US08868676B2

Methods and systems for verifying server-storage device connectivity in a storage area network (SAN) environment are provided. One system includes determining which of a plurality of storage devices a server is physically connected and determining which of the plurality of storage devices a zoning configuration in the SAN environment enables the server to access. The method further includes returning to a user an indication of each storage device in the plurality of storage devices that the server is both physically connected and includes zoning access. One system includes a server, a plurality of storage devices, a switch fabric coupling the server to the plurality of storage devices, and a processor coupled to the server, the plurality of storage devices, and each device in the switch fabric. In this system, the processor is configured to perform the method discussed above.
US08868672B2

Described are systems and methods for interconnecting devices. A switch fabric is in communication with a plurality of electronic devices. A rendezvous memory is in communication with the switch fabric. Data is transferred to the rendezvous memory from a first electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices in response to a determination that the data is ready for output from a memory at the first electronic device and in response to a location allocated in the rendezvous memory for the data.
US08868665B2

Messages directed to a mobile device are selectively routed to message servers based upon the capabilities of a network to which the mobile device is connected. According to an illustrative method disclosed herein, a network connectivity server receives a network identifier from the mobile device, the network connectivity server receives a request for routing instructions for the message, and the network connectivity server determines if the network identified by the network identifier is capable of delivering the message. The network connectivity server then instructs the message server to route the message according to a standard delivery method for a message type of the message or to a message conversion server computer based upon the determination. The message conversion server computer converts the message into a new message type that the network is capable of delivering to the mobile device.
US08868658B2

A method, a system and computer readable storage media facilitate receiving a data stream from a host media server that is outside of a network, designating a multicasting source within the network to receive the data stream from the host media server, and multicasting the data stream from the multicasting source to a plurality of client devices within the network.
US08868654B2

Described herein are technologies pertaining to protecting user privacy in connection with attribute-based matching services. A user registers with a platform that includes a plurality of non-collaborating partitions, where registration includes transmitting a message to the platform that indicates that the user has one or more attributes corresponding thereto. Through selective encryption and a communications protocol amongst the partitions, none of the partitions are able to ascertain that the user has the attributes. Acting in conjunction, however, the plurality of partitions perform rich attribute.
US08868652B2

Methods and arrangements for constructing and analyzing federated social networks. A first social network with a first plurality of accounts is defined, as well as a second social network with a second plurality of accounts, the second social network being unaffiliated with the second social network. The first and second social networks are federated to determine a union of the first and second social networks and an intersection of the first and second social networks, and second-order connections between one or more of the first plurality of accounts and one or more of the second plurality of accounts are ascertained, the second-order connections including connections outside of the intersection of the first and second social networks and within the union of the first and second social networks.
US08868648B2

A method for querying an Open Data Protocol (“opendata”) opendata provider includes receiving a relational database query, parsing the relational database query, creating an execution plan, transmitting an opendata query to the opendata provider, transforming a response into a relational format, and providing the transformed response in reply to the relational database query. The method further includes mapping content of an opendata entity data model to a relational model catalog, and processing a portion of the execution plan by an opendata driver implemented at the server. The method can further include the server retrieving document metadata from the opendata provider, building an internal model of the document metadata, and responding to a metadata request. A system for implementing the method and a non-transitory computer readable medium are also disclosed.
US08868647B2

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of storing a file block in a cloud system including a plurality of data centers. The method may include; receiving the file block from a client; generating a plurality of chunks from the file block, wherein each chunk is smaller than the file block and the file block may be reconstructed from a subset of the chunks; distributing each chunk to one of the plurality of data centers; and storing the file block in a cache. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a cloud system for storing files. The system may include a plurality of data centers including a primary data center. The primary data center may include: a cache configured to store at least one complete file block; a chunk storage configured to store a chunk for each of a plurality of file blocks; a file encoder; and a file decoder.
US08868645B1

A method and system for prioritizing commercial communications based on location data whereby a merchant is identified and a priority communication source location database is created for, and/or associated with, the merchant. Then when a communication from a source party is received from a source party communication system the source location of the source party communication system, and/or the source party, is determined from location data. The location data representing the determined source location of the source party communication system, and/or the source party, is then used to search the priority communication source location database and if the source location of the source party communication system matches data indicating priority source locations in the priority communication source location database, if so, the communication is processed on a priority basis.
US08868644B2

A request to update a list of conversations is sent to a server. At least a portion of each conversation in the list of conversations is stored on the client. A plurality of updates is received form the server. The plurality of updates includes messages corresponding to respective conversations in the list of conversations.
US08868639B2

Embodiments of methods, systems and apparatuses for a content broker assisting distribution of content, are disclosed. One method includes obtaining, by one or more content distribution servers, at least one of user device parameter information or storage element parameter information of a user device and one or more storage elements associated with the user device, and assisting, by the one or more content distribution servers, at least one content provider in preloading at least a portion of a content onto at least one of the one or more storage elements associated with the user device based on the at least one of the user device parameter information or the storage element parameter information.
US08868636B2

An apparatus for distributed computing is disclosed. The apparatus includes a semiconductor memory, a biometric device for receiving biometric data, a connector for establishing communication between the apparatus and the host device, and a processor for performing distributed computing methods. The distributed computing method includes identifying a computing task for processing, authenticating user and device with a distributed computing network, receiving a unique security code having an end-of-session expiration, requesting that the computing task be executed over the distributed computing network, receiving a one-time task code, selecting a device to process the computing project from among a plurality of devices based upon device location and at least one associated operating state of the device, sending the identified computing task and the one-time task code to the selected device over the distributed computing network for processing and authentication, and receiving results of computing task from the selected device.
US08868631B2

The invention relates to a method for processing a signal, in particular a digital audio signal, suitable for being implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP) having libraries for calculating Fourier transforms from the complex number space to the complex number space, for digitally processing P input signals, P being an integer at least equal to 2, more particularly for filtering said P input signals by the convolution of sampled fast Fourier transforms (FFT), thus obtaining Q output signals, Q being an integer at least equal to 2. According to the invention, the method includes at least the following steps: —grouping said P input signals by twos, one representing the real portion and the other the imaginary portion of a complex number, thus defining one or more input vectors, —filtering said input vector or vectors, passing through the Fourier space, thus generating one or more output vectors, which are complex numbers, the real portion and the imaginary portion of said vector or each one of said output vectors respectively representing one of said Q output signals.
US08868627B2

An information processing apparatus includes an application execution unit configured to generate data to be recorded onto a medium that records data or reproduce data from the medium, a file system unit configured to manage data recorded on the medium using a file system, and a file conversion unit configured to perform conversion between a first file format processable by the application execution unit and a second file format defined by the file system. The file conversion unit converts a file of the first file format generated by the application execution unit into a file of the second file format having an allowable size defined by the file system and supplies the converted file to the file system unit in the form of a file to be recorded.
US08868625B2

The present invention provides a configuration in which a service corresponding to a user can be provided by using an apparatus near the user, even when the user moves from one location to another and apparatuses near the user change. A mobile apparatus carried by the user forms cells, with the mobile apparatus itself being the master, collects information of nearby apparatuses from a space directory (SDR), which stores information of directly-accessible slaves or nearby apparatuses, and generates and updates mobile directory information in a storage unit based on the collected information. Accordingly, the user can obtain the information of nearby information processors unconsciously without performing a special process and, thus, the user can receive services, such as content distribution and communication services, by using the nearby apparatuses based on the obtained information.
US08868624B2

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods and computer storage media for facilitating the structured storage of binary large objects (Blobs) to be accessed by an application program being executed by a computing device. Generally, the manipulation of Blobs in a structured storage system includes receiving a request for a Blob, which may be located by way of a Blob pointer. The Blob pointer allows for the data, such as properties, of the Blob to be identified and located. Expired properties are garbage collected as a manipulation of the Blob data within a structured storage system. In an embodiment, the Blob is identified by a key that is utilized within a primary structured index to located the requested Blob. In another embodiment, the requested Blob is located utilizing a secondary hash index. In an additional embodiment, the Blob is locate utilizing a file table.
US08868615B2

An enhanced database system and method for media production and distribution enables the aggregation of assets using external unique IDs. The use of the external IDs allows the searching of Media Asset Management database to be performed without any prior knowledge of the actual database. The search configuration defines a set of search environment parameters that are imported into the search database during a configuration stage and which are used by the search services to provide client applications with an interface to create, validate, and execute queries.
US08868610B2

A method for performing I/O operations on a file stored in a file system utilizing a shared data storage system and accessible by a plurality of host computers is disclosed. A host computer receives from a process executing on it, a request to read data stored in the file. The host computer then requests the data stored in the file without acquiring a lock from the file system. The host computer also maintains a timeout value associated with the file while reading the data. The host computer receives at least a portion of the data prior to an expiration of time, and if all the data has not been received before the expiration of time, it then assesses whether another of the host computers has acquired a lock on the file, and, if so, invalidates the received data without providing it to the requesting process.
US08868603B2

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph that includes a plurality of nodes and edges, receiving an unstructured text query comprising an ambiguous n-gram, identifying nodes and edges that correspond to the ambiguous n-gram, generating a first set of structured queries corresponding to the identified second nodes and edges, receiving from the first user a selection of a first structured query form the first set, and generating a second set of structured queries based on the selected first structured query.
US08868601B2

A method, system, and computer program for consolidating data logged in log files in a network of servers, each server running at least one application that logs data into files on the server, the method comprising: providing a consolidating message queue for receiving the log data and file name; intercepting log data being written into a log file by a file system and sending that log data and the file name of the log file to a consolidating message queue; receiving the log data and file name in a consolidating message queue; and saving the log data in the consolidating message queue from all the servers to a consolidated file or data structure associated with the file name.
US08868597B2

A virtual directory server (VDS) processes requests based on a first hierarchical model while using a backend server operating based on a relational model. In one embodiment, classes representing the tables and columns in the relation model are generated according to a second hierarchical model (class hierarchy). On receiving a directory request for values' corresponding to attributes in the first hierarchical model, tables and columns corresponding to the requested attributes are identified. A query according to the relational model is constructed employing the generated classes (of the second hierarchical model), the query including the identified tables and columns. The query is then executed in the backend server to retrieve the values corresponding to the attributes, and the values are then sent (according to the first hierarchical model) as a reply to the directory request.
US08868587B1

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for correcting potentially inaccurate terms in queries. In an aspect, a search system determines that an original query includes a potentially inaccurate term. The determination is made on the basis that the term of the original query meets an inaccuracy criterion. Derivative queries are generated from the original query. Each derivative query does not include the potentially inaccurate term. For each derivative query resources that are determined to be responsive to the derivative query are determined, and from the resources, a corrected term is determined. The corrected term is substituted for the potentially inaccurate term, and a search operation that uses the corrected query as input is performed.
US08868583B2

A relationship-information storage unit stores relationships between configuration items. The configuration items belong to an information system and are stored in multiple databases. A first counting unit compares, across the databases, attribute values of one configuration item in each of the databases, thereby counting a matching-attribute-value count. A second counting unit identifies a configuration item having a relationship with the one configuration item, for which the first counting unit counts the matching-attribute-value count, by referring to the relationship-information storage unit. Then, the second counting unit compares, across the databases, attribute values of the identified configuration items to count a matching-attribute-value count. A similarity calculation unit calculates similarity between the configuration items, based on the matching-attribute-value count counted by the first counting unit and the matching-attribute-value count counted by the second counting unit.
US08868577B2

A middle layer in business applications is provided to wrap all the database management operations generically, to store changed data temporarily, to validate and lock the data before updating the database, and to synchronize the data change and unlock it as a whole when a commit method is called. In embodiments, only six generic methods are needed for all data interactions. Transaction, isolation level, exception format, and performance tuning operations can be performed centrally in the six generic methods. A buffer section may be created in the middle layer. Operations such as insert, update, delete, and select are performed on data stored in the buffer. Buffered data may then be stored in a data storage device.
US08868574B2

A cloud-based platform (e.g., cloud-based collaboration and/or storage platform/service) is described that permits advanced searches with advanced filtering mechanisms to be performed by administrators or other authorized individuals, across an organization, enterprise, or other select groups of entities in a cloud environment, such as a cloud-based collaborative environment. Various types, categories, metadata, and filters can be specified for use in the advanced search within select folders, users' folders, or across a larger set/group of folders and/or users.
US08868573B2

Provided are techniques for generating order statistics and error bounds. For each of multiple, distributed data sources, a finite number of data bins are created for each field in that data source. Data values in each of the multiple, distributed data sources are processed to generate basic summaries for each of the data bins in a single pass of the data values. The data bins from each of the multiple, distributed data sources are sorted. One or more approximate order statistics are computed for a data set by accumulating counts from a number of the sorted data bins. Lower and upper error bounds are provided for each of the computed one or more approximate order statistics, wherein the lower and upper error bounds are values delimiting an interval containing a true value of an order statistic.
US08868570B1

This specification describes technologies relating to displaying online content. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include receiving a first query associated with a user request. The methods may further include determining a score for a word in the first query based at least in part on user interaction with a content item served for display in response to a past query that includes the word. The methods may further include selecting a keyword derived from the first query based at least in part on the score. The methods may further include identifying candidate content items using the selected keyword. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.
US08868569B2

Duplicate video search results are detected and removed. Digital signatures are generated for each video content item of a video content corpus. Duplicates are determined for the top n previously received queries by determining the similarity of video content items that are within the same results set of each particular query of the top n previously received queries. Similarities are calculated between any two video documents of the result set of the particular query by measuring the difference between the digital signatures of two video documents. If a similarity between two videos is determined to be above a particular threshold, then the two videos are considered duplicates of each other and the search index is updated by retaining the most relevant of the video documents to the particular query. The less relevant video documents are flagged as duplicates with respect to the particular query.
US08868553B2

A system and method to retrieve information is disclosed. The system may include a processor to run a query application to retrieve selected information from one or more databases. The query application may include a client layer and a presentation layer to interface with the client layer. A database access layer may be provided and an interface layer may be provided to interface between the presentation layer and the database access layer.
US08868541B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for scheduling resource crawls. In one aspect, a framework is provided for scheduling resource crawls such that a crawl scheduler determines the health of a document, i.e., whether it can be crawled, the popularity of the document, and the frequency of “interesting,” i.e., substantive, content changes, and based on this information, estimates an appropriate crawl interval for each web resource to improve crawl resource utilization.
US08868535B1

A method of executing a word search on a computer with a software program mimicking the human brain by adding knowledge, understanding and wisdom to simulate deductive reasoning to create a language based equation and a geospatial based equation includes the steps of assigning a unique value from lowest to highest to lowest; organizing and distributing the Internet environment into quality partitions from lowest to highest establishing a glyph database; processing the impact of a managerial hierarchical related group of index relationships to create an equation that shrinks the search environment; organizing and distributing the Internet using human brain tendencies; and modifying each the request by: identifying for each static and dynamic request the best suited search pattern within the search pattern database and automatically sending the preprocessed results to the end of a user's browser as output.
US08868520B1

A system and method efficiently removes ranges of entries from a flat sorted data structure, such as a fingerprint database, of a storage system. The ranges of entries represent fingerprints that have become stale, i.e., are not representative of current states of corresponding blocks in the file system, due to various file system operations such as, e.g., deletion of a data block without overwriting its contents. A deduplication module performs an attributes intersect range calculation (AIRC) procedure on the stale fingerprint data structure to compute a set of non-overlapping and latest consistency point (CP) ranges. The output from the AIRC procedure, i.e., the set of non-overlapping and latest CP ranges, is then used to remove stale fingerprints associated with that deleted block (as well as each other deleted data block) from the fingerprint database.
US08868509B2

A system and method for backing up data computed using an application in a cloud computing environment, comprising creating the application, modifying the application to register a servlet, publishing the application to the cloud computing environment, during execution of the application, using the servlet for: detecting annotated entities in the application, finding out properties and property types of the annotated entities, generating one or more structured query language (SQL) statements to query out data to be backed up in accordance with the annotated entities, and publishing the backed up data. Modifying may comprise inserting archiving-type files into the application. An annotation processor may be added to the application may occur. A user interface displaying one or more of the SQL statements performed during the execution of the application may be generated. The user may confirm the displayed SQL statements. A library may be added to the application.
US08868503B1

Method and system for using a clone of a replicated copy of a data structure as an independent data object is provided. The replicated copy and the clone share data blocks, when the clone is generated. The clone is assigned new data blocks to replace the shared data blocks. A profile for the clone is generated where the clone does not share any data blocks with the replicated copy. The profile includes an option to delete the clone profile and any associated data blocks thereof.
US08868501B2

A method, computer program product, and apparatus for managing file updates using content signatures that use file identicality properties are provided. A method and computer program product are provided for the notification of receipt of a new version of the old file using content signatures that take advantage of file identicality properties. Content signature application modules and registries exist within information source clients and centralized servers to support the notification methods. An apparatus is provided that associates a file it has received, that is a new version of an old file, with previously stored content signatures in an indexed archive system. The information source clients that have the previously stored content signatures are then identified. These information source clients are then notified that the new version of the file exists.
US08868498B2

Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata. In one exemplary method, metadata from files created by several different software applications are captured, and the captured metadata is searched. The type of information in metadata for one type of file differs from the type of information in metadata for another type of file. Other methods are described and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.
US08868496B2

Data processing systems and methods are provided that include a relational database and an application program that performs a data processing step on data belonging to a pre-defined entity stored in the relational database. The relational database and the application program may be linked by an interface that provides an intermediate layer for extracting a self-contained temporary table out of the relational database that contains the data belonging to a user selected entity. The disclosed systems and methods may be used for various data processing purposes, including monitoring database replication.
US08868482B2

In an automated fashion, a collection of XML documents are traversed and statistical data is generated describing hierarchical relationships of the elements, the elements data types and values. Based the analysis, an XML schema is derived such that the collection of XML documents conforms to the schema to a certain degree.
US08868478B2

A convex regularized loss function is minimized respective to a prediction tensor of order K to generate an optimized prediction tensor of order K where K>2. The convex regularized loss function comprises a linear combination of (i) a loss function comparing the prediction tensor and an observation tensor of order K representing a set of observations and (ii) a regularization parameter including a K-th order matrix norm decomposition of the tensor trace norm of the prediction tensor. In some such embodiments, the observation tensor of order K represents a set of social network observations and includes at least dimensions corresponding to (1) users, (2) items, and (3) tags. The optimized prediction tensor of order K is suitably used to perform inference operations.
US08868476B2

Data compression technology (“the technology”) is disclosed that can employ two or more prediction models contemporaneously. The technology receives data from one or more sources; shifts or re-sample one of more corresponding signals; creates a prediction model of uncompressed samples using at least two different individual or composite models; selects a subset of the models for prediction of samples; determines an order in which signals will be compressed; formulates a combined predictions model using the selected subset of models; predicts a future value for the data using the combined compression model; defines a function that has as parameters at least the predicted future values for the data and actual values; selects a compression method for the values of the function; and compresses the data using at least the predicted value of the function.
US08868470B2

Systems, methods, and devices are described for implementing learning algorithms on data sets. A data set may be partitioned into a plurality of data partitions that may be distributed to two or more processors, such as a graphics processing unit. The data partitions may be processed in parallel by each of the processors to determine local counts associated with the data partitions. The local counts may then be aggregated to form a global count that reflects the local counts for the data set. The partitioning may be performed by a data partition algorithm and the processing and the aggregating may be performed by a parallel collapsed Gibbs sampling (CGS) algorithm and/or a parallel collapsed variational Bayesian (CVB) algorithm. In addition, the CGS and/or the CVB algorithms may be associated with the data partition algorithm and may be parallelized to train a latent Dirichlet allocation model.
US08868468B2

