, and the reducing member scratching an outer peripheral surface of the heater, and a moving device that moves the heater with respect to the reducing member in a direction of a rotational axis of the reducing member.
US08731448B2
An image forming apparatus including an endless intermediate transfer member stretched over a plurality of rollers; a first biasing member; a secondary transfer roller to be pressed against a surface of the intermediate transfer member by the first biasing member; an opposed roller disposed opposite the secondary transfer roller to thus form a secondary transfer nip at which the toner image carried on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto a recording medium; and a second biasing member to bias the opposed roller. The secondary transfer roller and the opposed roller are movable along a line connecting respective axes of the rollers and a pressure F2 applied by the first biasing member to the secondary transfer roller at the secondary transfer nip is greater than a pressure F1 applied to the opposed roller by the second biasing member at the secondary transfer nip.
US08731446B2
A developer supply device includes a developer-carrying body having a developer-carrying surface that faces an intended device in a first position and moves in a moving direction, a first transfer board that faces the developer-carrying surface in a second position upstream relative to the first position in the moving direction and transfers the developer to the second position in a direction opposite to the moving direction in the second position, an electrification member facing the developer-carrying surface in a third position downstream relative to the second position and upstream relative to the first position in the moving direction, and a second transfer board that faces the developer-carrying surface in a fourth position downstream relative to the first position and upstream relative to the second position in the moving direction and transfers the developer to a developer storage section in a direction identical to the moving direction in the fourth position.
US08731443B2
A developing device has a first and a second developer conveyance path configured to convey and circulate the two-component developer; a first and a second conveyance member each having a helical blade for conveying the developer in one direction; a first communicating path for guiding the developer in the first developer conveyance path to the second developer conveyance path; a second communicating path. The second developer conveyance path includes a second upstream side end section having a bottom in a conical shape having an inner diameter conically increasing. The helical blade of the second conveyance member has a second conical helix portion having an outer diameter conically increasing along an inner wall surface of the bottom of the second upstream side end section. The bottom of the second upstream side end section is at a level lower than a bottom of the first developer conveyance path.
US08731441B2
A charging roller has a conductive shaft, a charge emission member provided to the shaft, and a gap securing member provided to the shaft. The gap securing member (i) protrudes toward the photoreceptor drum so as to be closer to the photoreceptor drum than the charge emission member is to the photoreceptor drum and (ii) is in contact with the photoreceptor drum so as to secure a gap between the charge emission member and the photoreceptor drum. A conductive part of the gap securing member and the shaft are bonded to each other by electrically releasing adhesive, so that the gap securing member is provided to the shaft.
US08731439B2
A coupling which may include a driving side member, a driven side member, and an intermediate member interposed between the driving side member and the driven side member. The intermediate member may be configured to transmit a driving force from the driving side member to the driven side member. The driven side member may include a first driven side rotating body having a first engaging portion and a second driven side rotating body having a second engaging portion. Further, the second driven side rotating body may be configured to rotate relative to the first driven side rotating body about a common axis of rotation with the first driven side rotating body. Additionally, the second engaging portion may be disposed outside of the first engaging portion with respect to a radial direction of the first driven side rotating body.
US08731438B2
An image forming device comprises a device main body; a cartridge attachable to the device main body; a main body transmission unit to rotate about a first rotation axis; a main body joint unit to rotate about a second rotation axis allowed to intersect with the first rotation axis; a cartridge transmission unit configured to rotate about a third rotation axis and to transmit a driving force to a rotation body; and a cartridge joint unit to rotate about a fourth rotation axis allowed to intersect with the third rotation axis. The cartridge joint unit is further configured to rotate coaxially with respect to the main body joint unit and to rotate the cartridge transmission unit when the main body transmission unit rotates in a state where the cartridge is attached to the device main body and the cartridge joint unit is coupled to the main body joint unit.
US08731436B2
A printer includes a photoconductor, a charge roller, and a positioner. The photoconductor includes an outer surface defining a seam region and a non-seam region while the charge roller is configured to rollingly engage the outer surface of the non-seam region. The positioner is operably coupled to the charge roller and includes a discrete step drive configured to maintain a minimum spacing between the charge roller and the seam region of the outer surface when the seam region passes underneath the charge roller.
US08731434B2
An image-forming device includes: a main casing defining an accommodating space therein; an open/close member provided at the main casing to move between an open position and a closed position, the open/close member positioned in the open position extending in a direction; a drawer member configured to be supportable a plurality of cartridges and movable from an accommodated position to a withdrawn position along the open/close member positioned in the open position, the plurality of cartridges being accommodated in the accommodating space when the drawer member is positioned in the accommodated position, the plurality of cartridges being exposed from the main casing when the drawer member is positioned in the withdrawn position. The open/close member positioned in the open position has a length in the direction. A guiding part is formed at the open/close member over the length to guide the drawer member to the withdrawn position.
US08731432B1
This invention provides a seal for the tank/developer section of a two-piece toner cartridge that is applied externally to the section at the opening of the developer roller, where it is intended to confront the drum in the fully assembled cartridge. The seal assembly includes a resilient seal member, illustratively constructed from a stiffening bar that caps a resilient/pliable foam or another elastomer. The foam impinges on the doctor blade where it meets the developer roller, to bias the doctor blade against the developer roller and seal this region against the exit of toner. The foam and stiffening bar have an elongated length that matches the developer opening so that this region is fully sealed along its length. The stiffener is flexibly attached to a sheet material. The sheet is secured to the cartridge surface at a respective edge on each side by releasable adhesive.
US08731423B2
An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including a fixing device configured to fix an image on a sheet; an acquiring section configured to acquire setting information of printing target data; a determining section configured to determine a first time on the basis of the setting information acquired by the acquiring section; and an output section configured to output a control signal to the fixing device to set a heat accumulation time of the fixing device to the first time determined by the determining section.
US08731404B2
An optical transmission system is provided. The optical transmission system includes a user side optical repeater device (ORD), a central office side ORD, and wavelength multiplexing and wavelength de-multiplexing functions (MUX/DEMUX). The user side optical repeater device (ORD) is to be connected with a user side optical network unit (ONU), transmits data in two ways, and is used for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The central office side ORD is to be connected with a central office side optical line terminal (OLT), transmits data in two ways, and is used for WDM. The wavelength multiplexing and a wavelength de-multiplexing functions (MUX/DEMUX), are used for relaying between the user side ORD and the central office side ORD.
US08731401B2
A Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) multi-mode switching system and method and method provides concurrent switching in various switching modes. For example, WDM links may communicate data in various switching modes including, but not limited to, an electronic packet switching (EPS) mode, optical circuit switching (OCS) mode, and optical burst switching (OBS) mode. Edge routers and core routers in the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods provide switching and processing necessary to handle data provided in the various switching modes. Further, the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods can also provide dynamic reconfiguration between the various switching modes.
US08731395B2
Provided is a finder unit including: a transmission-type display section that displays information as overlaid on a subject image; and a display controller that, when an illuminating section illuminates the display section, changes a first display state to a second display state, where in the first display state, a first region which is at least a part of an outer region of an effective image capturing range is displayed so that a transmission ratio of the subject image in the first region is lowered, and in the second display state, a second region which is a part of the outer region and is smaller in area than the first region is displayed so that a transmission ratio of the subject image in the second region is lowered.
US08731386B2
The invention relates to an electric heating device for heating fluids, comprising at least one heating rod, which has at least one heating element, a housing, which encloses the heating rod and has an inlet opening and an outlet opening, wherein the inlet opening and the outlet opening are interconnected by a winding flow channel. According to the invention, the flow channel forms a helix that has a longitudinal axis, wherein the heating rod is disposed next to the longitudinal axis of the helix and extends through a helically winding wall of the flow channel at a plurality of points.
US08731382B2
A method of generating steam by moving at least a portion of an electrically conductive fluid body along a curved path, passing an electrical current through at least a portion of the fluid body that is moving along the curved path, and vaporizing at least a portion of the fluid body. A steam generating apparatus having a first hydrocyclone configured to promote a rotational kinetic characteristic of a fluid body introduced into the first hydrocyclone and a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver an electrical current to the fluid body. A method of servicing a wellbore by providing a fluid body with rotational kinetic characteristics, passing an electrical current through the fluid body to heat the fluid body, converting liquid of the fluid body to vapor, and delivering the vapor to the wellbore.
US08731381B2
An apparatus includes a storage medium for storing downloaded encoded media content, and a decoder for decoding the stored encoded media content for a choice of one of a viewing rental of the decoded media content and recording the decoded media content to a recordable media.
US08731380B1
A method and system for recording a media content onto a media player are disclosed. A recording interface of the media player is unlocked by a media recorder using a key. Next, the media player receives the media content from the media recorder through the recording interface. The media content is stored onto a storage of the media player, where the storage resides within the media player prior to receiving the media content from the media recorder. The media player includes a mechanism for playing the media content. Then, the recording interface of the media player is locked by the media recorder. In this manner, a way is provided to distribute media content while also protecting against the improper copying of media content.
US08731365B1
An optical fiber, which is less likely to increase its transmission loss even when it is exposed to a high-humidity environment or immersed in water, is provided. The optical fiber comprises a glass fiber and at least two coating layers (a soft layer and a hard layer) coated at the circumference of the glass fiber, wherein the limit-adhesion strength between the glass fiber and the coating layer under a hot and humid environment is 0.5N/10 mm or more. Preferably, the glass-transition temperature of the hard layer is less than 90° C.
US08731354B2
An array cable includes radius guides at a tap point of the cable to take up slack for loose fibers at the tap point. The tap point is enclosed in a flexible enclosure that allows the assembly to be pulled through constricted space such as air handling spaces.
US08731350B1
A method for forming planar-waveguide Bragg grating in a curved waveguide comprises: forming a long chirped planar-waveguide Bragg grating in an Archimedes' spiral such that a long length of the waveguide can fit in a small chip area where the grating is formed in the curved waveguide; using periodic width modulation to form the planar-waveguide Bragg grating on the curved waveguide, and where the formation of the periodic width modulation occurs during the etching of the waveguide core; using rectangular width modulation to create Bragg gratings with a higher order than 1st order to allow a larger grating period and larger modulation depth, using waveguide width tapering while keeping the width modulation period constant to introduce chirp to the planar-waveguide Bragg grating where the index of refraction is a function of waveguide width, by applying a specific width tapering to create a desired arbitrary chirp profile.
US08731349B2
The present invention relates to an integrated photonic device (100) operatively coupleable with an optical element (300) in a first coupling direction. The integrated photonic device (100) comprises an integrated photonic waveguide (120) and a grating coupler (130) that is adapted for diffracting light from the waveguide (120) into a second coupling direction different from the first coupling direction. The integrated photonics device also comprises a refractive element (110) disposed adjacent the grating coupler (130) and adapted to refract the light emerging from the grating coupler (130) in the second coupling direction into the first coupling direction.
US08731345B2
The system includes an optical device having both optical components and one or more waveguides on a base. The system also includes a heat sink and a zone definer contacting the base and the heat sink. The zone definer is configured to conduct thermal energy from the optical device to the heat sink. The zone definer includes a thermal insulator having a lower thermal conductivity than both the heat sink and the base. The zone definer also includes a thermal via that extends through the thermal insulator. A via medium is positioned in the thermal via and has a higher thermal conductivity than the thermal insulator. The via medium is located under one of the optical components.
US08731340B2
An imaging guidewire can include one or more optical fibers communicating light along the guidewire. At or near its distal end, one or more blazed or other fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directs light to a photoacoustic transducer material that provides ultrasonic imaging energy. Returned ultrasound is sensed by an FBG sensor. A responsive signal is optically communicated to the proximal end of the guidewire, and processed to develop a 2D or 3D image. In one example, the guidewire outer diameter is small enough such that an intravascular catheter can be passed over the guidewire. Techniques for improving ultrasound reception include using a high compliance material, resonating the ultrasound sensing transducer, using an attenuation-reducing coating and/or thickness, and/or using optical wavelength discrimination. Techniques for improving the ultrasound generating transducer include using a blazed FBG, designing the photoacoustic material thickness to enhance optical absorption. Techniques for distinguishing plaque or vulnerable plaque may be used to enhance the displayed image.
US08731334B2
Multilevel thresholding for mutual information based registration and image registration using a GPU
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method of registering images. The method includes: for each image, determining an optimum intensity threshold set from a plurality of intensity threshold sets that maximizes a variance between classes of each set, segmenting each image using the corresponding determined optimum intensity threshold set, generating mutual information from a joint histogram of at least two of the segmented images, and registering the at least two images using the mutual information. The joint histogram may be generated using a geometry shader of a graphical processing unit.
US08731332B2
A game apparatus detects a predetermined image object including a first graphic pattern with a plurality of inner graphic patterns drawn therein from a captured image captured by an image-capturing section. The game apparatus first obtains the captured image captured by the image-capturing section, and detects an area of the first graphic pattern from the captured image. Then, the game apparatus detects the plurality of inner graphic patterns from within the detected area, and calculates center positions of the inner graphic patterns so as to detect the position of the predetermined image object.
US08731331B2
In a communication system, a communication terminal displays an image based on display data being displayed and sent by an external apparatus. The communication terminal sends first resolution data specifying a resolution of a display of the communication terminal to the external apparatus. The external apparatus determines a resolution of the display data to be transmitted, based on the first resolution data, and second resolution data specifying a resolution of a display of the external input apparatus. The external apparatus sends the display data, which is converted to have the determined resolution, to the communication terminal.
US08731329B2
Systems and methods for rolling shutter artifact repair are disclosed. For example, one disclosed method includes the steps of receiving two frames (F0, F2) of a video, identifying a first plurality of features in frame F0 and a second plurality of features in frame F2, determining movements of corresponding features in the first and second pluralities of features, generating a mesh based on the first and second pluralities of features and the movements, and generating a warped frame (F0′) based on the mesh
US08731327B2
An image processing system performs a position-matching operation on first and second images, which are obtained by photographing the same object a plurality of times. A plurality of shift points are detected in the second image. The shift points correspond to fixed points, which are dispersed throughout the whole of the first image. The second image is divided into a plurality of partial images, the vertices of which are positioned at the same coordinates as the fixed points in the first image. Each of the partial images are shifted to the shift points to transform the partial images so that corresponding transformed partial images are produced. The transformed partial images are combined to form a combined image.
US08731326B2
An object recognition system including an image data storage unit to store a captured image, a feature extraction unit to extract an image having a predetermined rotational component among rotational components of the image stored in the image data storage unit and to extract feature vectors based on the extracted image, a database unit to store object information, a recognition unit to determine whether an object corresponding to the captured image is present in the database unit through comparison between the feature vectors extracted by the feature extraction unit and the object information stored in the database unit and to recognize information on the object stored in the database unit based on determination as to whether the object corresponding to the captured image is present in the database unit, and a system administration unit to receive the information on the object recognized by the recognition unit.
US08731323B2
A method and apparatus are disclosed for identifying and removing banding artifacts (i.e., false contours) resulting from insufficient bit depth caused by digital image quantization, conversion, and/or compression. This method includes: explicitly identifying texture block and flat block; de-termination of filter window sizes with the consideration of handling transitions between texture block and flat block; de-banding filtering with edge protection; and noise shaping according to de-banding filter result.
US08731322B2
Provided are an image brightness control device and an image brightness control method for improving the definition of brightness of the entire image and/or improving the definition of brightness of local areas using local brightness information. The image brightness controlling device includes: a preprocessing unit acquiring an offset table for controlling a dynamic range corresponding to an image range of an input image using brightness values of color data of the input image; and a tone mapping unit mapping the offset table onto the color data. It is possible to improve the definition of brightness so as to correspond to the characteristic of the input image, by automatically considering how to reflect a distribution characteristic of an image.
US08731316B2
An information processing apparatus includes a two-dimensional orthogonal transform coding data acquisition unit for sequentially acquiring two-dimensional orthogonal transform coding data acquired by transforming three-dimensional orthogonal transform coding data generated from a plurality of images, a two-dimensional orthogonal transform coefficient data generation unit for generating a plurality of pieces of two-dimensional orthogonal transform coefficient data using the plurality of pieces of acquired two-dimensional orthogonal transform coding data, and a three-dimensional transformation unit for encoding three-dimensional orthogonal transform coefficient data acquired by transforming the plurality of pieces of generated two-dimensional orthogonal transform coefficient data.
US08731315B2
Encoding image data and mask information to be used for matte images and for image and video matting. Image data and mask information for pixels of the image data in a first representation domain are accessed. The mask information defines background pixels and foreground pixels. The image data in the first representation domain is transformed to a second representation domain. Mask information in the second representation domain is determined by using the mask information in the first representation domain. The image data in the second representation domain is masked by setting image data to zero for background pixels as defined by the determined mask information in the second representation domain. The masked image data in the second representation domain is encoded. Decoding the encoded image data by accessing the encoded image data, decoding the masked image data in the second representation domain, and transforming the masked image data in the second representation domain to the first representation domain to obtain the decoded image data.
US08731312B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image coding technique for suppressing degradation in image quality, in which the time and space where intra macroblocks appear are dispersed. A numerical value (Ftk) is generated from the lower-order six bits of the frame number (Ft) of a coding object frame. A numerical value (Fs) is generated by shifting the numerical value (Ftk) leftward by two bits. An exclusive OR of the numerical value (Ftk) and the numerical value (Fs) is calculated, to thereby generate a numerical value (A). A numerical value (Ytk) is generated from the lower-order six bits of the Y coordinate (Yt) of a coding object macroblock. The upper-order bits of the numerical value (Ytk) and the lower-order bits thereof are inverted, to thereby generate a numerical value (Yr). Further, an exclusive OR of the numerical value (Yr) and the numerical value (A) is calculated, to thereby generate a numerical value (B). A numerical value (Xtk) is generated from the lower-order six bits of the X coordinate (Xt) of the coding object macroblock. When the numerical value (Xtk) and the numerical value (B) are identical to each other, the coding object macroblock is intra-coded.
US08731311B2
A decoding device improves a cache hit rate in a decoding process of compressed encoded image data. The decoding device, before the decoding process, generates a sort table for each reference picture for a plurality of MPEG data streams included in a GOP and having a frame type of P- or B-picture. The decoding device, by using the generated sort table, selects a group of pictures composed of a plurality of decoding target macro blocks that refer to the same reference macro block. The decoding device obtains, from the reference picture, four macro blocks including the same reference macro block referred to by the selected picture group, and stores the four macro blocks into the cache memory. The decoding device sequentially decodes each decoding target macro block included in the selected picture group, by using the four macro blocks stored in the cache memory.
US08731310B2
The present technology relates to an image processing apparatus and a method capable of performing a quantization process or an inverse quantization process more suitable for contents of an image. A lossless decoding unit 202 decodes coded data read from an accumulation buffer 201 at a predetermined timing. A sub macroblock inverse quantization unit 221 obtains a quantization value for each sub macroblock by using a quantization parameter supplied from an inverse quantization unit 203 and returns the same to the inverse quantization unit 203. The inverse quantization unit 203 inversely quantizes a quantization coefficient obtained by decoding by the lossless decoding unit 202 by using the quantization value for each sub macroblock supplied from the sub macroblock inverse quantization unit 221. The present technology may be applied to the image processing apparatus, for example.
US08731303B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for estimating a vanishing point within an image, including: programming executable on a processor for computing line segment estimation of one or more lines in an image, wherein one or more of the lines is made up of multiple line segments as a single least-mean-square-error (LMSE) fitted line. Additionally, the one or more lines having multiple line segments are represented as a single least-mean-square-error (LMSE) fitted line, and the one or more lines are intersected to locate a vanishing point in a density space.
US08731298B2
A character recognition apparatus includes an acquisition unit, a specification unit, a movement unit, and a recognition unit. The acquisition unit acquires data representing a character string. The specification unit specifies an element of a compound character satisfying a predetermined condition for determining the compound character from the character string. The movement unit moves the element of the compound character close to an adjacent character. The recognition unit recognizes a changed character string in which the movement unit has moved the element of the compound character, based on a shape of characters and relevance between adjacent characters.
US08731286B2
A video detection system and method compares a queried video segment to one or more stored video samples. Each of the queried video segments and stored video samples can be represented by respective digital image sets. A first and second comparison comprises comparing a set of low and high resolution temporal and spatial statistical moments in a COLOR9 space, and eliminating file digital image sets that do not match the queried digital image set. A third comparison generates a set of matching files by comparing a set of wavelet transform coefficients in a COLOR9 space. RGB bit-wise registration and comparison of one or more subframes of specific frames in the queried digital image set to a corresponding set of matching file subframes determines queried subframe changes. In the event of a change in a queried subframe, the changed subframe is added to the set of matching file subframes.
US08731279B2
Method and device for generating a multi-viewpoint image are provided. The method of generating a multi-viewpoint image includes the steps of: acquiring at least one reference-viewpoint image; generating unit image information of a virtual-viewpoint image on the basis of unit image information of the reference-viewpoint image; multiplexing the unit image information of the reference-viewpoint image and the unit image information of the virtual-viewpoint image; and generating a multi-viewpoint image by performing an interpolation process on occluded areas between the multiplexed unit image information using the multiplexed unit image information. As a result, it is possible to avoid unnecessary processes of completing and rearranging individual viewpoint images in the course of generating a multi-viewpoint image.
US08731274B2
A method for wafer registration, the method may include: moving a wafer by an X-Y stage and acquiring wafer edge area images; and processing the wafer edge area images to locate an edge of the wafer. A system that includes a camera, an X-Y stage for moving a wafer; wherein the camera is arranged to acquire wafer edge area images; and a processor that is arranged to process the wafer edge area images to locate an edge of the wafer.
US08731273B2
A method for measuring the relative local position error of one of the sections of an object that is exposed section by section, in particular of a lithography mask or of a wafer, is provided, each exposed section having a plurality of measurement marks, wherein a) a region of the object which is larger than the one section is imaged in magnified fashion and is detected as an image, b) position errors of the measurement marks contained in the detected image are determined on the basis of the detected image, c) corrected position errors are derived by position error components which are caused by the magnified imaging and detection being extracted from the determined position errors of the measurement marks, d) the relative local position error of the one section is derived on the basis of the corrected position errors of the measurement marks.
US08731269B2
Cone beam artifacts arise in circular CT reconstruction. The cone beam artifacts are substantially removed by reconstructing a reference image from measured data at circular source trajectory, generating synthetic data by forward projection of the reference image along a pre-determined source trajectory, which supplements the circular source trajectory to a theoretically complete trajectory, reconstructing a correction image from the synthetic data and substantially reducing the cone beam artifacts by generating a corrected image using the reference image and the correction image.
US08731265B2
An X-ray computed tomography apparatus includes, an X-ray source which irradiates an object with X-rays spreading in a slice direction, an X-ray detector including a plurality of X-ray detection elements which are juxtaposed in the slice direction and detect X-rays transmitted through the object, a reconstruction unit which includes a back-projection unit which obtains back-projection data relating to each of a plurality of pixels defined in an imaging area by performing back projection of data acquired by the X-ray detector and an interpolation unit which interpolates the data, and performs reconstruction processing for an image, and a setting unit which sets central positions of a plurality of pixels in the imaging area in the reconstruction processing to positions offset from positions corresponding to centers of the X-ray detection elements in the slice direction.
US08731264B2
A method, apparatus and system for fusing real-time ultrasound images with pre-acquired medical images are described.
US08731247B2
Image data obtained from an image sampling of a physical surface is integrated with position data obtained from a three-dimensional surface sampling of the same physical surface by combining data from the images with the measured surface points from the surface sampling to create additional “implied” surface points between the measured surface points. Thus, the originally obtained point cloud of measured surface points is densified by adding the implied surface points. Moreover, the image data can be used to apply colors to both the implied data points and the measured data points, resulting in a colored three-dimensional representation of the physical surface that is of higher resolution than a representation obtained from only the measured surface points.
US08731242B2
Hazardous objects in the field of explosives ordnance disposal or safety controls are identified using a sensor and image data generating arrangement and a comparison unit. The sensor and image data generating arrangement examines the object and produces an image thereof, which is compared by the comparison unit to known stored reference images. These reference images are digital images of reference objects. In this manner safety controls and explosives ordnance disposals can be organized safely and efficiently.
US08731239B2
A method for tracking objects in a scene may include receiving visual-based information of the scene with a vision-based tracking system and telemetry-based information of the scene with a RTLS-based tracking system. The method may also include determining a location and identity of a first object in the scene using a combination of the visual-based information and the telemetry-based information. Another method for tracking objects in a scene may include detecting a location and identity of a first object and determining a telemetry-based measurement between the first object and a second object using a real time locating system (RTLS)-based tracking system. The method may further include determining a location and identity of the second object based on the detected location of the first object and the determined measurement. A system for tracking objects in a scene may include visual-based and telemetry-based information receivers and an object tracker.
US08731224B2
In a bass reflex type speaker, a Helmholtz resonator is formed by a bass reflex port and a space within a speaker enclosure excluding the bass reflex port and a speaker unit. The bass reflex port of the bass reflex type speaker is movable toward and away from a side surface while maintaining its projecting direction within the speaker enclosure. In response to such movement of the bass reflex port, relative positional relationship between a neck and cavity of the bass reflex type speaker varies.
US08731214B2
A system for noise removal is coupled to a signal unit that provides a digital signal. The noise removal system includes a transformation module to transform the digital signal into an f-digital signal, a threshold filter to generate a noiseless signal from the f-digital signal based on a threshold profile, and a signal synthesizer to provide a gain to the noiseless signal and to transform the noiseless signal into an output signal.
US08731211B2
Systems and methods are described by which microphones comprising a mechanical filter can be accurately calibrated to each other in both amplitude and phase.
US08731207B2
An embodiment of an apparatus for computing control information for a suppression filter for filtering a second audio signal to suppress an echo based on a first audio signal includes a computer having a value determiner for determining at least one energy-related value for a band-pass signal of at least two temporally successive data blocks of at least one signal of a group of signals. The computer further includes a mean value determiner for determining at least one mean value of the at least one determined energy-related value for the band-pass signal. The computer further includes a modifier for modifying the at least one energy-related value for the band-pass signal on the basis of the determined mean value for the band-pass signal. The computer further includes a control information computer for computing the control information for the suppression filter on the basis of the at least one modified energy-related value.
US08731206B1
Techniques for evaluating at least one relative audio quality parameter of a device, such as a mobile phone, are disclosed. The techniques can include testing in a standard, non-acoustically-isolated environment. The techniques can be used to evaluate whether the device is in compliance with a set of standards.
US08731205B2
Methods and systems for fitting a bone conduction device are provided herein. These methods and systems comprise determining a gain to be used by the bone conduction device in providing signals at a particular frequency. In determining the gain, a fitting system may provide a test sound that is modulated between a first signal provided to a speaker and a second audible signal provided to a bone conduction device. The first and second audible signal may comprise properties such that when the two signals are added together they produce a constant amplitude output. In an embodiment, each of the first and second audible signals may comprise substantially identical frequency characteristics and signal amplitudes, such as, for example, equal amplitude sinusoids centered on the particular frequency for the measurement. When each of these two audible signals are provided to a recipient of the bone conduction device, the recipient may perceive a variance in the intensity of the sounds when the intensity of the two sounds generated by the two audible signals do not give rise to the same psychophysical loudness. If the recipient perceives this variance, the gain of the bone conduction device may be adjusted to increase or decrease the loudness of the sound provided via the bone conduction device to reduce or eliminate the variance.
US08731203B2
Methods, systems and apparatuses for securing a secret are disclosed. One method includes receiving a secret from the user and generating encrypted shares based on the secret, a policy, and a plurality of public keys. The encrypted shares are provided to a custodian, wherein the custodian verifies that the encrypted shares can be used to reconstitute the secret upon receiving the encrypted shares.
US08731196B2
A decrypting apparatus for decrypting cryptography data included in a packet includes a receiver, a key generator, and a decrypting section. The receiver receives a packet transmitted from an encrypting apparatus that executes an encrypting process. The key generator generates a key used for the encrypting process. The decrypting section decrypts cryptography data included in the packet received by the receiver with using the key generated by the key generator. In the decrypting apparatus, the packet received by the receiver includes packet information used for generating the key. The key generator generates the key with using the packet information.
US08731187B2
An Igusa class polynomial over rational numbers is computed from a set of Igusa class polynomials modulo a set of small primes. The set of Igusa class polynomials modulo a set of small primes is computed by finding all of the maximal curves in the isogeny class for each of the small primes. In particular, for each prime number in a set of prime numbers, a curve in the isogeny class for the prime number is identified, for example through a random search. Given a curve in this isogeny class, isogenies of general degree are applied to the identified curve, until an initial maximal curve, i.e., a curve with a maximal endomorphism ring, is found in this isogeny class. After an initial maximal curve in the isogeny class is found, all other maximal curves in this isogeny class are found by applying isogenies of general degree to the initial maximal curve. This set of maximal curves for the set of prime numbers defines set of Igusa class polynomials modulo the small primes. A Chinese remainder approach is then applied to construct an Igusa class polynomial over the rational numbers from the computed set of Igusa class polynomials modulo the small primes.
US08731186B1
An apparatus for use with an electronic device having a microphone. The apparatus comprises a structure configured to detachably couple to the device, and a generator supported by the structure. The generator is configured to generate a force that acts on the microphone and renders the microphone unresponsive to voice sounds.
US08731184B2
Test equipment including a signal generator and a method of generating a test signal associated with an overall frequency band are disclosed. Also disclosed is a method of using the test signal to test an echo canceller. The method of generating the test signal includes generating a first time segment associated with a first frequency sub-band of the overall frequency band and generating a second time segment associated with a second frequency sub-band of the overall frequency band. The second frequency sub-band is higher than the first frequency sub-band. The method further includes generating a time gap segment separating the first time segment and the second time segment.
US08731162B1
Call detail records (CDRs) that are generated by different elements of an IP telephony system in connection with the same communication can be matched to one another using timing information contained in the CDRs. Other information in addition to timing information, and which is present in two CDRs relating to the same communication may be used in conjunction with timing information to match CDRs from the same communication.
US08731156B1
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for operating an electronically activated mechanism. In an exemplary embodiment, the method comprises receiving, via a first communications network, a first electronic communication directed to remotely activating the mechanism. The first electronic communication may include at least one of a telephone call, a telephone call containing data, and a data message. The method further comprises determining whether a party from whom the first electronic communication is received is authorized to remotely activate the mechanism. When it is determined that the party from whom the first electronic communication is received is authorized to remotely activate the electronically activated mechanism, a second electronic communication is provided via a second communications network. The second electronic communication is directed to activating the electronically activated mechanism. The first and second communications networks may each include a wireless network.
US08731153B2
A method may include storing a database including a plurality of subscriber identifiers, wherein each subscriber identifier is associated with a telephone number and a subscriber name and address. Each subscriber identifier may be unique to the corresponding subscriber name and address. The method may include storing a database including a plurality of customer identifiers. Each customer identifier may be associated with one of the subscriber identifier and a customer name and address. The method may further include receiving an update to the subscriber name or address associated with one of the telephone numbers and associating a new subscriber identifier with the updated subscriber name or address. The method may further include associating the new subscriber identifier with one of the customer identifiers.
US08731151B2
Methods and systems are provided for managing customer service calls using a localhost service operating within a desktop environment. The system includes a web-based application configured to display browser windows including an overlayed or embedded softphone component, and a desk top application which serves a telephony application configured to receive call status information from a CTI adapter. The softphone is supported by an iFrame which exchanges call status information with the desk top application.
US08731145B2
A method of regulating data transmissions used with telematics-equipped vehicles. The steps include establishing a period of anticipated call center service outage, notifying a plurality of telematics units of the period of anticipated call center service outage, storing that outage information at the plurality of telematics units, and then when a call from the vehicle to the call center is desired during the service outage, the process implements a call handling procedure that delays most calls until the call center is available, but that provides alternative call solutions for urgent or occupant-placed calls. Once the call center is available, postponed calls can be staggered to avoid a large initial spike in calls received at the call center.
US08731143B2
In an emergency response system, a first set of information is used to determine (i) a first set of operator positions to whom an emergency call can be sent and (ii) an identify of a first operator identifier for each operator position in the first set of operator positions based on a set of rules. The first operator identifier for each operator position in the first set of operator positions is mapped with a second operator identifier known to a second system. A subset of the first set of operator positions is determined based on the set of rules using real-time operator information obtained from the second system associated with each of the second operator identifiers. The real-time operator information is different from the first set of information. The emergency call is routed to at least one operator position in the second set of operator positions.
US08731142B2
An X-ray collimator for controlling an X-ray radiation field, having a lower base member, a pair of regulating members, a pair of surrounding members having substantially U-shaped forms in planar view, N columnar members surrounded by the pair of surrounding members (where N is 4, 6, or 8), a guiding member, a pair of moving members moving parallel to the opposed surfaces of the regulating members, an upper base member, a first motor for horizontally moving the pair of moving members, and a second motor for moving the columnar members. The first motor is driven to horizontally move the pair of moving members over the same distance in opposite directions. The second motor is configured to move one of the columnar members along an internal surface of the surrounding member surrounding the columnar member, thereby moving the other N−1 columnar members sequentially.
US08731137B2
The present specification discloses a portable system for inspecting objects. The system includes a housing adapted to be carried by a vehicle, which houses a metal detector and an X-ray scanner and further includes a deployable boom positioned on a top surface of the housing. Operationally, the system is transported to a location, persons or objects are inspected by the metal detector or X-ray scanner and the boom is deployed to inspect external cargo. The integrated portable checkpoint system provides security screening and inspection equipment with increased operational capabilities in one fully integrated package.
US08731132B2
In a nuclear power plant, a corrosion-resistant oxide film on a surface of the metal component of a reactor structure is exposed to a high-temperature water, the corrosion-resistant oxide film containing an oxide having a property of a P-type semiconductor, and a catalytic substance having a property of an N-type semiconductor is deposited on the oxide film. The oxide film maintains the property of the P-type semiconductor.
US08731130B2
A power module assembly includes a reactor vessel containing a reactor core surrounded by a primary coolant. A containment vessel is adapted to be submerged in a containment cooling pool and to prohibit a release of the primary coolant outside of the containment vessel. A secondary cooling system is configured to remove heat generated by the reactor core. The heat is removed by circulating liquid from the containment cooling pool through the primary coolant.
US08731129B2
A first shock absorber group is obtained by combining a plurality of shock absorber blocks, absorbs a shock in a direction parallel to an end surface of a cask, consisting of a first material. A second shock absorber group absorbs the shock in a direction perpendicular to or oblique with respect to the end surface, consisting of a second material having a weaker compressive strength than the first material. A third shock absorber group absorbs the shock in a direction perpendicular to the end surface, consisting of a third material having a weaker compressive strength than the second material. A space is provided at least in the first shock absorber group.
US08731128B2
Maintainability of a traversing in-core probe is improved without any hindrance to passage and the like in an access tunnel in which an indexing device of a TIP system is installed. An indexing device installation unit provided in the TIP system includes: a base on which an indexing device of a traversing in-core probe used in a nuclear reactor is mounted; a holding part holding the base in a suspended state in an access tunnel formed in a nuclear reactor containment vessel; and a lift mechanism moving up and down the base held by the holding part together with the indexing device.
US08731114B2
A Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) combining method and apparatus for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) in a wireless communication system for reducing a number of the LLR bits of previous packet stored for LLR combining are provided. The LLR combining apparatus includes an LLR combiner for combining a first LLR of a currently received packet and a second LLR of a previously received packet, an LLR buffer for storing the second LLR and a first packet exponent for recovering the second LLR in the same size as the first LLR, and an HARQ controller for determining whether the currently received packet is a retransmission packet or an initial transmission packet, and for controlling the LLR combiner to generate a third LLR by combining the first and second LLRs for the retransmission packet and to bypass the initial transmission packet.
US08731113B2
In addition, to pilot tones which may be existent within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal, one or more data tones within that same signal may be employed to assist with channel estimation (alternatively, detection). Once a data tone qualifies as a pseudo-pilot tone, it may be used with the pilot tones for channel estimation. A qualifier considers slicer error associated with hard decisions for a data tone to determine if it is a candidate for assistance within channel estimation. A frame within an OFDM signal may, in one situation, include no pilot tones at all, and a previously calculated channel estimate may be used to process that frame. In addition, fewer pilot tones than needed to perform accurate channel estimation (based on the channel delay spread) may be employed by using one or more pseudo-pilot tones (e.g., qualified data tones).
US08731107B2
Good transmission characteristics are achieved in the presence of fading with a transmitter that employs a trellis coder followed by a block coder. Correspondingly, the receiver comprises a Viterbi decoder followed by a block decoder. Advantageously, the block coder and decoder employ time-space diversity coding which, illustratively, employs two transmitter antennas and one receiver antenna.
US08731104B2
An apparatus and method for compensating for transmit power losses that are caused by the addition of a clipping or crest factor reduction module in the TX path of a communications system. The method includes applying a gain to a signal input into the crest factor reduction module, so that a power of a signal output from the crest factor reduction module is equal to a power of a signal output from a baseband signal generation module in the TX chain. The apparatus and method have the benefit that the peaks of the signal to be transmitted will be consistent over a wide range of TX power values.
US08731100B2
A method of processing broadcast data in a broadcast transmitting system includes randomizing mobile service data bytes; generating a Reed-Solomon (RS) frame; dividing the RS frame into RS frame portions; converting data bytes of the RS frame portions into data bits; encoding each converted data bit and outputting data symbols corresponding to the encoded data bits; interleaving the data symbols; converting the interleaved data symbols into data bytes; forming data groups including mobile service data corresponding to the converted data bytes, each of the data groups including known data sequences, signaling information, non-systematic RS parity data place holders and MPEG header data place holders; removing the non-systematic RS parity data place holders in the data groups and replacing the MPEG header data place holders in the data groups with MPEG header data to output mobile service data packets; and randomizing the MPEG header data in the mobile service data packets.
US08731097B2
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data, a subscriber terminal, a computer program product, and a communications system that provides a sender of data or of a message with additional possibilities for sending data with a higher degree of flexibility for the error-free adaptation of every combination of data and data formats to a given communications system and/or provides the sender with an MMS user application. To this end, a data type and/or data format conversion (KONV) is carried out according to a profile of the recipient (B), whereby a respective reference (LK) to the maintaining of the validity of this reference (LK) is accordingly changes in the data and/or between different data elements of the data type and/or data format conversion (KONV).
US08731095B2
The present invention provides a data transmission method, a transmitter, and a receiver in a coordinated communication system, including: precoding, by a first transmitter, its payload data by using a first precoding matrix to obtain first precoded data; precoding, by the first transmitter, coordinated data by using a second precoding matrix to obtain second precoded data to cancel interference with the first precoded data at a receiver caused by data transmitted by another transmitter; and transmitting the first precoded data and the second precoded data after the precoding to the receiver. According to the method, the first transmitter codes its payload data by using the first precoding matrix; and codes the coordinated data by using the second precoding matrix to cancel, by using different precoding matrices, the interference with the first precoded data at the receiver caused by the data transmitted by another transmitter.
US08731091B2
Disclosed is a method for determining precoding matrix based on an open-loop MIMO scheme, which can enhance a diversity gain at a static communication environment or a low-mobility communication environment. The method for determining precoding matrix applies a first precoding matrix to downstream data to transmit the downstream data through a plurality of antennas, the first precoding matrix being selected from a codebook which comprises a plurality of precoding matrixes, and changes the first precoding matrix to a second precoding matrix per predetermined period, and applying the second precoding matrix to the downstream data to transmit the downstream data through the antennas. The second precoding matrix is a precoding matrix corresponding to an index which has been shifted by a certain value from an index of the first precoding matrix in a direction where an index of a precoding matrix increases, in the codebook.
US08731090B2
In a method for transmitting channel feedback data from a receiver to a transmitter, channel data for a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) tones for one or more spatial streams corresponding to a communication channel is determined. A plurality of angle values associated with the one or more spatial streams and one or more OFDM tones is determined. For each of the one or more spatial streams, a per-tone signal to noise ratio (PT-SNR) associated with one or more OFDM tones is determined, and an average signal to noise ratio (avg-SNR) is determined by averaging the signal to noise ratio (SNR) values. A feedback report is generated to include at least i) the plurality of angle values, ii) the PT-SNRs, and iii) the avg-SNR. The feedback report is included in a data unit to be transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter.
US08731084B2
A local carrier wave output from a synthesizer to quadrature demodulators is multiplied by an offset that makes a frequency shift by an integer number of subcarriers in units of sub-carrier bands. The offset is set to a value obtained by multiplying the number sequentially counted up from 0 to the number of unused sub-carriers included in guard tones in a signal band by the bandwidth of a sub-carrier. By shifting the frequency of the local carrier wave at the time of quadrature demodulation with the offset, the SNR of a baseband signal is prevented from being constantly degraded by a frequency characteristic possessed by the circuit of a receiver in a particular sub-carrier signal. Especially, by preventing a pilot signal from being constantly degraded, the signal can be received with higher accuracy.
US08731081B2
A method and apparatus are for performing one of encoding and decoding a code word that is used to communicate a portion of a signal. For encoding, at least a portion of a code word is encoded from a signal based value using an approximation of a combinatorial function, wherein the signal based value represents one or more aspects of a signal. For decoding, at least a portion of a code word is decoded to a signal based value using an approximation of a combinatorial function, wherein the signal based value represents one or more aspects of a signal. The approximation of the combinatorial function is based on a linear combination of a set of basis functions.
US08731080B1
A machine implemented method includes determining a signal modulation for each of a plurality of profiles; generating a first indicator indicating a signal modulation determined for a first profile in the plurality of profiles; generating a second indicator indicating a relationship between the signal modulation for the first profile and the signal modulation for each of the other profiles; notifying at least one node of the first and second indicators.
US08731078B1
In a transmitter of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, a subchannelization module generates an OFDMA symbol with data on multiple subcarriers, from received incoming data packets. An input controller applies a first formula to determine a first index of each received data packet, and stores each received data packet at an address in memory according to its first index. An output controller applies a second formula to determine the nature of the data to be carried by each subcarrier in the OFDMA symbol and, if said second formula indicates that a data subcarrier should be output, reads the data from said memory, wherein said data packets are stored in said memory at addresses such that the data can be read out at least piecewise sequentially when generating the OFDMA symbol.
US08731076B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for dynamically selecting symbol periods for communications signals and recovering symbols from the communications signals. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a plurality of communications signals over a plurality of different communications channels and determining symbol period end times for the communications signals. A determination is made that a present time is coincident with an end of a sample period for the communications signals and that an end of the symbol period for the communications signals received over at least one of the communications channels is coincident with the present time. In turn, data are provided that represent a symbol received over each communications channel for which an end of the symbol period is coincident with the present time.
US08731059B2
An apparatus that calculates a Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) for motion estimation of a variable block capable of parallelly calculating SAD values with respect to multiple current frame macroblocks at a time is presented. The apparatus includes a PE array unit including at least one Processing Element (PE) that is aligned in the form of a matrix, and parallelly calculating a SAD value of at least one pixel provided in multiple serial current frame macroblocks, a local memory including current frame macroblock data, reference frame macroblock data, and reference frame search area data, and transmitting the data to each PE that is provided in the PE array unit, and a controller for making a command for the data that are provided in the local memory to be transmitted corresponding to at least one pixel, on which each PE provided in the PE array unit performs calculation.
US08731058B1
A method for diagonal processing of video data includes separating diagonally arranged data from rectilinearly arranged data in a video stream, rotating the diagonally arranged data to a rectilinear position; and compressing the rotated diagonally arranged data by a rectilinear compression algorithm. An apparatus for diagonal processing of video data includes a demultiplexer receptive to a video stream and developing a plurality of separated color planes, a number of address generators associated with the plurality of color planes, and a data compressor receptive to the address generators and operative to compress the plurality of color planes with a rectilinear compression algorithm.
US08731052B2
The present invention can suppress the generated code quantity for each image increment so as not to exceeding the target code quantity without having a usage quantizing factor deviate greatly in a sure manner.An image encoding device (200) determines a basic quantization parameter (QPMB) serving as a basic quantizing factor to be predicted in the case that the main encoding generated code comes near the target code quantity at the time of encoding an input image (91). The image encoding device (200) encodes the input image (91) for each feedback control increment by executing quantization using an adapted quantization parameter (QPt) based on an average quantization parameter BaseQP serving as a usage quantizing factor determined based on at least the basic quantization parameter (QPMB). The image encoding device (200) confirms the generated code quantity of the encoded input image (91) for each feedback control increment, and in the case of predicting that the generated code quantity for each image increment will exceed the target code quantity, increases the value of the adapted quantization parameter (QPt) by increasing the average quantization parameter BaseQP.
US08731041B2
A DFE filter includes an input, a first filter loop coupled to the input for providing an odd bit-stream, and a second filter loop coupled to the input for providing an even bit-stream, wherein the first and second filter loops are identical and interleaved.
US08731040B2
Described embodiments provide a method of adjusting configurable parameters of at least one linear equalizer in a communication system. A transmitting device applies an input signal to a receiver. The at least one linear equalizer equalizes the input signal. A sampler generates one or more sampled values of the input signal. A data detector digitizes the sampled values of the input signal. At least one error detection module generates an error signal based on one or more of a plurality of sampled values of the input signal and a target value. An adaptation module determines a gradient signal based on a comparison of one or more of the plurality of sampled values of the input signal and one or more of the plurality of values of the error signal. The adaptation module adjusts a transfer function of the at least one linear equalizer based on the determined gradient signal.
US08731037B2
A receiver includes a demodulator that demodulates a modulation wave modulated according to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The demodulator includes an interference wave detector that detects that received modulation wave includes interference wave when received power of each sample of the received modulation wave exceeds a threshold, and upon the detection, executes replacement processing of replacing a received signal exceeding the threshold with a predetermined value, a first interference wave power estimation unit configured to estimate interference wave power included in an OFDM symbol included in the received modulation wave on the basis of the number of samples that have been subjected to the replacement processing, and a demodulated data generator that demodulates the received modulation wave by executing demodulation processing of demodulating the received modulation wave that has been subjected to the replacement processing on the basis of the interference wave power.
US08731035B2
A cable modem executes periodic ranging with a cable modem terminal system and records a time point at which the periodic ranging is completed. The cable modem obtains an un-ranging time interval during which the cable modem terminal system permits the cable modem not to execute periodic ranging with the cable modem terminal system, and sets a sleep time interval during which the cable modem does not execute periodic ranging with the cable modem terminal system according to the un-ranging time interval. Then, the cable modem shuts off a power amplifier in the cable modem in the sleep time interval if the cable modem does not transmit packets during the preset time interval before the recorded time point.
US08731026B2
A symbol modulation system applicable to a body area network is disclosed herein. The symbol modulation system includes a symbol mapper. The symbol mapper is configured to determine a time within a predetermined symbol transmission interval at which a transmission representative of the symbol will occur. The time is determined based on a value of a symbol and a value of a time-hopping sequence. The time is selected from a plurality of symbol value based time slots, and a plurality of time-hopping sequence sub-time-slots within each symbol value based time slot. The symbol mapper is configured to generate a single guard interval within the symbol transmission interval. The single guard interval is positioned to terminate the symbol transmission interval.
US08731017B2
Tensile strained semiconductor photon emission and detection devices and integrated photonics system
Tensile strained germanium is provided that can be sufficiently strained to provide a nearly direct band gap material or a direct band gap material. Compressively stressed or tensile stressed stressor materials in contact with germanium regions induce uniaxial or biaxial tensile strain in the germanium regions. Stressor materials may include silicon nitride or silicon germanium. The resulting strained germanium structure can be used to emit or detect photons including, for example, generating photons within a resonant cavity to provide a laser.
US08731016B2
A nitride semiconductor light-emitting device has a semiconductor ridge, and includes a first inner-layer between an active layer and an n-type cladding and a second inner-semiconductor layer between the active layer and a p-type cladding. The first inner-layer, active layer and second inner-layer constitute a core-region. The n-type cladding, core-region and p-type cladding constitute a waveguide-structure. The active layer and the first inner-layer constitute a first heterojunction inclined at an angle greater than zero with respect to a reference plane of the c-plane of the nitride semiconductor of the n-type cladding. Piezoelectric polarization of the well layer is oriented in a direction from the p-type cladding toward the n-type cladding. The second inner-layer and InGaN well layer constitute a second heterojunction. A distance between the ridge bottom and the second heterojunction is 200 nm or less. The ridge includes a third heterojunction between the second inner-layer and the p-type cladding.
US08731007B2
A microwave radio terminal capable of multiple gigabits/sec bit rate is provided. The radio terminal may use QAM modulation, including the two lowest modulation formats of BPSK and QPSK. The serial bit stream, including forward error correction (FEC) and all other overhead, is prepared in a digital circuit, such as a filed programmable gate array (FPGA) and is output serially, using SERDES devices inside the FPGA, as two separate channels known as “I-channel” and “Q-channel”.
US08731003B2
An arrangement for adjusting a clock signal in a network element of a communications network includes a processor device arranged to produce a control variable containing information about synchronization messages received from at least two other network elements. A situation in which the reception from a sending network element of synchronization messages of a good enough quality ceases will not significantly disturb the clock signal to be adjusted because only part of the control variable used for the adjustment depends on synchronization messages sent by an individual network element. In a preferred arrangement, the reference value of the control variable is changed in response to a situation where the reception from a sending network element of synchronization messages of a good enough quality ceases. Thus it is possible to reduce the change of the difference between the control variable and its reference value which further reduces disturbances caused in the clock signal to be adjusted.
US08731002B2
A data communication system has a number of communicatively coupled devices, including at least one slave-only device. Techniques for use in the data communication system include techniques for synchronization and re-synchronization of frame and bit clocks, techniques for assigning device address, techniques for dynamically controlling transmit power based on the number of devices, and techniques for serialized signal processing.
US08730999B2
Method and System for Utilization of an Outer Decoder in a Broadcast Services Communication System is described. Information to be transmitted is provided to a systematic portion of a plurality of transmit buffers and encoded by an outer decoder communicatively coupled to the transmit buffer. The resulting redundant bits are provided to a parity portion of each transmit buffer. The content of the transmit buffers, is multiplexed and encoded by an inner decoder to improve protection by adding redundancy. The receiving station recovers the transmitted information by an inverse process. Because a decoding complexity depends on the size of a systematic portion of the transmit buffer, reasoned compromise between a systematic portion size and number of transmit buffers yields decreased decoding complexity.
US08730994B2
A method, system and computer program product for allocating network resources. In one embodiment, a service provider allocates an amount of the network resources to a group of clients, and the service provider receives a request from a client for a quantity of the network resources. The service provider negotiates with the group of clients and offers the group of clients an incentive to reduce the amount of the network resources allocated to this group of clients. The service provider reallocates some of the resources from the group of clients, based on this negotiating, to accommodate the request. In this embodiment, each of the group of clients provides a business value representing a value that would be lost due to reductions in the resources allocated to the each client, and the resources are reallocated based on this business values provided by the group of clients.