An intelligent decision system and a method for making an intelligent decision are provided. The intelligent decision supporting system includes a multi-dimensional classifier comprising a plurality of classifiers that define different semantic standards and are trained based on the different semantic standards, for classifying a text by the semantic standards and for outputting a plurality of attributes of the text and a confidence rate of each of the plurality of attributes, a question submitting module for receiving the output of the multi-dimensional classifier, for forming a question based on the plurality of attributes of the text and the confidence rate of each attribute, and for submitting the question to an inference machine, the inference machine for receiving the question submitted by the question submitting module, for inquiring of a domain ontology knowledge library based on the question, and for providing an answer for the question to an decision reply module.
US08868451B2

A method and technology platform for electronic commerce use a software package including an interactive website. An Affiliate may access participating vendors and third-party sources to acquire information of interest, including product data, content, and website design templates.
US08868449B2

A method and apparatus is provided for providing an active ticket in a mobile terminal for use by a mobile terminal user, wherein at least one active ticket has a ticket characteristic that dynamically changes based on one or more states in a life cycle of the active ticket. Dynamic changes to the ticket characteristic include multimedia changes or other presentation data, including text, sound (audio), animation, video, still pictures, or some combination thereof. The active ticket can have different states in it's life cycle, such as purchased, validated, invalid for certain events. Also the ticket service provider or issuer can send new control data to change the characteristic and/or contents of the active ticket.
US08868440B1

A software tool for forecasting hours worked per project by each of several individuals per time period is disclosed. The tool comprises several project activity profiles each representing an hour distribution. The tool also comprises a data store containing data specific to projects including a level of effort budgeted for the project, identification of the type of the project, a start date of the project, and a delivery date of the project. The tool also comprises a data store containing data about each of the individuals including identification of the projects on which the individuals are authorized to work. The tool also comprises an allocator component that generates the forecast of hours to be worked by each individual for the projects for each of a series of time periods.
US08868439B2

Various embodiments provide an evaluation module that is configured to monitor activities of new users and ascertain, from monitored activities, a reputation associated with the new users. In at least some embodiments, the evaluation module comprises an activity store and/or a reputation service. The activity store can monitor different types of actions associated with new users. For example, the activity store can monitor content-based actions that pertain to particular pieces of content and/or user behaviors associated with new users. The reputation service, which may or may not comprise part of the evaluation module, can ascertain from information provided from the activity store, information, such as a reputation category, associated with content-based actions and/or user behaviors associated with new users. Based on a new user's information, e.g. reputation category, the new user can be assigned an activity type which, in turn, defines allowed and disallowed activities for the new user.
US08868437B2

A network for mediating the peer-to-peer transfer of digital patient medical data includes a plurality of distributed agents each associated with a health care provider and connected to a central system. Periodically the agents collect local information relating to patient medical files and/or data streams, for example diagnostic images and associated reports, and process that information into metadata files acting as pointers to the original files. The metadata files are transmitted to the central system where they are parsed and the attributes are stored on the central system in patient records with records from the same patient grouped together whenever possible. Registered users can search the central system, even in the absence of a unique identifier, to identify patient records pointing to the remote patient medical files. Upon finding a patient medical file, the invention provides a streamlined process for communicating access authorization from the patient to the hospital or facility storing the medical files. Once patient authorization is received, secure processes are provided for transferring the data in its entirety to or for viewing by the user in a peer-to-peer fashion.
US08868436B2

The invention relates to a data structure comprising a plurality of biomedical parameters for providing a plurality of biomedical parameter values as input to a medical decision support system.
US08868435B2

A computing system can archive information from internetworked computers, such as Internet content, for later retrieval. A server system processes content providers, such as DNS registries and web sites, to extract and store content, including text, image, audio, and video content. For web sites, HTML source code is stored along with a browser-rendered display file. The content is perpetually archived to create a historical record of information for each content provider. An interface is used to retrieve the archived content in response to queries.
US08868429B2

A method for storing audio data is disclosed, including: recording basic information of a versatile audio data storage file into the versatile audio data storage file; storing Versatile Audio Codec (VAC) frame data into the versatile audio data storage file sequentially; recording payload information of the versatile audio data storage file into the versatile audio data storage file; and recording index information of VAC frames stored in the versatile audio data storage file into the versatile audio data storage file. A device for storing the audio data is also disclosed, including: a basic information record module, a VAC frame data storage module, a payload information record module and an index information record module. The file generated with this method is simple and is easy to read and access, which can be applied to various applications of the versatile audio frequently.
US08868426B2

The amount of speech output to a blind or low-vision user using a screen reader application is automatically adjusted based on how the user navigates to a control in a graphic user interface. Navigation by mouse presumes the user has greater knowledge of the identity of the control than navigation by tab keystroke which is more indicative of a user searching for a control. In addition, accelerator keystrokes indicate a higher level of specificity to set focus on a control and thus less verbosity is required to sufficiently inform the screen reader user.
US08868424B1

A method, a system, and computer readable medium comprising instructions for analyzing data of a speech application are provided. The method comprises defining a set of data collection objects for a call flow in a speech application, collecting data using the set of data collection objects during execution of the speech application, and analyzing the data using a benchmarking and bootstrapping engine, storing the data in a repository, and presenting the data for analysis.
US08868417B2

Embodiments of the invention provide a communication device and methods for enhancing audio signals. A first audio signal buffer and a second audio signal buffer are acquired. Thereafter, the second audio signal is processed based on the linear predictive coding coefficients and gains based on noise power of the first audio signal to generate an enhanced second audio signal.
US08868409B1

In some implementations, audio data for an utterance is provided over a network. At a client device and over the network, information is received that indicates candidate transcriptions for the utterance and semantic information for the candidate transcriptions. A semantic parser is used at the client device to evaluate each of at least a plurality of the candidate transcriptions. One of the candidate transcriptions is selected based on at least the received semantic information and the output of the semantic parser for the plurality of candidate transcriptions that are evaluated.
US08868408B2

Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for identifying language that would be considered obscene or otherwise offensive to a user or proprietor of a system. A first plurality of offensive words are received, and a second plurality of offensive words are received. A string of words are received, where one or more detected offensive words are selected from the string of words that matches words from the first plurality of offensive words or the second plurality of offensive words. The string of words is processed based upon the detection of offensive words in the string of words.
US08868402B2

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for constructing text classifiers. The method includes receiving a collection of candidate phrases for a given topic; filtering the received candidate phrases to remove erroneously included candidate phrases; assigning weights to the candidate phrases including scoring each candidate phrase using an initial classifier and assigning weights to the candidate phrases based on the scores; and generating a linear classifier using the filtered and weighted candidate phrases, where the linear classifier varies the weights for each phrase candidate depending on the length of the document being classified.
US08868400B2

Example embodiments provide various techniques for modeling network storage environments. To model a particular storage environment, component models that are associated with the components of the storage environment are loaded. Each component model is programmed to mathematically simulate one or more components of the storage environment. A system model is then composed from the component models and this system model is configured to simulate the storage environment.
US08868380B2

A process updates a status of relation between objects in a system of computer-aided design, for subsequent analysis of status of relation. The process identifies a set of data of a group of objects, preferably a pair of objects; a method of computation of relations between objects; and an expected relation of executing the method identified using the set. Next the process executes the method using the set of data to compute a relation. A comparison step compares the expected relation with the computed relation. The process updates a status of the expected relation based on a result of the comparing step.
US08868373B2

Disclosed are virtual reality systems, in particular immersive virtual reality systems, their parts, construction and use. The systems and/or parts thereof may be used by adults or children, and may be adapted to support, often within a single device, a large range of users of different sizes and medical condition. Users with physical disabilities have difficulties using existing immersive technologies such as those using accessories like head-mounted displays and data gloves. Such users are provided with immersive virtual reality outputs that allow them to see virtual representations of their body parts which appear in a correct spatial position relative to the users' viewpoint.
US08868361B2

A hand-held system and method for detecting impaired electric power equipment. An exemplary embodiment may receive electromagnetic radiation and process the resulting signal. For example, signal processing may be used to identify electromagnetic radiation having a particular pattern that is characteristic of electric power equipment. Furthermore, an embodiment may determine the time and/or location during testing. As a result, an exemplary embodiment may be useful for stationary and/or mobile testing of an electrical system.
US08868357B2

Temperature compensation is applied to correct for temperature mismatch between a reference chamber and a disposable chamber in a pneumatic pumping system for dialysis fluid for peritoneal dialysis. The mismatch creates an error in the calculation of pumping volume of dialysate fluid. Applying a correction for the temperature mismatch helps to more precisely control the volume of dialysate that is metered to the patient. Also disclosed are ways to keep temperatures constant and to use temperature sensors to accurately measure the temperatures of the chambers. In other aspects, the temperature of the dialysate fluid itself may be measured and used to apply a correction to the volume of fluid that is pumped to the patient.
US08868356B2

Embodiments of the invention provide multi-channel OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) for imaging biological tissue, and for temperature and/or force sensing, preferably in real time. In one embodiment, an optical signal processing system comprises: a processor; a memory; a receiving module to receive in real time input from multiple channels of OCT producing interfering optical signals representing multiple measured distances for a target imaging object; a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module to apply FFT on the interfering optical signals in real time to produce Fourier frequencies corresponding to the multiple measured distances; and a calculation module to calculate in real time multiple force components of a force applied on the target imaging object to cause at least some of the multiple measured distances for the target imaging object based on the Fourier frequencies from the FFT module.
US08868352B2

The present invention provides gene expression information useful for predicting whether a cancer patient is likely to have a beneficial response to treatment with chemotherapy, comprising measuring, in a biological sample comprising a breast tumor sample obtained from the patient, the expression levels of gene subsets to obtain a risk score associated with a likelihood of a beneficial response to chemotherapy, wherein the score comprises at least one of the following variables: (i) Recurrence Score, (ii) ESRI Group Score; (iii) Invasion Group Score; (iv) Proliferation Group Score; and (v) the expression level of the RNA transcript of at least one of MYBL2 and SCUBE2, or the corresponding expression product. The invention further comprises a molecular assay-based algorithm to calculate the likelihood that the patient will have a beneficial response to chemotherapy based on the risk score.
US08868349B2

Methods, systems and products are provided to quantitatively measure the degree of concordance between or among microarray probe level data sets. These can include the steps of evaluating outlier probe values, determine gene expression scores, evaluating the significant treatment effect for each gene expression score, and determining concordance between replicate data sets.
US08868333B2

A technique for calculating a location of a first vehicle is described. A method implementation of this technique comprises the steps of detecting, from the perspective of the first vehicle, a movement of a second vehicle relative to the first vehicle, determining, for the time of the relative movement, a location of the second vehicle based on the detected relative movement by matching the detected movement of the second vehicle against map data, measuring, for the time of the relative movement, a distance between the first and second vehicles, and calculating the location of the first vehicle based on the measured distance and the determined location of the second vehicle. The technique also comprises an apparatus, a computer program product, and a vehicle navigation system.
US08868332B2

A navigation system containing a software core, which uses bounded geographic regions (“BGRs”) and Node Pairs to explicitly optimize, in two dimensions, for user desired dependent variables, by analyzing variance due to standard and user-defined independent variables. The invention stores Node Pair data, and can use error function, feedback, and ANOVA/MANOVA to create a tightly convergent navigation solution.
US08868330B2

A method for estimating location, and an apparatus using the same. The method for estimating location includes receiving information on the location of a plurality of external apparatuses from the plurality of external apparatuses; setting estimable areas for estimating an area wherein there is a possibility that the device is located based on the information on the location of the plurality of external apparatuses; and determining a predetermined area of the estimable areas to be an estimation area wherein there is the possibility that the device is located. If it is impossible to receive a GPS signal, the location information of a device is estimated using information on the location of an external apparatus communicable with the device.
US08868329B2

A parking position adjustment device that assists in correctly changing a parking position within a parking space in which a vehicle has already parked is provided.The parking position adjustment device includes: a current position setting unit that sets the position in which a vehicle is already parked as a current position; a parking space specification unit that specifies a parking space, in which the vehicle is parked, that includes the current position; a target parking position setting unit that sets, within the parking space, a target parking position to which the vehicle is to be moved from the current position; and a movement path calculation unit that calculates a movement path of the vehicle from the current position to the target parking position.
US08868324B2

The relative position of one vehicle vs. another vehicle, both driving in a vehicular environment, is determined using vehicular communications based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. The relative position determination is performed in a measuring vehicle using data provided by a measured vehicle through IEEE 802.11 communications carried through beacons as well as GPS or other location data and local map information.
US08868319B2

A control system for a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine includes first and second modules. The first module determines an adjusted intake valve opening (IVO) timing based on a base IVO timing and an IVO timing adjustment, wherein the IVO timing adjustment is based on one or more of a plurality of operating parameters. The second module controls intake valves of the HCCI engine based on the adjusted IVO timing.
US08868313B2

A method for controlling the combustion in a gas turbine including measuring, with one or more probes situated adjacent to the combustion chamber of the turbine, the amplitude of the pressure oscillations inside the combustion chamber and the persistence time or cycle of the same oscillations, evaluating the behavior under fatigue conditions of the combustion chamber, by constructing the Wohler curve for a certain material which forms the combustion chamber for a predefined combustion frequency and for the amplitude and cycle values of the pressure oscillations measured, measuring the cumulative damage to the combustion chamber during functioning under fatigue conditions of the turbine using the Palmgren-Miner hypothesis and exerting protection actions of the turbine if the cumulative damage value measured is exceeded.
US08868312B2

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for controlling the speed of a vehicle comprising: during a pulse phase of cruise control, applying engine torque to raise speed, the amount and duration of which being responsive to engine speed; and during a glide phase of cruise control, discontinuing engine combustion. In this way cruise control may maintain a mean speed equivalent to a desired, threshold speed while reducing fuel consumption, and NVH effects felt by the end user compared to traditional cruise control methods.
US08868309B2

A normality detector includes a steering angle yaw rate calculator, a first difference calculator, a lateral G yaw rate calculator, a second difference calculator, and a normality determination section. The steering angle yaw rate calculator calculates a steering angle yaw rate. The first difference calculator calculates a first difference which is a difference between the steering angle yaw rate and an actual yaw rate. The lateral G yaw rate calculator calculates a lateral G yaw rate. The second difference calculator calculates a second difference which is a difference between the lateral G yaw rate and the actual yaw rate. The normality determination section determines that the yaw rate detector is in a normal state when the first difference falls within a first predetermined value and the second difference falls within a second predetermined value.
US08868296B2

The present disclosure relates to a steering angle sensor failure detection system. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a steering angle sensor failure detection system that can correctly detect a failure of a steering angle sensor which may be caused due to the slipping of a speed reducer.
US08868290B2

The present disclosure relate to an indirect tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). In some embodiments, the indirect TPMS has magnetic field sensor that detects a modulated magnetic field indicative of one or more resonance parameters of an automobile tire. The magnetic field sensor generates a modulated sensor signal based upon the modulated magnetic field. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts the modulated sensor signal to a digital sensor signal, which is provided to a digital signal processing unit that perform analysis of the digital sensor signal to determine the one or more resonance parameters. A communication interface transmit data corresponding to the one or more resonance parameters to an electronic control unit (ECU).
US08868280B2

A device management apparatus has a display part that obtains various types of information outputted from testing devices, and erasably, switchably, or movably displays the pieces of information on a display, wherein regardless of the display of the pieces of information, the display part preferentially displays three alarm icons that are respectively for three pieces of alarm information including: sensitivity alarm information indicating a reduction in sensitivity of each of the testing devices; accumulated operating time alarm information that is alarm information on an accumulated operating time of the testing device; and inspection date/time alarm information that is information indicating approaching or passing of an inspection date/time of the testing device, and respectively have forms that are changed depending on contents indicated by the respective pieces of alarm information.
US08868270B2

An adjustable regenerative limit and warning system and method for controlling regenerative energy of a vehicle. The system includes a battery, a motor, a processor and an indicator. The motor provides regenerative energy to the battery during deceleration of the vehicle. The processor determines instantaneous or calculated traction loss of the vehicle and controls or limits the regenerative energy provided to the battery to avoid or reduce such traction loss. A drive mode having a predetermined regenerative energy capability is selected by the processor for limiting the regenerative energy. Sensors coupled with the battery sense characteristics of the battery for provision to the processor for determining a charge capability of the battery. If the charge capability for the battery is lower than the regenerative energy capable by the drive mode, the regenerative energy may be further limited and a warning or notification transmitted to a user of the vehicle.
US08868269B2

A method is provided for controlling a hybrid electric vehicle that includes an internal combustion engine having a cylinder with first and second intake valves and a piston configured to rotate the engine's crankshaft. The method includes determining whether deceleration of the vehicle is desired and ceasing supply of fuel to the cylinder when such condition is satisfied. The method also includes closing the first intake valve at a first predetermined instance and closing the second intake valve at a second predetermined instance via a specifically configured device when the fuel supply has been ceased. The second predetermined instance is after the first predetermined instance relative to rotational position of the crankshaft and magnitude of compression pulses in the cylinder during deceleration is reduced relative to when the cylinder is being fueled. A system for controlling the hybrid vehicle and a vehicle employing such a system are also provided.
US08868256B2

A method and system for navigating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for aerial refueling is described. A system processor in the UAV receives navigation data from a tanker aircraft and calculates a plurality of relative navigation solutions with respect to the tanker aircraft. The system processor compares the plurality of relative navigation solutions to identify any inconsistent solutions. The inconsistent solutions are discarded and the system processor navigates the UAV in position for refueling using the remaining relative navigation solutions.
US08868245B2

A dispensing device includes an actuating device that actuates first and second containers, respectively, and a sensor for detecting an environmental condition. In a first period the actuating device is inactive, in a second period the actuating device actuates the first container at a first frequency, and in a third period the actuating device actuates the second container at a second frequency. If the sensor has detected the environmental condition, the actuating device actuates the first and/or second containers, respectively, during a fourth period at a third frequency.
US08868241B2

A system for developing distributed robot application-level software includes a robot having an associated control module which controls motion of the robot in response to a commanded task, and a robot task commander (RTC) in networked communication with the control module over a network transport layer (NTL). The RTC includes a script engine(s) and a GUI, with a processor and a centralized library of library blocks constructed from an interpretive computer programming code and having input and output connections. The GUI provides access to a Visual Programming Language (VPL) environment and a text editor. In executing a method, the VPL is opened, a task for the robot is built from the code library blocks, and data is assigned to input and output connections identifying input and output data for each block. A task sequence(s) is sent to the control module(s) over the NTL to command execution of the task.
US08868239B2

A walking control apparatus of a robot includes joint portions provided in each of a plurality of legs of the robot, a state database to store state data of each of the legs and state data of the joint portions corresponding to the state of each of the legs, when the robot walks, a position instruction unit to store desired positions corresponding to the state data of the joint portions, an inclination sensing unit to sense an inclination of an upper body of the robot, a torque calculator to calculate torques using the inclination of the upper body and the desired positions, and a servo controller to output the torques to the joint portions to control the walking of the robot. Since the robot walks by Finite State Machine (FSM) control and torque servo control, the rotation angles of the joint portions do not need to be accurately controlled. Thus, the robot walks with low servo gain and energy consumption is decreased. Since the robot walks with low servo gain, each of the joints has low rigidity and thus shock generated by collision with surroundings is decreased.
US08868235B2

One type of battery quick-change system of electric passenger car chassis based on the Cartesian coordinate robot, including electric changing platform, and this platform, quick-change robot and charging rack along the same straight line; the quick-change robot comprises the battery tray and the Cartesian coordinate robot of four degrees of freedom, the Cartesian coordinate robot is associated with the X-axis driving motor, the Y-axis driving motor, the Z-axis up-down motor, the battery tray is connected with the R-axis driving motor; each of driving motors is connected with the corresponding encoder, and each of encoders is connected to the corresponding drive; there are equipped with a distance measuring sensor on the battery tray, and the corresponding limit switches on the both ends of each two-track rack; the drive, each limit switch and the distance measuring sensor of each driving motor are connected with the control system.
US08868229B2

A buffer station provides potential improvement for the operation of a facility. By storing to-be-accessed workpieces in the buffer stations of an equipment, the operation of the facility is not interrupted when the equipment is down. The workpieces can be retrieved through emergency access port of the buffer station, thus ensure the continuous supply of workpieces for the workpiece flow of the facility. Algorithm for getting the needed workpieces to the buffer station is also provided through a controller or a computer mechanism. The buffer station can be incorporated in a stocker, such as wafer stocker or reticle stocker.
US08868227B2

The present invention relates generally to garment design. In particular, embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods configured to assist a garment designer in applying graphics and artwork across the seams of a garment.
US08868222B2

An audio quality estimation apparatus includes an audio packet loss frequency calculation unit (11) which, when at least one audio packet to be assessed exists in singly or continuously generated IP packet losses, calculates an audio packet loss frequency based on information of received IP packets by counting the packet losses as an audio packet loss of one time regardless of the continuous length, an average influence time calculation unit (12) which calculates, based on information of received IP packets, an average influence time serving as an average time during which audio quality is influenced when the audio packet loss frequency is 1, and a subjective quality assessment value estimation unit (22) which estimates a subjective quality assessment value based on the audio packet loss frequency and average influence time.
US08868213B2

A microlead implantable in a patient's venous, arterial or lymphatic networks for the detection and/or stimulation of tissue. The microlead has a diameter at most equal to 2 French (0.66 mm) and comprises at least one microcable (40) comprising a core cable (11) and an insulation layer (20) partially surrounding the core. The core is formed of a plurality of strands, and has a composite structure comprising a structuring material having high fatigue resistance, and a radiopaque material. A denuded area (30) is formed in the isolation layer (20) so as to form at least one electrode for stimulation detection. The microlead is shaped at the electrodes (30) according to at least one electrical contact and mechanical stabilization preshape, and has a gradual decrease of rigidity along the microlead between its proximal portion and its distal portion.
US08868211B2

A flat interface nerve electrode provides a plurality of electrical contacts embedded in a non-conductive cuff structure, which acts to gently and non-evasively redefine the geometry of a nerve through the application of a force acting on the nerve without causing damage to the nerve. The cuff is open at one side and has a connection to a lead at the other side. During implantation the open sides of the cuff are closed so as to capture the nerve in the cuff in a single motion.
US08868204B2

The present invention provides an esthetic device, useful for increasing skin beautification at a region of a patient's skin, comprising: a. electrical output device for repeatedly generating at least two electrical waveform simultaneously, each of said electrical waveform is comprised of a combination of multiple types of waveforms; and b. two electrodes electrically coupled to said electrical output device, placed on said skin region and apply said at least two electrical waveform on said skin portion. The two electrical signal applied to said region are essentially dissimilar, ultra-strong, at a frequency range of 0 Hz to 20 Hz, having an amplitude of about 4 to about 20 Volts, electrical current higher that 500 and lower than 2.5 milliampere and power output of about 24 milli-Watts.
US08868199B2

The present disclosure involves a method of data-reducing and storing a sensation map. A sensation map associated with a patient is provided. The sensation map includes a graphical depiction of a sensation experienced by the patient. The sensation may be pain or paresthesia experienced by the patient in response to an electrical stimulation therapy. A data file is generated. The data file has a data size less than a data size of the sensation map. The data file contains digital information allowing a reconstruction of the sensation map. Electronic communication is then established with an implanted medical device located inside the patient's body. Thereafter, the data file is sent to the implanted medical device for storage. The stored data files are retrievable by another clinician programmer later to reconstruct the sensation map.
US08868196B2

A system for an electrical neurostimulator coupled to a plurality of electrodes. The system comprises a user-controlled input device configured for generating directional control signals. The system further comprises control circuitry configured for sequentially defining a plurality of different ideal bipole/tripole configurations relative to the plurality of electrodes in response to the directional control signals, generating a plurality of stimulation parameter sets respectively corresponding to the plurality of ideal bipole/tripole configurations, each stimulation parameter set defining relative amplitude values for the plurality of electrodes that emulate the respective ideal bipole/tripole configuration, and instructing the electrical neurostimulator to convey electrical energy to the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the plurality of stimulation parameter sets.
US08868194B2

The present invention depicts an implantable artificial pacemaker (AAP) comprising oscillatory means providing pulsating signals at a pre-selected frequency, wherein the pacemaker is pacing the aorta. The invention also describes an AAP further comprising; (i) a plurality of sensors disposed internally or externally to the aorta; and (ii) a pacing means in which the AAP stimulates the aortic media, augmenting physiological aortic elastic recoil. An AAP further comprising a processor capable of obtaining information from sensors and triggering an appropriate contraction wave in the aortic media is also introduced. A method of managing aortic rhythm comprising; (i) implanting an AAP comprising oscillatory means; and (ii) pulsating signals at a preselected frequency, so as to pace the aorta and in which the pulsating signals are provided by synchronizing and coordinating activation impulses in a portion of the aorta using electrical impulses is also taught.
US08868191B2

Disclosed are methods for regulating neurotrophin levels within a human body. The invention utilizes an implantable signal generator to deliver stimulation to neural tissue elements. Alternatively, an implantable pump may be utilized to delivery one or more drugs. The implanted device delivers treatment therapy to the neural tissue to thereby alter the level of neurotrophic factors such as BDNF expressed by the influenced neural tissue. A sensor may be used to detect various symptoms of a nervous system disorder. A microprocessor algorithm may then analyze the output from the sensor to regulate the treatment therapy delivered to the body. The invention describes a novel method to regulate the intrinsic levels of neurotrophins and may be used to treat patients with neurological and cognitive disorders.
US08868178B2

Apparatus and method for treating an arrhythmia in a patient using an electrotherapy device such as a subcutaneous pacing device. The device applies a series of electrotherapy pulses in response to the presence of the arrhythmia. Various provisions are disclosed for mitigating pain or discomfort as a result of the electrotherapy pulses.
US08868177B2

Methods and devices for the non-invasive treatment of neurodegenerative diseases through delivery of energy to target nervous tissue, particularly the vagus nerve. In certain embodiments, the devices include a magnetic stimulator having coils with toroidal windings, which are in contact with an electrically conducting medium that is adapted to conform to the contour of a target body surface of a patient. The coils induce an electric current and/or an electric field within the patient, thereby stimulating nerve fibers within the patient. The stimulation brings about reduction of neuroinflammation in patients suffering from conditions comprising Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, postoperative cognitive dysfunction and postoperative delirium.
US08868172B2

The present invention provides methods and system for managing neurological disorders such as epilepsy. In one embodiment, the method comprises measuring one or more signals from a patient and processing the one or more signals to characterize a patient's propensity for a future seizure. The characterized propensity for the seizure is thereafter used to determine an appropriate action for managing or treating the predicted seizure; and a recommendation is communicated to the patient that is indicative of the appropriate action.
US08868163B2

A method and apparatus for predicting patient outcome from a physiological segmentable signal of a patient. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of obtaining the physiological segmentable signal of the patient; segmenting the physiological segmentable signal into a plurality of separate segmentable components; calculating a time series of the morphological distance between adjacent separate segmentable components of the plurality of separate segmentable components; and predicting patient outcome in response to the time series of the morphological distance. In another aspect, the invention relates to a method for extracting information from physiological signals for one or more subjects including the steps of partitioning the physiological signal into a plurality of components, grouping the components into a plurality of information classes, assigning a unique symbol to each information class, mapping each component to the assigned symbol, and examining one or more such sequences for clinical significance.
US08868159B2

An optical imaging diagnostic apparatus including: a designating unit for designating a predetermined circumferential-direction position at the circumference of the transmitting and receiving unit on the cross-sectional image displayed; an extraction unit for extracting, within the plurality of line data used for the generation of the cross-sectional image, line data corresponding to circumferential-direction position designated in the designating unit from the storage unit; a calculation unit for calculating attenuation rate in a predetermined region in a radial direction of a body lumen with respect to the extracted line data; and a display unit for displaying the calculated attenuation rate.
US08868153B2

A method includes obtaining a plurality of magnetic resonance (MR) coil images of a subject of interest, each MR coil image being generated from one of an array of MR receiving coils; combining the plurality of coil images to generate an image estimate of the subject of interest; performing a multichannel blind deconvolution (MBD) process including: deriving coil sensitivity information for every one of the array of MR receiving coils based on the image estimate or a filtered image estimate derived from the image estimate; updating the image estimate or the filtered image estimate using the derived coil sensitivity information to generate an updated image estimate; and applying a homomorphic filter to the image estimate to derive the filtered image estimate, or to the updated image estimate to derive a filtered updated image estimate, or a combination thereof.
US08868146B2

A re-condensation device allows an NMR analysis device to be reduced in overall size and minimizes heat penetration into a liquid helium tank. An NMR analysis device provided with said re-condensation device. The re-condensation device includes: a second cooling member, part of which is inserted into a neck tube, and which re-condenses liquid helium; and a first cooling member, part of which is inserted into the neck tube. The second cooling member is thermally connected to a chiller's second cooling stage, and the first cooling member is thermally connected to the chiller's first cooling stage. The first cooling member has: a first insertion part, which has a diameter that allows insertion into the neck tube; and an inside contact part on the outer surface of the first insertion part and that cools heat seals by contacting, from the inside, a part of the neck tube that outside contact parts contact.
US08868140B2

A method and system of integrated wireless power and data transmission in a wireless device having a data communication circuit for wireless data communication and a power reception circuit including a charge storage unit. The wireless device is tuned to receive wireless RF signals in a certain frequency band via an antenna. Switching between power reception mode and data communication mode is detected. Received RF signal electrical charge is selectively distributed to the power reception circuit and/or the data communication circuit based on the switching mode and/or strength of the RF signal.
US08868135B2

Methods and devices for configuring and displaying individual display screens of a multi-display device. More particularly, the method includes determining and presenting the display orientation of each display independently of other displays. The method and device may present a portrait display orientation in one display screen while simultaneously present a landscape display orientation in another display screen. Display orientation may be based on the user's desires and/or requirements of a hosted application. Upon rotation of the multi-display device, each screen display may be configured to maintain its orientation or may be configured to allow its display orientation to change, for example from portrait to landscape orientation. The display orientation characteristics for each display screen may be selectable by the user.
US08868129B2

The present invention provides an antenna device for a dual-mode intelligent mobile phone, which comprises: a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1× Evolution-data Optimized (CDMA 20001× EV-DO) antenna (101), a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) antenna (102), a Wireless Fidelity/Bluetooth/Global Position System (WIFI/BT/GPS) antenna (103) and a WIFI/GPS dual-frequency device (104). The present invention further provides an application terminal for a dual-mode intelligent mobile phone. By using the device and the terminal provided by present invention, multiple antennas can be disposed in the narrow space of a mobile phone and the interference among the antennas can be reduced.
US08868125B2

The present invention concerns a method for determining, in a wireless cellular telecommunication network, in which condition a first base station which is in an energy saving mode has to switch in an operation mode which enables a mobile terminal to be handled by the first base station and wherein the mobile terminal is currently handled by a second base station. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining information representative of a path gain between the second base station and the mobile terminal and of a path gain between the first base station and the mobile terminal, determining, from the information representative of the path gains a power of transmission of signal transferred by the first base station which enables the mobile terminal to be handled by the first base station and by the second base station.
US08868123B2

The present disclosure sets forth multiple embodiments of the invention. Among those embodiments is a method for managing the power of an uplink signal (e.g., an LTE PUSCH or PUCCH). The method involves determining a convolution of a first function and a second function (which may be power density functions) of the uplink signal and determining the power of the uplink signal based on the convolution. The uplink signal comprises one or both of a data signal (transmitted over a PUSCH, for example) and a control signal (transmitted over a PUSCH or PUCCH, for example). The uplink signal is transmitted over one or more subcarriers (which may be carried by resource blocks, for example).
US08868120B2

Provided is an access point that may transmit information about a data receiving terminal that receives data from the access point, to a terminal, using a limited number of bits. Using an overloading scheme, information about multiple terminals may be expressed based on a limited number of bits.
US08868117B2

Provided is an access point grouping method to be performed in a high speed mobile environment and a communication system using the access point grouping method. A system capacity may be improved by grouping users having different movement speeds with respect to various channel environments classified based on existence of an LOS channel, and by performing beamforming. Channel information with respect to a user moving at a high speed may not be required, and thus overhead may be reduced.
US08868113B2

The inventive method for monitoring entities (10) moving in a monitored space represented by a first digital model (14) comprising a set of maps (16) divided into geographical zones (18) of a predetermined shape, and having a size defined according to the level of granularity, includes: identifying geographical zones (18) of each map (16), defining operational zones (24a, 24b) and associating each operational zone (24a, 24b) with a predefined level of granularity, configuration, positioning the entity (10), determining a level of granularity to be applied, determining a geographical zone (18) containing the entity (10), detecting a change of zone, and applying a new level of granularity as a function of the operational destination zone (24a, 24b). The determination steps, the detection step, and the application step are carried out within each entity (10), independently.
US08868112B2

Providing location information on a mobile device includes receiving signals from external devices. Each signal includes information that specifies a geographic location for the external device that has provided the signal. A geographic location for the mobile device is calculated by using the information contained in each of the received signals. A representation of the geographic location of the mobile device is generated. The representation of the geographic location is included within an electronic message that provides information describing a user of the mobile device to other users of an electronic communications system. The electronic message is transmitted to another device to provide an indication of the geographic location for the user to one of the other users of the electronic communications system.
US08868110B2

A wireless communication device is disclosed that is capable of performing efficient network searching. Specifically, by utilizing its location information and accessing stored cell information, the device can streamline searching. Further, if a full search is to be performed, the device receives information from multiple radio access technologies together, and processes the received information digitally in order to search the individual radio access technologies. In addition, the device is capable of performing efficient 4G searches by setting its RF module to capture information of multiple raster points simultaneously within a search band, and shifting the search band so as not to duplicatively search raster points.
US08868108B2

Server access is provided to a wireless apparatus via a wireless network. A message is received containing a service request. The service and sever capable of servicing the service request is determined. The service is requested from the server and a reply is received. The reply is formatted for communication over the wireless network and sent. Location dependent information may also be requested with a wireless apparatus including a global positioning device and a two-way wireless communication device. Such an apparatus can “know” its global location and therefore can request information dependent on that location. The apparatus receives signals from a global positioning system and calculates a location. The calculated location is included in the service request sent over the wireless network.
US08868104B2

Methods, program products, and systems for multi-tier geofence detection are disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a mobile device can be configured to perform a task when the mobile device enters a geographic region. The mobile device can monitor a current location using a multi-tier approach. A baseband subsystem can monitor a coarse location of the mobile device using various course location parameters, such as a mobile country code (MCC), a location area code (LAC), or a cell identifier (cell ID), as the mobile device moves closer to the geographic region. Upon determining that the mobile device is in a cell that intersects the geographic region, the baseband subsystem can transfer the monitoring to the application subsystem. The task can be performed when the application subsystem determines that the mobile device is currently located in the geographic region.
US08868096B2

The present invention pertains to improved communication quality of service (QoS) in cellular communication networks (10) and the like. A customer has the option to pay different fees for different tiers of service relating to voice quality and bandwidth access (S102). Higher service tiers may guarantee that a specific vocoder or bit rate is used; they may also guarantee that communication is supported by such parameters as maximum allowed dropped calls rate, maximum allowed jitter and maximum allowed latency (Table 1). Network availability may be guaranteed as per Service Level Agreements that are the part of the contract between a subscriber and a service provider. Different tiers may be associated with customers' records (208) for billing purposes. The network (200) may also afford high end cellular phones higher voice quality by comparing a given high end phone to a look up table (FIG. 6), which indicates what level of service is associated with the given phone. A calling mobile station (312) or a receiving mobile station (302) may ask the other mobile station to change to a more robust vocoder (410) or bit rate (S508) to ensure a higher quality phone call. Furthermore, the user may also opt to change the quality level before or during a call.
US08868095B2

System and methods of cellular communications network are described herein. In one system, an antenna array is described. The antenna array has a first beamforming arrangement for producing uplink beams and a second beamforming arrangement for producing downlink beams. The first and second beamforming arrangements are different from one another. The wireless communication network communicates with a mobile station by use of the uplink and downlink beamforming arrangements.
US08868088B2

The present invention provides a method for communication control between radio network controllers. The method comprises: after a serving node B belonging to a drift radio network controller controls a terminal to perform activation of an enhanced dedicated channel radio link, notifying a radio link activation information of the terminal to the drift radio network controller; and the drift radio network controller sending a radio link activation indication to a serving radio network controller according to the radio link activation information; and, after the serving node B belonging to the drift radio network controller controls the terminal to perform deactivation of the enhanced dedicated channel radio link, notifying a radio link deactivation information of the terminal to the drift radio network controller; and the drift radio network controller sending a radio link deactivation indication to the serving radio network controller according to the radio link deactivation information.
US08868080B2

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements in a UE and a RBSin a wireless communications system, enabling an efficient handover of the user equipment. The method comprises transmitting (810) a message to the serving radio base station, the message indicating the need for a handover to a cell of a target radio base station. It also comprises observing (820) an indication that a handover request transmitted by the serving radio base station is rejected by the target radio base station, and selecting (830) a recovery cell based on the observed indication when detecting a radio link failure.
US08868076B2

The present invention discloses an information method of a user access mode, and the method comprises: when attempting to hand over a User Equipment (UE) to a target hybrid home (e)NodeB cell, a network element at a network side informs a target hybrid home (e)NodeB of a current user access mode of the UE via a handover signaling, wherein the user access mode is information on whether or not the UE is a member user of the target hybrid home (e)NodeB cell. The present invention further discloses an information system of a user access mode, in which an informing unit at a network side is used for a network element at the network side to inform, when attempting to hand over a UE to a target hybrid home (e)NodeB cell, a target hybrid home (e)NodeB of a current user access mode of the UE via a handover signaling. By using the method and system of the present invention, when the network attempts to hand over a UE to a target hybrid home (e)NodeB cell, the informing of a user access mode is realized to guarantee the priority of a member user of the hybrid home (e)NodeB in access and resource allocation.
US08868072B2

There is provided a method in a first communications device operable to communicate with a second device using a network supporting first and second different communication methods. The method comprises: allowing the first device to communicate with the second device using the first communication method; registering the first device on a service platform of the network; requesting from the service platform a second device status indicator of the ability of the second device to communicate using the second communication method; receiving the second device status indicator from the service platform; and, allowing the first device to communicate with the second device using the second communication method in dependence on the received second device status indicator. The second device status indicator depends on the current network connectivity of the second device. At least one of the first and second devices is a mobile telecommunications device.
US08868064B1

A method of troubleshooting a mobile communication system comprising collecting, by a mobile communication device, data of pre-selected metrics of the mobile communication device in a queue of the mobile communication device; processing, by the mobile communication device, the data in the queue; storing, by the mobile communication device, the processed data in a memory of the mobile communication device; discarding, by the mobile communication device, a portion of previously-stored data in the memory, when the memory is full; sending, by the mobile communication device, the data from the memory to a server computer; analyzing, by the server computer, the data of the mobile communication device; and troubleshooting the mobile communication system, based on the analysis.
US08868058B2