US08730989B2
Uplink precoding in closed loop transmit diversity (CLTD). The methods and apparatus relate to precoder operations during an initial stage using default precoder tap weights, and a second stage wherein precoder weights obtained from a precoder control indicator channel information are used, provided the signal quality of the precoder control indicator channel is sufficiently reliable. The methods and apparatus also relate to procedures for responding to detection of an unreliable pre-coding control information (PCI) carried in a downlink feedback signal.
US08730985B2
In providing composite programming content from different sources on a program channel, a host processor joins IP multicast groups for which “live” contents from multiple sources are provided. Specifically, the host processor collects packets containing the live contents based on their destination addresses associated with the IP multicast groups. Segments of the received live contents are selected to realize the composite programming content, which is provided on the program channel.
US08730983B1
A method and apparatus for a configurable packet routing, buffering and scheduling scheme to optimize throughput with deadlock prevention in SRIO-to-PCIe Bridges have been described. A single level enqueue method with dynamic buffering and dequeuing based on packet re-ordering is disclosed. Single level packet routing and scheduling to meet SRIO and PCIe rules to enqueue packets based on FType/TType is disclosed. Backpressure based on ingress watermarks for different packet types is disclosed. Use of a circular-reorder queue (CRQ) for both ingress and egress allows packet reordering and packet passing.
US08730978B2
In an embodiment, an analog front end (AFE) bridge for a SLPI PHY includes: an AFE LINK-side circuit having at least one pair of differential LINK-side nodes which does not conform to SLPI PHY specifications; an AFE PHY-side circuit having a pair of differential PHY-side nodes conforming to SLPI PHY specifications, wherein the AFE PHY-side circuit is coupled to the AFE LINK-side circuit; and a termination control circuit coupled to the AFE PHY-side circuit. A method of bridging a legacy LINK circuit to a SLPI PHY circuit includes: communicating with a legacy LINK circuit with a legacy LINK protocol; communicating with a SLPI PHY circuit with a SLPY PHY protocol over a differential pair; converting outputs of the legacy LINK circuit into inputs of the SLPI PHY circuit; converting outputs of the SLPI PHY circuit into inputs of the legacy LINK circuit; controlling a termination of the differential pair.
US08730974B2
Network entities such as an access device and a gateway analyze messages exchanged during a communication session to identify information items of interest such as, for example, email addresses, universal resource locators, file paths, and attachments. References to and/or the contents of the identified information items may be stored in a database that associates the identified information items with the participants of the communication session. The participants in the communication session may be identified by conventional caller ID information, or by an Internet protocol address, an electronic serial number, or a variety of other identifiers. Information received at the beginning of a later communication session that identifies participant(s) in that communication session may then be used to select from the database, information items from previous communication session, that are associated with the identified participant in the current communication session. Information about the selected information items may be delivered as enhanced caller ID information to parties of the communication session, allowing them to have easy access to the previously exchanged information.
US08730971B2
A method of operating a communication signaling processor is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a signaling message for a voice call to a called party, processing the signaling message to transfer a query to a database that is updated when the called party changes locations, receiving a response from the database, and processing the response to select an identifier for a header of a voice communication to route the voice call to the called party.
US08730967B1
A network switch device includes network interfaces configured to receive and transmit packet based communications within a computer network, a virtual router classification engine, and a packet forwarding engine. The virtual router classification engine is configured to generate a search key for a packet received at a first network interface using header information, and additional information associated with the packet, to select a rule corresponding to the generated search key, and to apply an action associated with the selected rule to the packet. The virtual router classification engine is configured to apply an action associated with the selected rule to the packet at least by assigning a virtual router identifier to the packet. The packet forwarding engine is configured to serve organizations forming the computer network, and segregate packet communications of the first organization from packet communications traffic of other organizations based on the assigned virtual router identifier.
US08730960B2
Described herein are techniques that provide for the transmission of a multicast stream that can resend frames that were not received using the partial state block acknowledgement mechanism. In an example embodiment, an access point reserves a channel for a transmission opportunity of a sufficient length to allow the sending of multicast data, block acknowledgement request, and receipt of a block acknowledgement. Optionally, the transmission opportunity may be of sufficient length to enable packets that re resent to be sent during the transmission opportunity, thereby preventing other stations on the channel from gaining control of the channel. Alternatively the access point may employ an appropriate backoff between TXOPs to AP prevent (T)DLS traffic to the recipients of the multicast stream. The access point does not send any frames from other queues during the transmission opportunity.
US08730957B2
A system and method of enabling a transparent Ethernet switch are disclosed. According to an aspect, a network switch is disclosed. The network switch can include a plurality of physical ports configured to communicate data via a network. The network switch can further include a memory configured to store a first forwarding database, and a plurality of aggregate zone entries within the first forwarding database. The aggregate zone entries can also include a port identifier of first port of the plurality of physical ports to be used as a transparent port within a first aggregate zone.
US08730950B1
Systems and methods can include converting multi-channel circuit switched voice data to packet-switched voice over internet protocol (VoIP). A multi-channel connection originating from one or more customer premise equipment private branch exchanges can be terminated at a channel to packet gateway device. Call data originating from multiple customer premise equipment telephony devices can be received through the multi-channel connection associated with the one or more customer premise equipment private branch exchanges, and can be processed at the channel to packet gateway device responsive to call control instruction information. The payload data associated with the call data can be packaged according to predetermined packaging rules and transmitted according to VoIP.
US08730945B2
The present invention provides systems and methods for using a recipient handset as a remote screen for the initiator handset, while the two handsets are engaged in a voice call. The systems and methods allow a party to transmit its screen buffer to the other party during a voice call between the parties, without allowing the receiving party to store it or forward it to a third party.
US08730943B1
In one embodiment, an apparatus may include a trunk service unit and at least one logical multimedia terminal adapter (L-MTA). The trunk service unit may be configured to provide session initiation protocol (SIP) service to at least one subscriber equipment in a subscriber network. Each subscriber equipment may have an associated subscriber equipment identifier. The trunk service unit may provide subscriber-facing signaling to communicate with the subscriber network and network-facing signaling to communicate with a stimulus-based network. The L-MTA may be associated with the stimulus based network and may be configured to obtain service from a call management server (CMS) in the stimulus-based network. Each L-MTA may have an associated L-MTA equipment identifier, where the network-facing signaling of the trunk service unit being used to control the at least one L-MTA.
US08730941B1
A method and apparatus for enabling users of a packet network service, e.g., a VoIP network service, who live in the same household and share a common phone number to have individualized user identifiers to be transmitted along with their call setup messages are disclosed. For example, each user in the household would have a different user identifier which they could retrieve from an endpoint device immediately before dialing the phone number when they want to place a call that would transmit their personalized user identifier in the call setup message.
US08730940B2
An Ethernet access connection (102) connects a user access point (10) to an access node (12) in the network. The access connection comprises a passive coupler (20), by means of which a further access connection (104) can be provided between the user access point (10) and a second access node (14), such that data can be exchanged over each access connection (102, 104) between the user access point and the network. This duplication ensures that communication is not severed if the access connection (102) is breached. To avoid interference at the destination terminal (11) between the two resulting identical data streams, the access nodes (13, 18) giving access to the destination terminal are controlled such that only one of them forwards data to the destination access point (11), with the capability to switch to the other one in the event of a loss of connection between the access node (13) and user access point (10).
US08730939B2
Provided is a wireless transmitter capable of accurately specifying the number of multiplexed streams and correctly decoding the data signals when a preamble sequence transmitted from any antenna of a wireless transmitter is detected. In this device, a multiplex count determination unit (101) determines the number of streams used by the device itself from the same number of candidates as the number of spatially multiplexed streams. A sequence group generator (104) forms a plurality of preamble sequences into the same number of groups as the number of candidates, which is the number of streams. A sequence group selector (105) selects the group matching the number of streams determined by the multiplex count determination unit (101) from a plurality of groups. A preamble generator (106) selects the same number of preamble sequences as the number of streams in the group selected by the sequence group selector (105) and generates the preamble sequence used by the device itself.
US08730932B2
A system and method for estimating a location of a wireless device receiving signals from plural nodes of a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 communications system. One or more ranges of a wireless device from one or more of the plural nodes may be determined as a function of signals received at the wireless device from the respective one or more plural nodes and as a function of information in an uplink pilot signal. From one or more location measurement units (“LMU”) measurements an uplink time of arrival (“TOA”) measurement from the device may be determined and then an estimation of the location of the wireless device determined as a function of the uplink TOA and determined one or more ranges.
US08730929B2
A method to maintain Network Address Translation (NAT) binding is provided. The method includes: an edge NAT router mapping a source address of a data packet from a mobile terminal to the source address of the edge NAT router, and mapping a destination address of the data packet from a computing device to the destination address of the mobile terminal, and maintaining the two address mapping relationships for a first time interval; the computing device sending a heartbeat packet to the mobile terminal according to a second time interval smaller than the first time interval, so a Time To Live set value progressively decreases to 0 as the heartbeat packet reaches the edge NAT router, thereby maintaining a link from the mobile terminal to the computing device, such that the heartbeat packet will not be sent down to the handheld device.
US08730917B2
The disclosure discloses a method for realizing single radio voice call continuity, which is applied in an IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) network. The method includes: receiving, by a service continuity application server (SC AS), a handover request, and then updating, by the SC AS, a remote leg, and transmitting, by the SC AS, a handover notification message to a user terminal; receiving, by the user terminal, a handover command in a Packet Switch (PS) domain and the handover notification message, then adjusting, by the user terminal, an access mode to be accessing a Circuit Switch (CS) domain. The invention further discloses a system for realizing single radio voice call continuity. The method and system for realizing enhancement of single radio voice call continuity provided by the disclosure can effectively reduce the overlong interruption time in the prior art, and greatly improve the user experience.
US08730916B2
A method for implementing single radio voice call continuity, comprises: User Equipment (UE) establishing an IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) session with a remote user through a Packet Switch (PS) network, wherein the IMS session is anchored to an enhanced Mobile Switch Center (eMSC); the PS network sending a handover request to the eMSC for handing over the IMS session to gain access through a Circuit Switch (CS) network; the eMSC receiving the handover request, establishing a media link, and relating a newly established media link with a remote media link of the IMS session, so that the UE can communicate with the remote user through the newly established media link and the remote media link. The present invention also provides a system and an eMSC for supporting single radio voice call continuity.
US08730915B2
Methods, systems, and devices are described for concurrently performing handoff-related measurements for neighbor cells using multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna resources. In one example, a mobile device is in communication with a serving cell. Handoff-related measurements of first wireless signals from a first neighbor cell are performed. The first wireless signals are received at first MIMO antenna resources of a device. Handoff-related measurements of second wireless signals from a second neighbor cell are performed, as well. The second wireless signals are received at second MIMO antenna resources concurrently with the first wireless signals received at the first MIMO antenna resources. The first handoff-related measurements and the second handoff-related measurements may be performed during a scan interval. A type of handoff-related measurement to perform may be determined based on a determined length of the scan interval.
US08730911B2
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a first network configured to communicate with a first interface of a multi-interface user device is disclosed. The first network receives a first message from the user device, where the first message requests that messages for the user device be forwarded via a second network. The first network receives a second message for user device and forwards the second message to the second network.
US08730908B2
A conventional handover method is performed in units of base stations, so that there is a problem in that a large amount of power for handover is consumed and implementation cost is high.Through dedicated protocol message exchanges between a user equipment and a network or between networks, resource availability of candidate networks is checked in advance, a handover target network is selected from among the candidate networks according to a result of checking, and the selected target network is designated as a network to which the user equipment is handed over.
US08730907B2
Transmitting and receiving location registration messages and data packets in a communication system
A network system including a mobile node, a correspondent node for transmitting/receiving a data packet to/from the mobile node, a first router to which the mobile node is connected at a visited domain and a second router to which the mobile node is connected at a moving destination to which the mobile node moves from the first router. The second router including a location registration message generating unit for generating a location registration message of the mobile node and transmitting the location registration message. The first router including a binding cache, a movement managing unit for receiving the location registration message and storing into the binding cache address information from before and after the mobile node moves and an encapsulating unit for receiving the data packet, encapsulating the data packet concerned, and creating and transmitting a data packet containing as a transmission destination the address information after the change.
US08730906B2
An apparatus and method are provided to identify an endpoint as a general packet radio service tunneling protocol endpoint, and configure a radio access bearer to skip a path management procedure. The apparatus and method also transmit the radio access bearer to a universal generic access network controller to prevent activation of the path management procedure to the general packet radio service tunneling protocol endpoint.
US08730900B2
The present invention discloses a method for adaptively adjusting uplink and downlink bandwidth, which includes: a base station counting a usage status of the uplink and downlink bandwidth in a preset time, and obtaining a bandwidth amount ΔBWDL required to be coordinated of downlink bandwidth and a bandwidth amount ΔBWUL required to be coordinated of uplink bandwidth; the base station determining a direction, amount and location of the required change of the uplink and downlink bandwidth according to the obtained ΔBWDLand ΔBWUL; the base station carrying the determined direction, amount and location of the required change of the uplink and downlink bandwidth through residual ten bits in a logical channel message corresponding to a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) and informing a terminal of the direction, amount and location. The present invention also discloses a device for adaptively adjusting the uplink and downlink bandwidth.
US08730886B2
Example methods and apparatus for registration and data transmission using fast/zero contention resolution are disclosed. An example method for transmission on a random-access channel (RACH) involves transmitting a mobile station radio access capabilities (MS RAC) message to a network and receiving an identification (ID) from the network subsequent to the MS RAC. The ID is locally unique and provides contention resolution. A timing advance is determined and further transmissions are performed on the RACH using the ID and the TA.
US08730880B2
An apparatus and method for providing a resource allocation of a Base Station (BS) in a mobile communication system includes, when a Mobile Station (MS) is located in a cell boundary region, locating a transmission frame region for the MS in a duty cycle reduction region.
US08730877B2
In a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system that utilizes interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) or localized FDMA, multiple transmitters may transmit their pilots using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), interleaved frequency division multiplexing (IFDM), or localized frequency division multiplexing (LFDM). The pilots from these transmitters are then orthogonal to one another. A receiver performs the complementary demultiplexing for the pilots sent by the transmitters. The receiver may derive a channel estimate for each transmitter using an MMSE technique or a least-squares technique. The receiver may receive overlapping data transmissions sent on the same time-frequency block by the multiple transmitters and may perform receiver spatial processing with spatial filter matrices to separate these data transmissions. The receiver may derive the spatial filter matrices based on the channel estimates for the transmitters and using zero-forcing, MMSE, or maximal ratio combining technique.
US08730875B2
There is provided a wireless communication terminal that autonomously determines whether the wireless communication terminal is in a state in which flooding should be performed or a state in which the flooding should not be performed in a wireless ad-hoc network. At each predetermined time, the wireless communication terminal that performs the flooding autonomously infers whether the wireless communication terminal is in a state in which the flooding should be performed or a state in which the flooding should not be performed from the number of flooding packets that are of a packet flooded from surrounding wireless communication terminals based on a hidden Markov model.
US08730874B2
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting frames from a transmitting mesh device to a receiving mesh device in a mesh network, comprising: storing frames received in the transmitting mesh device from a source mesh device and intended for a destination mesh device in a relay queue, the source mesh device and the destination mesh device being different from the transmitting device, storing frames generated by the transmitting mesh device in a local queue, different from the relay queue, selecting a frame from the relay queue or local queue based on a predetermined scheduling strategy, —transmitting the selected frame to the receiving mesh device.
US08730857B2
A method includes the operations of buffering group-addressed frames; generating a first signal field comprising a first rate code selected from a plurality of invalid rate codes; receiving a trigger frame from a wireless station; and transmitting the first signal field in combination with the buffered group-addressed frames in response to the trigger frame.
US08730850B2
A method and apparatus of transmitting a reference signal in a time division duplex (TDD) system is provided. A base station (BS) generates a plurality of demodulation reference signals (DMRSs) for respective layers, maps the plurality of DMRSs to a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) region for downlink transmission within a special subframe and transmits the plurality of DMRSs through a plurality of antennas. The special subframe is a subframe for separating uplink and downlink between an uplink (UL) subframe and a downlink (DL) subframe within a frame.
US08730848B2
A repeater (1) particularly suitable for a time-division duplex transmission of communication signals is provided. The repeater (1) comprises a master unit (2) for communicating with a base station (3) of a wireless network, at least one remote unit (4) for communicating with a network terminal, as well as a waveguide (11) connecting the remote unit (4) with the master unit (2) for transmitting the communication signals in an uplink direction (6) from the remote unit (4) to the master unit (2) and in a downlink direction (5) from the master unit (2) to the remote unit (4). Both the master unit (2) and the remote unit (4) comprise one switch (19, 20) each for changing over the signal transmission between uplink direction (6) and downlink direction (5). Both switches (19, 20) are selected by a synchronizing unit (21) arranged in the master unit (2), the synchronizing unit (21) being designed for determining a clock pulsing from the communication signal fed to the master unit (2)—in particular from the base station (3)—and for supplying a control signal corresponding to this clock pulsing to the switches (19, 20).
US08730846B2
A method for detecting a target cell by a mobile device, the method comprising storing traversed paths of the mobile device, the stored traversed paths each comprising information to identify cells in a sequence of cells traversed by the mobile device referenced to the target cell, compiling information identifying cells traversed by the device in real time to produce current path information, comparing the current path information to the stored traversed paths and inferring from the comparison a relative proximity of the mobile device to the target cell and adapting a search for the target cell based on the relative proximity.
US08730834B2
An intelligent electronic device (IED) configured to supervise a process having a state has at least one of a current, voltage or resistive input configured to monitor the state of the process, a binary status input configured to monitor the state of the process, a binary status input configured to receive a digitally encoded serial communication package for monitoring the state of the process, a control output configured to output a signal to control process protection, control, or automation, or a combination thereof, or a control output configured to output a digitally encoded serial communication package to control protection, control, or automation, or a combination thereof. The IED is also configured to facilitate digital communication between at least two compatible devices by directing communication packets from ports connected to an originating compatible device to ports connected to a destination compatible device.
US08730826B2
Methods and apparatus for testing a network that reassembles fragments into datagrams. A packet receiver may extract a plurality of instrumentation blocks from a packet received from the network. The packet receiver may determine if the received packet constitutes a correctly reassembled datagram based on information contained within the plurality of instrumentation blocks. The packet receiver may accumulate and report test statistics indicative of a number of correctly reassembled datagrams received and a number of incorrectly reassembled datagrams received.
US08730825B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure set forth methods for determining a probability of retransmitting a packet in a time slot for a source node in a wireless network. Some example methods include determining whether transmission of the packet in the time slot is successful, measuring a number of time slots accumulated since a most recent successful transmission of the packet by the source node, and determining a first value of the probability based on a second value associated with the number of time slots accumulated.
US08730823B2
A Core Service Platform (CSP) system is integrated with an operator network and IT system to provide services to subscribers and operators. Based on information collected from the operator network and IT system, the CSP system delivers alerts to a subscriber's device and provides offers to resolve the condition causing the alerts. The CSP system provides customized contextual offers to the subscriber's device based on contextual assessments of a subscriber's current context, such as time in contract, loyalty status, data and voice usage, value of customer, time, location and purchase history. The CSP system also provides an operator a suite of tools for the operator to manage its pricing, offers, campaigns and other subscriber-related issues.
US08730821B2
A packet loss rate detection method, apparatus, and system relating to a Packet Switching Network (PSN) are provided, and the method includes: transmitting, by a transmitting end, data packets and Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) packets, and writing a counting value of the data packets into the subsequent OAM packets after a time delay, and receiving, by a receiving end, the data packets and the OAM packets, counting a number of the received data packets, and calculating a packet loss rate based on the number of the practically received data packets and the counting value carried in the OAM packets.
US08730818B2
This disclosure relates to a converter/multiplexer and associated method of use therefor or converting and multiplexing parallel inputs, a modem, a GPS, or even modem information into a single multimaster broadcast serial bus standard for connecting electronic control units, and more specifically, to a multiplexer for transforming analog, digital, frequency, GPS, or modem inputs into a CAN bus data transmittal over LAN and/or PAN and interrelation with a similarly equipped receiving module. Further, the converter/multiplexer is used alone or in a group as part of a larger system for multiplexing and demultiplexing signals for serial bus processing and also for guidance when the converters are cabled by operators using stored configurations.
US08730811B2
Managing network traffic includes associating a wireless client device with a wireless access point comprising at least one processor with said wireless access point, identifying a network to which said wireless client device is assigned; and with said wireless access point, assigning said wireless client device to one of a plurality of Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) implemented within said network according to a protocol for balancing network traffic across the plurality of VLANs.
US08730808B2
Example embodiments of methods and apparatus for data communication are disclosed. An example method includes establishing, at a data network communication device, respective data communication channels with a plurality of client network devices. The example method also includes allocating default size data transmission windows to the plurality of client network devices, monitoring use of the default size data transmission windows by the client network devices based on received data queued in a shared data buffer, allocating fixed size data transmission windows to client network devices of the plurality that are communicating data at a rate greater than a threshold data rate, the fixed size windows being larger than the default size windows. The example method also includes receiving data from the client network devices in accordance with at least one of the default size data transmission windows and the fixed size data transmission windows.
US08730792B2
Each of a first switching processor and a second switching processor included in a switching device switches plural pieces of data to determined destinations. A controller bypass-transmits a determined number of pieces of data received by the first switching processor to the second switching processor according to a congestion state of the first switching processor to make both of the first switching processor and the second switching processor perform a switching process. Alternatively, the controller bypass-transmits a determined number of pieces of data received by the second switching processor to the first switching processor according to a congestion state of the second switching processor to make both of the first switching processor and the second switching processor perform a switching process.
US08730770B2
A system and method is introduced to facilitate the handover process of performers who are using digital vinyl systems (DVS). A DVS may be connected to an existing audio setup during the playing of another performer without interrupting the other performer and without disconnecting any connections in the existing audio setup. When the DVS is connected and a handover process is required, a switch is activated to select the DVS as the current active device for use. A DVS may be disconnected from an existing audio setup without interrupting another performer. The system may be implemented as part of an audio device or as a separate stand alone device.
US08730766B2
An underwater seismic system for reducing noise due to ghost reflections or motion through the water from seismic signals. The system includes two motion sensors. One sensor has a first response and is sensitive to platform-motion-induced noise as well as to acoustic waves. The other sensor has a different construction that isolates it from the acoustic waves so that its response is mainly to motion noise. The outputs of the two sensor responses are combined to remove the effects of motion noise. When further combined with a hydrophone signal, noise due to ghost reflections is reduced.
US08730764B2
A method for encoding a non-negative integer, for example, representative of MWD/LWD data, includes encoding at least a portion of the integer using at least a first order Fibonacci derived sequence. The remainder of the integer may be encoded using conventional Fibonacci encoding. The invention tends to improve coding efficiency, downhole and surface synchronization, and surface detection.
US08730761B2
The technologies described herein include systems and methods for reducing noise in seismic data. More specifically, implementations may determine an amount of over-sampling for a frequency range of seismic data. Then, implementations may determine frequency bands based on the over-sampling. For each frequency band minimum-noise seismograms may be selected from consecutively occurring blocks of seismograms, and the remaining seismograms within each block may be discarded. The minimum-noise seismograms may then be used to reconstruct the discarded seismograms. The reconstructed seismograms may contain less noise than the original seismograms and, consequently, the seismic data may contain less noise.
US08730748B2
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a plurality of memory banks, wherein each memory bank includes a bank control unit configured to reduce a voltage level of a first node to a ground voltage level when the memory bank is selected to perform a predetermined operation; an error control unit configured to supply an external voltage to the first node when the memory bank is not selected to perform the predetermined operation; and a signal generation unit configured to generate a bank operation signal in response to the voltage level of the first node.
US08730735B2
A method of programming a semiconductor memory device by applying a program voltage to a selected word line in an incremental step pulse program mode includes raising a voltage of precharging a bit line for program inhibition according to an increase in the program voltage applied to the selected word line.
US08730732B2
A non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprises a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of gate structures formed on a cell region of the semiconductor substrate. The plurality of gate structures include: a first select-gate structure and a second select-gate structure disposed on the cell region, the first select-gate structure and the second select-gate structure spaced apart from each other, and a plurality of cell gate structures disposed between the first select-gate structure and the second select-gate structure. At least one of the select-gate structures comprises plural select gates.
US08730724B2
In a nonvolatile memory array that stores randomized data, the program level—the number of states per cell stored in a population of memory cells—is determined from the total current passing through the population of memory cells under read conditions, as observed on a common line, for example a source line in NAND flash memory.
US08730722B2
Technique of operating a non-volatile memory are presented so that in case data that would otherwise be lost in the case of a word line to word line short is preserved. Before writing a word line, the data from a previously written adjacent is word line is read back and stored in data latches associated with the corresponding bit lines, but that are not being used for the data to be written. If a short occurs, as the data for both word lines is still in the latches, it can be written to a new location. This technique can also be incorporated into cache write operations and for a binary write operation inserted into a pause of a multi-state write.
US08730714B2
A magneto-resistance memory device includes a first pinned layer having a first magnetic polarity regardless of current applied to the first pinned layer, a first tunnel insulating layer arranged on the first pinned layer, a first free layer arranged on the first tunnel insulating layer and having a magnetic polarity that changes in response to current of a first amount, a second pinned layer coupled to the first free layer and having the first magnetic polarity regardless of current applied to the first pinned layer, a second tunnel insulating layer arranged on the second pinned layer, a second free layer arranged on the second tunnel insulating layer and having a magnetic polarity that changes in response to current of a second amount, wherein the second amount is smaller than the first amount, and a connection layer.