Embodiments of the present invention include a method for configuring a femtocell. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying a cellular device within near-field communication range of the femtocell. The method identifies a carrier network associated with the cellular device and automatically configures the femtocell to operate on the carrier network associated with the cellular device.
US08868046B2

Various implementations of the disclosed technology relate to selectively filtering inbound communications. An example implementation may send filtered incoming calls directly to an alternate voicemail account based on a list of pre-approved contacts. Moreover, a user notification may not be provided at the time of receiving the incoming call. In another implementation, a response message indicating a user status may automatically be sent back to the sender of the inbound communication. In some implementations, selective filtering of inbound communications may be activated manually by a user, or automatically at a scheduled time, or responsive to a mobile device entering a threshold distance of a location. Discrete logs may be kept for each of selective filtered and allowed inbound communications.
US08868041B2

A multi-use embedded universal integrated circuit card contains more than one active MNO (mobile network operator) profile. The example card may include a time manager and a radio resource schedule for managing access to a radio within a wireless device. The time manager enables one of the active MNO profiles at a time in accordance with the radio resource schedule, effectively allocating respective time slices to applications associated with each of the active MNO profiles.
US08868033B1

Methods and systems are provided for reducing a number of unauthorized wireless communication devices (WCDs) on a femtocell. A femtocell may initially provide wireless service on a first femtocell carrier. The femtocell may subsequently receive a registration request from a WCD on the first femtocell carrier. The femtocell may then determine whether the WCD is authorized to receive wireless services from the femtocell. Responsive to making a determination that the WCD is not authorized to receive wireless services, the femtocell may switch to providing service on a second femtocell carrier different than the first.
US08868019B2

A method includes receiving an input signal carrying transmitted values by a receiver, which includes a decision device that produces estimates of the transmitted values. The input signal is filtered using a forward filter to produce a forward-filtered signal, and the estimates of the transmitted values are filtered using a backward filter to produce a backward-filtered signal. The decision device is applied to a composite signal produced from the forward-filtered and backward-filtered signals, so as to produce the estimates of the transmitted values. An accuracy of the estimates of the transmitted values is assessed, and coefficients of the forward filter are adapted depending on the assessed accuracy.
US08868013B2

A signal transmitting apparatus includes a signal distributor, a frequency converter, and a frequency synthesizer. The signal distributor is configured to baseband signals corresponding respectively to a plurality of frequency band. The frequency converter is configured to convert each of the distributed baseband signals into one of a positive frequency signal and a negative frequency signal according to the frequency band. The frequency synthesizer is configured to synthesize the positive frequency signal and the negative frequency signal to generate a transmission signal. Herein, the positive frequency signal and the negative frequency signal are signals included in one predetermined intermediate frequency band.
US08868008B2

A switch circuit with a unit capable of improving a margin voltage without using a negative bias generation circuit is provided. A switch comprising an N-type MOSFET is used for a switch passing a signal to an antenna and a switch comprising a P-type MOSFET is used for a shunt switch grounding a signal. A common control signal is input to the gate terminal of the MOSFET constituting each switch. The inverted signal of this control signal is coupled to a ground terminal of the switch, and thus the potential of the gate terminal of each MOSFET can be set to the ground voltage.
US08867994B2

Methods and apparatus for signal transmission via body conduction are disclosed herein. The assembly may be attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a removable oral appliance to form a bearing aid assembly. Such an oral appliance may be a custom-made device which can enhance and/or optimize received data and/or audio signals for vibrational conduction to the user. Data and/or audio signals may be encoded and transmitted or received along or through the user's body to an oral appliance contained within or along the user's mouth. Alternatively, information may be transmitted between various other devices over the user's body aside from an oral appliance. The encoded signals may be decoded and the auditory signals may be transmitted via vibrational conductance to the user.
US08867993B1

The present invention provides a method and system for determining a near-field communication interaction in a wireless tracking mesh network. The present invention preferably utilizes near-field communication devices in conjunction with tracking tags to transmit signals for reception by sensors stationed throughout a facility which form a mesh network and forward the signals to an information engine for analysis. Bearers of the near-field communication devices preferably include individuals, objects, assets and rooms of the facility.
US08867990B2

A near field communications (NFC) device is disclosed that detects a presence of another NFC capable device within its magnetic field. The NFC device generates an unmodulated frequency varying detection sequence to generate a frequency varying magnetic field and/or a modulated frequency invariant detection sequence to generate a carrier-frequency invariant magnetic field. The NFC device samples these magnetic fields and compares these samples to various a priori known responses of various objects to determine whether another NFC device is present within the frequency varying magnetic field and/or the carrier-frequency invariant magnetic field.
US08867985B2

Disclosed is a method for relaying data in a multi-hop cellular system, the method including receiving by a terminal from a base station a notification as to whether the terminal is decided as a candidate for a relay, deciding by the terminal whether to be a representative candidate terminal for the relay according to a channel state with the other terminals within a coverage of the base station if the terminal is decided as the candidate for the relay, sending by the terminal to the base station a notification if the terminal is decided as the representative candidate terminal, and relaying data received from the other terminals to calculate relay probability terminals to the base station if the terminal is notified from the base station as to that the terminal is finally decided as the relay.
US08867984B2

Techniques are disclosed for interference coordination in communication networks. For example, a method comprises the following steps. Input information is obtained from a communication network. The input information comprises existing power levels associated with transmitting nodes in the communication network, and existing channel information associated with receiving nodes in the communication network. A coordinated resource set of future transmitting times and future power levels associated with the transmitting nodes and future decoding times associated with the receiving nodes that reduce interference in the communication network is determined. The coordinated resource set determination comprises evaluating a cost function for a given range of interference values based on at least a portion of the input information. In a downlink scenario, the transmitting nodes may comprise base stations and relays, and the receiving nodes may comprise user equipment. The method may also be applied to an uplink scenario.
US08867983B2

A method of controlling a relay station in a cell of a multi-hop relay network in accordance with a one-way propagation delay between a base station in the cell and the relay station. A relay station in a cell of a multi-hop relay network including means for controlling the signal flow between the relay station and the various other stations in the cell in accordance with a one-way propagation delay between a base station in the cell and the relay station.
US08867968B2

A rotating cover on the developer unit of an imaging apparatus to prevent toner leaks from the toner entry port of the developer unit. When installing a toner cartridge, the cartridge contacts a surface to cause the cover to rotate to an open position, thereby exposing the toner port for receiving toner. Conversely, when the toner cartridge is removed the cover is rotated into a closed position with the aid of a torsion spring so as to seal the toner entry port of the developer unit.
US08867967B2

A development apparatus includes a developer bearing member which develops a latent image, a first room supplying developer to the developer bearing member, and a second room connecting to the first room via opening portions formed at both ends of the first room, with the first room and the second room forming a circulation passage circulating the developer. In addition, a partition wall partitions the first room and the second room, a replenishment passage connects outside of the circulation passage and replenishes the developer, and a discharge port discharges surplus developer from the development container. A replenishing screw is arranged in the replenishment passage and conveys developer in a replenishing port toward the circulation passage, and a ventilation port is formed at a replenishing port side outside of the circulation passage of the first room or the second room or inside of the replenishment passage.
US08867963B2

The belt driving mechanism of the present invention includes: a driving pulley; a driven pulley; a looped transmission belt extended over the driving pulley and the driven pulley; a first holding member that bearing-supports and holds the driving pulley; a second holding member that bearing-supports and holds the driven pulley, and is combined with the first holding member; and a biasing member that biases the first holding member and the second holding member to be separated, in a state in which the first holding member and the second holding member are combined.
US08867935B2

A power control device includes a power control unit, a power switch, a timer unit, a power supply switch, and a connection instruction unit. The power control unit is driven by power supplied from a power source. The power switch outputs a detection signal to the power control unit. The timer unit outputs a switch-on signal for giving an instruction to turn on the switch. The power supply switch switches between connection and non-connection of the power source and a load. The connection instruction unit outputs a connection instruction signal for connecting the power source to the load. The power control unit outputs a stop signal for stopping the output of the switch-on signal to the timer unit before a time point at which the predetermined time elapses when the power is supplied from the power source. The power control unit outputs the switch-on signal to the connection instruction unit.
US08867933B2

A method for providing a page countdown for a replaceable toner cartridge according to one embodiment includes, upon detecting a toner cartridge that is out of usable toner, determining a number of pages remaining for a page countdown associated with the toner cartridge. Whether a toner sump of an imaging unit positioned to receive toner from the toner cartridge contains sufficient toner to print the number of pages remaining is also determined. If the toner sump of the imaging unit contains sufficient toner, the page countdown continues from the number of pages remaining. If the toner sump of the imaging unit does not contain sufficient toner, the number of pages remaining for the page countdown is reset based on the amount of toner available in the toner sump of the imaging unit and the page countdown continues from the reset number of pages remaining.
US08867928B2

Linearized optical transmitter units are described for a hybrid optical fiber coaxial cable network. The linearized optical transmitter unit can comprise a directly-modulated or externally-modulated laser optically coupled to an optical conduit directed to an optical fiber communications link and electrically coupled to an electrical RF source line that provides an RF source to drive the laser or an external modulator for a light beam from the laser. A linearization information electrical component comprising memory and/or a processor, and a data output configured to transmit linearization enabling data for input into a direct digital synthesis engine that enables the direct digital synthesis engine to generate an RF signal wherein nonlinear responses of the transmitter and/or the optical fiber communications link are pre-compensated, in which the data is specific for the optical transmitter and/or the optical fiber communications link. An electronic communication channel can connected to the data output of the electrical component to communicate the linearization enabling data external to the linearized optical transmitter unit suitable for communication to the direct digital synthesis engine. The linearized optical transmitter can be assembled in a plug-in module. Corresponding HFC systems and methods are also described.
US08867921B2

Techniques, apparatus and systems to provide carrier signal transmission in reciprocal transmission architecture networks for optical communications.
US08867918B2

A remote controller includes: an operation unit including plural operation keys; a radio communication unit that performs bidirectional communication with a controlled apparatus; an infrared communication unit that performs unidirectional communication with the controlled apparatus; and a control unit that is input with an operation signal from the operation unit and controls the radio communication unit and the infrared communication unit, wherein the control unit includes a measuring unit that measures power supply voltage, and the control unit controls the radio communication unit to transmit a control signal to the controlled apparatus when the power supply voltage is equal to or higher than a predetermined value and controls the infrared communication unit to transmit the control signal to the controlled apparatus when the power supply voltage is lower than the predetermined value.
US08867916B2

In order to achieve a higher spectral efficiency of OFDM sub-bands, optical signals using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing are transmitted through an optical network in the form of a continuous waveband optical signal. An optical add/drop multiplexer (1) splits the continuous waveband optical signal into an express path and a drop path. A band pass filter (4) is provided in the drop path to extract a sub-band carrying at least one of said OFDM modulated optical signals (DROP). The band pass filter (4) has a filter bandwidth that covers the sub-band to be extracted. A band-stop filter (3) is provided in the express path to remove the sub-band to be extracted from the continuous waveband optical signal (IN). The band stop filter (3) has a filter bandwidth which is narrower than the band pass filter (4). An OFDM modulated optical add signal (ADD) can be added into the wavelength gap created through the band stop filter (3). The sub-band carrying the optical add signal (ADD) occupies a wavelength range which is completely covered by the filter bandwidth of the band-stop filter (3). The difference between the filter bandwidths of the band pass filter (4) and the band stop filter (3) corresponds preferably to the slope of the filter edges of the filters (3, 4).
US08867914B2

A method of operating a production optical amplifier comprises determining a training data set of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) values of a training optical amplifier over a plurality of training operating conditions, determining a production data set of ASE values of the production optical amplifier over a plurality of production operating conditions, the plurality of production operating conditions corresponding to a sub-set of the plurality of training operating conditions, determining an adjusted data set of adjusted ASE values produced by extrapolation from the production data set so that the adjusted data set is provided over a plurality of operating conditions corresponding to the plurality of training operating conditions, determining, for each of a plurality of operating conditions, a dynamic ASE tilt factor from the training data set and the adjusted ASE data set so determined, determining a larger data set of ASE values over a wider set of operating conditions than either the training data set or the production data set from the adjusted ASE dataset and the dynamic ASE tilt factor, and compensating the optical output power of the production optical amplifier in correspondence with the larger ASE data set generated from the production data set and the dynamic ASE tilt factor over the plurality of operating conditions, which is preferably a larger set of operating conditions than that of the training data set or production data set. Advantageously a compensating ASE value can be more quickly and cheaply determined by this method compared to those shown in the prior art.
US08867912B2

Optical service channel (OSC) systems and methods over high loss links are described utilizing redundant telemetry channels. A first telemetry channel provides a low bandwidth communication channel used when Raman amplification is unavailable on a high loss link for supporting a subset of operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P) communication. A second telemetry channel provides a high bandwidth communication channel for when Raman amplification is available to support full OAM&P communication. The first and second telemetry operate cooperatively ensuring nodal OAM&P communication over high loss links (e.g., 50 dB) regardless of operational status of Raman amplification.
US08867911B2

A device able to evaluate a phase difference between I-component and Q-component of signal light generated by an optical hybrid is disclosed. The device includes a detector, a compensator and an evaluator. The detector detects positive and negative elements of each of the I-component and the Q-component. The compensator generates a compensated I-component and a compensated Q-component so as to keep the sum of positive and negative elements of each of components in constant. The evaluator determines the phase difference via an ellipsoid drawn by the compensated I- and Q-components.
US08867876B2

An optical fiber splitter has a higher density fiber optic array that allows for smaller packaging. The optical fibers that extend from the optical fiber splitter have one end connectorized and their spacing at the other end reduced, thereby eliminating components that were heretofore required. A method of making the fiber optic array includes interleaving the optical fibers to reduce the overall dimensions of the fiber optic array and the fiber optic splitter. A tool is used to reduce the spacing of the optical fibers in the fiber optic array.
US08867874B2

Method for modifying the splitting or combining ratio of a first multimode interference (MMI) coupler (100), which first coupler is arranged to convey light from one or several input waveguides to one or several output waveguides, wherein a film (103a) of a material is arranged over the first coupler, wherein the film is strained so that a force is applied by the film to the surface of the first coupler, and so that the refractive index profile in the material of the first coupler changes as a consequence of the force, and wherein the splitting or combining ratio is modified as a consequence of the changed refractive index profile.
US08867869B2

The present disclosure relates to an optical module comprising a carrier substrate including first electrical connection terminals on a first surface and second electrical connection terminals on a second surface electrically connected to the first electrical connection terminals. The second electrical connection terminals are connectable to a circuit carrier. The optical module further comprises an optically transparent carrier including first electrical connection terminals, and an optical element electrically connected to the optically transparent carrier. The optically transparent carrier is mechanically attached and electrically connected to the carrier substrate trough corresponding first electrical connection terminals, and the optical element is connected on a first surface of the optically transparent carrier and is adapted to emit/receive light through the optically transparent carrier to/from an optical coupling element facing a second surface of the optically transparent carrier opposing the first surface.
US08867862B1

A method of selecting an optimal window length in a digital processing system includes receiving a digital signal and analyzing the signal with a group of Hanning windows having different sizes. The windows being arranged so that they can be scaled to be comparable. The digital signal is windowed with each selected window and a transform is computed. The transformed signal is scaled and corrected. A metric is computed from the resulting signal for each window. The metrics are compared and the window size is selected based on agreement with a user defined metric. The specific window function, shift and scaling are such that the resulting analysis is mathematically equivalent across different window sizes.
US08867857B2

A method for restoring an image of a blurred barcode includes capturing the image, restoring the image by selecting one Optical Transfer Function (OTF) in a database and performing deconvolution on the image, decoding the barcode in the restored image to return numbers represented by the barcode, and displaying the returned numbers.
US08867848B2

A display test apparatus includes a determination information storage unit that stores a determination information for use in determining correctness of content displaying, a file acquisition unit that acquires a file, a content image creation unit that creates an image of content to be displayed on the basis of the file, a content image analysis unit that analyzes a displaying of the content on the basis of the image of content, a determination unit that determines whether the content is correctly displayed on the basis of the determination information and a result of the analysis by the content image analysis unit, and an output unit that outputs a determination result information indicating a result of the determination by the determination unit.
US08867844B2

A method for image processing includes determining edge pixels of a model image and determining features for the edge pixels of the model image. The image processing includes determining edge pixels of an input image and determining features for the edge pixels of the input image. The system matches the features of the model image with the features of the input image to determine candidate locations of an object within the input image.
US08867838B2

A method for processing an electronic document is provided. The electronic document includes a plurality of text fields and a text label associated with each of the plurality of text fields. The method includes step of extracting the plurality of text fields from the electronic document. The method includes step of grouping the plurality of extracted text fields to generate a plurality of groups. The method includes step of labeling the plurality of groups based on a first pre-defined criteria to generate a plurality of labeled groups. The method includes step of distributing the plurality of labeled groups in a plurality of queues based on a second pre-defined criteria. The method includes step of transmitting the plurality of labeled groups from the plurality of queues to one or more crowdworkers based on a third pre-defined criteria.
US08867837B2

A system and method of detecting separator lines in a web page may include determining coordinates of visible web elements on a web page, generating an edge image of the web page based on the coordinates of the web elements, filtering edges belonging to non-separator line elements within the edge image, detecting horizontal lines within the edge image, detecting vertical lines within the edge image, and filtering short lines within the edge image. A system for detecting separator lines in a web page may include a memory device, and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, in which the processor determines coordinates of visible web elements on a web page, generates an edge image of the web page based on the coordinates of the web elements, filters edges belonging to non-separator line elements within the edge image, detects horizontal lines within the edge image, detects vertical lines within the edge image, and filters short lines within the edge image.
US08867832B2

A method for detecting and removing scrolling texts comprising a step of using an adaptive transient difference processing of video communication to conduct frame calculation, wherein the adaptive transient difference processing takes first N frames fjkt−N and a current frame fjkt, and subtracts them to obtain a frame difference; and if the frame difference is greater than a threshold value, it is determined that the current frame fjkt has scrolling texts; and interpolates the first N frames before the current position of the scrolling texts to replace the current frame fjkt to achieve the goal of hiding the scrolling texts during video communication to enhance the viewing effect.
US08867824B2

An image processing apparatus includes a depth control signal generation unit generating a depth control signal controlling emphasis of the feel of each region of an input image based on the depth position of a subject in each region of the input image; a face skin region control signal generation unit generating a face skin region control signal controlling emphasis of the feel of each region in the input image based on the human face skin region in the input image; a person region control signal generation unit generating a person region control signal controlling emphasis of the feel of each region in the input image based on the region of the person in the input image; and a control signal synthesis unit synthesizing the depth control signal, the face skin region control signal, and the person region control signal to generate a control signal.
US08867818B2

Disclosed is a method wherein a template for template matching is created with high accuracy and high efficiency. With respect to each individual pattern constituting a basic circuit, pattern information regarding a plurality of layers in a semiconductor device is stored in a library. On the basis of the designation of the position and the layer, pattern information regarding the designated position and layer is extracted from the pattern information stored in the library. A template is created on the basis of the extracted pattern information.
US08867800B2

Taking a digital implant or abutment level digital impression by means of intra-oral, computed tomography or other imaging method provides the restorative doctor and laboratory accurate and effective data for determining the implant position, angulation and locking feature orientation without a physical impression. Such data is correlated with a digital library to produce an output which enables design and fabrication of an accurate restorative device such as a prosthetic tooth or crown. In this way the time-consuming, costly and error prone mechanical replication of the relevant dental anatomy is obviated.
US08867798B2