US08730710B2
Semiconductor memory device having a stacking structure including resistor switch based logic circuits. The semiconductor memory device includes a first conductive line that includes a first line portion and a second line portion, wherein the first line portion and the second line portion are electrically separated from each other by an intermediate region disposed between the first and second line portions, a first variable resistance material film that is connected to the first line portion and stores data, and a second variable resistance material film that controls an electrical connection between the first line portion and the second line portion.
US08730707B2
The programming of a read-only memory formed of MOS transistors is set by a mask for forming an insulating layer prior to the forming of contacts of active regions of the transistors. The programming of the read-only memory cannot be determined by visible inspection of the memory.
US08730695B1
A system and a method are provided that allow load sharing between two or more DC output power supplies that are connected in parallel to scale the output power. As the temperature of the critical components in a power supply rises, the output voltage from that power supply will be lowered, so that the coolest supply will have the highest voltage and thus the highest current to the load. The systems and methods can operate without any additional wires connecting the supplies other than those supplying the power to the load.
US08730686B2
A dual-input nine-phase autotransformer converts first and second three-phase AC inputs to a nine-phase AC output. The autotransformer includes input terminals for connection to a first three-phase AC input and a second three-phase AC input smaller than the first three-phase AC input. The autotransformer includes a first plurality of coils, a second plurality, and a third plurality of coils wound on respective phase legs of the autotransformer. The autotransformer includes a plurality of output terminals for providing a plurality of AC output voltages, and a plurality of internal terminals for connecting the first, second, and third plurality of coils in a configuration that provides a 40° phase shift in the AC outputs provided by the dual-input nine-phase autotransformer.
US08730680B2
A chip card holding mechanism includes a support bracket defining a receiving chamber and an opening communicating with the receiving chamber; a resilient member fixed to the support bracket at an end of the support bracket opposite to the opening, and partial received in the receiving chamber; a latching assembly rotatably fixed to the support bracket and further comprising a pair of latching portions; and a tray slidably assembled to the support bracket, in which the tray comprises an accommodating space defined thereon to receive a chip card, and a pair of opposite sidewalls adjacent to the accommodating space, each sidewall defining a latching groove according to the corresponding latching portion; and the tray is received in the receiving chamber by having the latching portions of the latching assembly engaged in the latching grooves and resisting against the resilient member. An electronic device using the same is also provided.
US08730678B1
An apparatus and system for facilitating access to one or more components mounted in a rack comprising a base member and at least one pivot mechanism mounting the base member to the rack. The apparatus facilitates access to the components by being pivotable downward for access to upper components and pivotable upward for access to lower components.
US08730677B2
The invention relates to a method of cooling electronic circuit boards using surface mounted devices (SMD), the method comprising the steps of: after or during the board layout, filling empty spaces V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, V9, V10 with at a number of heat sink devices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 near a thermal hot spot and connecting the number of heat sink devices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to a thermally conducting path 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 of the board N, respectively. Further, the invention relates to a heat sink device 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 adapted to implement the method according to the invention.
US08730665B2
An electronic equipment enclosure comprises a frame structure formed from a plurality of support posts and at least partially enclosed by a plurality of panels. The panels include at least side, top and back panels defining an enclosure having a top, a bottom and a rear thereof. The top panel includes an opening there through that is rectangular in shape. The equipment enclosure further comprises an exhaust air duct extending upward from the top panel of the enclosure. The exhaust air duct is rectangular in cross-section and is disposed in surrounding relation to, and in fluid communication with, the top panel opening. The exhaust air duct is adapted to segregate hot air being exhausted from the enclosure from cool air entering the enclosure, thereby improving thermal management of the enclosure.
US08730652B2
Power connectors and switchgear assemblies are presented herein. A power connector is disclosed for electrically coupling a circuit breaker to an electrically conductive bus bar. The connector includes a fork-shaped head for electrically connecting to the circuit breaker, and a base for electrically connecting to the bus bar. A yoke extends between and connects the base to the fork-shaped head. The yoke has a transverse cross-section with a length that is greater than a width. The length and/or width of the transverse cross-section varies between respective ends of the transverse cross-section.
US08730645B2
A multilayer electrical component is presented having at least one base body, which includes a stack of dielectric layers and electrode layers arranged one upon the other, wherein the multilayer component additionally has a resistor and a decoupling layer, wherein the decoupling layer chemically isolates the resistor from at least one portion of a multilayer element.
US08730637B2
A surge protection apparatus or method for opening a surge path upon failure of a surge protection element as a short. The surge protection device may include a switch controlled by a solenoid or other switch controlling component that changes a position of the switch if the surge protection element fails as a conductive element. A first position of the switch is configured to allow transmittal of a signal from a signal connection, through the surge protection element, and to a ground connection. A second position of the switch is configured to prevent transmittal of a signal from the signal connection, through the surge protection element, and to the ground connection. A delay may be added between the changing of the switch position after the surge protection element fails as a conductor. Visual or other notifiers may indicate when the switch is in the second position.
US08730635B2
If a power supply path is in an abnormal state, a power-supply-path protection circuit of a power supply controller inhibits a switching circuit that switches on/off power supply from a power source to a load from power supply, using data related to a protection-current temperature characteristic line set by a characteristic setting circuit. The protection-current temperature characteristic line has a characteristic in which a protection current value is constant corresponding to increase in an ambient temperature or a negative characteristic in which the protection current value reduces corresponding to increase in the ambient temperature. Within a temperature range equal to or lower than an supposed maximum ambient temperature around the power-supply-path, the protection-current temperature characteristic line and a power-supply-path temperature characteristic line have a relation that the protection-current value is equal to or lower than an allowable current value at an identical ambient temperature.
US08730620B1
An example hard disk drive (HDD) comprising a magnetic disk and a ramp within the HDD is disclosed. A slit is disposed between a ramp body and a flange.
US08730619B2
A main object of the present invention is to provide a suspension substrate such that design freedom of a wiring layer is improved while restraining the upsizing in accordance with an increase in a wiring layer. The present invention solves the problem by providing a suspension substrate comprising a metal supporting substrate, a first insulating layer, a first wiring layer, a second insulating layer, and a second wiring layer laminated in this order, characterized in that the first wiring layer has a functional element wiring layer connected to a functional element, and the second wiring layer has a signal transmission wiring layer comprising a pair of wiring layers and connected to a recording and reproducing element.
US08730605B1
A bit patterned recording system includes a servo channel module configured to recover servo fields written with servo information. A field locator module is configured to locate a field printed to data islands of a medium based on a location of one of the servo fields. The servo islands and the data islands have different spacing. A servo clock has a different phase and frequency than a data clock. A phase error calculator module is configured to estimate a phase error of the data clock based on the field and the data clock. The phase error is used to adjust a phase of the data clock.
US08730604B2
A given reference pattern is written on bit patterned media that has an initial reference pattern already disposed thereon. A write phase and frequency is detected based on the initial reference pattern and the given reference pattern is written on the bit patterned media at the detected write phase and frequency.
US08730600B2
A lens barrel includes a plurality of lens groups including a retractable lens group, a plurality of lens retaining frames to respectively retain the plurality of lens groups, a movable lens barrel to retain the plurality of lens retaining frames therein, and a lens retaining frame driving device to drive the lens retaining frames via the movable lens barrel. The lens retaining frames, the movable lens barrel and the lens retaining frame driving device move the plurality of lens groups between a collapsed state and a photographing state. The retractable lens retaining frame is movable between a position on a photographing axis and a position inside a housing located outside an inside diameter position of the movable lens barrel in the collapsed state by moving in a direction inclined relative to the photographing axis and moving in a direction orthogonal to the photographing axis.
US08730574B2
A microscope system includes a culture unit for holding and cultivating a specimen while maintaining constant temperature and humidity; a stage for holding the culture unit; a first light-converging optical system for converging illumination light emitted from a light source on the specimen; a second light-converging optical system for converging transmitted light that has passed through the specimen; a transmitted-light pinhole provided at a position optically conjugate to the light-converging position of illumination light on the specimen to cut off part of transmitted light converged by the second light-converging optical system; a transmitted-light detector that detects transmitted light that has passed through the transmitted-light pinhole; a moving system for moving the first and second light-converging optical systems, the transmitted-light pinhole, and the transmitted-light detector and the stage relative to each other; a housing that encloses these components and cuts off external light; and a control unit.
US08730573B2
Microscopy techniques in which a rear pupil of an optical system is segmented and the segments are individually controlled with a wavefront modulating device to control the direction and phase of individual beamlets of an excitation or emission beam in the optical system, thereby providing an adaptive optics correction to sample and system induced aberrations.
US08730572B2
A catadioptric projection objective for imaging a pattern provided in an object plane of the projection objective onto an image plane of the projection objective has a first, refractive objective part for imaging the pattern provided in the object plane into a first intermediate image; a second objective part including at least one concave mirror for imaging the first intermediate imaging into a second intermediate image; and a third, refractive objective part for imaging the second intermediate imaging onto the image plane; wherein the projection objective has a maximum lens diameter Dmax, a maximum image field height Y′, and an image side numerical aperture NA; wherein COMP1=Dmax/(Y′·NA2) and wherein the condition COMP1<10 holds.
US08730571B2
A system and method for windows films having one or more layers incorporating an organic free radical compound, wherein the layers reflect in the infrared region, and one or more layers of a multilayer interference stack of a metal/metal or metal/metal oxide design. Preferably, the organic free radical compound is a salt of an aminium radical cation. One or more layers of the multilayer interference stack may incorporate an aminium radical cation compound. Also provided are security windows that utilize such window films.
US08730566B2
According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) (e.g., for a laser transmitting device) includes non-linear optical media, optical beam manipulating elements, and a narrow linewidth filter in the form of a rotatable grating. The grating enables rapid tuning of the oscillator to provide an output beam with a desired wavelength. A pump laser provides a pump laser beam, and the non-linear optical media convert the pump beam into light beams with a signal wavelength and an idler wavelength. The angular positions or orientations of the non-linear optical media relative to a longitudinal propagation axis of the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) are adjustable to effectively tune the resulting signal and idler wavelengths. An output coupler receives the resulting beams from the non-linear optical media, and emits beams with the desired wavelength (signal and/or idler wavelengths).
US08730562B1
An optical sampler includes a first and second 1×n optical beam splitters splitting an input optical sampling signal and an optical analog input signal into n parallel channels, respectively, a plurality of optical delay elements providing n parallel delayed input optical sampling signals, n photodiodes converting the n parallel optical analog input signals into n respective electrical output signals, and n optical modulators modulating the input optical sampling signal or the optical analog input signal by the respective electrical output signals, and providing n successive optical samples of the optical analog input signal. A plurality of output photodiodes and eADCs convert the n successive optical samples to n successive digital samples. The optical modulator may be a photodiode interconnected Mach-Zehnder Modulator. A method of sampling the optical analog input signal is disclosed.
US08730560B2
A pixel is formed by sealing an insulating liquid and floating particles in an area defined by a first substrate, a second substrate and partitions. The width of the partition has to be reduced in order to improve the pixel brightness by enlarging a flat electrode. In this case, the height of the partition has to be reduced for retaining the mechanical strength. If the height of the partition is reduced, an area of the partition electrode becomes small, thus failing to retain the memory effect. The planar surface of the partition is then formed into a zigzag shape so as to increase the area of the partition electrode.
US08730556B2
Signals employed to align and cause dithering via MEMS mirrors in an optical cross connect switch are manipulated to impose, on the optical beam (steered via the MEMS mirrors) amplitude modulation and in particular a time-varying set of induced mirror angles that yield a desired time history of optical power level that is modulated according to a digital code in the amplitude modulation pattern. The controlled time sequence expressed as a time-varying optical power level can be used for in-band signaling along the same optical channels available for conventional optical data. The amplitude modulated signal is conveyed through the cross connect switch and is useful for example in control and command of the cross connect switch.
US08730552B2
An improved ion conductor layer for use in electrochromic devices and other applications is disclosed. The improved ion-conductor layer is comprised of at least two ion transport layers and a buffer layer, wherein the at least two ion transport layers and the buffer layer alternate within the ion conductor layer such that the ion transport layers are in communication with a first and a second electrode. Electrochromic devices utilizing such an improved ion conductor layer color more deeply by virtue of the increased voltage developed across the ion conductor layer prior to electronic breakdown while reducing the amount of electronic leakage. Also disclosed are methods of making electrochromic devices incorporating the improved ion conductor layer disclosed herein and methods of making ion conductors for use in other applications.
US08730551B2
The present invention relates to improved electro-optic rearview mirror elements and assemblies incorporating the same. Area of the effective field of view of the electro-optic mirror element substantially equals to that defined by the outermost perimeter of the element.
US08730546B2
A scanner device and a method executed in the scanner device are provided. The scanner device includes a generating unit that generates original image data representing a scanned original; a preparing unit that prepares one color-conversion profile among a plurality of color-conversion profiles having different data sizes, according to a feature of the original image data; and an outputting unit that outputs the original image data and the one color-conversion profile.
US08730542B2
A sheet feeding device including a roller to apply conveying force to one of a plurality of stacked sheets, a separator piece to apply conveying resistance to the stacked sheets and to nip the one of the stacked sheets in cooperation with the roller, a movable member being movable with respect to the roller, a pair of spring arms configured to contact the stacked sheets at an upstream position along a conveying direction with respect to a nipping position between the roller and the separator piece, and a bridge to bridge between the pair of spring arms, is provided. The bridge and the movable member are slidably in contact with each other at least when the sheet feeding device is in a conveyable condition.
US08730540B2
A sheet transport apparatus that transports a sheet to a reading section for reading the sheet, has a reading front roller pair contacting with a front end of the sheet to form a register loop in the sheet; a first transport path extending curvingly toward the reading front roller pair; a second transport path extending curvingly toward the reading front roller pair after joining the first transport path; a first register space in which a register loop is formed in a sheet guided along the first transport path; and a second register space in which a register loop is formed in a sheet guided along the second transport path. The first register space is provided on the upstream side of a junction position in which the first transport path joins the second transport path, and the second register space is provided on the downstream side of the junction position.
US08730539B2
An image reading apparatus having an auto document feeder includes a simplex path for simplex reading, a duplex path which is distinguishable from the simplex path and conveys a plurality of sheets of paper at different positions in a duplex reading mode, a path selecting element, and a flipping element which allows a second side of paper to be read first. Accordingly, in the duplex reading mode, a separation distance between sheets of paper is reduced, a returning path is reduced, the second side of paper is first read, and the paper is collated and then discharged after both sides of paper are read, thereby significantly improving duplex reading efficiency.
US08730535B2
An image processing apparatus determines a direction of document placement relative to a scanning direction based on a direction of a shadow region in an input image when a line sensor having a light receiving element performs a scan and an image read from a book document by a reading apparatus is input. When the direction of the binding portion of the document is determined to be along a longitudinal direction of the line sensor, an image of a region read by the light receiving element of the line sensor from reflected light undergoing specular reflection from the document is detected based on the amount of variation in luminance between adjacent pixels in the read image of the book document. Luminance of the image corresponding to the region is corrected.
US08730534B2
In an illuminating apparatus including a plurality of rows of light source groups each having a plurality of light-emitting elements for irradiating light to an original that are arranged in a main scanning direction, the light-emitting elements in the plurality of rows of light source groups illuminate an irradiated face of the original at the same pitch within the same light source group and at different pitches from each other among the plurality of rows of light source groups.
US08730532B2
The present invention discloses an automatic document feeding scanning device including an automatic document feeder, a flatbed scanner and a power switching mechanism. The automatic document feeder has a pickup arm and a feeding gear, the flatbed scanner has a scanning module and a scanning gear, and the power switching mechanism has two driving elements and a planet gear module. When the two driving elements rotate in the same rotating direction, the planet gear module is swung to a position near the scanning gear and engaged with the scanning gear such that the power switching mechanism transfers a driving power to the automatic document feeder. When the two driving elements rotate in different rotating directions, the planet gear module is swung to a position near the feeding gear and engaged with the feeding gear such that the power switching mechanism transfers a driving power to the flatbed scanner.
US08730530B2
An image reading system and an image reading apparatus is provided. The system or apparatus includes a reading unit configured to read an original, a determining unit configured to determine whether there exists a folded portion at a corner of the original, and a generating unit configured to generate a file including an image area which stores image data of the original read by the reading unit and a non-image area which stores data other than the image data, and configured to write fold information in the non-image area if the determining unit determines that there exists a folded portion, the fold information indicating that the folded portion exists in the read original.
US08730528B2
An image reading apparatus includes an image reading unit that includes plural photoelectric conversion elements arranged therein and that reads an image using light, the light being reflected by a document transported to a read position and being received by the plural photoelectric conversion elements, a reference plate that is disposed at the read position, a correction data generating unit that generates correction data by modifying second reference data on the basis of a ratio of first reference data to the second reference data, the first reference data being obtained by the image reading unit using light reflected by the reference plate in a clean state, the second reference data being obtained by the image reading unit using light reflected by the reference plate before reading an image, and an image correcting unit that corrects the image on the basis of the correction data generated by the correction data generating unit.
US08730525B2
The screened printing data are subjected to a filtering method, the raster information being maintained. Intermediate tonal values are produced by the filtering method, using the binary tonal values, the intermediate tonal values being configured in such a way that, by means of a color space transformation, transformed tonal values and/or intermediate tonal values can be formed which represent a true-to-color proof.
US08730524B2
A disclosed image processing apparatus performs an image processing operation to execute double-side printing on both sides of an image forming medium. The image processing apparatus forms a dot font including a dot pattern of a character in a character image that has undergone a halftone process using a predetermined coefficient for mitigating show-through when the double-side printing is performed; forms a correction dot for making a correction to reduce step-like irregularities along an outline portion of the character in the character image, which correction dot is formed based on an arrangement position, a color, and a dot size of the correction dot for reproducing a gradation that has undergone the halftone process using said predetermined coefficient; and combines the dot font and the correction dot.
US08730514B2
A recording apparatus configured to record on a recording medium by using a recording head, includes a first storage unit that stores input data including a command and a first image data, a reading unit that reads out the command and the first image data stored in the first storage unit by using a first pointer, a generating unit that converts the first image data read out from the first storage unit and generate a second image data, a second storage unit that stores the second image data generated in the generating unit, a determining unit that determines whether an amount of data stored in the first storage unit reaches a predetermined value by using a second pointer, and a recording unit that starts a scan for recording after the determining unit determines that the amount of data stored in the first storage unit reaches the predetermined value.
US08730512B2
An optical scanning device includes a light source which emits a light beam, a deflector, an incident optical system and one scanning lens. The deflector reflects and deflects/scans the light beam emitted from the light source. The scanning lens includes a first face facing the deflector and a second face on an opposite side to the first face, and performs imaging of the deflected/scanned light beam on a surface to be scanned. In a main scanning cross section, when an angle relative to an optical axis of an incident light beam which enters the scanning lens from the first face is θin, and an angle relative to an optical axis of an outgoing light beam which is output from the second face toward the surface to be scanned is θout, in an entire scanning region, a condition of 0.9<θin/θout<1.3 is satisfied.
US08730502B2
A cloud administration system for managing print jobs may include a submission module, a processing module in communication with the submission module and a plurality of print devices, and one or more storage modules in communication with the processing module. The processing module may be located remotely from the plurality of print devices. The submission module may be configured to receive a print job from a source computing device. The source computing device may be located remotely from the submission module. The processing module may be configured to receive the print job from the submission module, store the print job in at least one of the storage modules, and transmit the print job to at least one of the plurality of print devices. The cloud administration system may operate as a shared resource for each of the plurality of print devices and the source computing device.
US08730501B2
A communication apparatus connected to a network to be able to communicate with another device includes a first control portion to communicate with another device connected to the network, and a second control portion to be driven in response to input of a reset signal from the first control portion and to communicate with another device through the first communication portion. The first control portion includes a detection portion to detect data transmitted from another device to the communication apparatus, a data storage portion to store the data to the communication apparatus, and a reset portion to output the reset signal to the second control portion in response to detection of the data to the communication apparatus. The second control portion includes a stop portion to stop driving of the second control portion when a predetermined condition is met, and a network communication portion to communicate with another device based on the detected data to the communication apparatus. One of the first control portion and the second control portion further includes a communication continuation portion to transmit data including a reply for continuing communication with another device, based on the detected data to the communication apparatus, until the network communication portion becomes able to communicate with another device. After becoming able to communicate with another device, if data is stored in the data storage portion, the network communication portion further communicates with another device based on the stored data.
US08730499B2
When a preview image is displayed, an area on which a certain finishing process is executed is automatically enlarged and displayed. A control method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a display unit for previewing print results obtained by printing print information to be printed, the control method comprising: determining a preview position and a preview magnification rate of the print results to be displayed on the display unit, based on a post-processing setting for the print information; and controlling a preview of the print results to be displayed on the display unit, based on the determined preview position and preview magnification rate.
US08730497B2
A print job management apparatus which generates a print job to be transmitted to a printing apparatus according to an accepted print instruction includes a job interpretation unit configured to determine whether an operator processing the print job generated according to the print instruction is designated in the print instruction, a logon management unit configured to confirm a logon state of the printing apparatus if the job interpretation unit determines that the operator is not designated, a job generation unit configured to generate the print job, and a transmission control unit configured to transmit the print job generated by the job generation unit to the printing apparatus, wherein the transmission control unit waits to transmit the print job if the logon management unit determines that the printing apparatus is in a logoff state and transmits the print job to the printing apparatus if the logon management unit determines that the printing apparatus is in a logon state.
US08730485B2
A position measurements system to measure a position of a movable object with respect to another object includes two or more one dimensional (1D) encoder heads mounted on one of the movable object and the other object and each capable of emitting a measurement beam along a measurement direction, one or more reference targets mounted on the other of the movable object and the other object, each reference target including a planar surface with a grid or grating to cooperate with the two or more one dimensional (1D) encoder heads, and a processor to calculate a position of the object on the basis of outputs of the two or more 1D encoder heads, wherein the measurement direction of each of the two or more 1D encoder heads is non-perpendicular to the planar surface of the respective reference target.
US08730482B2
A wear rate measurement method includes thermally coupling a focus ring having a top surface and a bottom surface with a reference piece having a bottom surface facing a susceptor and a top surface facing the focus ring; measuring a first optical path length of a low-coherence light beam that travels forward and backward within the focus ring by irradiating the low-coherence light beam to the focus ring orthogonally to the top surface and the bottom surface thereof; measuring a second optical path length of a low-coherence light beam that travels forward and backward within the reference piece by irradiating the low-coherence light beam to the reference piece orthogonally to the top surface and the bottom surface thereof; and calculating a wear rate of the focus ring based on a ratio between the first optical path length and the second optical path length.
US08730475B2
In a method of aligning a substrate, a first alignment mark and a second alignment mark in a first shot region on the substrate may be sequentially identified. The substrate may be primarily aligned using identified any one of the first alignment mark and the second alignment mark. A used alignment mark and an unused alignment mark during the primary alignment process of the first alignment mark and the second alignment mark in a second shot region on the substrate may be sequentially identified. The substrate may be secondarily aligned using identified any one of the used alignment mark and the unused alignment mark during the primary alignment process. Thus, a time for identifying the alignment mark may be reduced.
US08730467B2
A method for detecting by spectroscopy an inhomogeneity (I) in a sample (E), includes that (i) the sample (E) is illuminated with incident light using means (23) for illuminating the sample (E), and (ii) the light re-emitted by the sample (E) is collected using means (24; 24′) for collecting the light, wherein (i) the light re-emitted by the sample (E) is collected at different spots arranged each spaced apart from the other spots and being located at the same distance from the means (23) for illuminating this sample (E) or their barycenter, and (ii) the presence of an inhomogeneity (I) in the sample (E) is determined based on the signals corresponding to the light re-emitted and collected at least at two different spots. A spectroscopic probe (2) and a device for analyzing a sample by spectroscopy implementing the method are also disclosed.
US08730461B2
Method for the quantification of the fugitive gas flow from a dispersed source (A) by monitoring with a remote detection optical instrument mounted on an aircraft (UAV) which moves at a determined height along a plane (S) perpendicular to the direction of the wind field (u), such wind field being known through suitable positioning of meteorological stations within and in areas neighboring the site to be monitored according to known techniques and use of commercially available diagnostic meteorological models. By this instrument discrete vertical measurements are carried out of the fugitive gas concentration averaged over said height along the whole width (W) of the plane (S) to yield corresponding mean vertical concentration values and, according to mean wind speed values detected at said discrete vertical measurements, a value of the fugitive gas flow (Q) is obtained by integrating the product of the mean vertical concentration values and of the corresponding mean wind speed values with respect to the surface of the sampling plane (S). The obtained value of the fugitive gas flow (Q) is corrected by a corrective factor (a) obtainable by comparing concentration values obtained by direct measurements and values calculated by dispersion models.
US08730455B2
An illumination system for a microlithographic projection exposure step-and-scan apparatus has a light source, a first optical raster element and a second optical raster element. The first optical raster element extends in a first pupil plane of the illumination system and is designed such that the geometrical optical flux of the system is increased perpendicular to a scan direction of the projection exposure apparatus. The second optical raster element extends in a second pupil plane of the illumination system, which is not necessarily different from the first pupil plane, and is designed such that the geometrical optical flux of the system is increased in the scan direction and perpendicular thereto. This makes it possible to improve the irradiance uniformity in a reticle plane.
US08730450B2
A liquid immersion photolithography system includes an exposure system that exposes a substrate with electromagnetic radiation and includes a projection optical system that focuses the electromagnetic radiation on the substrate. A liquid supply system provides liquid flow between the projection optical system and the substrate. The liquid supply system including a plurality of inlets to supply the liquid to the space, the inlets located between the table and a surface of the optical element, the surface arranged to be in contact with the liquid.
US08730446B2
A liquid crystal display panel (1) includes a TFT substrate (10), a CF substrate (20) facing the TFT substrate (10), a liquid crystal layer (25) provided between the TFT substrate (10) and the CF substrate (20), an alignment film configured to control alignment of the liquid crystal layer (25), and a sealing member (26) sandwiched between the TFT substrate (10) and the CF substrate (20) and formed in the shape of a frame surrounding the liquid crystal layer (25). In a region (35) where the sealing member (26) is to be provided, a metal pattern (2) is provided which is configured to reflect infrared light emitted from a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer toward the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer in order to determine the presence or absence of the alignment film in the region (35).
US08730444B2
A pixel array structure including a plurality of first pixels, second pixels, third pixels, a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines is provided. The first pixels are arranged in a first row. The second pixels are arranged in a second row. The third pixels are arranged in a third row. The scan lines and the data lines are electrically connected to the corresponding first pixels, second pixels and third pixels. A first pixel column and a second pixel column are respectively formed at two sides of each data line. The first pixels, the second pixels, and the third pixels in the first pixel column are connected to the scan lines of odd positions. The first pixels, the second pixels, and the third pixels in the second pixel column are connected to the scan lines of even positions.
US08730437B2
A method for making a treated polymer for a liquid crystal alignment agent includes the steps of: subjecting a tetracarboxylic dianhydride compound and a diamine compound to conduct a polymerization reaction to obtain an untreated polymer; preparing a co-precipitating solvent for the untreated polymer which includes a major amount of a poor solvent and a minor amount of a good solvent; and subjecting the untreated polymer to a treatment with the co-precipitating solvent such that at least a significant amount of a polymer fraction having a molecular weight not larger than 3,000 is removed from the untreated polymer to obtain the treated polymer. A treated polymer for a liquid crystal alignment agent, a liquid crystal alignment agent including the treated polymer, a liquid crystal alignment film formed of the liquid crystal alignment agent, and a liquid crystal display element including the liquid crystal alignment film are also disclosed.
US08730434B2
An optical compensation film according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: non-liquid crystal polymers arranged in a tilt alignment, wherein the optical compensation film satisfies the following expressions (1) and (2): 3 [nm]≦(nx−ny)×d; (1) and 5°<β, (2) where, when an X-axis and a Y-axis, which are plane direction axes of a three-dimensional coordinate system, are perpendicular to each other and an axis vertical to the X-axis and the Y-axis in a thickness direction is defined as a Z-axis, nx and ny indicate a maximum refractive index and a minimum refractive index in an XY-plane of the optical compensation film, respectively, d indicates a film thickness [nm], and β indicates an angle formed between a direction for providing the minimum refractive index ny and a direction for providing a maximum refractive index nb in a YZ-plane of the optical compensation film.
US08730430B2
A light-emitting element substrate mounting light-emitting elements is arranged on a front face of a chassis. The light-emitting element substrate is connected to a first connector. A power supply substrate for supplying electric power to the light-emitting element substrate is arranged on a rear face of the chassis. A second connector is connected to the power supply substrate. In addition, the first and the second connectors are connected to each other, so that the power supply substrate supplies electric power to the light-emitting element substrate via the first connector and the second connector. The second connector may electrically be connected to the power supply substrate via a harness.
US08730427B2
A flat panel display apparatus including a transparent bezel including a floor part and a sidewall part protruding from the floor part and being capable of transmitting ultraviolet (UV) light, a display panel including a first substrate located on the bezel and having a display unit on one surface thereof and a second substrate facing the first substrate, a transparent window on the bezel, and a resin layer between the second substrate and the transparent window and between the first substrate and the bezel.
US08730412B2
A display apparatus has a housing, a base, a system board and a display panel. The base is connected to the housing such that the display apparatus is disposed on a flat surface. The system board is disposed in the housing and has a control system for performing an up-down inversing process for an image transmitted from a signal source. The display panel has a timing controller and a pixel array. Specifically, the display panel is put upside down in the housing such that the pixel array is also upside down, and the timing controller is adjacent to the location connecting the base with the housing. The timing controller is coupled to the system board, to perform a left-right mirroring process for the up-down inversed image.
US08730411B2
A display device includes: a front-face member having a transparent plate, a frame having a joint face joined to a rear face of the transparent plate by a joint layer and a holding face provided upright from the joint face, and a hook projected from the holding face of the frame to the outer periphery side of the transparent plate; a display panel which is fit in the frame; a sandwiching member having a pair of clipping faces which come into contact with rear and front faces of the display panel, a side face connecting the pair of sandwiching faces, and an opening which is formed in the side face and to which the hook is inserted; and a rear-face casing covering the entire rear face of the transparent plate.
US08730397B1
Providing a photobook comprising video frames. One or more selectable images comprising video frames are selected by a computer. The selected one or more selectable images are sorted into related groups by the computer. The related groups are assigned to one or more pages of a photobook by the computer. The selected images of the related groups are positioned by the computer on assigned pages of the photobook.
US08730391B2
Determining video content type of a video displayed on a LCD and triggering adjustment in drive power of the LCD based on the video content type. The video content type indicates relative content motion of the video. A video content type detection module is one or combination of a software and a hardware and directs the LCD to be driven relative slower or faster based upon video content. The module independently or in conjunction with another module identifies an active window from a plurality of windows corresponding to a plurality of applications running on the host device and sets the drive power of the LCD based on speed of a video displayed on the active window. The module may also adapt LCD drive power based upon user input and/or remaining battery life.
US08730390B2
Disclosed herein are a picture processing apparatus and a picture display apparatus. A picture processing apparatus includes: an interpolated picture data generation portion generating interpolated picture data at given points in time in the course of time-series picture data based on the time-series picture data; and a control portion controlling the interpolated picture data generation portion by using multi-screen information of the time-series picture data. A picture display apparatus includes: the interpolated picture data generation portion generating interpolated picture data at given points in time in the course of the time-series picture data based on the time-series picture data; a picture display portion displaying pictures derived from the time-series picture data including the interpolated picture data generated by the interpolated picture data generation portion; and the control portion controlling the interpolated picture data generation portion by using the multi-screen information of the time-series picture data.
US08730387B2
Embodiments of scan stand systems or kits for positioning a document or other object to be imaged or scanned in relation to an imaging device are described. Also described are embodiments of systems for video conferencing/telephony/scanning and optical projection functions.
US08730372B2
An image sensing system for an electronic device. The image sensing system includes a lens and an image sensor. The image sensor includes a indirectly lit area of pixels and a directly lit area of pixels. The lens is in optical communication with the directly lit area of pixels.
US08730361B2
A photoelectric conversion device including a pixel region having a photoelectric converter, and a transfer MOS transistor for transferring charges in the photoelectric converter to a floating diffusion, comprises a first insulating film continuously arranged to cover the photoelectric converter, and a first side surface and a first region of an upper surface of a gate electrode of the transfer MOS transistor while not arranged on a second region of the upper surface, the first insulating film being configured to function as an antireflection film, a contact plug connected with the floating diffusion, and a second insulating film continuously arranged to cover a periphery of the contact plug on the floating diffusion, and the second side surface and the second region while not arranged on the first region, the second insulating film being configured to function as an etching stopper in forming the contact plug.
US08730354B2
Methods, systems, and devices are described for providing overlay content to be placed over captured video content for display on a mobile device. In one embodiment, a system includes a video display, such as a TV, that displays video content. A mobile device with an integrated video camera and display may capture video data which includes the video content from the video display. The location of the video content within the captured video data may be tracked. The mobile device may access overlay content, and display the accessed overlay content over the tracked video content.
US08730353B2
Provided is a method of controlling adaptive auto exposure. In the method, a digital photograph captured from an object and a background is divided into an object region where the object is mainly located and a background region where the background is mainly located. Average luminances of the object and background regions are calculated, and a luminance difference between the average luminances of the object and background regions is calculated. If the luminance difference is within a predetermined range, an average luminance of the entire photograph is calculated by applying a weight to the average luminance of the object region, and exposure is controlled based on the calculated average luminance of the entire photograph so as to emphasize the object region.
US08730342B2
A method is provided for taking a digital picture of an image. The method can include: recording a first plurality of pixel values representing the image; generating a first compressed image data file based on the first plurality of pixel values; recording a second plurality of pixel values representing the image; generating a second compressed image data file based on the first plurality of pixel values; and processing the first and second plurality of pixel values in a compressed domain to generate a third plurality of pixel values, wherein processing includes combining the first and second compressed image data files by replacing portions of the second compressed image data file with corresponding portions of the first compressed image data file.
US08730337B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging portion that takes an image of a subject, a position information acquisition portion that acquires position information of an imaging position, and an orientation information acquisition portion that acquires orientation information representing an imaging direction at the imaging position.
US08730336B2
Images are offloaded from a portable camera automatically to a network server at the time the images are taken, transparently to a user of the camera. The server executes processing functions on the images and returns the output of the processing over the network to the camera and/or other user-defined destination device to thereby relieve the camera processor of potentially complex processing chores.
US08730329B2
This disclosure describes techniques for initially calibrating an image capture device. According to one aspect, the calibration includes calibrating parameters of an image filter for resolving the captured image. The method includes receiving a captured image of a test target and resolving the captured image using a set of initial parameters. A sharpness index of the resolved image is determined without matching the captured image to the test target. The sharpness index is used to minimize a cost function for determining parameters for use by the image capture device.
US08730328B2
In an example, a method includes generating a test frame of video data having a first format, and rendering the test frame of video data to a frame buffer, wherein the frame buffer is configured to store video data in a second format. The method also includes reading, from the frame buffer, a return frame of video data, wherein the return frame of video data comprises the video data of the test frame formatted in the second format, and determining the second format based on a comparison of the test frame having the first format and the return frame having the second format.
US08730320B2
Irradiation light LA and irradiation light LB, which are to be projected toward an irradiation target object from a plurality of irradiation light projection units, respectively, are corrected so as to be ached with outlines of the irradiation target object, which are viewed individually from the irradiation light projection units. In such a way, a surface of the irradiation target object is coated with irradiation light LA′ and irradiation light LB′, which are narrower in range than the irradiation light LA and the irradiation light LA. In such a way, the irradiation target object having an arbitrary shape is coated with the plural pieces of irradiation light with high accuracy.
US08730319B2
According to one embodiment, a display device includes an image data generating unit and a display unit. The image data generating unit generates image data on an image. The display unit presents a video including the image data to an image viewer on a moving body to superimpose the video on an actual outside scene. The image data includes a first display object and a second display object. The first display object includes a lower part object. The lower part object has a lower part, an upper right part and an upper left part. A length of the lower part along a normal direction is longer than lengths of the upper right and upper left parts. The second display object is disposed in the image with reference to a display position of the first display object. The second display object includes information on the moving body.
US08730318B2
In order to obtain a quality image without deterioration owing to radiation noise in inspection using the optical video camera in high radiation environment, an inspection apparatus is formed of an image pick-up unit, an image obtaining unit which fetches a video image that contains a signal (noise) that is substantially independent of each frame obtained by the image pick-up unit, a local alignment unit which locally aligns frames with different time phases for forming the image fetched by the image obtaining unit, a frame synthesizing unit which synthesizes the plurality of frames aligned by the local alignment unit for generating a synthesis frame with an SN ratio higher than the SN ratio of the frame before frame synthesis, and an image output unit for displaying or recording the image formed of the synthesis frame generated by the frame synthesizing unit.
US08730315B2
The number of seams between magnified images in a created virtual slide is reduced to make the virtual slide clear and sharp. Provided is a microscope apparatus including an objective lens that collects light from a sample on a slide; a focus position detecting section that detects a focus position of the objective lens with respect to the sample; a focus state adjustment section that adjusts a focus state with respect to the sample based on a detection result from the focus position detecting section; and a magnified-image acquisition section that acquires a magnified image of each part of the sample, in which, if the focus position detected by the focus position detecting section is changed by more than a predetermined threshold with respect to a focus state in which an adjacent magnified image was obtained, the focus state adjustment section limits the adjustment in the focus state to the predetermined threshold or less.
US08730311B2
The present disclosure relates to a manufacturing device of a film patterned retarder for a three dimensional display devices. The present disclosure suggests a device for manufacturing a film patterned retarder comprising: a light source configured to irradiate an ultra violet light to an exposure area; a left polarizer and a right polarizer disposed in neighboring on a same leveled plane within the exposure area; a left pattern mask overlapping with the left polarizer and a right pattern mask overlapping with the right polarizer; and a film roller configured to rotate with a constant speed, to contact a base film on its surface and to move the base film with the constant speed. The manufacturing process is very simple and the cost for manufacturing the film patterned retarder according to the present disclosure is saved.
US08730310B2
A reproducing device includes a reproducing section that reproduces a two-dimensional video and a three-dimensional video recorded on a predetermined video recording medium, and a reproduction controller that controls to reproduce a three-dimensional test video for confirmation of stereovision by a viewer before reproducing the three-dimensional video, when the video reproduced by the reproducing section is switched from the two-dimensional video to the three-dimensional video.
US08730309B2
Architecture that combines multiple depth cameras and multiple projectors to cover a specified space (e.g., a room). The cameras and projectors are calibrated, allowing the development of a multi-dimensional (e.g., 3D) model of the objects in the space, as well as the ability to project graphics in a controlled fashion on the same objects. The architecture incorporates the depth data from all depth cameras, as well as color information, into a unified multi-dimensional model in combination with calibrated projectors. In order to provide visual continuity when transferring objects between different locations in the space, the user's body can provide a canvas on which to project this interaction. As the user moves body parts in the space, without any other object, the body parts can serve as temporary “screens” for “in-transit” data.
US08730306B2
Methods and systems are described herein which produce polarization-independent full color images suitable for rear-projection television sets and other multimedia displays. The system uses illumination with R, G, B light from two different light sources for each color. A viewer wears glasses with narrowband optical filters, preferably holographic filters. The R, G, B light from the light sources is slightly offset at each of the 3 emission wavelengths, with one set of R, G, B light being filtered by the holographic filter in front of the left eye of the, and the other set of R, G, B light being filtered by the holographic filter in front of the viewer's right eye.
US08730296B2
The embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, device, and system for video communication, and relate to the field of video conference technologies, so as to implement automatic switching of video images during a video conference. The method includes: obtaining video image signals and voice information of a first site; determining video image signals including a video object according to the video image signals and voice information of the first site; and sending the video image signals including the video object to a second site. The method, device, and system provided in the embodiments of the present invention implement automatic switching of video image signals during the video conference, thus avoiding switching errors caused by human factors and improving the efficiency of the conference.
US08730295B2
Methods, systems, and computer program products for enhancing transmitted audio signals for a video conference call are disclosed. Facial recognition technology and audio processing techniques determine a position of a speaking member of a party on a video conference. Based on the determined position of the speaking member, the directionality of the received audio signals can be adjusted towards the speaking member. The video conference system can transmit the adjusted audio signals.
US08730290B2
A light source includes a plurality of light-emitting units arranged in a two-dimensional array. An optical element changes divergence angles of laser beams from the light-emitting units. A splitting element splits a part of each of the laser beams passing through the optical element. A compensating element compensates for a fluctuation in the divergence angle of each of the laser beams incident on the splitting element due to a change of temperature. A light-receiving element receives laser beams split by the splitting element. The light source, the optical element, the splitting element, the compensating element, and the light-receiving element are integrally supported.
US08730289B2
In a light emission apparatus which is connected to a board to which a VCSEL is bonded, and to a laser holder and which is configured to bring the VCSEL on the board into contact with a contact portion provided on the laser holder, through elastic deformation, the board is deformed due to fluctuations in the state of elastic deformation of a connection member, and electrical connection with the VCSEL is cut off by this deformation wherein a plate spring configured to press the connection member toward the laser holder side is provided.
US08730282B2
A 2D/3D switchable backlight unit and an image display device employing the same are provided. The 2D/3D switchable backlight unit includes a light source, a light guide plate in which light emitted from the light source is total-internal-reflected, and a switch array comprising a plurality of switches that selectively contact a first surface of the light guide plate and emit light by frustrated total internal reflection inside the light guide plate. In 2D mode, each of the switches contacts the first surface of the light guide plate. In 3D mode, some of the switches contact the first surface of the light guide plate.
US08730276B2
A display device which effectively reduces the occurrences of a false contour is provided. A driver digitally drives each pixel by obtaining a plurality of bit data from pixel data for one pixel to assign the plurality of bit data to a corresponding subframe; configuring one frame with a predetermined number of unit frames; and supplying corresponding bit data in each unit frame to each pixel. Specifically, an analyzing circuit 5-5 predicts a probability of occurrence of a false contour in one screen of the video signal based on the presence or absence of a true contour. A display method based on the video signal is set in accordance with an analysis result.
US08730272B2
Dual display control device and method using an RGB interface are provided. A dual display control device controlling a first display device and a second display device using an RGB interface includes: a synchronization signal output unit that outputs vertical and horizontal synchronization signals to the first display device and the second display device; and a data output unit that outputs first data to the first display device in a first section of a first pixel clock and outputs second data to the second display device in a second section of a second pixel clock, in accordance with the vertical and horizontal synchronization signal via a data line shared by and connected to the first display device and the second display device. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the number of signal lines, thereby embodying an efficient hardware configuration.
US08730247B2
A first GPU is provided with a digital video output terminal (Vout terminal) for connection to an external source. A digital video signal output from the Vout terminal is provided to a display device via a HDMI. The first GPU and a second GPU are connected to each other via a data bus for bidirectional data exchange. The second GPU applies a predetermined rendering process on data provided from the first GPU via a data input and output interface. The rendered data is returned to the first GPU via the data input and output interface. The first GPU processes the data returned from the second GPU as necessary and outputs a digital video signal via the Vout terminal and the HDMI.
US08730246B2
A method for generating real-time goal space steering for data-driven character animation is disclosed. A goal space table of sparse samplings of possible future locations is computed, indexed by the starting blend value and frame. A steer space is computed as a function of the current blend value and frame, interpolated from the nearest indices of the table lookup in the goal space. The steer space is then transformed to local coordinates of a character's position at the current frame. The steer space samples closest to a line connecting the character's position with the goal location may be selected. The blending values of the two selected steer space samples are interpolated to compute the new blending value to render subsequent frames of an animation sequence.
US08730245B2
In a method of defining an animation of a virtual object, during which values for attributes of the virtual object are updated at each of a series of time points, a user specifies a structure representing the update that includes a plurality of items and one or more connections between respective items. Each item represents a respective operation. Each connection represents that data output by the operation represented by one item is input to the operation represented by the connected item. The user specifies that the structure comprises one or more items in a predetermined category associated with a predetermined process that may be executed at most a predetermined number of times at each time point. An item belongs to the predetermined category if performing the respective operation represented by that item requires execution of the predetermined process. One or more rules are applied.
US08730243B2
A system for displaying physiological information. The system includes a graph module that is configured to provide a two-dimensional virtual graph having a time dimension and a signal dimension. The virtual graph includes time indicators that are spaced along the time dimension and signal indicators that are spaced along the signal dimension. The system also includes a waveform module that is configured to obtain physiological signals as a function of time. The waveform module is configured to plot a waveform based upon the physiological signals onto the virtual graph. A user interface is configured to display the waveform and the virtual graph in a viewable area. The time and signal indicators of the virtual graph shift along the time dimension at a recording speed as the waveform is plotted. The plotted waveform has a fixed relationship with respect to the time and signal indicators and shifts at the recording speed.
US08730241B2
A system and method for drawing curved edges in graphs is disclosed. The system and method implement a heuristic algorithm to draw curved edges in graphs using Bezier curves. The algorithm assumes that every pair of nodes has a unique edge between them. It also assumes that the graph is “leveled,” which means the nodes can be grouped such that all the nodes in a group are laid out at the same y location in a vertical layout. Any generic graph can be converted to a leveled graph, so the techniques described in the algorithm are applicable to any graph.
US08730237B2
The present invention describes a method for rendering and displaying a curved planar reformat (CPR) view (7′) of a blood vessel's 3D tubular structure (1), wherein the viewing direction of the curved planar reformat view (7′) is coupled to the viewing angle on a segmented or raw representation of the 3D tubular structure's rendered voxel volume to be visualized or, alternatively, to the C-arm geometry of a 3D rotational angiography device's C-arm system (6). The proposed method thus enables measurements on the X-ray image which do not suffer from spatial foreshortening and do not need to be calibrated. Thereby, said coupling can be performed bidirectional. According to a first aspect of the proposed method, this means that the viewing direction of the aforementioned curved planar reformat view (7′) follows the viewing angle on a segmented or raw representation of the 3D tubular structure's rendered voxel volume to be visualized, or vice versa. According to another aspect of the proposed method, this means that the viewing direction of the curved planar reformat view (7′) is set depending on the C-arm geometry given by the roll (θx), pitch (θy) and yaw angle (θz) of a 3D rotational angiography device's C-arm system (6), or vice versa.
US08730232B2
Automated or semi-automated conversion of 2D movies into 3D movies through generation and use of director-style statistics or characteristics to determine which processes to apply to convert regions of images based on the director's movie making style, without requiring the creation, moving or reshaping of masks. System works by breaking a movie down into scenes and shots and identifying lighting, lens, camera moves and color schemes habitually utilized by a director. The characteristics or statistical information is stored in a database accessible by a computer over a network for example. Swarms of computers or any other architecture employing any required amount of computing power allows for the desired speed of conversion to take place. Once a director's style has been analyzed, embodiments utilize the director-style characteristics to determine the specific processes to utilize to convert the movie from 2D to 3D.
US08730230B2
The present invention provides an image/graphics data display mechanism for continuously displaying image/graphics data on multiple display devices of a computer that contains a system memory directly accessed by the computer's CPU during the CPU's power saving non-responding period, wherein there is provided sufficient system bandwidth, the mechanism of the present invention is independent on the resolution running on each display device and the number of display devices connected to the computer system. The mechanism provides two approaches to achieve continuous display of image/graphics data on multiple display devices computer system. In the first approach, a common clock source is used to coordinate display device horizontal synchronization signals, vertical synchronization signals, horizontal blank periods, and vertical blank periods. In the second approach, the mechanism has a control on the lengths and occurrences of the display device blank periods.
US08730229B2
Methods and devices employing zero-bias display turn-off circuitry, including turn-off logic and switching devices, are provided. In one example, a method may include supplying a common voltage output of ground to a common electrode of a pixel of an electronic display, supplying an activation signal to the pixel to activate the pixel, supplying a data signal of ground to a pixel electrode of the pixel, and removing the activation signal from the pixel while the data signal is being supplied to the pixel to store the data signal in the pixel. When the activation signal is removed, the method may include causing the common voltage output being supplied to the common electrode of the pixel to change to a floating value to prevent a kickback voltage from affecting the data signal stored in the pixel.
US08730228B2
A pulse modulator generates a first pulse signal having a duty ratio which is adjusted such that a detection voltage which indicates the electrical state of an LED string to be driven matches a predetermined reference voltage. A first pulse signal is applied to a primary coil of a pulse transformer. A DC/DC converter includes a switching element the ON/OFF operation of which is controlled according to a signal that originates at a secondary coil of the pulse transformer. The DC/DC converter stabilizes an input voltage Vdc, and supplies the input voltage Vdc thus stabilized to the anode of the LED string.
US08730227B2
In a driving device, a liquid crystal display having the driving device, and a method of driving the liquid crystal display, the driving device includes a signal controller, a voltage selector, a gray-scale voltage generator, and a data driver. The signal controller outputs a power-down signal indicating an imminent power-off. The voltage selector outputs a common voltage in response to the signal. The gray-scale voltage generator receives the common voltage to generate common gray-scale voltages having a same voltage level as that of the common voltage. The data driver generates common data voltages based on the common gray-scale voltages. The driving device controls a display panel so that the display panel displays a white image in response to the signal. Thus, an after-image after the power-off is removed, therefore improving the display quality of the display panel.
US08730219B2
A display device (liquid crystal display device 100) includes a display panel (10) (liquid crystal panel 10), light receiving sensors (first light receiving sensors 122), and an image changing section (250). A display region (10a) of the liquid crystal panel (10) has a plurality of pixels (30) located therein. The first light receiving sensors (122) receive external light directed to the liquid crystal panel (10), at a plurality of positions in the display region (10a). In the image changing section (250), a reference value is predefined for light receiving information (a1 through d1) obtained by the first light receiving sensors (122). When light receiving information (a1 through d1) exceeding the reference value is obtained by the first light receiving sensors (122), the image changing section (250) changes an image to be displayed on the display region (10a), based on the light receiving information (a1 through d1).
US08730218B2
Various embodiments include devices, methods, data structures, and software that allow a reflective display device to, among other things, determine color components of a first image, detect an ambient light color composition, and weight one or more of the color components of the first image to provide a compensated image for display on the reflective display device. In one embodiment, the weighting compensates for a difference between the detected ambient light color composition and a specified color balance.
US08730209B2
A method for resolving blind spots associated with a proximity sensor provides an optical guide in cooperation with an isolator wall that separates a transmitting section and a receiving section of the proximity sensor. Additionally, a specific guide angle of the optical guide directs, towards a receiver, more light rays reflected off an external object than light rays transmitted from a light source in the transmitting section.