Digital image data including discrete photographic images of a variety of different subjects, times, and so forth, are collected and analyzed to identify specific features in the photographs. In an embodiment of the invention, distinctive markers are distributed to aid in the identification of particular subject matter. Facial recognition may also be employed. The digital image data is maintained in a database and quarried in response to search requests. The search requests include criteria specifying any feature category or other identifying information, such as date, time, and location that each photograph was taken, associated with each photograph. Candidate images are provided for review by requesters, who may select desired images for purchase or downloading.
US08867792B2

There are provided an environment recognition device and an environment recognition method. the environment recognition device retains beforehand shape information that is information on a shape of a specific object; obtains a luminance of each of target portions, formed by dividing a detection area, and extracting a target portion including an edge; obtains a relative distance of the target portion including an edge; and determines a specific object indicated with the shape information by performing a Hough transform on the target portion having the edge based on the shape information according to the relative distance.
US08867784B2

Disclosed are an apparatus for detecting a vertex of an image and a method for the same detecting the vertex with the high degree of accuracy and reducing time to detect the vertex by minimizing the interaction operations of the user to detect the vertex even in a touch input part having the low degree of sensing precision. The method includes inputting a vertex position of an image, setting an ROI, detecting a plurality of edges, detecting a candidate straight line group based on the edges, and removing a candidate straight line forming forms an angle less than a critical angle with respect to a base candidate straight line set from the candidate straight line group, and determining an intersection point between a remaining candidate straight line and the base candidate straight line provided at a position making a minimum distance from the input vertex position as an optimal vertex.
US08867779B2

A global tag for an image is received identifies one or more objects in the image, and a region-specific tag for the image identifies one or more objects in a region of the image. The global tag and the region-specific tag are stored with the image. Displayed, along with the image, is an identifier for each of the one or more objects identified in the global tag, and an identifier for each of the one or more objects identified in the region-specific tag. Different users are able to maintain different names for the same person, allowing the same tag of the image to be used as the basis for displaying the image with different names for the different users. Additionally, the tags can be used as a basis for generating a credits list of people that are included in a compilation of images.
US08867759B2

Systems and methods for utilizing inter-microphone level differences to attenuate noise and enhance speech are provided. In exemplary embodiments, energy estimates of acoustic signals received by a primary microphone and a secondary microphone are determined in order to determine an inter-microphone level difference (ILD). This ILD in combination with a noise estimate based only on a primary microphone acoustic signal allow a filter estimate to be derived. In some embodiments, the derived filter estimate may be smoothed. The filter estimate is then applied to the acoustic signal from the primary microphone to generate a speech estimate.
US08867749B2

A method and system for producing an acoustic spatial projection by creating audio channels for producing an acoustic field by mixing, on a reflective surface, sounds associated with the audio channels is provided. In one embodiment, a method includes the step of using audio information to determining a set of audio channels. Each audio channel is associated with a sound source, such as one or more loudspeakers, and for a subset of the audio channels, the associated sound sources emit sound waves directed at a reflective surface prior to being received at a listening location. The method further includes steps of determining an acoustic response of a listening environment; steps of determining a delay to apply to one or more channels of the set of audio channels; and steps of determining a frequency compensation to apply to one or more channels of the audio channels.
US08867747B2

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with key generation for networks are described. One example method includes configuring a key server with a pseudo-random function (PRF). The key server may provide keying material to gateways. The method may also include controlling the key server to generate a cryptography data structure (e.g., D-matrix) based, at least in part, on the PRF and a seed value. The method may also include controlling the key server to selectively distribute a portion of the cryptography data structure and/or data derived from the cryptography data structure to a gateway. The gateway may then encrypt communications based, at least in part, on the portion of the cryptography data structure. The method may also include selectively distributing an epoch value to members of the set of gateways that may then decrypt an encrypted communication based, at least in part, on the epoch value.
US08867746B2

A method for protecting a control device against manipulation in which a number of set of keys for decoding cryptographic functions is provided, a key switch being additionally provided, via which the cryptographic functions access sets of keys.
US08867745B2

Efficient transmission of cryptographic information in secure real time protocol. A transmitting terminal may be used to encrypt data with a session key derived from a bit-stream. The bit-stream may be sent with header information to the receiving terminal. To conserve bandwidth, the information may be divided into portions, and each portion transmitted with an encrypted data packet. The receiving terminal may be used to recover the bit-stream from the information portions in the packet headers, and use the bit-stream to derive the session key. The session key may be used to decrypt the data.
US08867743B1

Information is encrypted using randomly generated information, a multiple step process, and additional secured logic. Upon receiving a credit card authorization request with a credit card number (or other sensitive or valuable information), the present technology may randomly select an encryption key from a set of encryption keys. A randomly generated encryption index may then be generated. The credit card number may then be encrypted using the encryption key a number of times as indicated by the randomly generated index. A cryptographic salting key may be selected from a set of cryptographic salting keys and salting modification logic may be accessed. The selected salting key may then be applied to the encrypted credit card number. After the salting, the salting modification logic may be applied to the salted encryption string.
US08867738B2

A method and a corresponding device for reducing enhanced noise generated as a result of applying vectoring to signals transmitted and subsequently received over a plurality of copper telephone loops involve receiving a set of intermediate values, which correspond to estimates of the transmitted signals. The intermediate values are generated by applying a vectoring procedure to initial samples of the received signals. The intermediate values are demodulated. At least one demodulated value is selected as a final estimate of a corresponding transmitted signal. The initial samples are then refined by removing each initial sample that has a corresponding selected demodulated value. The vectoring procedure, the demodulating, the selecting, and the refining are each repeated using the refined samples in place of the initial samples to generate new intermediate values that have reduced noise.
US08867737B2

A method line powering a remote access device or telephone from a centralized location that includes abstraction of the ancillary signaling functions to that central location. A method of receiving a request for a telephone call includes receiving a digital telephony packet and determining a ring signal in response to the received digital telephony packet. The method also includes generating a voltage signal in response to the determined ring signal and communicating the voltage signal over a twisted pair connection to a digital telephone. The communicated voltage signal is operable to power the digital telephone and generate a ring signal at the digital telephone. The digital telephone is operable to generate digital telephony packets representative of voice data.
US08867730B2

A trend is identified by examining multiple communications in a contact center. For example, a trend can be a specific issue or problem related to a product. A communication related to the trend is identified. Based on identification of the trend, a process for routing the communications in the contact center is altered.In one embodiment, different menus/items in an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system are changed based on the identified trend. In other embodiments, communications related to the trend are identified and moved to different queues or held in queues until there is a valid response. The identified communications can be responded to automatically, by specific agents, by group mailings, and the like. In addition, prior communications that relate to the trend are identified. This allows additional responses to be sent or processes to be altered in order to provide the customer with a better quality of service.
US08867725B2

A system and method for providing custom alerts including a processor configured to retrieve a custom alert from a custom alert provider, a receiver configured to receive, from a user, a request to initiate communication with a communications agent, and a transmitter configured to transmit one or more signals over a network to communicate with the communications agent, wherein transmitting the one or more signals includes transmitting the custom alert for output at the communication agent.
US08867720B2

A method for controlling access by of communication devices to a conference call, the method comprising associating proximity settings with a conference call, the proximity settings indicating a acceptable proximity of other communication devices relative to a selected communication device; sensing by the selected communication device proximity of the other devices within its proximity of the communication device to obtain proximity information; and determining, by a processor, from the obtained proximity information and the proximity settings an action to be performed with reference to the conference call.
US08867715B2

A method and a system for the management of telecommunication services provided by an operator to users (4) and (6) of telecommunication services, the method comprising: assigning a subscriber network identifier (IS) to each subscribed user (6); monitoring inbound communications toward the subscriber network identifiers (IS) assigned to subscribed users; creating, by virtue of means (8) for creating and managing virtual accounts, a virtual account (CV) registered to each network identifier originating communications (IC); informing, by virtue of information means (14), at least the user (4) or (6) of telecommunication services who originates the communication toward the subscriber network identifier (IS) and/or the registrant of the network identifier originating communications (IC) of the existence and/or balance of the virtual account (CV). The telecommunication service management system comprises means for implementing the method.
US08867698B2

A counting circuit includes: a clock division unit configured to divide a reference clock signal at a preset division ratio and generate a divided clock signal, a counting unit configured to count the divided clock signal, and a counting control unit configured to enable the counting unit during an enable period corresponding to the division ratio.
US08867693B2

A grid (13) for supporting nuclear fuel pencils (3) for a nuclear fuel assembly (1) comprising a peripheral belt (17), the peripheral belt (17) comprising on at least one of its edges (35, 37) guide fins (33) is disclosed. The edge (35, 37) of the peripheral belt (17) has between the adjacent guide fins (33) recesses (39) towards the inside of the grid (13). The invention is applicable, for example, to pressurized water reactors.
US08867688B2

[Problem] To facilitate mounting of a nozzle.[Solving Means] In a nozzle mounting structure for mounting a nozzle 20 penetrating through a reactor vessel 10 having a hemispherical concave inner surface, the nozzle mounting structure includes a removed concave portion 17 in which a base material 12 on an inner surface side of the reactor vessel 10 is removed in a symmetrical shape around a normal line N on the hemispherical concave inner surface of the reactor vessel 10, a flange 25 provided on the nozzle 20, formed in a same symmetrical shape as that of the removed concave portion 17 around the normal line N, and inserted into the removed concave portion 17, and a weld part 18 provided around the normal line N for welding the flange 25 to the reactor vessel 10.
US08867682B2

Digital logic receives a gapped and jittery clock signal with specified frequency and frequency offset allowed by specification and a reference clock signal with same specified frequency and different frequency offset allowed by specification having low jitter. The digital logic adds and/or removes cycles from the reference clock signal over an extended period of time to produce a produced clock signal with low jitter that has a frequency that approaches the frequency of the gapped and jittery clock signal. The produced clock signal being provided as feedback to the digital frequency comparator and also acts as final dejitter smooth clock output with 50% duty cycle.
US08867681B2

A transmission system which couples a plurality of transmission devices to a control device includes a first transmission device which is one of the plurality of transmission devices; a first calculation circuit which calculates a first difference value indicating a frequency difference value between a common clock supplied from the control device and a first clock as a clock used in the first transmission device; and a transmitter which reports the first difference value to a second transmission device other than the first transmission device, wherein the second transmission device comprises: a second calculation circuit which calculates a second difference value indicating a frequency difference value between the common clock and a second clock used in the second transmission device, and a frequency controller which controls an oscillator generating the second clock so that the second difference value approaches the first difference value reported from the first transmission device.
US08867680B2

A clock domain separation device and a method for operating the device is provided for separating two clock domains of a bus system in a system-on-chip (SoC). The clock domain separation device is a hardware module that acts as a guarding between the two clock domains that contain either bus end, and is generally applicable with handshake-type bus protocols. The clock domain separation module allows for each clock domain to switch its clock on and off independently from the state of the other clock domains, without risking data loss or protocol violation.
US08867674B2

A receiver for a multi-channel communication system can include a down-converter device, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a plurality of digital channel selection devices. The down-converter device can be configured to down-convert a plurality of analog signals from the multi-channel communication system to a plurality of corresponding low intermediate frequency (IF) signals. The ADC can be configured to convert the plurality of corresponding low-IF signals to a plurality of digital signals. Further, each digital channel selection device from the plurality of digital channel selection devices can be configured to select a digital signal corresponding to a channel of interest from the plurality of digital signals for further processing.
US08867670B2

A method of generating a reliability indicator for decoding an encoded signal transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver via a wireless channel subject to fading. The method comprises: receiving symbols of the encoded signal; generating a reliability indicator for decoding at least some of the symbols selectively based on one or both of a statistical model representing additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) in the encoded signal and a statistical model representing fading of the encoded signal; and selecting the statistical model based on signal characteristics of the wireless channel.
US08867664B2

Allocation of multiple training sequences transmitted in a MIMO timeslot from multiple transmit antenna elements is provided. For example, a method of generating signals in a MIMO timeslot, the method comprising: selecting a first training sequence; preparing a first data payload; generating a first signal including the prepared first data payload and the first training sequence; transmitting the first signal in a MIMO timeslot from a first antenna of a network element; selecting a second training sequence, wherein the second training sequence is different from first training sequence; preparing a second data payload; generating a second signal including the prepared second data payload and the second training sequence; and transmitting the second signal in the MIMO timeslot from a second antenna of the network element.
US08867663B2

An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal transmission apparatus which transmits OFDM signals by using a plurality of transmission antennas includes a subcarrier setting device which sets signals for subcarriers so as to use some of the subcarriers of the OFDM signals as pilot subcarriers to transmit pilot signals and use the remaining subcarriers as data subcarriers to transmit data signals, the subcarrier setting device changing polarities of signals for the pilot subcarriers for each transmission antenna.
US08867658B2

A multicarrier signal transmitting apparatus includes a rotation amount setting unit and a phase rotator. The rotation amount setting unit sets a phase rotation amount for each subcarrier of a plurality of subcarrier groups, where the phase rotation amount being set with a setting selected from a first setting being that the phase rotation amount is set for a first subcarrier group set which includes a plurality of continuous subcarrier groups and a second setting being that the phase rotation amount is set for a second subcarrier group set which includes a plurality of continuous subcarrier groups, where the number of the continuous subcarrier groups included in the first subcarrier group set is different from the number of the continuous subcarrier groups included in the second subcarrier group set. The phase rotator adds, based on the phase rotation amount, a phase rotation to reference signals and a data signal of each subcarrier of the plurality of subcarrier groups.
US08867656B2

When a determination is made that communication by an SM scheme is suitable, a setting unit performs switching from a communication level by an STC scheme to the communication level by the SM scheme, between the communication level at a first level of MCS by the space-time coding scheme and the communication level at a second level of MCS by the SM scheme. When a determination is made that communication by the SM scheme is unsuitable, the setting unit performs switching from the communication level by the STC scheme to the communication level by the spatial multiplexing scheme, between the communication level at a third level of MCS, which is higher than the first level, by the space-time coding scheme and a fourth level of the modulation scheme and the coding rate, which is higher than the second level, by the SM scheme.
US08867653B2

In a method for generating a physical layer (PHY) data unit for transmission via a communication channel, a first preamble portion and a data portion of the data unit is generated. The first preamble portion includes one or more long training fields. The first preamble portion and the data portion are modulated using a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. Symbol duration of each OFDM symbol is at least 8 μs. The data unit is generated to include the plurality of OFDM symbols.
US08867646B2

A communication system control method, a communication system control apparatus and an apparatus for use in a communication system are provided. The communication system control apparatus includes an information collection unit to collect user set information about candidate user sets grouped by a plurality of base stations, and a scheduler to select target user sets corresponding to the plurality of base stations from among the candidate user sets based on an achievable sum data transmission rate of the plurality of base stations, and perform scheduling with respect to users included in the target user sets, the achievable sum data transmission rate being calculated based on the user set information.
US08867641B2

A concatenated transmission system according to the embodiment generates OFDM signals, from unit transmission waves of broadcast transport streams for a plurality of systems, concatenates the OFDM signals for the respective systems. To generate OFDM signals, the system arranges pilot signals, each having a specific phase, at prescribed positions in the frames, respectively. The system displaces the OFDM signals so that the pilot signal for any unit transmission wave may be identical in position and phase to the pilot signals for the two adjacent unit transmission waves having lower and higher frequencies, respectively.
US08867636B2

A method is provided for synchronization in a communication system. A receiver receives and processes a signal with a centrally symmetric part s(k) exploitable for synchronization. The signal is based on a uniquely identifiable sequence c(l) from a set of sequences exploitable for information transmission. The centrally symmetric part s(k) is centrally symmetric in the shape of absolute value thereof. The centrally symmetric part s(k) is of arbitrary length N, and the sequence c(l) is a Zadoff-Chu sequence.
US08867630B2

An agile switched-load transmitter for a communications system for a power distribution network comprises a resonant transponder (T1) with a variable primary frequency. The transmitter significantly increases the bandwidth for communications, significantly lessens the effect of bandwidth noise, and greatly improves both the quality of communications and data throughput. Switches (S1, S2) selectively connect the transponder to the communications systems and control current flow through a resonant circuit of the unit, particularly the timing between charging and discharging of a capacitive component thereof. This allows the frequency of operation of the transmitter to be controlled so an inbound signal has a frequency within a range of selected frequencies, rather than a fixed frequency, and enables the transponder to deliver an output signal of relatively high power that propagates through the power distribution network with relatively little loss in signal strength.
US08867618B2

There are provided scalable video encoders, scalable video decoders, and corresponding scalable video encoding and decoding methods. A scalable video encoder includes an encoder for encoding a block in an enhancement layer of a picture by using a motion vector that corresponds to a block in a lower layer of the picture as a motion vector predictor for the block in the enhancement layer, and using a weighting parameter that was applied to a particular lower layer reference picture to encode the block in the lower layer for motion compensation of the block in the enhancement layer. The block in the enhancement layer corresponds to the block in the lower layer.
US08867615B1

Devices, systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with encoding image data are described. In one embodiment, a method includes determining, using at least hardware, a first cost based on a first prediction mode of a macroblock of image data and determining a second cost based on a second prediction mode of the macro-block. Upon determining the first cost is less than the second cost, the method determines a third cost based on a third prediction mode of the macro-block. Upon determining the third cost is less than the first cost, the method determines a fourth cost based on a fourth prediction mode of the macro-block. Upon determining the third cost is less than or equal to the fourth cost, the method assigns the third prediction mode to the macro-block.
US08867614B2

According to an embodiment, an image coding method includes a transforming and quantizing step of orthogonally transforming and quantizing each of a plurality of blocks as a unit within a target region of an input image to obtain coefficients; and a variable-length coding step of coding a plurality of coefficient strings each having coefficients of same frequency component among the blocks within the target region by using a plurality of variable length coding schemes: The variable-length coding step includes switching among the variable-length coding schemes for each coefficient string.
US08867613B2

A method and apparatus for controlling the rate of compression in video/image compression environments is provided. The method includes determining a scaling factor that results in a compressed file size as close to a target file size as possible. In determining the scaling factor, tolerance limits of the current file size as compared with a predetermined tolerance is made, and when the tolerance is not met, the current scaling factor is interpolated to generate a new scaling factor, and consideration of a ratio of file sizes is made to determine if a new downsampling factor is needed for the interpolated scaling factor.
US08867612B2

There is disclosed a decoding method for decoding an incoming bitstream entropy-encoded according to an encoding method based on either of arithmetic encoding algorithm and non-arithmetic encoding algorithm, the incoming bitstream including syntax elements. The decoding method includes a first converting step of converting the incoming bitstream into an intermediate bitstream according to the encoding method, the first converting being capable of being omitted, a buffering step of selecting, according to the encoding method, either the intermediate bitstream or the incoming bitstream to store the selected bitstream onto a memory, and a second converting step of reading the selected bitstream from the memory to convert the read bitstream into syntax elements, the read bitstream being either the intermediate bitstream or the incoming bitstream.
US08867610B2

Data compression and decompression methods for compressing and decompressing data based on an actual or expected throughput (bandwidth) of a system. In one embodiment, a controller tracks and monitors the throughput (data storage and retrieval) of a data compression system and generates control signals to enable/disable different compression algorithms when, e.g., a bottleneck occurs so as to increase the throughput and eliminate the bottleneck.
US08867603B1