US08730199B2
A control panel for proximity and force sensing, includes a cover layer, a first electrode layer including a first force sensor electrode, a second force sensor electrode positioned in a second electrode layer or on a support layer, and a dielectric substrate at least a portion of which is compressible and is positioned between the first and second force sensor electrodes. The support layer is positioned to support at the vicinity of the second force sensor electrode support location so that compression of the dielectric substrate and the separation of the first and second force sensor electrodes depends on the magnitude of a force applied to the cover layer. Touch sensor electrodes are positioned on one or more of the electrode layers such that their capacitance depends on proximity of an object such as a finger. Controllers measure the capacitance of the force and touch sensor electrodes respectively and output force and touch proximity signals.
US08730184B2
A touch sensor including one or more multilayer electrodes, said electrodes including at least two transparent or semitransparent conductive layers separated by a transparent or semitransparent intervening layer. The intervening layer includes electrically conductive pathways between the first and second conductive layers to help reduce interfacial reflections occurring between particular layers in devices incorporating the conducting film or electrode.
US08730176B2
A method of enabling input on a handheld electronic device, which includes an input apparatus having a number of input members that are capable of being actuated, wherein at least one of the input members has a plurality of selectable output alternatives, includes detecting as a first input an actuation of an input member, generating a first output, detecting as a second input an actuation of an input member having a plurality of selectable output alternatives comprising at least a primary punctuation and a secondary punctuation, determining that said first output has a predetermined characteristic, preferring as a second output said secondary punctuation, and outputting said second output.
US08730167B2
A computer input device includes a light source assembly forming an incident light beam that strikes an area on a surface beneath the input device with large incident angle. A light sensing assembly in the input device is positioned to receive scattered light and includes a band-pass filter. A barrier is located directly above the area where the light beam is incident on the top surface to prevent light from traveling directly from the light source assembly to the light sensing assembly.
US08730164B2
A gesture recognition apparatus (200) which controls a display device (101) based on a gesture operation performed by a user in a vicinity of a screen (101a) includes: a picture obtainment unit (201) which obtains a picture of the vicinity of the screen (101a); a direction determination unit (204) which determines, based on position information indicating a direction from the screen (101a) or the picture obtainment unit (201) toward the user, an operational direction which is a direction of a movement to be recognized as the gesture operation; a gesture recognition unit (205) which recognizes, as the gesture operation, a movement of whole or part of a body of the user in the operational direction determined by the direction determination unit, with reference to the obtained picture; and a display control unit (206) which controls the display device (101) based on the recognized gesture operation.
US08730160B2
A retention mechanism for a navigation tool of a mobile device includes a base member and a retainer member. The base member is adapted for insertion into a cutout of a support structure of the mobile device. The retainer member is configured for mating engagement with the base member. A navigation tool is retained between the base member and the retainer member, and a portion of the navigation tool extends through an aperture of the retainer member. A support structure of the mobile device can form a cutout corresponding to the base member to receive the retention mechanism. The base member can protrude through cutout so a bottom of the base member extends a distance beyond a bottom surface of the support structure, thereby allowing for the implementation of navigation tool on a mobile device without significantly altering the profile of the mobile device.
US08730158B2
An information processing device includes a controller that decides information to be displayed on a second display section based on an attribute of an operation subject displayed on a first display section when the operation subject is operated, and a communication section that transmits control information for causing the second display section to display the information decided by the controller to a device having the second display section.
US08730156B2
Ways for controlling a virtual-scene view in a portable device are presented. In one method, a signal is received and the device is synchronized to make the location of the device a reference point in a three-dimensional (3D) space. A virtual scene with virtual reality elements is generated around the reference point. The current position of the device in the 3D space, with respect to the reference point, is determined and a view of the virtual scene created. The view represents the virtual scene as seen from the current position of the device with a viewing angle based on the position of the device. The created view is displayed in the device, and the view of the virtual scene is changed as the device is moved within the 3D space. In another method, multiple players shared the virtual reality and interact with each other in the virtual reality.
US08730155B2
Provided is an operation device to be held by a user with one hand when used. The operation device includes: a recessed portion formed at a position at which at least one of a thumb and fingers is placed when the user holds the operation device; and a main button which is disposed at a bottom of the recessed portion and has a top surface adjacent to a rim portion forming a side surface of the recessed portion.
US08730154B2
A device, an electrode configuration and a sequence for activating those electrodes for the purpose of switching device states quickly with minimum flicker during bi-stable image reset. The disclosure addresses the constraints of electrofluidic technology: 1) the polar fluid can be attracted to a position with voltage, but it cannot be repelled, and 2) because the polar fluid translates, changing its area against an electrode and thereby changing the capacitance, the time to discharge the capacitor formed by area contact with a polar fluid is significantly smaller than the time to charge a capacitor, which requires translation of the fluid. Setting the grayscale is based on discharging, not charging, when possible. In addition, the use of pixel-level partial reset states reduces the appearance of flicker further by minimizing the change in pixel state during data write/update.
US08730147B2
A backlight control circuit includes a shift register, first and second dividers, a counter/decoder, data registers and control signal generators. The shift register stores digital video data based on a transmission clock signal. The first and second dividers divide the transmission clock signal to generate first and second clock signals, respectively. The counter/decoder counts a number of pulses of the first clock signal and outputs a decoding signal. The decoding signal is used to set an output timing of the digital video data stored in the shift register. The data registers receive and store the digital video data stored in the shift register based on the decoding signal. The control signal generators generate brightness control signals based on the second clock signal in response to the digital video data stored in the data registers to locally control a brightness of light sources of a plurality of light sources.
US08730136B2
Disclosed herein is a display apparatus has a pixel array section including: pixel circuits which are each provided with a driving transistor and an electro-optical device and are laid out to form a matrix; and a draw wire provided in each of the pixel circuits to serve as a wire connecting the driving transistor to a power-supply providing line, wherein the resistance of the draw wire is relatively large in the pixel circuit close to a source applying a power-supply voltage to the power-supply providing line.
US08730131B2
The present invention relates to a method of outputting a content using a head mounted display (HMD), and more particularly, to a method of outputting a currently displayed content of a digital device to an HMD. The present invention includes performing a pairing with a digital device having at least one display unit configured to display the content, detecting a location state of the paired digital device, and outputting the content displayed on the digital device to the HMD, wherein the location state comprises a first state in which a display unit of the digital device is located within a preset view angle region of the HMD and a second state in which the display unit of the digital device is not located within the view angle region.
US08730124B2
A compressible and deployable helical antenna (2) includes a supporting structure (7) having a helical shape. The supporting structure (7) includes a core (18), especially of foamed material, and a carrier layer (19) of composite fiber material, the carrier layer (19) being located on the core (18). An electrically conducting layer (8) is located on the carrier layer (19). An antenna unit (1) includes the compressible and deployable helical antenna (2) and a reflector plate (3). The reflector plate (3) is connected to the helical antenna (2).
US08730116B2
An antenna array formed of individual electrically connected pluralities of wideband antenna elements. The array features a centrally located rectangular ground plane having a top surface defined by four edges. Each of said pluralities of elements is engaged to a separate substrate which is engaged along one of the four edges. The substrates may be angled to adjust the footprint of the antenna.
US08730103B2
A system, methods, and apparatus for dual antenna transfer switching are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a dual antenna system includes antennas, antenna control units, a transfer switch, and a modem. For example, the transfer switch may transfer a connection between antennas based on changing satellite visibility, upon entering a preprogrammed blockage zone or an unexpected loss of satellite visibility. The transfer switch may receive GPS data from an external GPS unit and/or the antenna control units and buffer the GPS data to a modem. The transfer switch may provide a modem receive-lock signal to retarget a line of sight. The transfer switch may transfer the connection between the antennas based on satellite visibility including signal reception quality and/or a modem receive-lock status. The transfer switch may, based on a difference in antenna uplink transmission power, attenuate a higher power antenna to be balanced with a lower power antenna.
US08730102B2
A method and system for beamforming a multi-element array using time delays is provided. The array includes transmit array elements and receive array elements. Each of the array elements includes a processor. Modulation and demodulation functions are performed at the processors of each array element. The modulation and demodulation functions utilize receive time offsets and phase shifts, and transmit time offsets and phase shifts, respectively. The receive time offsets and phase shifts, and the transmit time offsets and phase shifts are determined by a central processing unit in order to beam form received signals and transmitted signals, respectively. The array elements are arranged in a daisy chain fashion in order to facilitate communication of control parameters, communication of bits to be transmitted and distributed combining of demodulated baseband samples from one array element to another and communicating the combined samples to the central processing unit.
US08730098B1
Methods are described for radar detection of persons wearing wires using radar spectra data including the vertical polarization (VV) radar cross section and the horizontal polarization (HH) radar cross section for a person. In one embodiment, the ratio of the vertical polarization (VV) radar cross section to the horizontal polarization (HH) radar cross section for a person is compared to a detection threshold to determine whether the person is wearing wires. In another embodiment, the absolute difference of the vertical polarization (VV) radar cross section and the horizontal polarization (HH) radar cross section for a person is compared to a detection threshold to determine whether the person is wearing wires. To reduce false positives, other additional indicators, such as speed of movement, and or visual features of the person, can be used to further narrow a person suspected of wearing wires.
US08730095B1
An electromagnetic transmitter arrangement includes an antenna line array or subarray defining at least first and second ends, and including first, second, third, fourth, and fifth antenna elements, arranged with the first antenna element at the first end, the fifth element at the second end, the third element at the center, the second element between the first and third elements, and the fourth element between the third and fifth elements. Multiple (N) corresponding radio frequency sources are provided, each source communicating with a respective antenna element along a given radio-frequency signal path extending from the given signal source to the given antenna element, and where a first signal source generates signals at frequency f0, and each of the N−1 additional sources generate signals at frequencies of f0±(N−1)Δf, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 5.
US08730087B2
A passive detector (10) includes a receiver (11) configured to collect passive radiation (12) in an environment, where detailed information about a portion of the passive radiation is estimated as a baseline of the passive energy. The passive energy is generated by a passive source unrelated to the detector. A monitor (24) is configured to measure a fluctuation in the baseline. A decision module (34) is coupled to the monitor to determine whether the fluctuation represents a presence or motion in the environment. Detection methods are also disclosed.
US08730084B2
A dual mode ground penetrating radar includes an enclosure which houses radar electronics. The dual mode ground penetrating radar includes an enclosure housing radar electronics. The dual mode ground penetrating radar further includes a first antenna feed having ferrite loading and extending outside of the enclosure. The dual mode ground penetrating radar further includes a second antenna feed spaced apart from the first antenna feed, the second antenna feed having ferrite loading and extending outside of the enclosure. An RF signal is provided in at least one of the first and second antenna feeds by the radar electronics.
US08730076B2
A circuit for modulating an input signal including a dither signal generator configured to generate a first dither signal having a maximum amplitude, a deamplifier configured to reduce the amplitude of said input signal so as to generate a deamplified input signal having a maximum amplitude that is comparable to the maximum amplitude of the dither signal, and a summer configured to sum the dither signal with the deamplified input signal.
US08730067B2
A method and system for eliminating/suppressing long transition runs over a communications channel is disclosed. The method may include providing modulation coding based on a multi-level finite state machine (ML-FSM) having a periodic structure, the periodic structure being defined by a predetermined number of time frames. The ML-FSM may include a plurality of penalty-free edges for connecting nodes in one time frame to nodes at the same level in a subsequent time frame and a plurality of penalty edges for connecting nodes in one time frame to nodes at an upper level in the subsequent time frame. The method may further include utilizing the ML-FSM based modulation coding to facilitate data transmission over the communications channel.
US08730066B2
A system and method for predicting the location of a vehicle in an electronic toll collection system employing a wide area communication protocol. The vehicle includes a transponder that sends reports regarding the position of the vehicle and the time at which the position was determined. The system includes a vehicle position predictor for estimating the future position of the vehicle within a roadway based on two or more reports of past positions and the times at which they were recorded. Speed data or other data impacting likely future position may also be reported and factored into the estimate. The estimate of future position may be used in connection with triggering enforcement measures, timing a toll transaction, integrating wide area toll communications into a legacy toll transaction system, or for other applications.
US08730063B1
A fail-safe circuitry for a vehicle barrier security system prevents accidental raising of the barrier due to inadvertent closing of an activation relay causing power to be provided to an activation mechanism raising the barrier. A latching relay, having a latched state and reset state, is placed in series between the activation relay and the activation mechanism. The latching relay is reset whenever the OPEN switch is pressed for lowering the barrier or an automatic reset relay is energized by a controller whenever passage of a vehicle is sensed. Prior to raising the barrier, the latching relay must be reset, which can occur by pressing the OPEN switch or by the controller detecting passage of a prior vehicle and activating a automatic reset relay. Accidental raising of the barrier due to malfunctions of the activation relay due to vibrations is prevented by latching and resetting the latching relay.
US08730057B2
A communications bridge facilitates communication between an automatic meter reading (AMR) meter and a home area network (HAN) that uses the ZigBee smart energy (SE) protocol. The communications bridge includes a variety of components, including an AMR receiver, a microcontroller, and a ZigBee radio. The AMR receiver reads AMR data, which is not compatible with the ZigBee SE protocol, from the AMR meter. The microcontroller parses the received AMR data and translates it into corresponding ZigBee data. This ZigBee data is transmitted to other devices on the HAN via the ZigBee radio. The translated AMR meter data can then be presented to a consumer in real-time, enabling the consumer to better understand and manage his or her energy usage.
US08730048B2
Design and operation techniques for an earphone-based game controller and health monitor are described herein. In one example, two “ear bud” style earphones are configured as I/O devices, each including a speaker to output sound and an accelerometer to receive an input of motion imparted by a user. The I/O devices may be connected to a mobile device, such as a cellular phone. Accordingly, the I/O devices may be inserted into a user's ears for listening or may be used as game controllers, such as by moving one I/O device in each hand. In a further example, a thermometer may be used in at least one of the I/O devices, and may gather health data by measuring the temperature of the user. And in a further example, a microphone may be used in at least one I/O device to gather heart rate and respiration-quality data regarding the user.
US08730042B2
Systems and methods for detecting tampering associated with a utility meter. According to one embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a method. The method can include detecting either a rate of change or change in magnitude of a magnetic field associated with a utility meter; based at least in part on the rate of change or the magnitude of the magnetic field, determining that a magnetic event has occurred; upon or after occurrence of the magnetic event, receiving additional utility meter information; based at least in part on the magnetic event and additional utility meter information, determining that meter tampering has occurred; and generating an event indication for transmission to a utility service or for subsequent review by the utility service.
US08730038B2
A grill controller device, which remotely controls any type or grill or oven, comprises a circuit board, a plurality of connector, a power supply system, a control panel, a plurality of temperature control units, a plurality of temperature probes, and a speaker. The grill controller device is wirelessly connected with a graphic user interface so an user can wirelessly operate the grill controller device through the graphic user interface. The grill controller device externally attaches to existing grills and ovens. The plurality of temperature control units adjusts a grill temperature and a plurality of meat temperatures according to the user. A plurality of alerts is controlled by control software and the plurality of alerts comprises different functionality relative to different components. The user is able to control total functionality of the existing grills and ovens through the grill controller device while saving time.
US08730034B2
Footwear systems include an article of footwear and a data transmission system engaged with the article of footwear. The transmission system transmits data to a remote system, such as a display system, another data transmission system, a processing system, etc. Such footwear systems further may include activation systems for activating the transmission and/or display systems. The transmitted data may be used for various purposes, such as: (a) identifying a user of the article of footwear; (b) activating targeted advertising or product information; (c) confirming the user's presence at a specific location and/or at a specific time; (d) determining start, finish, and/or intermediate split times for specific user; (e) confirming athletic equipment usage; (f) providing data for a game or reward program; (g) registering the user for an event or competition; or the like.
US08730031B2
The system of the present invention includes an implantable device that can detect high and low frequency current signature. The implantable device can communicate with a communication device that includes a conductive element, an electronic component, and a partial power source in the form of dissimilar materials. Upon contact with a conducting fluid, the communication device is activated.
US08730029B2
A building security system including a security sensor configured to sense a security breach associated with a building. An off-the-shelf portable personal electronic computing device is communicatively coupled to the security sensor and to a central monitoring station. The computing device is programmable within the building to transmit an alarm signal to the central monitoring station in response to the security sensor sensing a security breach associated with the building.
US08730019B2
A pull station for an alarm includes a housing having an actuator mounted for movement with respect thereto. The actuator has a standby (i.e., normal) position and an alarm position. The actuator has a contoured actuation surface configured such that downward pressure on the actuation surface moves the actuator from the standby position to the alarm position. The actuator may be rotatably or slidably coupled to the housing. The actuation surface may extend beyond the front face of the housing when in the standby position. In some embodiments, the actuation surface is cup-shaped. In other embodiments, the actuation surface is v-shaped, with first and second angled portions forming oblique angles with respect to a lateral axis of the housing. Thus arranged, the actuator can be operated by a disabled who may not have complete hand or finger dexterity. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08730018B2
A system and method of communicating between a master and a slave device for managing home energy are provided. A transmitter is operatively associated with one of a meter and a home energy manager for emitting a carrier signal at a selected frequency. A tone is superimposed on the selected carrier frequency and represents an operational energy cost level output from an associated utility. A receiver receives the emitted carrier signal with superimposed tone. A microcontroller associated with the home appliance then controls the home appliance in response to the emitted carrier signal with superimposed tone. Multiple distinct frequencies correlate to specific rates, and decoding or detecting the presence of one or more tones can be used to represent a binary number that allows the meter/controller to communicate “intelligence” with the home appliance.
US08730011B2
Apparatus for tracking an object includes a position transducer, which is adapted to be fixed to the object. The position transducer includes a digital microcontroller, which includes a plurality of output pins, and which is operative to generate an alternating digital output at a selected frequency on at least one of the output pins. At least one transmit antenna is coupled directly to the at least one of the output pins, so that the at least one antenna transmits a magnetic field at the selected frequency responsively to the alternating digital output. A field sensor senses the magnetic field and generates a signal responsively thereto. A processor receives and processes the signal in order to determine coordinates of the position transducer.
US08730008B2
A method of controlling an apparatus including a display and a sensor for obtaining biometric data of a user, the sensor being movable to take a plurality of angular positions with respect to the apparatus, includes storing a plurality of sets of reference information in association with the positions of the sensor, respectively, determining which one of the angular positions which the sensor is currently taking, displaying on the display a direction as to which one of bodily parts is to be used in accordance with the current angular position of the sensor to urge a user to input biometric data of the one of the bodily parts by the sensor, and carrying out authentication of the user by comparing the inputted biometric data with one of the sets of reference information corresponding to the current angular position of the sensor.
US08730002B2
A resistance thermometer is provided having a measuring resistor in a form of a 0.1 to 10 μm thick structured platinum layer applied to an electrically insulated surface of a substrate and an electrically insulating coating layer covering the platinum layer. The substrate or its surface contains zirconium dioxide, which is stabilized with oxides of a trivalent and a pentavalent metal. Preferably, the trivalent metal is yttrium and the pentavalent metal is tantalum or niobium. The characteristic curve of the measuring resistor preferably conforms to DIN-IEC 751. For mass production of resistance thermometers having high and reproducible measurement accuracy, a structured platinum layer having a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm is applied to an electrically insulating substrate having a thermal expansion coefficient in the range of 8.5 to 10.5×10−6/° K and a roughness less than 1 μm, and the structured platinum layer is covered by an electrical insulator. The resistance thermometers allow precise temperature measurement between −200° C. and +850° C., preferably as a sensor in an exhaust gas treatment system. In a substance-sensitive sensor having a circuit path structure on a substrate, the circuit path structure has an epitaxially applied base layer, and a substance-sensitive metal layer attached to the epitaxially applied base layer.
US08729997B2
The present invention provides a dipole-ring magnetic circuit having a greater magnetic field strength and demagnetization resistance. A dipole-ring magnetic circuit including permanent magnet pieces arranged in an annular shape that magnetization directions make one rotation halfway around the shape, in which the permanent magnet pieces produce a substantially one-directional magnetic field at a uniform strength in an interior space surrounded by the permanent magnet pieces; two or more specified magnet pieces have a magnetization direction of forming an angle of from 150 to 210 degrees with respect to the direction of the magnetic field which is on a plane perpendicular to a central axis of the annular shape, and are called “specified magnet pieces”; and at least in each of the specified magnet pieces, a value of magnetic coercive force increases with decreasing distance to the interior space along a radial direction of the annular shape.
US08729992B2
An electromagnetic actuator device has a core unit with a coil device designed to cooperate with armature units displaceably guided relative to the core unit in response to current applied to the coil device, wherein the core unit is designed to cooperate with a plurality of spatially separated plunger units of the armatures so that an electromagnetic interaction takes place with the plurality of plunger units in response to current applied to a coil of the coil device.
US08729980B2
A CRLH resonator-based band-pass filter includes at least two CRLH resonators. The resonators are connected by capacitive coupling. The resonators includes a microstrip line having input and output ports. The microstrip line includes a first interdigital line serial-connected to the input port, a second interdigital line serial-connected to the output port, a connection line connecting the first and second interdigital lines, and an inductor line parallel-connected to the connection line and provided with a grounded end.
US08729979B2
Dielectric waveguide comprising a circular input/output electrode on its bottom surface and surrounded by an exposed dielectric portion thereof around which a conductor film is disposed. A short stub crosses through the exposed dielectric portion to couple the electrode and film together. The printed circuit board has a front surface formed with a generally-circular island-shaped electrode surrounded by a front surface-side ground pattern in a spaced-apart relation thereto, and a back surface formed with a strip line surrounded by a back surface-side ground pattern in spaced-apart relation thereto. An approximate center of the island-shaped electrode and one end of the strip line are coupled together, and the front surface-side ground pattern and the back surface-side pattern are coupled together. The input/output electrode of the dielectric waveguide and the island-shaped electrode of the printed circuit board are coupled together.
US08729969B2
An oscillation circuit includes a threshold voltage extraction module, a positive temperature coefficient voltage generation module, an addition module, a common-source amplifier module, a charge and discharge module, and a clock output terminal. The common-source amplifier module includes a first field effect transistor (FET) and a second FET. The addition module includes a first operational amplifier, a second operational amplifier, a third FET, a fourth FET, a fifth FET, a sixth FET, a first resistor, a second resistor, and a third resistor. The charge and discharge module includes a seventh FET, an eighth FET, a charge and discharge FET, a first switch, a second switch, a first comparator, a second comparator, a first nor gate and a second nor gate. An oscillation system is further provided. The oscillation circuit and the oscillation system of the present invention have simple structures and are easy to implement.
US08729963B2
An asymmetrical transformer output demultiplexing (ATODEM) circuit is disclosed. The ATODEM circuit of the present disclosure includes N input windings, wherein N is a natural number. Each of the N input windings have input terminals that couple to output terminals of N PAs. The ATODEM further includes M output ports wherein M is a natural number, each of the M output ports having N series coupled windings coupled between a load terminal and a return terminal. The physical attributes of the N input windings, and the N series coupled windings of the M output ports are asymmetrical such that in an Nth operation mode an Nth PA first-load line impedance matches an output impedance of an Nth PA coupled to the input terminals.
US08729956B2
A semiconductor device is provided, including a charge-pumping unit configured to charge-pump power voltage in every period of a pumping clock to generate pumping voltage, a first voltage level detection unit configured to detect a maximum voltage level of the generated pumping voltage, a second voltage level detection unit configured to detect a minimum voltage level of the generated pumping voltage, and a pumping clock generating unit configured to generate the pumping clock, the pumping clock having a frequency that is adjusted in response to an output signal of the first and the second voltage level detection units.
US08729952B2
Embodiments provide a switching device including one or more field-effect transistors (FETs) and bias circuitry. The one or more FETs may transition between an off state and an on state to facilitate switching of a transmission signal. The one or more FETs may include a drain terminal, a source terminal, a gate terminal, and a body. The biasing circuitry may bias the drain terminal and the source terminal to a first DC voltage in the on state and a second DC voltage in the off state. The first and second DC voltages may be non-negative. The biasing circuitry may be further configured to bias the gate terminal to the first DC voltage in the off state and the second DC voltage in the on state.
US08729944B2
A device may include first, second, and third buffer stages. The device may further include a selector circuit to selectively output one of an output of the second buffer stage or an output of the third buffer stage. The device may include an output to provide a first clock signal, where the first clock signal is an output of the first buffer stage, and the device further include an output to provide a second clock signal, where the second clock signal is an output of the selector circuit.
US08729939B2
A charging/discharging circuit includes a connection terminal, a reference current providing module, an up current module and a down current module. The down current module includes: a first switch module, having a first control terminal, for receiving the down signal to determine whether the first switch module is turned on; a first bias transistor, having a first terminal coupled to the connection terminal, a second terminal coupled to the first switch module, and a control terminal coupled to the reference current providing module; and a first capacitor simulation transistor, having a first terminal and a second terminal coupled to the control terminal of the first switch module, and a control terminal coupled to the control terminal of the first bias transistor.
US08729934B2
An electronic circuit of the present disclosure includes a noise eliminating circuit configured to eliminate noise in a reset signal and output a signal obtained by eliminating the noise in the reset signal; a digital circuit configured to be reset by the signal outputted from the noise eliminating circuit; and an early-initialization circuit configured to fix an output signal of the digital circuit at a predetermined value until a reset status due to the reset signal is released.
US08729915B2
A current monitor for sensing the current in a current path includes a resistive sensing element in a section of the current path and a current mirror circuit having a first semiconductor device and a second semiconductor device. Both semiconductor devices electrically interconnect with each other for copying the current in the second semiconductor device to the first semiconductor device. The first semiconductor device is electrically connected to an electric reference potential and to a current input side of the section via a resistive equivalence element in a first current branch. The second semiconductor device is electrically connected to the electric reference potential and to a current output side of the section in a second current branch. The current monitor further includes a constant current source for keeping the current in the second current branch independent from the potential difference between the potential of the current output side of the section and the reference potential.