A configurable analog equalizer is set to a first high-pass frequency response that is intentionally too moderate to compensate for a low-pass frequency response of a physical link coupling a transmitter and a receiver. A Feed Forward Equalizer (FFE) is activated at the receiver; the FFE includes a set of coefficients having a minimum configuration of a cursor coefficient and a first pre-cursor coefficient. A Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) is activated at the receiver; the DFE includes a set of coefficients having a minimum configuration of a first post-cursor coefficient. The configurable analog equalizer is then set to a high-pass frequency response that is more intense than the first high-pass frequency response, until the first post-cursor coefficient of the DFE substantially equals an absolute value of a quotient obtained by dividing the first pre-cursor coefficient of the FFE by the cursor coefficient of the FFE.
US08867601B2

A receiver is provided that can receive a first signal transmitted on a first carrier and a second signal transmitted on a second carrier. The receiver includes a channel estimation portion, a multicarrier nonlinear equalizer, a first log likelihood computing portion and a second log likelihood computing portion. The channel estimation portion can output a first estimation. The multicarrier nonlinear equalizer can output a first equalized signal and a second equalized signal. The first log likelihood ratio computing portion can output a first log likelihood ratio signal based on the first equalized signal. The second log likelihood ratio computing portion can output a second log likelihood ratio signal based on the second equalized signal. The multicarrier nonlinear equalizer can further output a third equalized signal and a fourth equalized signal. The third equalized signal is based on the first signal, the second signal and the first estimation. The fourth equalized signal is based on the first signal, the second signal and the first estimation.
US08867596B2

A method and apparatus of calibrating I/Q mismatch of a communication circuit is disclosed. The disclosure employs I/Q test signals respectively including different frequency components to calibrate the frequency-dependent I/Q mismatch existing in the communication system.
US08867590B2

Disclosed are a control method and a control device for implementing two-way communication in a wireless network. A repeater can measure a channel matrix, which indicates channel information of each of a plurality of nodes based on signals received simultaneously from the plurality of the nodes, and calculate a first basic lattice size, which initializes the lattice sizes of the received signals according to predefined rules. Then, the repeater uses the channel matrix of each of the nodes and the initialized first lattice size to calculate for each of the nodes a first normalization factor, which normalizes the sizes of the signals simultaneously received from each of the nodes, and a minimum normalized factor, which is equivalent to the minimum value of the first normalization factor. And then, the repeater calculates a second lattice size for each of the nodes using the first normalization factor, the minimum normalization factor, and the initialized first lattice size, which have been calculated for each of the nodes. Then, the repeater calculates a second normalization factor using the second lattice size and the channel matrix of each of the nodes. And then, the repeater transmits the new calculated lattice size and the normalization factor to each of the nodes.
US08867589B2

An approach is provided for performing control signaling. Data and control information are received. The control information is orthogonalized using block-level spreading. The data and the orthogonalized control information are multiplexed at a symbol-level.
US08867588B2

An aspect of the invention is directed to a method for maintaining the synchronization of a receiver with a chirp signal sent over a link from a transmitter. The chirp signal comprises at least a first chirp having a gradient greater than one. The transmitter may encode data on to the signal by varying the properties of the chirps it transmits. The receiver correlates the received first chirp with an expected reference chirp to produce a set of correlation results. Should the gradient of the received chirp match the gradient of the expected reference chirp, then a distinct large “prompt” peak will be present having a greater magnitude than any other correlation peaks present in the correlation results. Transmitted data symbols may be inferred from properties of this prompt peak, for example its position in samples in the correlation results.
US08867580B2

Described herein is a tunable optical filter (1). The filter includes a phase manipulation layer in the form of a liquid crystal material (3) and a diffractive layer in the form of a diffraction grating (5) sandwiched between an upper glass layer (7) and lower silicon layer (9). Grating (5) includes a grating structure (11) etched therein for angularly diffracting an input optical signal into a plurality of constituent wavelength components according to wavelength. Material (3) includes a two-dimensional array of independently addressable pixels (13), each pixel configured for receiving a drive signal and, in response to the drive signal, selectively modifying the phase of the wavelength components incident onto each pixel to directionally steer the components along respective angularly separated paths. By suitable steering of the wavelength components, at least one wavelength component is coupled along a predetermined collection path to an optical system such as a laser cavity.
US08867578B2

A cable television transmitter includes a substrate including a silicon material, control electronics disposed in the substrate, and a gain medium coupled to the substrate. The gain medium includes a compound semiconductor material. The cable television transmitter also includes an optical modulator optically coupled to the gain medium and electrically coupled to the control electronics, a waveguide disposed in the substrate and optically coupled to the gain medium, a first wavelength selective element characterized by a first reflectance spectrum and disposed in the substrate, and a second wavelength selective element characterized by a second reflectance spectrum and disposed in the substrate. The cable television transmitter further includes an optical coupler disposed in the substrate and joining the first wavelength selective element, the second wavelength selective element, and the waveguide and an output mirror.
US08867574B2

Methods and apparatus for transmitting and receiving frames with various Very High Throughput Signal B (VHT-SIG-B) and Service field formats are provided. Some of these formats may be in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ac amendment to the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard.
US08867570B2

A method and apparatus of transmitting pilot tones and data in multi-carrier spatial multiplexing transmission is disclosed. The method includes a plurality of subscribers transmitting data to a base station through common frequency sub-carrier and symbol time tiles. Each of the multiple subscribers rotating frequency sub-carrier and symbol time locations of pilot tones within the frequency sub-carrier and symbol time tiles.
US08867564B2

Aspects of a method and system for extended range Ethernet link discovery signaling are provided. A local PHY may detect of one or more active twisted-pair wires in a remote PHY in extended range applications. The local PHY may determine whether to operate as a master or slave based on detected pairs. When operating as a master device, the local PHY may correct twisted-pair wire swap information received from the remote PHY before communicating an encoded link length value to the remote PHY. When operating as a slave device, the local PHY may transmit encoded twisted-pair wire swap information to the remote PHY before recovering a link length value communicated from the remote PHY. The local PHY may communicate supported operating modes based on the link length value to the remote PHY. Moreover, the local PHY may enable establishing a common full duplex operating mode with the remote PHY.
US08867560B2

A number of ports are configured in a linecard in a network device as dedicated ports and a remaining number of ports as shared ports. A total bandwidth allocated to the dedicated ports is computed. It is determined that available bandwidth at a central crossbar is greater than the total bandwidth allocated to the dedicated ports. The total data sent the central crossbar is rate limited to less than the available bandwidth at the central crossbar. First data associated with the dedicated ports is scheduled to the central crossbar using a first priority. Second data associated with the shared ports is scheduled using a second priority. A shared port data is scheduled based on a ration of a bandwidth requirement for the shared port as a fraction of overall bandwidth requirement for the shared ports.
US08867557B2

A selective service providing method using a selective service module, and a home gateway using the same are provided. A home gateway includes a module port for mounting a service module which provides a particular service; a communication interface for receiving a function result of the service module mounted to the module port; a display interface connected with a display; and a processor for sending the function result received from the service module through the communication interface, to the display through the display interface. Thus, the user's intended service can be selectively provided using the selective service module.
US08867553B2

A network element, method and computer program product is enabled to perform interactive connectivity checks in a mobility environment. Specifically, a network element comprises a discovery unit configured to identify a candidate defined as a combination of an internet protocol address and a port which the network element can use to communicate with a particular other network element. The network further comprises a mobile internet protocol signaling unit configured to submit a candidate identified by the discovery unit and to receive a candidate related to the other network element, and a simple traversal underneath network address translators protocol enabled unit configured to perform a connectivity check for a pair constituted by the submitted candidate and the received candidate by using the simple traversal underneath network address translators protocol.
US08867538B2

Disclosed are method and system for Ethernet media conversion supporting high-speed wireless access points. The method includes receiving at each of a plurality of input-side Ethernet modules in a media converter, a plurality of input data streams at a first data rate. In the media converter each of the plurality of input data streams may be aggregated into an output data stream at a second data rate. The output data stream may then be transmitted at the second data rate from an output-side Ethernet module in the media converter. Each of the input data streams may be received from an Ethernet switch, and the output data stream may be transmitted to a wireless access point. In one exemplary implementation, each of the input-side Ethernet modules may include a 1G PHY, while the output-side Ethernet module may include one or both of a 2.5G PHY and a 4G PHY.
US08867537B1

A method for writing information to a first memory location controlled by a first computing system from a second memory location controlled by a second computing system that interfaces with the first computing system via a network connection is provided.
US08867529B2

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a first portion of an identifier associated with a communication session involving a first endpoint that generated the first portion of the identifier. The method also includes receiving a second portion of the identifier associated with the communication session involving a second endpoint that generated the second portion of the identifier. The method can further include communicating a reservation request associated with a network resource to be allocated for the communication session. The reservation request includes the first portion and the second portion of the identifier.
US08867523B2

A serial intelligent cell (SIC) and a connection topology for local area networks using Electrically-conducting media. A local area network can be configured from a plurality of SIC's interconnected so that all communications between two adjacent SIC's is both point-to-point and bidirectional. Each SIC can be connected to one or more other SIC's to allow redundant communication paths. Communications in different areas of a SIC network are independent of one another, so that there is no fundamental limit on the size or extent of a SIC network. Each SIC can optionally be connected to one or more data terminals, computers, telephones, sensors, actuators, etc., to facilitate interconnectivity among such devices. Networks according to the present invention can be configured for a variety of applications, including a local telephone system, remote computer bus extender, multiplexers, PABX/PBX functionality, security systems, and local broadcasting services.
US08867521B2

Apparatus and method for communication are provided. The solution includes controlling the communication of a transceiver on shared data channels using a data channel slot including a sensing period and a data period and controlling a transceiver to communicate on common and dedicated control channels on a shared spectrum using control channel slots, each control channel slot including a downlink part and an uplink part, wherein the uplink part occurs at the same time as the sensing period of a data channel slot.
US08867513B2

Apparatus and methods for synchronizing a network element (e.g. access points, femtocells, etc.) to a master network (such as a cellular network) to provide accurate frequency and/or time references for their internal systems. In one embodiment, the network element utilizes a dedicated receiver (or transceiver) to receive timing information from the master network. The implementation of the dedicated receiver is advantageous for cost and simplicity reasons. Furthermore, the timing or frequency information, as received from the master network, is used to correct the network element's internal timing. In addition, the network element's internal timing can operate in open-loop mode, if no master network can be found, thereby allowing for the device to continue providing service to network users. Additionally, a dedicated receiver can also receive information (e.g. location, SID, NID, SSID, etc.) local to the network element, such information may be useful or required for seamless operation within the master network.
US08867511B2

A method, apparatus, and computer program product can provide for procedures at an access terminal for handling the delivery of packets from the MAC entity to the RLC entity, with an aim to reduce the occurrence of RLC resets that might otherwise be caused by out-of-order processing of control packets following a serving cell change. In one example, a MAC entity may insert an identifier into a packet delivered up to the RLC entity, to indicate whether the packet arrived from the current primary serving cell. In another example, a serving cell change procedure may include steps to flush a queue at the MAC entity and kill any running reordering release timers. In these ways potential problems caused by out-of-order control packets can be reduced or avoided.
US08867505B2

Disclosed herein is a fast data call connection method capable of reducing a connection time and increasing the probability of connection success in a CDMA 2000 network.In the fast data call connection method of the present invention, the PDSN transmits a data call connection request message, including an authentication type and a challenge value, to the MS. The MS transmits a data call connection response message, including a response to the challenge value, to the PDSN. The PDSN performs authentication with reference to the data call connection response message, and transmits a data call connection complete message to the MS if authentication succeeds. Accordingly, the present invention is advantageous in that it can reduce connection time, can increase the probability of connection success, and can guarantee compatibility by checking the MS version before a data call connection process is executed.
US08867501B2

In a multi-radio user equipment, communications on a Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio operating in Wi-Fi mode may be aligned to reduce interference between the two radios. Communications of the WLAN radio may be aligned to the LTE radio using Notice of Absence (NoA) functionality.
US08867494B2

A system and method provide single frequency, dual cell high-speed downlink packet access to a UMTS telecommunications system. A first downlink channel is provided from a first sector, and a second downlink channel is provided from a second sector, wherein the first downlink channel and the second downlink channel are in substantially the same carrier frequency. Feedback information such as a CQI and/or a PCI is provided on an uplink channel to facilitate adaptation of the respective downlink channels. Here, the uplink carrier may be in the same or a different carrier frequency than that of the downlink channels.
US08867489B2

The present invention is designed such that a new SGSN receives a location update message from a terminal (1) having moved from the management area of an old SGSN to the management area of the new SGSN, and the new SGSN having received the location update message sends a GTPv2 signal for getting communication path information corresponding to GTPv2, to the old SGSN. The old SGSN, upon receiving the GTPv2 signal, if holding communication path information of to GTPv1 as a logical communication path established for the terminal (1), sends, as a response, a GTPv2 signal in which the communication path information by GTPv1 is set in an additional parameter 24, to the new SGSN.
US08867486B2

Techniques for IP flow mobility in a wireless data communications system, which allow for selective movement of IP data flows between different access networks supporting different access technology types. An access terminal (AT) is configured to selectively communicate using plural access technologies. Plural IP data flows are established between the AT and a first access network using a first technology type. A flow mobility trigger condition is detected, and in response, at least one IP data flow is moved to a second access network using a second technology, while maintaining at least another of the data flows to the first access network, and using the same IP address for the AT for data flows handled by both access networks, by using a mapping function between packet-filters for data flows and the access technology. The techniques may be used in conjunction with IP mobility protocols such as PMIP and CMIP.
US08867475B2

A radio communication system having a base station and a plurality of radio terminals, wherein each radio terminal having a transmission request transmits a reservation packet at arbitrary timing through a reservation channel in accordance with a CDMA scheme, and the base station assigns a traffic channel and a time slot to be used to each radio terminal requesting a reservation through a reply packet outputted onto a reply channel. On the reservation channel, a short spreading code corresponding to a matched filter is applied.
US08867468B2

Joint uplink processing by plural base stations includes sending, by a serving base station, a request for uplink resources of a second base station for receiving uplink data of a mobile station. The serving base station receives first uplink data from the mobile station, and the serving base station further receives (from the second base station) second uplink data of the mobile station received by the second base station using the uplink resources specified by the request.
US08867466B2

A method and an apparatus for activating or deactivating a primary carrier and secondary carriers in a Time Division Duplex Long Term Evolution (TDD LTE) system using carrier aggregation are provided. An apparatus includes an User Equipment employing the method corresponding the operation associated with the activation and deactivation of SCells, which thereby performs communication with eNBs without errors.
US08867464B2

A method for processing downlink control information in a mobile terminal capable of receiving multiple component carriers. The mobile terminal receives on a component carrier, downlink control information that includes a bit field allocated for a transmit power control (TPC) command. If the bit field comprises one or more bits that are not used for the TPC command, the mobile terminal interprets the meaning of the bits not used for the TPC command based on an ACK/NACK feedback mode with which the mobile terminal is configured.
US08867459B2

Methods and apparatuses of a mobile subscriber transmitting information to a base station are disclosed. One method includes identifying an uplink transmission condition. If the uplink transmission condition is identified, the mobile subscriber transmits a message over multiple uplink frames. The mobile subscriber informs the base station that it is transmitting the message over the multiple uplink frames.
US08867458B2

Methods, apparatuses, and systems can permit network allocation of uplink resources. In one example, a method includes determining uplink resources to be granted to a cluster. The method can also include preparing, at an apparatus, an uplink resource grant, based on the determining, including a transmitter identifier. The method can further include transmitting the uplink resources grant to a plurality of cluster nodes of the cluster. The transmitter identifier identifies at least one node of the plurality of cluster nodes.
US08867456B2

Interference that occurs during wireless communication may be managed by hybrid time reuse. A method, apparatus amend medium of communication determines one or more time reuse patterns of respective one or more unplanned access points. A second time reuse pattern that is less interfering with the one or more time reuse patterns is selected. Signals are transmitted according to the second time reuse pattern from a second unplanned access point to an associated access terminal.
US08867455B2

Techniques for supporting operation with enhanced uplink in inactive state are described. A user equipment (UE) may send an access preamble for random access while in an inactive state and may receive a message containing resources allocated to the UE. The allocated resources may be selected by a Node B from a pool of resources pre-allocated to the Node B for the enhanced uplink. The UE may send information (e.g., scheduling information and/or its UE identity) to the Node B using the allocated resources. The UE may receive an acknowledgement addressed to the UE based on the UE identity. The UE may remain in the inactive state and continue to use the allocated resources until they are de-allocated. Alternatively, the UE may transition to an active state and either continue to use the allocated resources or receive an allocation of new resources for the active state.
US08867453B2

A base station for use in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network that communicates with a plurality of subscriber stations in a coverage area of the OFDM network. The base station allocates subbands to the subscriber stations for communication in an uplink and in a downlink. Each subband comprises a group of subcarriers. The base station allocates one of: i) a plurality of consecutive subbands and ii) a plurality of non-consecutive subbands to a first subscriber station according to at least one selectable criteria. The at least one selectable criteria comprises a channel quality value or a mobility value associated with the first subscriber station, or an operating mode of the base station. The base station allocates non-consecutive subbands or consecutive subbands depending on the at least one selectable criteria. The base station allocates non-consecutive subbands using a bitmap indicator and allocates consecutive subbands using a start-end indicator.
US08867451B2

Systems and methods for optimized telecommunications distribution are provided. For example, a distributed antenna system can include a master unit for transceiving signals with remote units operable for wirelessly transceiving signals with mobile devices in a coverage area. A self-optimized network analyzer can be in a unit of the distributed antenna system. A self-optimized network controller in the distributed antenna system can output commands for changing operation of a component in the distributed antenna system in response to analysis results from the self-optimized network analyzer. In some aspects, the master unit includes base transceiver station cards for receiving call information in network protocol data from a network and for generating digital signals including the call information from the network protocol data for distribution to the remote units.
US08867450B2

A method and apparatus for reducing interference between systems when a plurality of wireless access systems are co-located are disclosed. To support CLC mode, an MS in the CRC mode transmits a handover request message to a first Base Station (BS) to initiate a handover process, receives a handover command message acknowledging the handover request message from the first BS, transmits a ranging request message to second BS at network reentry after handover, and receives from the second BS a ranging response message including CRC start time information that set by the second BS.
US08867448B2

Providing adaptive channel state feedback (CSF) reports in discontinuous reception (DRX) scenarios in a power-efficient manner. The described algorithm may be able to make adaptive decisions to carry over the CSF from previous DRX cycles based on channel conditions, DRX cycle length, and/or the requirements of CSF reporting for current DRX cycle. The proposed approach can allow for more efficient power consumption related to CSF reports in DRX scenarios where new CSF reports have little or no impact to throughput.
US08867443B2

The invention provides a method and an apparatus for estimating frequency deviation, the method comprising: after receiving a sub-frame, transforming a downlink synchronized code of the sub-frame to a frequency domain, and performing a correlation operation between the transformed downlink synchronized code and a local frequency domain synchronized code to obtain a conjugate downlink synchronized code sequence; judging a location of a maximum value in the conjugate downlink synchronized code sequence, and calculating a frequency deviation value according to the location of the maximum value. The estimating method provided in the invention can realize a stable work with no need of a precise sampling value location, an accurate timing synchronization, or even obtaining the information for the multi-path distribution and locations.
US08867442B2

A method for coordinating discontinuous reception (DRX) operation between a primary serving cell and a secondary serving cell includes configuring DRX parameters for the primary serving cell and the secondary serving cell, performing a radio interface synchronization procedure to align a connection frame number (CFN) in both the primary serving cell and the secondary serving cell, and coordinating DRX reception patterns for the primary serving cell and the secondary serving cell using the aligned CFN.
US08867437B2

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique for implementing a cell site modem application message interface (CSM API) for a cell site of Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless system.
US08867434B2

A network terminal has communication section that communicates with other network terminals connected via a network, time-series data creation section that, at timing set beforehand, creates time information including a correspondence between an identification number of the own network terminal and a current time measured by a timer of the own network terminal and creates time-series data registering the time information, and additional registration section that, when the communication section receives the time-series data transmitted from another network terminal, creates time information including a correspondence between the identification number of the own network terminal and a current time measured by the timer of the own network terminal and additionally registers the time information to the time-series data received this time.
US08867425B2

A method of assigning Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (E-MBMS) bearers in a Multimedia Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area in a 3GPP compliant wireless communication system is provided. An infrastructure device is operably coupled to a radio access network comprising one or more MBSFN areas, wherein each MBSFN area supports a plurality of E-MBMS bearers for transporting media streams to user equipments (UE). The infrastructure device receives, from a UE, an identifier of a preferred MBSFN area and a request for a boost to the quality of the transmissions. The infrastructure device assigns first and second E-MBMS bearers in an MBSFN area to support a call to the UE, the first and second E-MBMS bearers providing the same information to the UE in their media content streams. The UE may employ application layer time-diversity reception of the media content.
US08867423B2

A method for indicating a structure of control information for a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) is provided. The method comprises separating a multicast control channel (MCCH) of an MBMS transmission into a first portion and a second portion and arranging the separated MCCH into a structure wherein the first portion includes the second portion. The method further includes including in a downlink transmission an indicator to indicate the structure is used.
US08867422B2

A user equipment (UE) is provided that includes a processor configured to transmit a precoding matrix index (PMI) using one of an assigned periodic PMI reporting resource that precisely aligns with the start of an on-duration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation mode of the UE and a first assigned periodic PMI reporting resource after the start of an on-duration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation mode of the UE.
US08867419B2

The disclosure relates to a system and a method for reducing power consumption of a communication device. The method has a power save mode controlling a deactivated communication subsystem of the device, where: for a first period, re-activating the subsystem, executing an action relating to a data link layer connection condition for the network, and then de-activating the subsystem; and for a second period, re-activating the subsystem, generating and transmitting a frame to a host in the network, and then de-activating the subsystem. The first period is repeated on a first frequency timed to allow the device to process a beacon signal that is received at an interval of at most every third beacon signal in a succession of beacon signals from the network; and the second period relates to a frequency of transmission of an Address Resolution Protocol request for an Internet Protocol address for the device.
US08867415B2

A wireless communication system may include a first base station having a first communication coverage area and operating in an HFDD mode using a first frequency and a second frequency in an alternating pattern. The system may also include a second base station having a second communication coverage area different than the first communication coverage area and also operating in an HFDD mode. The second base station may communicate using the first frequency and the second frequency in an opposite alternating pattern from the first base station.
US08867412B1

A communication system that is particularly suited to switch a half duplex session to a full duplex session. The system includes a dispatch call controller that sets up a half duplex session; and a VoIP server that receives a request to switch the half duplex session to a full duplex session; forwards the request to the target subscriber unit; receives an acceptance of the request; and sets up the full duplex session between the subscriber units. In another embodiment, the dispatch call controller receives the request to switch to the full duplex session; forwards the request to the target subscriber unit; receives an acceptance of the request; and instructs the VoIP server to set up the full duplex session. In yet another embodiment, a service broker receives the request, instructs the VoIP server to set up the full duplex session, and instructs the dispatch call controller to terminate the half duplex session.
US08867410B2

A simple and effective mechanism is shown to determine and utilize information about idle user equipment which received MBMS services for purposes of audience monitoring. The implementation can be done by defining a new information element (IE) for a proposed MBMS status information and embedding the new IE into a UE-originated message of a network control signaling procedure, e.g., RRC Connection Request which may be sent at the convenience of the UE when it transitions from the idle state to the active state for its own purposes, i.e., purposes primarily other than audience monitoring.
US08867406B2

One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a customer-edge-discovery subsystem, within a VPN-provider system interconnected with a public communications network, that automatically generates a data representation of a VPN-provider view of the network by: initializing the data representation; accessing tools and protocols available within the VPN-provider system to discover elements, connections, interfaces, VPNs, and other components and characteristics of the public communications network and include representations of the discovered elements, connections, interfaces, VPNs, and other components and characteristics of the public communications network in the data representation; and finding customer-edge devices for each provider-edge device to include in the data representation using broadcast domains or address-resolution-protocol caches.
US08867401B1

A server creates a schedule for each of multiple user devices based on a set of items associated with a corresponding user device, and allows each user device to obtain associated items in accordance with the schedule.
US08867391B2

A method for error correction deciphering of a receive apparatus in a mobile communication system includes receiving a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) packet. The method also includes, when error correction ciphering is set, acquiring a partial Hyper Frame Number (HFN) from the PDCP packet. The method further includes comparing the partial HFN and the receive apparatus's own lower HFN of a constant bit count. The method still further includes, if the partial HFN and the receive apparatus's own lower HFN of the constant bit count are different from each other, performing an HFN correction function.
US08867387B2

In a mobile communication system according to the present invention, an AP/ULP layer of a transmission-side node (A) is configured to acquire, from a SCTP layer of the transmission-side node (A), a “rwnd” for each connection of the SCTP layer, a “cwnd” for each physical path, and a third data amount indicating an amount of data transmitted within a unit time by the transmission-side node (A) for each stream; and when an urgency flag is included in data subject to transmission, the AP/ULP layer of the transmission-side node (A) is configured to determine a stream and a physical path through which the data subject to transmission should be transmitted, based on the “rwnd”, the “cwnd”, and the third data amount, and to notify, to the SCTP layer, the determination.
US08867385B2

A router, switch, or other network node generates reports that contain packet level statistics and other information for a monitored media stream. The media stream reports reduce the amount of bandwidth typically required for sending monitored media stream information back to a central analysis device. However the computation of other media stream analytics, such as long term statistical averaging or quality metric computation, is performed by the central analysis device to remove some of the processing burden from the individual network nodes.
US08867369B2

An input/output connection device includes a generating section which generates an inspection packet that has a tag that uniquely identifies the packet, a transmitting section which transmits the inspection packet to the input/output device, a receiving section which receives a packet, a first determining section which determines, on the basis of a tag of the packet received by the receiving section, whether or not the received packet is a packet transmitted in response to the inspection packet transmitted by the transmitting section, and a second determining section which analyzes the received packet and determines whether or not the input/output device is normal when the first determining section determines that the received packet is the packet transmitted in response to the inspection packet.
US08867355B2

An apparatus and methods for transmitting information over a home coax network are provided. A method according to the invention for transmitting information over a home coax network preferably includes adding a multicast transmission mode to a system that previously only had unicast transmission mode and broadcast mode. The method preferably includes broadcasting multicast (“MC”) traffic. The MC traffic may be directed to a predetermined MC group. The MC traffic may be transmitted from an ingress node to a plurality of egress nodes. A portion of the plurality of egress nodes may belong to the MC group. Upon receipt by at least one of the egress nodes of the MC traffic, the method may further include using the at least one egress node to filter the received MC traffic to determine whether the MC traffic is directed to a group for which the egress node is a member.
US08867336B2

System for early detection of decoding errors. A method is provided for detecting a decode failure. The method includes receiving an initial amount of code packets, detecting a trigger event that indicates a decode failure associated with the initial amount of code packets, and receiving one or more additional code packets.
US08867335B2

A system and method for fault isolation in a packet switching network, wherein a network element may be categorized as faulty when the network element is identified as a point-of-congestion in the network. One such system can be broadly summarized by a representative communication system that incorporates a fault isolating element to monitor multiple network elements. The fault isolating element includes components such as a database of data flow paths that exist in the plurality of network elements, a data gathering element that is configured to collect performance information related to one or more network elements, and an analyzer element that uses the performance information collected by the data gathering element to identify one or more network elements as points of congestion.
US08867331B2

The present invention discloses methods for sending positioning reference signals (PRSs), for sending data and for receiving data. When PRSs and data carried by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) are required to be sent on a same physical resource, only the data carried by the PDCCH or the PRSs are sent on the same physical resource; or, when a sending end sends the PRSs and the data carried by the PDCCH on the same physical resource at the same time, a receiving end is made to ignore the received PRSs or the data carried by the PDCCH; or, the sending of the PRSs or the data carried by the PDCCH is limited so that they will not be sent on the same physical resource. The present invention also discloses devices for sending positioning reference signals, for sending data and receiving data. The present invention has solved the problem that the data carried by the PDCCH are in conflict with the PRSs over the fourth OFDM symbol when the PDCCH is sent over the first four OFDM symbols in the subframe, thereby ensuring the overall performance of the system.
US08867325B2

There is provided an optical pickup apparatus. In an optical pickup apparatus, a focus diffraction region includes focus regions of which a number of types is equal to a number of types of light that can be emitted by a light source. The types of the focus regions correspond to the respective types of light, the respective focus regions diffract the corresponding types of light toward same positions of focus light-receiving regions. The focus regions include a plurality of focus segmented regions. The plurality of focus segmented regions of the respective types of focus regions are periodically distributed in the focus diffraction region, and at least some of the focus segmented regions are disposed to be adjacent to focus segmented regions for different types of light.
US08867322B1

Systems and methods for providing thermal barrier bilayers for heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media are provided. One such HAMR medium includes a substrate, a heat sink layer on the substrate, a thermal barrier bilayer on the heat sink layer, the bilayer comprising a first thermal barrier layer on the heat sink layer and an amorphous underlayer on the first thermal barrier layer, and a magnetic recording layer on the amorphous underlayer, wherein a thermal conductivity of the first thermal barrier layer is less than a thermal conductivity of the amorphous underlayer.
US08867320B2

A timepiece cover glass used in a timepiece with a solar battery is provided. The timepiece cover glass covers the solar battery. The timepiece cover glass includes an antireflective layer is formed on at least both sides of the timepiece cover glass. A formula (1) is satisfied. f(x, y, z)≦40 (1), where (f(x, y, z) expresses the absolute value of the difference between the maximum value and minimum value among x, y, and z, where z=550.), xnm represents a wavelength exhibiting a minimum reflectance in a reflectance curve based on the antireflective layer, ynm represents a maximum sensitivity wavelength of the solar battery, and znm represents a maximum visible sensitivity wavelength, and the luminous reflectance is 0.6% or less.
US08867314B2

An ultrasonic probe device includes capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers, a band control unit and a bias voltage change unit. Each of the transducers belongs to one of groups, each of the groups includes at least one of the transducers. The band control unit determines the bias voltage value which varies for each of the groups, and a timing to apply the direct-current bias voltage having the bias voltage value so that all frequencies included in an operating frequency are transmitted and/or received by the ultrasonic probe device during an operation period. The bias voltage change unit changes the direct-current bias voltage to be applied to the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers in accordance with the bias voltage value and the timing.
US08867313B1

Methods of and systems for determining a location of a mobile device using transmitted audio signals is provided. In an embodiment, meta data included in the audio signals may also be used. In an embodiment, a characteristic, such as a received signal strength, may be measured to determine the location of the mobile device.
US08867311B2

The systems and methods described herein relate to systems and methods for synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) having multiple transmitters and generating orthogonal pinging sequences configured to enhance performance.
US08867305B2

A method of assisting the deployment/retrieval of linear acoustic antennas towed by a vessel, said linear antennas each having geophysical data sensors, means for measuring the distance of at least one adjacent linear antenna, during the course of which at least one of said linear acoustic antennas has at least longitudinal mobility in relation to said vessel, including: at least one phase for configuring cells (Cn) each defined by a central position corresponding to a distance-measuring means (T), and by at least one peripheral position corresponding to another distance-measuring means (T) in proximity to said distance-measuring means (T) for said central position, reference distances between said central positions and said peripheral positions being predetermined; and at least one phase for controlling said central and peripheral positions with respect to said reference distances, by establishing communication between at least some of said distance-measuring means (T).
US08867301B2

Disclosed herein is a device that includes a command decoder and a latency counter. The command decoder generates a first internal command in response to a first internal clock signal. The latency counter includes: a gate control signal generation unit generating output gate signals in response to a second internal clock signal; delay circuits each receiving an associated one of the output gate signals and generating an associated one of input gate signals; and a command signal latch unit fetching the first internal command in response to one of the input gate signals and outputting the first internal command in response to one of the output gate signals. Each of the delay circuit includes a first delay element that operates on a first power supply voltage and a second delay element that operates on a second power supply voltage different from the first power supply voltage.
US08867299B2

A non-volatile memory device includes a plurality of memory blocks, first block switches configured to correspond to the respective odd-numbered memory blocks of the plurality of memory blocks and couple the word lines of the odd-numbered memory blocks and first local lines, second block switches configured to correspond to the respective even-numbered memory blocks of the plurality of memory blocks and couple the word lines of the even-numbered memory blocks and second local lines, a local line switch unit configured to selectively couple the first local lines or the second local lines and global word lines, and a high voltage generator configured to supply operating voltages to the global word lines.
US08867296B2

A regulator includes a variable resistance unit coupled between an input node to which a pumping voltage is inputted and a control node and configured to adjust resistance of the variable resistance unit in response to a control signal varied depending on a target voltage, a voltage output unit configured to adjust the pumping voltage according to potential of the control node and output the adjusted pumping voltage, and a regulation unit configured to control the potential of the control node according to the adjusted pumping voltage, to output the target voltage. The regulator adjusts the resistance of an internal resistor according to the target voltage, thereby reducing current consumption.
US08867288B2

A method for testing a memory device includes entering a test mode in which multiple memory banks operate in a same manner, allowing a row corresponding to a row address in the multiple memory banks to be activated, latching a bank address and the row address corresponding to the multiple memory banks, writing same data in a column selected by a column address in the multiple memory banks, reading the data written in the writing of the data from the multiple memory banks, checking whether the data read from the multiple memory banks in the reading of the data are equal to each other, and programming the bank address and the row address to a nonvolatile memory when the data read from the multiple memory banks are different from each other.
US08867287B2

A semiconductor memory apparatus including a test circuit configured for generating compressed data by comparing and compressing data stored in a plurality of memory cells inside a memory bank during a first test mode, and configured for outputting the compressed data as test data to an input/output pad through one selected global line during the first test mode, and the test circuit is configured for transmitting the compressed data to a plurality of global lines during a second test mode, combining the compressed data loaded in the respective global lines during the second test mode, and outputting the combination result as the test data to the input/output pad during the second test mode.
US08867286B2

A repairable multi-layer memory chip stack wherein each of the memory chips of the chip stack includes a control unit, a decoding unit, a memory array module and a redundant repair unit comprising at least one redundant repair element. The decoding unit receives a memory address from an address bus, and correspondingly outputs a decoded address. The memory array module determines whether to allow a data bus to access the data of the memory array module corresponding to a decoded address in accordance with an activation signal of the control unit. The redundant repair element includes a valid field, a chip ID field, a faulty address field and a redundant memory. When the valid field is valid, the value of the chip ID field matches the ID code, and the value of the faulty address field matches the decoded address, the redundant memory is coupled to the data bus.
US08867271B2

In a 3D stacked non-volatile memory device, the threshold voltages are evaluated and adjusted for select gate, drain (SGD) transistors at drain ends of strings of series-connected memory cells. To optimize and tighten the threshold voltage distribution, the SGD transistors are read at lower and upper levels of an acceptable range. SGD transistors having a low threshold voltage are subject to programming, and SGD transistors having a high threshold voltage are subject to erasing, to bring the threshold voltage into the acceptable range. The evaluation and adjustment can be repeated such as after a specified number of program-erase cycles of an associated sub-block. The condition for repeating the evaluation and adjustment can be customized for different groups of SGD transistors. Aspects include programming SGD transistors with verify and inhibit, erasing SGD transistors with verify and inhibit, and both of the above.
US08867267B2

Some embodiments include memory devices having a wordline, a bitline, a memory element selectively configurable in one of three or more different resistive states, and a diode configured to allow a current to flow from the wordline through the memory element to the bitline responsive to a voltage being applied across the wordline and the bitline and to decrease the current if the voltage is increased or decreased. Some embodiments include memory devices having a wordline, a bitline, memory element selectively configurable in one of two or more different resistive states, a first diode configured to inhibit a first current from flowing from the bitline to the wordline responsive to a first voltage, and a second diode comprising a dielectric material and configured to allow a second current to flow from the wordline to the bitline responsive to a second voltage.
US08867263B2

In a multiple port SRAM, a first bit cell is coupled to first and second word lines and a first and second bit line pair. A first data line pair is coupled to the first bit line pair via first switching logic. A second data line pair is coupled to the first bit line pair via second switching logic and to the second bit line pair via third switching logic. If a row address match but not a column address match exists between a first and second access address, the second switching logic selectively connects the second data line pair with the first bit line pair based on a first decoded signal generated from the column address of the second access address and the third switching logic decouples the second data line pair from the second bit line pair.
US08867262B2

A semiconductor device includes plural memory cells each having a first inverter and a second inverter, with an input of the first inverter being coupled to an output of the second inverter and an input of the second inverter being coupled to an output of the first inverter. The first and second inverters have drive transistors supplied with a source voltage where the source voltage is raised in response to a level shift of a control signal supplied to a switch of a control circuit. The control circuit further includes a resistance element in parallel with a MOS transistor connected as a diode.
US08867254B2

This invention describes the structure and the fabrication method of a flexible memory. The flexible memory includes eight layers. The three function layers are a flexible layer of hall unit, a flexible layer of horizontal lines, and a flexible layer of vertical lines. The main fabrication process of the flexible memory includes the following: the function layers are made on the hard substrates by the traditional nano-micro methods, and then the function layers are transferred on the flexible substrates, finally the whole layers are packaged to form the flexible memory.
US08867251B2

A power supply device for a solid state drive (SSD) inserted into a slot of a computer includes a number of voltage input contacts, a diode, a first voltage regulating module and a second voltage regulating module connected in series. The slot includes a number of voltage output contacts and a number of signal transmitting contacts. The voltage input contacts are connected to the voltage output contacts and selectively connected to the signal transmitting contacts. The voltage input contacts obtains an initial voltage from the slot from the voltage output contacts or the signal transmitting contacts. The first voltage regulating module boosts the initial voltage. The second voltage regulating module regulates the boosted voltage to a preset voltage. The diode prevents a voltage outputting from the voltage input contacts to the signal transmitting contacts.
US08867248B2

A highly efficient transformerless inverter and a method of controlling the same. The inverter is designed for use in a distributed power generation system, such as a home having photovoltaic cells (e.g., a solar panel), wind turbines, batteries, and other sources of DC electrical power. The inverter includes four switching states including a positive current path for a positive half-cycle, a free-wheel current path for the positive half-cycle, a negative current path for a negative half-cycle, and a second free-wheel current path for the negative half-cycle. The free-wheel current paths include a reduced number of circuit components (e.g., diodes), which enables a highly efficient inversion of DC power to AC power.
US08867245B1

A switching power supply comprises one or more power supply stages that receive power from an input power source and that generate a regulated output voltage for powering a load. A controller monitors at least the regulated output voltage and generates at least one switch control signal for alternately opening and closing a switch so as to regulate the regulated output voltage. A monolithic integrated circuit is coupled to receive the switch control signal. The monolithic integrated circuit is separate from the controller and comprises a plurality of transistors capable of operation at voltage levels that are at least one order of magnitude higher than voltage levels within the controller integrated circuit.
US08867243B2

A DC-DC converter of a liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus is provided comprising a first capacitor connected between a first node and a second node, a second capacitor connected between a third node and a fourth node, and a first diode connected between the input terminal and the first node.
US08867242B2