US08729911B2
Apparatuses and methods of driving different transmit (TX) phase sequences of a TX signal on TX electrodes in different sensing stages according to a weighting matrix as the excitation matrix. One method drives the TX signals according to the weighting matrix and measures receive (RX) signals on the RX electrodes to determine if an object is proximate to the electrodes.
US08729910B2
The invention discloses a method of fabricating a capacitance touch panel module. The method includes providing a substrate with a touching area and a peripheral area; forming a plurality of first conductive patterns on the substrate along a first orientation, a plurality of second conductive patterns along a second orientation, and a plurality of connecting portions in the touching area; forming a plurality of insulated protrusions, in which each insulated protrusion covers one connecting portion; forming an insulated frame on the peripheral area; and forming a bridging member on each insulated protrusion.
US08729906B2
A method and device for monitoring partial discharges in high voltage electrical or power systems is provided. A low trigger level and a high trigger level electrical pulse amplitude levels are defined. At least one phase of the electrical system is monitored for an occurrence of a pulse within a defined minor time frame. A peak amplitude of a pulse occurring in the electrical system within the minor time frame is detected. It is determined if the detected peak amplitude of the pulse exceeds the lower and higher trigger levels. A pulse number is assigned to the pulse if the peak amplitude of the pulse exceeds the trigger levels. The pulse is captured if the pulse number associated with the pulse is less than a predetermined pulse number threshold in the minor time frame. The captured pulses are stored in a memory.
US08729900B1
A communication cable, such as a fiber optic cable, can comprise a conductive tape that extends along the cable and that facilitates locating the cable from a remote location, for example when the cable is buried under ground. The tape can comprise a low resistance for transmitting a locate signal along the length of the cable that can be detected remotely by a detector without exposing the cable. The conductive tape can be circumferentially applied around the core of the cable under the cable's jacket. Thus, the conductive tape can be accessed without exposing the core. The cable can include one or more buffer tubes for housing optical fibers. The buffer tubes and/or the jacket can comprise an antioxidant for preventing degradation associated with contact with copper or other metal of the conductive tape.
US08729897B2
In a method and magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus to acquire spin echo-based MR signals of an examination subject with a multi-spin echo sequence with multiple refocusing pulses after a single excitation pulse in an MR system that has a multichannel RF transmission and reception module: detect a spatial, two-dimensional phase distribution in the examination subject is detected by acquiring navigator signals, a phase and amplitude distribution for the individual transmission channels of the RF transmission and reception module is calculated to generate a magnetic field B1 for one of the RF refocusing pulses to generate the spin echo-based MR signal under consideration of the spatial phase distribution of the navigator signals, and this RF refocusing pulse is radiated via the multichannel RF transmission and reception module with the calculated phase and amplitude distributions of the individual transmission channels.
US08729895B2
A method for regulating radio frequency (RF) signals in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system, comprising a spectrometer, a control loop, and an NMR probe head with RF components (BE, LE, BK), wherein the spectrometer comprises a transmitter that transmits RF signals at measuring frequencies with a transmission power (PS), the NMR probe head contains an RF oscillating circuit, and the RF oscillating circuit comprises an RF coil (LE), is characterized in that the control loop controls the duration and/or the phase and/or the power of the transmitted RF signals. Measurement of a parameter is performed by means of the NMR probe head, via which parameter the current in or the voltage across one of the RF components (BE, LE, BK) can be determined, and the transmission powers (PS) and/or the phases and/or the duration of the RF signals are regulated in dependence on the measured parameter. Any occurring losses can thereby be compensated for without reducing the pulse duration.
US08729883B2
A current source with low power consumption and reduced on-chip area occupancy. The current source for providing a constant current to a load includes a first circuit that generates a reference current. The first circuit includes a first plurality of interconnected transistors. The current source also includes a characteristic resistor, coupled to the first circuit, that determines value of the reference current. The current source further includes a second circuit and a third circuit. The second circuit, coupled to the first circuit and to the load, generates an output current that is identical to the reference current. The second circuit includes a second plurality of interconnected transistors. The third circuit, coupled to the first circuit, drives a multiple of the reference current into the characteristic resistor. The third circuit includes a third plurality of interconnected transistors.
US08729876B2
A voltage regulator includes: a first comparator for comparing a first reference voltage with a feedback voltage to generate a first comparing result accordingly; a first transistor for controlling an output voltage at an output node in response to the first comparing result; a second transistor for adjusting the output voltage at the output node in response to a control signal; a feedback block, for providing the feedback voltage according to the output voltage; and a control block, for receiving the output voltage and providing the control signal according to the output voltage.
US08729868B2
A battery charging system is disclosed. The battery charging system includes a battery charger, a switching circuit and a control circuit. The battery charger receives electric power from a DC power supply and charges a rechargeable battery based on a setting current. The switching circuit is capable of switching between a first charging mode and a second charging mode. In the first charging mode, the battery charger charges the rechargeable battery while the DC power supply is supplying electric power to the battery charger in a state where the DC power supply is able to supply electric power to a load. In the second charging mode, the DC power supply charges the rechargeable battery in a state where the DC power supply is able to supply electric power to the load. The control circuit controls the switching circuit based on a comparison result of the magnitude of a charging current (or a charging power) in the first charging mode and the magnitude of a charging current (or a charging power) in the second charging mode.
US08729867B2
Techniques are provided for selecting a charge current to be sunk by a mobile electronic device. A charging device is received at a connector of the mobile electronic device. The charging device is configured to supply a charge current to a rechargeable battery of the mobile electronic device. One or more data signals is/are received from the charging device at an interface circuit of the mobile electronic device on one or more data signal lines through the connector. One or more control signals are applied to the interface circuit to enable data signal values to be generated for the data signal(s) based on the control signal(s) and a type of the charging device. The data signal values are mapped to a maximum charge current for the rechargeable battery. The charge current supplied by the charging device to the rechargeable battery is limited to the selected maximum charge current.
US08729865B2
A scalable intelligent power-supply system and method capable of powering a defined load for a specified period of time is disclosed and claimed. Multiple external AC and DC inputs supply power to the system if available and required. An internal DC input from a back-up energy source is on board. The back-up energy source is scalable by adding additional energy cartridges such as batteries in racks mounted within frames of the system. The AC and DC inputs (including the internal DC input) are controlled, measured, sensed, and converted by circuitry controlled by the microprocessor into multiple AC and/or DC outputs. A microprocessor manages power input to, within, and output from the system. The performance of a Lithium-ion batteries used to power an automobile can be determined on the basis individual battery packs or individual battery cells within the packs.
US08729863B2
An energy management circuit (100) for use with one or more rechargeable cells (201) is capable of prohibiting discharge in response to temporal or other inputs. In one embodiment, a control circuit (102) applies a control signal to a discharge control node (105) when a charging current is applied for less than a charging duration threshold. The control signal causes a discharge disconnect switch (202) to open. In another embodiment, the control circuit (102) applies the control signal to the discharge control node (105) after failing to detect a charging current for at least a non-charging duration threshold. Discharge can again be allowed by applying a charging current for at least a reset duration.
US08729856B2
A system and method operable to facilitate thermal wall plug sensing and control may include an ability to control current drawn by a charging system or other load according to a temperature determined at an interface between the charging system and an energy source used to provided energy to the charging system. A temperature sensed with a temperature sensor included in a plug assembly or other housing or cord used to connect the charging system to the energy source may be used to implement the temperature regulated current control.
US08729850B2
A charging control system for charging a secondary battery from a solar battery, including a first path for transmitting power from the solar battery to the secondary battery, a second path for sensing the voltage of the secondary battery, and a comparison unit for comparing the solar battery voltage with the sensed voltage of the secondary battery. The first path includes a first interrupter, controlled by the comparison unit, which interrupts the first path to prevent discharge of the secondary battery through the solar battery when the solar battery voltage falls below the secondary battery voltage. The second path includes a second interrupter that interrupts the second path after the first path is interrupted, to prevent the secondary battery from discharging through the second path when not being charged through the first path.
US08729827B2
A semiconductor light emitting element drive device includes: a converter circuit configured to supply a light source unit with a load current from a first-primary winding; and a current regulation circuit. The converter circuit further includes a second-secondary winding. The current regulation circuit includes a switching device (second switching device) connected in series with the second-secondary winding. In a dimming ratio of the light source unit is lower than a first ratio, the second switching device is controlled to ON and OFF so as to decrease the load current through the light source unit by a shunt of a part of the energy stored in the primary winding.
US08729824B2
A lighting control system comprising a plurality of intelligent switches designed to replace a conventional light switch, each of the intelligent switches including a receiver configured to receive communication signals that include rules based instructions for controlling one or more lighting circuits; a circuit interrupter configured to control the amount of current flowing to a lighting circuit; a memory configured to store the rules based instructions; and a processor coupled with the receiver, memory, and circuit interrupter, the processor configured to control the operation of the circuit interrupter based on the rules based instructions stored in memory.
US08729822B2
The present invention relates to an LED emitting device and a driving method thereof including at least two LED channels. If a power source voltage supplied to an LED emitting device reaches a predetermined threshold voltage, the power source voltage is maintained as a threshold voltage during an overvoltage regulation period.
US08729821B2
A semiconductor light source lighting circuit includes a transistor and a current detection resistor provided in series in a semiconductor light source current supply path, a control circuit for controlling the transistor so as to decrease any difference between the voltage occurring at the current detection resistor and a reference voltage, and a bypass resistor to establish a bypass path for the current supplied to the semiconductor light source, where a first end of the bypass path is located at a connection node between the transistor and the semiconductor light source.
US08729796B2
Provided is an organic light emitting display device (OLED) for preventing Newton's rings to improve image quality. An organic light emitting display device according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a first substrate comprising a single layer or multiple layers; a second substrate comprising a single layer or multiple layers, the second substrate comprising an inner surface facing the first substrate; an array of organic light emitting pixels formed on the first substrate and interposed between the first and second substrates, the array comprising a top surface opposing the inner surface of the second substrate, wherein the top surface and the inner surface has a gap therebetween, and the gap has a gap distance measured between the top surface and the inner surface; and a frit seal interconnecting the first and second substrates while surrounding the array, wherein the frit seal, the first substrate and the second substrate in combination define an enclosed space in which the array is located, wherein the frit seal has a height between the first and second substrates so as to form the gap distance equal to or greater than about 10 μm.
US08729794B2
There is provided a display device comprising a plurality of active elements on a substrate, a first insulating film for covering the active elements, electroconductive films were separated for each pixel on the first insulating film, a light-emitting layer disposed in an upper layer of the electroconductive films, and a common electrode disposed in an upper layer of the light-emitting layer, wherein a structure is used in which the electroconductive films have a layered film of a first electroconductive film, second electroconductive film, and third electroconductive film; the first electroconductive film is composed of ITO or chromium; the second electroconductive film is composed of aluminum with alumina on a surface; the second electroconductive film covers outside edges of the first electroconductive film; the third electroconductive film is composed of ITO; and the first electroconductive film and third electroconductive film are caused to contact each other.
US08729786B2
The invention relates to an illuminant mixture for a discharge lamp (1) with a first and at least one second illuminant composition, said first illuminant composition having an emission spectrum in the green to yellow spectral range and having a first illuminant compound, devoid of Tb and designed to absorb the UV radiation emitted by an Hg source. The invention also relates to a discharge lamp (1) with a discharge vessel (2) and an illuminant layer (12) applied thereto, said layer containing the illuminant mixture according to the invention.
US08729781B2
The invention relates to an electric lamp (102) comprising a primary semiconductor light source (104) in thermal communication with a primary reflector (106). Herein, the primary reflector (106) is reflective, transparent and/or translucent. The primary reflector (106) is configured for transferring heat generated by the primary semiconductor light source (104) during operation away from said primary semiconductor light source (104). As a result, the electric lamp (102) according to the invention effectively reduces the number of parts comprised in the electric lamp (102), thereby lowering the costs of manufacturing the electric lamp (102).
US08729779B2
Contour-mode piezoelectric devices and methods of forming contour mode piezoelectric devices. The contour mode piezoelectric device includes a piezoelectric film having first and second surfaces and suspended so that it is spaced away from a substrate. The contour mode piezoelectric device also includes first and second patterned electrodes respectively disposed on the first and second surfaces of the piezoelectric film, at least one of the first and second patterned electrodes having variable width along a length thereof.
US08729768B2
The invention relates to a rotor including a magnetic material. At least one surface section of the magnetic material is provided with a wear-resistant coating.
US08729762B2
To provide a permanent magnet synchronous machine capable of expanding a high-speed operation range without reducing torque, and a pressing machine or an extrusion machine using the permanent magnet synchronous machine. In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides a permanent magnet synchronous electric machine having at least one permanent magnet on a radial surface of a rotor core, the permanent magnet having a rotor constituting a field pole, wherein a plurality of slits constituted by nonmagnetic material is provided on a core part between adjacent permanent magnets with opposite magnetic polarities of the rotor. According to the present invention, expansion of a high-speed operation range can be achieved without reducing torque.
US08729760B2
In accordance with the present invention, a rotor of an electric motor including a rotor core, a plurality of magnets spaced apart from each other on an outer circumferential surface of the rotor core, and a cylindrical protective pipe surrounding the magnets is provided. The protective pipe has an inner diameter smaller than a diameter of a circumscribed circle passing through tops of outer surfaces of the magnets. A space defined by an inner surface of the protective pipe, the outer surfaces of the magnets and the outer surface of the rotor core is filled with resin, and the protective pipe is held so as to have a diameter larger than that of the circumscribed circle, due to injection pressure of the resin.
US08729759B2
A spindle motor according to an aspect of the invention may include: a base on which a sleeve is mounted; a rotor bound together with a shaft rotatably mounted on the sleeve and rotating by electromagnetic interaction with the stator; a pulling plate mounted on the base to generate a magnetic force in a rotary axis direction of the rotor; and an escape portion provided on the base at a position corresponding to the pulling plate and providing a space into which an adhesive may escape when bonding the pulling plate.
US08729753B2
There is provided a stator assembly for a motor including: a base for a motor fabricated with a steel sheet; a core installation part installed on the base for a motor; and a stator core fixed to the core installation part, wherein the core installation part includes a guide portion guiding an insertion of the stator core and a mounting portion on which the stator core is mounted.
US08729748B2
Disclosed are a split stator and a manufacturing method thereof with which insulation reliability can be improved by preventing deformation or cracking of the insulator by eliminating slippage of the insulator at the coil end face. A slip prevention mechanism that prevents slippage of the insulator is provided at the coil end face, and using insert molding, the insulator is integrally molded to a split stator core provided with the slip prevention mechanism.
US08729745B2
A linear switched reluctance motor comprises a movable coil bracket including first and second coil assemblies. Each of the first and second coil assemblies further comprises a plurality of coils separately wound around a plurality of motor coil cores, each of the coils being configured to receive a sinusoidal current at a different phase from other coils comprised in the same coil assembly. Tooth members of a stator track are located adjacent to the motor coil cores such that a magnetic flux path is created which passes through the motor coil core, the stator track and an air gap between the motor coil core and the stator track. A multiple-phase motor driver electrically connected to the first and second coil assemblies generates symmetric multiple-phase sinusoidal currents for driving the motor.
US08729742B2
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a first section having a sinking component sinking excessive current. A second section includes at least one sourcing component that, in operation, stores energy. A structure is provided to provide the stored energy from the at least one sourcing component to the sinking component, the stored energy being utilized by a load component included within the second section.
US08729741B2
An automatic breaker apparatus for the USB power supply, comprising a manual switch module, a relay, a high frequency transformer, a PWM power source master control module, a drive module, a signal filter module, an MCU master control module, a lighting instruction module and at least one USB power output end. When a user presses down the manual switch module, the relay becomes conductive, thus causing the electronic apparatus connected to the USB power source input end to be charged, and determining through the MCU master control module whether the electronic apparatus is using the electric current based on the pulsed filter signal outputted by the signal filter module thereby driving the relay to disconnect and also starting the lighting instruction module to generate light. Upon disconnection in the relay, electric power can no longer be transferred to the USB power output end so as to embody the objective of automatic power break, thereby achieving the features of environment protection, reduced energy consumption and power saving.
US08729739B2
A circuit breaker comprising first and second JFETs, each comprising a gate, drain and source connection, the JFETs sources being operatively connected to each other to form a common-source connection and adapted to be connected to and operating to open an external circuit when the current flowing through the JFETs exceeds a predetermined threshold, the JFETs' gates, and common-source connection being operatively connected to a gate driver circuit which causes the JFETs to turn off when the predetermined threshold is exceeded; whereupon the current flows through the common-source connection into the second gate and into the gate driver circuit which causes the gate driver circuit to turn off the first and second JFETs and open the circuit breaker. Also claimed is a method of sensing an overloaded circuit comprising leading and trailing JFETs in a circuit that open the circuit and prevent current flow when a predetermined threshold is exceeded.
US08729734B2
A wireless power bridge that allows magnetic transmission of energy across a solid barrier such as a wall. A circuit is described for controlling the operation.
US08729728B2
The invention relates to a power adjustment system adapted for powering an electric line for supplying power to vehicles moving in a traffic lane combined with said electric line that comprises an electric supply feeder (AD) delivering an average electric power directly or via at least one converter to the electric line, and an adjustable power based on power fluctuation and required for an instantaneous traffic intensity to an energy storage means (MS) capable of powering the electric line at a peak power via at least one other converter, characterised in that a dimensioning unit (PCC) receives information on the power needs based on the traffic intensity evaluated over at least one duration of said traffic, and in that the dimensioning unit uses information for controlling an adjustment of the useful predictable storage of the storage means so that the electric power (P_IN0, P_IN1) delivered to the storage means is adjusted and minimal while exactly maintaining a sufficient energy backup in the storage means for compensating for any peak power (P_INST) instantaneously required by the traffic in the given duration.
US08729726B2
The present disclosure includes a petroleum-alternative power plant system harvesting wind, solar, and thermal energies. The system may include at least one two-wind-turbine power tower building where the outside surface of the building is divided into a number of sections. Each section forms a funnel- shaped duct to guide and accelerate the wind streams toward the vanes of the first wind turbine; then wind streams accelerated further and guided toward the vanes of a second wind turbine. The system may also include solar receptors, solar tower, and thermal receptors to harvest more energy. A management control subsystem is provided to combine electricity, and selectively delivering electricity to any electric load, a non-fossil fuel production subsystem, and the power grid.
US08729719B2
A cogeneration facility for supplying buildings and facilities with thermal energy and electrical energy is located in a closed enclosure, which is permanently under negative pressure during operation, wherein the negative pressure in the enclosure is controlled by a partial exhaust-gas recirculation into an intake channel of an internal combustion engine and an additional external flow resister that is provided in the closed enclosure, and a frequency converter capable of backfeed is connected to the generator in an advantageous manner. Highly efficient heat recovery is achieved, wherein heat losses are substantially minimized and, in combination with the exhaust-gas recirculation and the frequency converter capable of backfeed, very high power modulation is achieved while the exhaust-gas pollutants such as CO, HC, and NOx are simultaneously minimized.
US08729711B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first surface being an element formation surface, and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a through-hole formed to penetrate the semiconductor substrate from the first surface to the second surface; an insulating film formed on an inner wall of the through-hole; a barrier film formed on the inner wall of the through-hole with the insulating film interposed therebetween; and a conductive portion formed to fill the through-hole provided with the insulating film and the barrier film. A gettering site is formed in a portion of the semiconductor substrate around the through-hole at least near a side of the first surface.
US08729709B2
This invention provides a multi-pin semiconductor device as a low-cost flip-chip BGA. In the flip-chip BGA, a plurality of signal bonding electrodes in a peripheral area of the upper surface of a multilayer wiring substrate are separated into inner and outer ones and a plurality of signal through holes coupled to a plurality of signal wirings drawn inside are located between a plurality of rows of signal bonding electrodes and a central region where a plurality of bonding electrodes for core power supply are located so that the chip pad pitch can be decreased and the cost of the BGA can be reduced without an increase in the number of layers in the multilayer wiring substrate.
US08729703B2
A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes providing a substrate; forming a low-k dielectric layer over the substrate; embedding a conductive wiring into the low-k dielectric layer; and thermal soaking the conductive wiring in a carbon-containing silane-based chemical to form a barrier layer on the conductive wiring. A lining barrier layer is formed in the opening for embedding the conductive wiring. The lining barrier layer may comprise same materials as the barrier layer, and the lining barrier layer may be recessed before forming the barrier layer and may contain a metal that can be silicided.
US08729700B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor chip having a first region and a second region; a dielectric layer formed on the first region and the second region of the semiconductor chip; a first elongated under-bump metallization (UBM) connector formed in the dielectric layer and on the first region of the semiconductor chip and having a first longer axis extending in a first direction; and a second elongated UBM connector formed in the dielectric layer on the second region of the semiconductor chip and having a second longer axis extending in a second direction. The first direction is different from the second direction.
US08729691B2
Some embodiments include a device having a number of memory cells and associated circuitry for accessing the memory cells. The memory cells of the device may be formed in one or more memory cell dice. The associated circuitry of the device may also be formed in one or more dice, optionally separated from the memory cell dice.
US08729689B2
Provided is a stacked semiconductor package. The stacked semiconductor package of the present invention comprises: a substrate unit, which includes a connection substrate electrically connecting a first substrate having a contact pad and a second substrate having a contact pad; a first chip laminate at which a plurality of first semiconductor chips are stacked in multi-steps on the first substrate; a second chip laminate at which a plurality of second semiconductor chips are stacked in multi-steps on the second substrate; a first conductive wire which electrically connects a first bonding pad of the first semiconductor chip and the contact pad of the first substrate, a second conductive wire which electrically connects a second bonding pad of the second semiconductor chip and the contact pad of the second substrate, and a bonding unit which has a contact adhesive layer having a certain thickness, which is disposed between the first semiconductor chip in the top layer of the first chip laminate and the second semiconductor chip in the top layer of the second chip laminate, and which vertically stacks and bonds the first chip laminate and the second chip laminate.
US08729684B2
An interposer chip may include a substrate, a plurality of upper terminals, a plurality of lower terminals, a first conductive pattern that electrically connects the first upper terminal to a first set of one or more lower terminals, a second conductive pattern that electrically connects the second upper terminal to a second set of one or more lower terminals and a cut test pattern disposed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern, the test pattern used for testing electrical characteristics of the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern.
US08729683B2
Disclosed herein are a power module package and a method for manufacturing the same. The power module package includes: first and second lead frames arranged to face each other, both or either of the first and second frames being made of aluminum; anodized layers formed on portions of the lead frame(s) made of aluminum in the first and second lead frames; and semiconductor devices mounted on first surfaces of the first and second lead frames.
US08729682B1
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a punch quad flat no leads (QFN) semiconductor package including a leadframe wherein the leads of the leadframe are selectively half-etched so that only one or more prescribed leads may be electrically connected to a conformal shield applied to the package body of the semiconductor package. The conformal shield may be electrically connected to the exposed lead(s) alone, or in combination with one or more tie bars of the leadframe. In one embodiment, outer end portions of the top surfaces of the leads of the semiconductor package are alternately exposed and non-exposed, with the non-exposed leads including a top side half-etch which causes the same to be effectively covered by the package body of the semiconductor package.
US08729665B2
An integration substrate for a system in package comprises a through-substrate via and a trench capacitor wherein with a trench filling that includes at least four electrically conductive capacitor-electrode layers in an alternating arrangement with dielectric layers. —The capacitor-electrode layers are alternatingly connected to a respective one of two capacitor terminals provided on the first or second substrate side. The trench capacitor and the through-substrate via are formed in respective trench openings and via openings in the semiconductor substrate, which have an equal lateral extension exceeding 10 micrometer. This structure allows, among other advantages, a particularly cost-effective fabrication of the integration substrate because the via openings and the trench openings in the substrate can be fabricated simultaneously.
US08729636B2
Integrated circuit comprising a substrate carrying at least one transistor comprising an alternating grid (1) of source and drain regions (D, S) separated by a grid (14) of gate regions, e.g. a checkerboard pattern of source and drain regions. The source regions (S) are vertically connected to a first metal layer and the drain regions (D) are vertically connected to a second metal layer. At least one of the first metal layer and the second metal layer comprises a metal grid (30, 40) of a plurality of interconnected metal portions (32, 42) arranged such that said grid comprises a plurality of gaps (34, 44) for connecting respective substrate portions to a further metal layer. Method for manufacturing such an integrated circuit.
US08729634B2
An integrated circuit device includes a fin at least partially embedded in a shallow trench isolation (STI) region and extending between a source and a drain. The fin is formed from a first semiconductor material and having a trimmed portion between first and second end portions. A cap layer, which is formed from a second semiconductor material, is disposed over the trimmed portion of the fin to form a high mobility channel. A gate electrode structure is formed over the high mobility channel and between the first and second end portions.
US08729620B2
It is an object to provide a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having excellent writing property and charge-retention property. A semiconductor layer including a channel forming region between a pair of impurity regions which are formed to be apart from each other is provided. In an upper layer portion thereof, a first insulating layer, a floating gate, a second insulating layer, and a control gate are provided. The floating gate has at least a two-layer structure, and a first layer in contact with the first insulating layer preferably has a band gap smaller than that of the semiconductor layer. Furthermore, by setting an energy level at the bottom of the conduction band of the floating gate lower than that of the channel forming region of the semiconductor layer, injectability of carriers and a charge-retention property can be improved.
US08729615B2
A semiconductor memory device has a memory cell region and a peripheral region. The device includes low voltage transistors at the peripheral region having gate insulation films with different thicknesses. For example, a gate insulation film of a low voltage transistor used in an input/output circuit of the memory device may be thinner than the gate insulation film of a low voltage transistor used in a core circuit for the memory device. Since low voltage transistors used at an input/output circuit are formed to be different from low voltage transistors used at a core circuit or a high voltage pump circuit, high speed operation and low power consumption characteristics of a non-volatile memory device may be.
US08729612B2
An active matrix substrate includes a plurality of scanning lines (11a) extending parallel to each other; a plurality of signal lines (16a) extending parallel to each other in a direction crossing the scanning lines (11a); a plurality of TFTs (5) each provided at each of intersections of the scanning lines (11a) and the signal lines (16a), and each including a semiconductor layer (4a); and a coating type insulating layer formed between each of the scanning lines (11a) and each of the signal lines (16a). A plurality of openings (15a) are formed in the insulating layer such that each of the semiconductor layers (4a) is exposed, and at least part of a peripheral end of the opening (15a) of the insulating layer is positioned on an inner side relative to each of peripheral ends of the semiconductor layers (4a).
US08729610B2
A semiconductor device including a silicon substrate including a first region and a second region; a gate electrode above the first region and the second region; an insulation film extending from the gate electrode to the second region to cover part of the gate electrode and part of the second region; a source region and a drain region formed in the silicon substrate, silicide formed on the source region, on the drain region, and on the gate electrode; an interlayer insulation film formed above the gate electrode and the insulation film; a first electrically conductive via formed in the interlayer insulation film, a second electrically conductive via formed in the interlayer insulation, and a third electrically conductive via formed in the interlayer insulation and electrically connecting to the gate electrode; and at least one electrically conductive member formed on the insulation film in the interlayer insulation film.
US08729609B2
Embodiments of an integrated circuit are provided. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit includes a substrate and a plurality of locally interconnected multi-gate transistors. The plurality of locally interconnected multi-gate transistors includes a continuous fin structure formed on the substrate and first and second multi-gate transistors formed on the substrate and including first and second fin segments of the continuous fin structure, respectively. The continuous fin structure electrically interconnects the first and second multi-gate transistors.
US08729607B2
Structures and methods are presented relating to formation of finFET semiconducting devices. A finFET device is presented comprising fin(s) formed on a substrate, wherein the fin(s) has a needle-shaped profile. The needle-shaped profile, in conjunction with at least a buffer layer or a doped layer, epitaxially formed on the fin(s), facilitates strain to be induced into the fin(s) by the buffer layer or the doped layer. The fin(s) can comprise silicon aligned on a first plane, while at least one of the buffer layer or the doped layer are grown on a second plane, the alignment of the first and second planes are disparate and are selected such that formation of the buffer layer or the doped layer generates a stress in the fin(s). The generated stress results in a strain being induced into the fin(s) channel region, which can improve electron and/or hole mobility in the channel.
US08729605B2
Provided is a semiconductor device in which on-resistance is largely reduced. In a region (2a) of an N type epitaxial layer (2) of the semiconductor device 20, each region between neighboring trenches (3) is blocked with a depletion layer (14) formed around a trench (3) so that a current passage (12) is interrupted, while a part of the depletion layer (14) formed around the trench (3) is deleted so that the current passage (12) is opened. In a region (2b), a junction portion (8) between the N type epitaxial layer (2) and a P+ type diffusion region (7) makes a Zener diode (8).
US08729601B2
Semiconductor devices are formed using a thin epitaxial layer (nanotube) formed on sidewalls of dielectric-filled trenches. In one embodiment, a semiconductor device is formed in a first semiconductor layer having trenches and mesas formed thereon where the trenches extend from the top surface to the bottom surface of the first semiconductor layer. The semiconductor device includes semiconductor regions formed on the bottom surface of the mesas of the first semiconductor layer.
US08729595B2
A light emitting device having a vertical structure and a package thereof, which are capable of damping impact generated in a substrate separation process, and achieving an improvement in mass productivity. The device and package include a sub-mount, a first-type electrode, a second-type electrode, a light emitting device, a zener diode, and a lens on the sub-mount.
US08729591B2
Non-planar via designs for sub-mounts on which to mount a LED or other optoelectronic device include a continuous layer of metal to conduct the current from the front-side (e.g., LED side) to the backside (e.g., SMD side) through the via and to provide a sufficiently stable and reliable under bump metallization for SMD soldering. Each UBM can be structured so that it does not fully cover the sidewall surfaces of the via that forms the front-to-backside interconnect. In some implementations, each via structure for the feedthrough metallization extends to a respective side-edge of the sub-mount.
US08729581B2
A device to emit light includes a light emitting diode (LED) die and a light guide coupled to the LED die. The light guide includes a first material having a first index of refraction with a plurality of apertures arranged in a grid. A second material having a second index of refraction that is larger than the first index of refraction fills the plurality of apertures. Each aperture extends from a first end adjacent the LED die to a larger second end. The first end may be a circle of approximately 1 to 2 μm in diameter. The distance between the first and second ends may be from approximately 10 to 20 μm. Each aperture may be in the form of a frustrated cone having an included angle between the sides from approximately 3 to 7 degrees. The light guide may be formed on a transparent substrate.
US08729577B2
A light-emitting microelectronic device including a first N-type transistor (T1) and a second P-type transistor (T2), the respective gates of which are formed opposite one another, either side of an intrinsic semiconductor material region.
US08729575B2
The semiconductor light emitting device according to an embodiment includes an N-type nitride semiconductor layer, a nitride semiconductor active layer disposed on the N-type nitride semiconductor layer, and a P-type nitride semiconductor layer disposed on the active layer. The P-type nitride semiconductor layer includes an aluminum gallium nitride layer. The indium concentration in the aluminum gallium nitride layer is between 1E18 atoms/cm3 and 1E20 atoms/cm3 inclusive. The carbon concentration is equal to or less than 6E17 atoms/cm3. Where the magnesium concentration is denoted by X and the acceptor concentration is denoted by Y, Y>{(−5.35e19)2−(X−2.70e19)2}1/2−4.63e19 holds.
US08729571B2
A light emitting device includes a number of light emitting diode dies (LEDs) mounted on a shared submount and covered with a single lens element that includes a corresponding number of lens elements. The LEDs are separated from each other by a distance that is sufficient for lens element to include separate lens elements for each LED. The separation of the LEDs and lens elements may be configured to produce a desired amount of light on a target at a predefined distance. In one embodiment, the lens elements are approximately flat type lens elements, such as Fresnel, TIR, diffractive lens, photonic crystal type lenses, prism, or reflective lens.
US08729569B2
The light-emitting chip includes: a substrate; plural light-emitting thyristors each having a pnpn structure formed of a first stacked-semiconductor layer in which at least 4 semiconductor layers having different conductivity types and including the substrate are stacked on the substrate; a lower wiring that is formed of a second stacked-semiconductor layer in which at least 3 semiconductor layers having different conductivity types and including the substrate are stacked on the substrate, and that has a semiconductor layer between the substrate and an uppermost semiconductor layer of the second stacked-semiconductor layer, the semiconductor layer having a fixed potential so that any one of p-n junctions between the substrate and the uppermost semiconductor layer is reversely biased with respect to potentials respectively applied to the substrate and the uppermost semiconductor layer; and an upper wiring provided on the lower wiring so as to intersect with the lower wiring through an isolation layer.
US08729565B2
A FET includes a first and second set of finger arrays that each include a source, gate and drain. A first source pad is electrically coupled to source electrodes in the first set of finger arrays. A second source pad is electrically coupled to the source electrodes in the second set of finger arrays. A common drain pad is electrically coupled to drain electrodes in the first and second set of finger arrays. A first gate pad is electrically coupled to gate electrodes in the first set of finger arrays. A second gate pad is electrically coupled to gate electrodes in the second set of finger arrays. A substrate is also provided on which are disposed the first and second set of finger arrays, the first and second source pads, the common drain pad, and the first and second gate pads.
US08729563B2
Solid state lighting (SSL) devices and methods are disclosed. A particular method includes forming an SSL formation structure having a CTE, selecting a first material of an interlayer structure to have a first material CTE greater than the substrate CTE, and selecting a second material based at least in part on the second material having a CTE less than the first material CTE. The intelayer structure is formed over the SSL formation structure e.g., with a first layer of the first material over the SSL formation structure, a portion of the second material over the first material, and a second layer of the first material over the second material. The CTE difference between the first and second materials can counteract a force placed on the formation structure by the first material. Particular formation structures can have an off-cut angle with a non-zero value of up to about 4.5 degrees.
US08729548B2
The present invention supplies a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, which includes a non-contact inspection process capable of confirming if a circuit or circuit element formed on an array substrate is normally performed and can decrease a manufacturing cost by eliminating wastes to keep a defective product forming.An electromotive force generated by electromagnetic induction is rectified and shaped by using primary coils formed on a check substrate and secondary coils formed on an array substrate, whereby a power source voltage and a driving signal are supplied to circuits or circuit elements on a TFT substrate so as to be driven.
US08729542B2
Providing an organic electroluminescence element that can reduce the unevenness of the brightness and can improve the external quantum efficiency. The organic electroluminescence element includes a substrate 10, a first electrode 20, a second electrode 40, a functional layer 30 interleaved between the first electrode 20 the second electrode 40 and including a light emission layer 32, and a conductive layer 50. The resistivities of the first electrode 20 and the second electrode 40 are less than the resistivity of transparent conductive oxide. The second electrode 40 has an opening for light extraction. The functional layer 30 includes, as the outermost layer on the second electrode 40 side, a carrier injection layer 34. The conductive layer 50 is optically transparent and is in contact with the second electrode 40 and the functional layer 30. The carrier injection layer 34 has a recess in the projection domain of the opening.
US08729540B2
The present invention relates to a field effect electroluminescent ambipolar organic transistor in which there are two couples of control electrodes, a layer of ambipolar organic semiconductor in direct contact with the source and the drain electrode and two separate dielectric layers, and wherein said dielectric layers are each arranged between the ambipolar organic semiconductor layer and a couple of control electrodes.
US08729535B2
Provided is an organic EL display panel that improves aperture ratio by providing a contact hole beneath an aperture in a bank, and that prevents shortening of the display panel's lifetime by avoiding electric field concentration. An organic EL display panel includes a TFT layer; an interlayer insulation film on the TFT layer and having a plurality of contact holes one per pixel; a plurality of first electrodes, one per pixel, on the interlayer insulation film; a bank defining a plurality of apertures, at least one per pixel, and at least one contact hole is located beneath each aperture; a plurality of organic light-emitting layers each in an aperture; and a second electrode above the organic light-emitting layers. In each aperture, a thickness of the organic light-emitting layer is greater at a portion within the contact hole region than at a portion outside the contact hole region.
US08729533B2
An organic electroluminescent display device includes a first substrate including a display region including a plurality of pixel regions; a first electrode in each pixel region; an organic light emitting layer on the first electrode; a second electrode on the organic light emitting layer and in the display region, wherein the second electrode includes a first metal material having a first wt %, a first work function, and a first sheet resistance, and a second metal material having a second wt % less than the first wt %, a second work function less than the first work function, and a second sheet resistance greater than the first sheet resistance.
US08729527B2
A light-receiving element includes a group III-V compound semiconductor stacked structure that includes an absorption layer having a pn-junction therein. The stacked structure is formed on a group III-V compound semiconductor substrate. The absorption layer has a multiquantum well structure composed of group III-V compound semiconductors, and the pn-junction is formed by selectively diffusing an impurity element into the absorption layer. A diffusion concentration distribution control layer composed of a III-V group semiconductor is disposed in contact with the absorption layer on a side of the absorption layer opposite the side adjacent to the group III-V compound semiconductor substrate. The bandgap energy of the diffusion concentration distribution control layer is smaller than that of the group III-V compound semiconductor substrate. The concentration of the impurity element selectively diffused in the diffusion concentration distribution control layer is 5×1016/cm3 or less toward the absorption layer.
US08729523B2
Three dimensional memory array architectures and methods of forming the same are provided. An example memory array can include a stack comprising a plurality of first conductive lines at a number of levels separated from one another by at least an insulation material, and at least one conductive extension arranged to extend substantially perpendicular to the plurality of first conductive lines. Storage element material is formed around the at least one conductive extension. Cell select material is formed around the at least one conductive extension. The at least one conductive extension, storage element material, and cell select material are located between co-planar pairs of the plurality of first conductive lines.
US08729517B2
According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a first interconnect, a second interconnect and a resistance change layer. The first interconnect extends in a first direction on a major surface of a substrate. The second interconnect extends in a second direction non-parallel to the first direction. The resistance change layer includes a conductive nanomaterial, the resistance change layer located between the first interconnect and the second interconnect and being capable of reversibly changing between a first resistance state and a second resistance state by a voltage applied or a current supplied through the first interconnect and the second interconnect. The resistance change layer has a density varied along a third direction generally perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction.
US08729516B2
A method detects metallic atoms in a fluid. The method includes: placing, in a zone sheltered from light, a photodiode comprising a photosensitive surface in contact with a fluid to analyze; heating the photosensitive surface of the photodiode to a temperature sufficient to allow metallic atoms deposited on the photosensitive surface to migrate through this surface; acquiring a signal relative to the lighting of the photodiode; and determining, from the acquired signal, a measurement representative of a contamination status by metallic atoms of the photodiode.
US08729511B2
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an electromagnetic wave beam splitter, comprising a functional layer made of at least one metamaterial sheet, wherein different metamaterial sheets have the same refractive index distribution; the metamaterial sheet may be divided into a circular region and an annular region concentric to the circular region; a refractive index increases continuously as a radius increases and refractive indices at the same radius are the same within the circular region; and a refractive index decreases continuously as a radius increases and refractive indices are the same at the same radius within the annular region. The circular region of the functional layer of the beam splitter according to the present invention has the function of diverging an electromagnetic wave; the annular region has the function of converging an electromagnetic wave; the electromagnetic wave incident on the circular region of the functional layer deflects toward edges on two sides of the functional layer respectively; the electromagnetic wave incident on the annular region deflects in a direction toward a circle center; and after an electromagnetic wave emitted by a signal source is incident on the beam splitter, an emergent electromagnetic wave forms an annular radiation region. This can satisfy the requirements of, for example, avoiding an obstacle and interference.
US08729507B2
A multi charged particle beam writing method includes calculating first shot positions of multiple beams, each of which includes a distortion amount of an irradiating corresponding beam, in a case of irradiating each beam, based on control grid intervals, calculating first condition positions based on a pre-set condition, each of which is arranged in a corresponding first region surrounded by closest second shot positions of 2×2 in length and width of the first shot positions, calculating, for each of second regions respectively surrounded by closest second condition positions of the first condition positions, an area density of a figure pattern in overlapping with a second region concerned, calculating an irradiation amount or an irradiation time of each beam whose corresponding first shot position is in a corresponding second region, based on an area density, and writing a pattern by irradiating a beam of the calculated irradiation amount or time.
US08729506B2
A replacement light apparatus includes a base plate, a grip plate, a bearing member, and a light source. The grip plate extends from a first surface of the base plate. The bearing member extends from a second surface of the base plate that is opposite the first surface. The bearing member includes a bearing surface disposed in a first plane that is perpendicular to a second plane, in which the base plate is disposed. The light source is mounted on the bearing surface of the bearing member and adapted to project a cone of light centered on an illumination axis that extends perpendicular to the bearing surface.
US08729504B2
An identification device for a tin surface of float glass includes an outer shell (3), a gas discharge light tube (5) and a power source. The gas discharge light tube (5) and the power source are arranged inside the outer shell (3). An irradiation window is installed on the outer shell (3) corresponding to the position of the gas discharge light tube (5). A UV light-absorbing mark (6) is provided on the inner or outer surface of the irradiation window, and the tin surface of float glass can be visually identified according to whether the mark (6) can be observed.
US08729495B2
Suspended nanotubes are used to capture and ionize neutral chemical units, such as individual atoms, molecules, and condensates, with excellent efficiency and sensitivity. Applying a voltage to the nanotube(s) (with respect to a grounding surface) creates an attractive potential between a polarizable neutral chemical unit and the nanotube that varies as 1/r2, where r is the unit's distance from the nanotube. An atom approaching the nanotube with a sub-threshold angular momentum is captured by the potential and eventually spirals towards the nanotube. The atom ionizes as in comes into close proximity with a sidewall of the nanotube, creating an ion whose polarity matches the polarity of the electric potential of the nanotube. Repulsive forces eject the ion, which can be detected more easily than a neutral chemical unit. Suspended nanotubes can be used to detect small numbers of neutral chemical units (e.g., single atoms) for applications in sensing and interferometry.
US08729493B2
A drawing apparatus includes a plurality of charged particle optical elements that are sequentially passed through by a plurality of charged particle beams and performs drawing on a substrate with the charged particle beams. The apparatus further includes a deflector array which includes a plurality of deflectors disposed for respective one or more charged particle beams, each of which aligning corresponding one or more charged particle beams between two of the plurality of charged particle optical elements, a plurality of devices configured to respectively apply a plurality of potentials to the deflector array, and a connector configured to connect each of a plurality of electrodes included in the deflector array to one of the plurality of devices and connect electrodes, to which an equal potential is applied, to each other. Number of devices included in the plurality of devices is less than number of electrodes included in the deflector array.
US08729486B2
Detection of ionizing radiation with modulation doped field effect transistors (MODFETs) is provided. There are two effects which can occur, separately or together. The first effect is a direct effect of ionizing radiation on the mobility of electrons in the 2-D electron gas (2DEG) of the MODFET. An ionizing radiation absorption event in or near the MODFET channel can perturb the 2DEG mobility to cause a measurable effect on the device conductance. The second effect is accumulation of charge generated by ionizing radiation on a buried gate of a MODFET. The conductance of the MODFET can be made sensitive to this accumulated charge, thereby providing detection of ionizing radiation. 1-D or 2-D arrays of MODFET detectors can be employed to provide greater detection area and/or spatial resolution of absorption events. Such detectors or detector pixels can be integrated with electronics, such as front-end amplification circuitry.
US08729482B2
Provided is a radiation detector with improved n/γ discrimination and usable even under high counting rate conditions with a reduced load on a signal-processing system. The detector capable of distinguishing neutron and gamma-ray events includes: a scintillator; an optical filter; a first photodetector to which a first part of light emitted from the scintillator is introduced via the optical filter; and a second photodetector to which a second part of light emitted from the scintillator is introduced not via the optical filter, wherein, for a set of two wavelengths A and (A+B) nm, the scintillator emits at least a light of A nm and a light of (A+B) nm when irradiated by gamma-ray, and emits a light of A nm and does not emit a light of (A+B) nm when irradiated by neutrons; and the optical filter blocks the light of A nm and transmits the light of (A+B) nm.
US08729465B2
A vacuum measurement device includes a grid (10) and an electron source (20) provided inside a vacuum vessel, and an ion beam (100) extracted outside the grid is captured by an ion collector (40) and is converted into a current signal. The grid (10) is a grid-shaped cylinder, and an ion outlet (11) is opened and elongated in the longitudinal direction along the side surface of the grid (10). The vacuum measurement device includes a primary ion collector (40) capturing specific ions and a secondary ion collector (50) capturing other ions. The gas molecule density of the ion source is obtained from a total current of the primary and secondary ion collectors, and a ratio of the gas molecule density of the specific ions relative to the gas molecule density is obtained from a ratio of the current of the primary ion collector (40) relative to the total current.
US08729462B2
A Time of Flight Acquisition system is disclosed wherein a digitiser (6) is used to digitise an acceleration pulse (2) which is applied to an acceleration electrode of a Time of Flight mass analyzer. The digitiser (6) is then switched to digitise an ion arrival signal which is output from an ion detector (5).
US08729457B2
An invisible, light-transmissive display system with a light resistant material is provided. Substantially invisible, tapered, light-transmissive holes are penetrated in a light-transmissive pattern through at least a portion of the light resistant material using a laser beam having a focal width less than the smallest diameter of the tapered holes.
US08729456B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a frequency selective electromagnetic detector. In particular, the frequency selective electromagnetic detector includes a nanowire array constructed from a plurality of nanowires of different compositions. At least one nanoparticle-sized diameter thermoelectric junction is formed between the nanowires of different compositions. When a nanoparticle-sized diameter thermoelectric junction senses a photon, the nanoparticle-sized diameter thermoelectric junction emits an electrical pulse voltage that is proportional to an energy level of the sensed photon. In one or more embodiments, the frequency selective electromagnetic detector is a frequency selective optical detector that is used to sense photons having optical frequencies. In at least one embodiment, at least one of the nanowires in the nanowire array is manufactured from a compound material including Bismuth (Bi) and Tellurium (Te).
US08729452B2
A variable gain amplifier canceling the dependence of the frequency bandwidth thereof on the gain is disclosed. The variable gain amplifier includes a differential stage with a cascade transistor put between an amplifying transistor and a load resistor. The amplifier further includes a current supplier and a current extractor. The current supplier extracts a current flowing in the second transistor by supplying an additional current to the amplifying transistor. The current extractor adds the additional current flowing in the load resistor which is extracted by the additional current by the current supplier. The bias condition of the load resistor is kept substantially constant independent of the equivalent impedance of the cascade transistor.
US08729451B2
A method of operating an image sensor includes adjusting a capacitance coupled to a circuit node within a pixel cell. The circuit node is coupled to selectively receive an image charge acquired by a photo-sensor of the pixel cell. A conversion gain is selected from multiple conversion gains for the pixel cell by adjusting the capacitance. A voltage level from multiple voltage levels is selected for use as a reset signal when the reset signal is asserted. The reset signal controls resetting of the circuit node during operation of the pixel cell. The voltage level is selected dependent upon which of the multiple conversion gains is selected by adjusting the capacitance. The reset signal is asserted to reset a voltage at the circuit node.
US08729449B2
A pixel of an image sensor includes a color filter configured to pass visible wavelengths, and an infrared cut-off filter disposed on the color filter configured to cut off infrared wavelengths.
US08729435B2
The present invention is apparatus for, and method of, purification of silicon by electric induction heating and melting of silicon in a crucible or susceptor vessel, with subsequent directional partial cooling of the silicon melt to an initial amorphous-to-crystalline (solidification) temperature to produce a directionally solidified purified quantity of silicon and a separate quantity of high impurity silicon. The quantity of high impurity silicon is removed from the vessel and the purified quantity of silicon at solidification temperature is remelted in the vessel for removal from the vessel or further processing.
US08729426B2
The method uses a common optical, system and sequentially creates structures of different sizes in a polymer substrate by means of different laser processes is described. One process uses a laser beam that is tightly focussed on the substrate surface and is used for creating fine groove structures by semi-continuous direct write type beam movement. The second process uses a second laser beam that is used to form a larger size image on the substrate surface and is used to create blind pads and contact holes in the substrate in step and drill mode. A third optional process uses the second laser beam operating in direct writing mode to remove layers of the substrate over larger continuous areas or in a mesh type pattern.
US08729417B2
The present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a current terminal for an embedded pole part, in which a vacuum interrupter is molded by an isolating coverage in a hot and pressure injection process, and such a pole part. At the position of the upper electric terminal at the fixed contact side of the vacuum interrupter, a pressure protecting element is placed into the mold, at least close to the upper part the fixed contact side of the vacuum interrupter and/or together with it, and the protecting element, the terminal and the vacuum interrupter are embedded by injection molding.
US08729412B2
Nanoelectromechanical logic devices can include a plurality of flexible bridges having control and logic electrodes. Voltages applied to control electrodes can be used to control flexing of the bridges. The logic electrodes can provide logical functions of the applied voltages.
US08729404B2
A method and apparatus for filling a via with transparent material is presented, including the steps of providing a panel having a via, occluding the via with transparent material in a workable state so that a portion of the occluding material is internal to the via and a portion of the material is external to said via. The external and internal portions are separated so the transparent filler material, when set, forms a smooth and featureless surface. This causes the filled via to have a substantially even and uniform appearance over a wide range of viewing angles when lit.
US08729398B2
An electrical assembly comprises a substrate having a dielectric layer and one or more electrically conductive traces overlying the dielectric layer. An electrical component is mounted on a first side of the substrate. The electrical component is capable of generating heat. A plurality of conductive through holes in the substrate are located around a perimeter of the electrical component. The conductive through holes are connected to a conductive trace for heat dissipation. A cooling cavity has bores that face a second side of the substrate opposite the first side. A plurality of respective compliant pins are inserted into corresponding conductive through holes and the bores, wherein a generally exposed portion of the compliant pin is exposed to air or a coolant liquid within the cooling cavity.
US08729389B2
An apparatus is disclosed including a rack; a component mounted to the rack and a cable connected at one end to the component. A cable management assembly for managing the cable has a first end fixed relative to the component and a second end fixed relative to the rack. The cable management assembly includes a first support member having a cable attachment portion that supports the cable along a first length; and, a second support member having a cable attachment portion that supports the cable along a second length. The support members are arranged to pivot with respect to each other about a pivot axis as the component moves between received and withdrawn positions in the rack. The first and second lengths of cable are offset from each other in the direction of the pivot axis.
US08729386B2
A semiconductor device is provided, which comprises a first electrode, crystalline semiconductor particles, a semiconductor layer, and a second electrode. The crystalline semiconductor particles of which adjacent particles are fusion-bonded, the crystalline semiconductor particles have a first conductivity type, and the semiconductor layer has a second conductivity type which is different from the first conductivity type.