A voltage source converter is used in high voltage direct current power transmission and reactive power compensation. The voltage source converter includes first and second DC terminals for connection in use to a DC network, three phase elements and at least one auxiliary converter connected between the first and second DC terminals, each phase element including a plurality of primary switching elements and at least one AC terminal for connection in use to a respective phase of a multi-phase AC network, the plurality of primary switching elements being controllable in use to facilitate power conversion between the AC and DC networks, the or each auxiliary converter being operable in use to act as a waveform synthesizer to modify a first DC voltage presented to the DC network so as to minimize ripple in the DC voltage.
US08867238B2

Disclosed herein is an electric generating system using a solar cell which converts a voltage generated in the solar cell into an Alternating Current (AC) voltage, and applies the converted voltage to a power system. The electric generating system includes; a Direct Current (DC)/DC converter that converts the voltage generated in the solar cell into a DC voltage, and has a synchronous rectifier including a synchronous switch; and a controller that detects one of a phase and a voltage of the power system, and selectively connects the synchronous switch of the synchronous rectifier in accordance with one of the phase and voltage of the power system. Here, the electric generating system reduces a conduction loss, and increases overall efficiency of the electric generation system.
US08867232B2

A system for fittingly mounting a display panel onto a controller of an industrial control system is provided. The system includes a display panel adapter plate that attaches to a display panel, and a panel adapter plate that attaches to an industrial controller cabinet or door. The display panel adapter and the panel adapter plate includes complimentary tension connectors that mate to fixedly attach the display panel adapter to the panel adapter plate, thereby connecting the display panel to the controller cabinet. In at least one embodiment, the display panel adapter also includes a compute engine mount that attaches a compute engine to the display panel via the display panel adapter. In at least another embodiment, the display panel adapter also includes a tether mount that allows the display panel to interlace with a remote compute engine.
US08867229B2

A printed circuit includes a number of conductive wires. Each of the conductive wires includes a first conductive wire section, a second conductive wire section, and a first connection section. The first connection section includes a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, the first end of the first connection section is connected to the first conductive wire section, and the second end of the first connection section is connected to the second conductive wire section. An angle between the first conductive wire section and the first connection section can be in a range from about 90 degrees to about 180 degrees.
US08867225B2

A wiring board includes: a core layer having a through hole therethrough and comprising a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a first wiring layer formed on the first surface of the core layer and having a first opening which is communicated with the through hole, wherein an opening area of the first opening is larger than that of the through hole in a plan view; an electronic component disposed in the through hole and the first opening and having a first surface, and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the electronic component further having a pair of terminal on the first surface thereof; and a first resin layer filled in the through hole, the first opening and a gap between the pair of terminals so as to cover the second surface and the side surface of the electronic component.
US08867221B2

A lid opening and closing device includes a first supporting shaft, a guide surface, a second supporting shaft, an opening and closing key supported by the second supporting shaft, an arm member and a lever member, wherein when an insert is not present in a box, a lid is suspended from the first supporting shaft and covers the box and enters a closed state, and when the insert is inserted into the box through an opening, the insert causes the opening and closing key to swing in an insertion direction, an end of an arm member rises along the guide surface in synchronization with the swinging of the opening and closing key, the risen arm member lifts an end of the lever member, and the lid, to which the lever member is secured, swings around the first supporting shaft and enters an open state.
US08867220B2

A packaging board of the type having board terminals soldered on a printed board and including an insulation support member made of a resin disposed on a printed board having tubular support portions configured to receive board terminals, visual recognition windows configured for visually recognizing soldering portions of the board terminals inserted into the printed board through the windows, and engaging portions that engage the board terminals and define insertion amounts of the board terminals.
US08867215B2

Provided is a memory card. The memory card includes interconnection terminals for electric connection with an external electronic machine. The interconnection terminals may be spaced from the front side of the memory card by a distance greater than the lengths of the interconnection terminals. Alternatively, the memory card may include other interconnection terminals between its front side and the former interconnection terminals. The former and latter interconnection terminals may be used for electric connection with different kinds of electronic machines.
US08867206B2

A telecommunications cabinet in which active equipment can be mounted. The cabinet including an airflow ducting arrangement located in the interior region of the cabinet. The airflow ducting arrangement accommodating thermal cooling of active equipment having internal side-to-side air cooling arrangements.
US08867205B2

A fluid cooling system and associated fitting assembly for an electronic component such as a multi-processor computer offer easy and reliable connect and disconnect operations while doing so in a minimum amount of available space without damaging associated components of an electronic device, computer or cooling system. One exemplary fitting assembly includes a manifold mount with a port that is in fluid communication with a manifold tube. A fitting is sized and configured to mate with the port and is in fluid communication with associated cooling tubes of a cold plate. A latch is pivotally mounted to the manifold mount for movement to and between a first position in which the latch secures the fitting to the manifold mount and a second position in which the fitting is capable of being disconnected from the manifold mount.
US08867198B2

Described is a protective case for a tablet computer providing a compartment for receiving and holding the tablet computer in a watertight environment. The protective case can further include a mounting adaptor attachable to a mounting apparatus for holding the protective case in a fixed or stationary position on a boat. The protective case allows the optimal use and protection of a tablet computer with its connections in many environments, including protecting the tablet computer from water damage on boats.
US08867196B2

An onboard information system for vehicles, including a housing in which a computation unit and a first mass memory are arranged and are connected to one another for the purpose of data transfer. The system includes a support that can at least to some extent be moved out of the housing and which has a data interface for a second mass memory, which data interface is connected to the computation unit for the purpose of data transfer.
US08867194B2

A lighting controller includes a housing and a power transformer mounted in the housing for stepping down an inputted AC power signal at a first higher voltage to at least one output AC power signal at a second lower voltage for powering a plurality of light fixtures. The controller further includes a switching device that can be closed and opened to connect and disconnect a primary winding of the power transformer to a source of AC power that can provide the inputted AC power signal. At least one wire connection terminal is connected to a secondary winding of the power transformer. A face pack is removably mounted in the housing and is operatively connected to the source of AC power and the switching device. The face pack includes a display, at least one manually actuable input device, a processor, a memory operatively connected to the processor, and an operational program stored in the memory. The operational program is executable by the processor for allowing a user to enter ON and OFF times via the manually actuable input device and for closing and opening the switching device in accordance therewith. The processor can detect and display the current draw, and can detect overheat and current overload conditions, and disconnect the power transformer from the source of AC power in response to the same.
US08867193B2

Systems and method for installing computer equipment and power distribution equipment in facilities is provided. In one aspect, the present invention provides a power distribution rack, and uninterruptible power supply rack and a plurality of equipment racks. A plurality of power cables are run from the power distribution rack to each of the plurality of equipment racks using power cable tracks located on the roofs of the equipment racks.
US08867191B2

A capacitor having a dielectric consisting of a glass layer with an alkali metal oxide content of at most 2 wt % and a thickness of at most 50 μm is provided. The capacitor includes at least two metal layers which are separated by the glass layer. The glass layer is preferably produced by a down-draw method or by an overflow down-draw fusion method.
US08867188B2

There are provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component and a fabricating method thereof. The multilayer ceramic electronic component includes: a multilayer ceramic body including a first ceramic powder and having a plurality of ceramic sheets stacked therein, each ceramic sheet having a thickness of 1 μm or less; internal electrode patterns formed on the plurality of ceramic sheets; and dielectric patterns formed on the ceramic sheets to enclose the internal electrode patterns, the dielectric patterns including a second ceramic powder having a particle size smaller than that of the first ceramic powder and each having a thickness equal to or thinner than that of each of the internal electrode patterns.
US08867184B2

An electrical circuit comprising a power supply, a load, first and second trunks disposed therebetween and control means adapted to control the electrical status of the first and second trunks, in which the control means comprises monitoring means adapted to monitor the current and/or voltage of the first and second trunks and to detect current and/or voltage events which are indicative of faults occurring thereon, and isolation means adapted to isolate the first or second trunk when the monitoring means detects a current and/or voltage event which is indicative of a fault occurring thereon, in which the first and second trunks are electrically connected and arranged in parallel such that the power supplied to the load is distributed substantially equally between them, and in which the control means comprises compensation means adapted to prevent the isolation means from isolating one of said first or second trunks when a current and/or voltage event which is indicative of a fault occurs thereon which is caused by a fault occurring on the other of the first or second trunks.
US08867182B2

The invention provides a signal-powered integrated circuit (IC). The IC comprises an integrated circuit die including a ground node, a supply node, and a first terminal for receiving a digital data signal having data content and a predetermined energy. A receive buffer formed on the integrated circuit die is connected to the first terminal and capable of receiving the data content associated with the digital data signal. A rectifier is also formed on the integrated circuit die. The rectifier includes a first diode connected between the first terminal and the ground node and a second diode connected between the first terminal and the supply node. The rectifier is configured to rectify the digital data signal and pass at least a portion of the digital data signal's predetermined energy to the supply node. Each of the first and second diodes is capable of withstanding an ESD impulse.
US08867181B2

Methods and apparatus are provided for detecting a phase current sensor fault in a multi-phase electrical motor. The method comprises, receiving an input torque command T* and measuring a set of feedback signals of the motor including a phase current Ix for each of the phases of the motor, generating direct and quadrature command phase currents Id*, Iq* for the motor corresponding to a value of the input torque command T*, determining a total command current Is=[(Iq*)2+(Id*)2]½, generating a negative sequence current Ineg, where for three phases Ineg=(⅓)[Ia+(α2)Ib+(α)Ic], where α=ej2π/3, combining Ineg and Is to provide a normalized negative sequence current Inn=Ineg/Is, comparing the normalized negative sequence current Inn to a predetermined threshold value INN* to determine the presence of a phase current sensor fault, and executing a control action when Inn>INN*.
US08867177B2

A magnetic read sensor having improved robustness to withstand thermal variations resulting from thermal fly height heating. Improved thermal robustness comes as a result of improved pinned layer pinning. The read head includes an AFM layer having an increased thickness to provide a higher blocking temperature. The read head further includes a pinned layer structure that includes a first magnetic layer adjacent to and exchange coupled with the AFM layer. The first layer comprises a Co—Fe layer with an increased Fe content of 20-30 atomic percent. The pinned layer structure also includes a second magnetic layer that is antiparallel coupled with the AP1 layer. The AP2 layer can be a multi-layer structure that includes a layer of CoFe, a layer of Co—Fe—Hf formed on the layer of Co—Fe, a layer of Co—Fe—B formed on the layer of Co—Fe—Hf, and a second layer of Co—Fe formed on the layer of Co—Fe—B.
US08867176B1

A corrosion-resistant magnetic sensor and a method for making the corrosion-resistant magnetic sensor. The magnetic sensor includes a first layer that is a pinned layer, the first layer having a first edge. The magnetic sensor also includes a second layer that can be a non-magnetic metal layer, the second layer having a second edge corresponding to the first edge, wherein the second layer is adjacent the first layer. The magnetic sensor also has a third layer that can be a free layer, the third layer having a third edge which projects outwardly relative to the first edge and the second edge.
US08867170B1

A plasmon generator has a front end face located in a medium facing surface of a magnetic head. The plasmon generator includes a metal portion and a multilayer film portion. The metal portion has a bottom surface, a top surface, and an end face facing toward the front end face. The multilayer film portion includes a first metal layer, a second metal layer and an intermediate layer, and covers the top surface and the end face of the metal portion. The intermediate layer is formed of a material that is higher in Vickers hardness than the metal material used to form the metal portion, the metal material used to form the first metal layer and the metal material used to form the second metal layer.
US08867164B2

Approaches for desiccant device within an enclosure protecting sensitive electronic equipment. Electronic equipment, such as a hard-disk drive (HDD), may comprise a desiccant device that possesses a water vapor permeability rate that matches or is substantially similar to the water vapor permeability rate of the enclosure. In this way, desiccant devices may prevent the desiccant material enclosed within from releasing large amounts of humidity into the interior of the electronic equipment. The desiccant device may be constructed using a laminate material that comprises an interior facing material and an exterior facing material. The exterior facing material permits water to diffuse faster therethrough than the interior facing material.
US08867163B2

A head rotator assembly for positioning a head of a tape drive relative to a storage tape that moves over the head comprises a head supporter and a supporter mover assembly. The head supporter is coupled to and supports the head. The supporter mover assembly includes a first actuator that indirectly rotates a portion of the head supporter about an axis to move the head in an azimuth direction relative to the storage tape as the storage tape moves over the head. The supporter mover assembly can further include a first lever. The first actuator moves the first lever to rotate the portion of the head supporter so that the head moves in the azimuth direction relative to the storage tape.
US08867154B1

Systems, methods, devices, circuits for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for data processing with a linear phase noise predictive filter. A data processing system includes an equalizer circuit operable to filter a digital data input to yield equalized data, a linear phase noise predictive finite impulse response filter operable to filter the equalized data to yield filtered data, and a data detector circuit operable to apply a data detection algorithm to the filtered data to yield a detected output. The greatest tap coefficient for the linear phase noise predictive finite impulse response filter is at a center tap.
US08867153B1

A method for writing information to a magnetizable disk surface on a disk drive includes designating a plurality of regions on a disk where information is to be stored, writing information representing data to a first track in at least one of the plurality of regions, writing information representing data to a second track in the at least one of the plurality of regions, the information written to the second track overwriting a portion of the first track, and determining an amount of the first track that is overwritten based on a performance factor. Determining an amount of the first track that is overwritten is done or accomplished on the fly. The amount to overwrite the track is done in the field rather than in a factory or manufacturing facility.
US08867139B2

An eyepiece includes a display module for providing display light, a concave end reflector, and a viewing region including a partially reflective surface to redirect at least a portion of the display light out of an eye-ward side of the eyepiece along an emission path. The partially reflective surface is obliquely angled with an offset from 45 degrees relative to the eye-ward side to cause the emission path to have a first oblique angle in a horizontal dimension relative to a first normal vector of the eye-ward side. The concave end reflector is tilted such that a second normal vector from a center point of the concave end reflector is obliquely angled relative to a top or bottom surface of the eyepiece to cause the emission path to have a second oblique angle in a vertical dimension relative to the first normal vector of the eye-ward side.
US08867128B2

A binocular system includes a first monocular, a second monocular, a first arm coupled to a base plate via a first hinge and coupled to the first monocular, and a second arm coupled to the base plate via a second hinge and coupled to the second monocular. Each of the monoculars rotates about a corresponding one of the hinges along an axis of rotation that is not parallel to an axis of collimation of each of the monoculars. The monoculars are collimated when rotated into a deployed position. The binocular system may also include a mounting bracket coupled to the base plate, a tilt base, interposed between the mounting bracket and the base plate and a tilt lever, having a cam that is operatively engaged with the tilt base, where actuation of the lever causes the base plate to tilt with respect to the mounting bracket.
US08867127B2

A device and method for adjusting mounting of a microscope stage (14), to which an objective (38) is mounted, to a microscope stand (12), including at least one first connecting element (56) arranged on the microscope stand (12), at least one second connecting element (62) arranged on the microscope stage (14) for mounting the microscope stage (14) to the microscope stand (12), at least one first mating part (76) arranged on the microscope stand (12), at least one positioning base (66) supporting a second mating part (74), wherein the positioning base (66) adjusts the platform (16) on the microscope stand (12) and is mounted movably in a plane of adjustment that is parallel to the platform (16) with the mating parts (74, 76) being engaged, and at least one locking device (80) for locking the positioning base (66) to the platform (16).
US08867126B2

A microscope controller improves the operability in moving a stage when a stage moving operation is performed on a touch panel. The microscope controller for control of the operation of each electric unit configuring the microscope system solves problems by including: a touch panel unit having a display function and receiving an input by an external physical contact; a control unit for setting a display region as a function area by assigning an image for operation of the electric unit to a specified display region of the touch panel unit, and, when an input to the function area is detected, generating a control instruction signal for control of the electric unit depending on the contact operation to the electric unit corresponding to the function area, and a communication control unit for transmitting the control instruction signal to an external device for controlling the operation of the electric unit.
US08867124B2

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a relay station and a method for adjusting output optical signals of the relay station. The relay station includes: a detection control unit, an output light stabilization unit, a reply stabilization unit, an adjustable gain amplification unit, and a pump light output unit. The method for adjusting output the optical signals of the relay station includes: adjusting a drive current which drives generation of pump light; adjusting a pilot tone modulation depth of an Alternating Current (AC) signal on which a replay signal is modulated; and finally, outputting a stable output optical signal through disturbed pump light. Adjusting the output optical signals and the pilot tone modulation depth of the AC signal on which the replay signal is modulated, the reply signals are stably output, thereby achieving the purpose of fixing the pilot tone modulation depth.
US08867122B2

The present invention relates to an optical parametric oscillator. In particular, the present invention relates to a more optimal rotating image optical parametric oscillator. More specifically, there is described an optical parametric oscillator comprising six mirrored surfaces; wherein two of the mirrored surfaces are provided by a penta prism and the sequence of mirrors is operable to provide a predetermined rotation of a beam passing therethrough.
US08867120B2

A method of manufacturing a reflective display device comprises depositing an electro-optical ink on a substrate, the electro-optical ink comprising a plurality of microencapsulated electro-optical fluid shells dispersed in a polymer pre-cursor. The electro-optical ink is cured to provide an electro-optical layer in which the shells are maintained in a polymer matrix having at least two-phases. At least one of the phases in the polymer matrix has a refractive index differing from the shells. At least one electrode is provided in contact with the electro-optical layer to, in use, control the state of the electro-optical layer.
US08867118B2

A lens module includes an infrared absorbing filter. The infrared absorbing filter includes an electrochromic substrate. The electrochromic substrate changes from colorlessness to blue when a preset voltage is applied on the electrochromic substrate. The electrochromic substrate is configured for absorbing the infrared constituent of incoming light rays when the color is changed to blue.
US08867103B2

A control method for controlling an image processing apparatus capable of transmitting image data using any one of a plurality of communication protocols includes holding, in a holding unit, management information for managing a destination of image data to be transmitted and a communication protocol associated with the destination, displaying one or more destination candidates according to a character string entered by a user and the management information held in the holding unit, determining, in a case where a destination is selected from the one or more displayed destination candidates, a communication protocol associated with the selected destination according to the management information held in the holding unit, and transmitting the image data to the selected destination via the determined communication protocol.
US08867102B2

There is provided a communication apparatus for preventing re-transmission to the address associated with a predetermined communication system. The communication apparatus deletes the stored address information after the transmission instruction is received and a transmission process according to the transmission instruction is ended if the stored address information is associated with a predetermined communication system, and the communication apparatus keeps storing the stored address information even after the transmission instruction is received and the transmission process according to the transmission instruction is ended if the stored address information is associated with another communication system.
US08867096B2

The image forming apparatus includes: a log obtaining unit configured to obtain a print log which is an execution history of a print job; a color utilization ratio obtaining unit configured to obtain a color utilization ratio which is a ratio of chromatic color material utilization when past print jobs were executed from the print log obtained by the log obtaining unit; a determination unit configured to determine to perform mixed color correction and single color correction when the color utilization ratio obtained by the color utilization ratio obtaining unit is equal to or larger than a threshold value and to perform the single color correction without performing the mixed color correction when the color utilization ratio is smaller than the threshold value; and a correction unit configured to perform the correction determined by the determination unit.
US08867091B2

To store image data scanned by an image scanning unit in a way that corresponds to each page group, an image processing system scans an original and generates image data, and stores the image data in a storage unit separately from image data previously stored in the storage unit if a scan command is given via a first command input unit, and stores the image data in the storage unit by associating the image data with image data previously stored in the storage unit if a scan command is given via a second command input unit.
US08867082B2

A transmitting apparatus includes a touch panel, a broadcast direction receiving part, a broadcast job executing part, a broadcast job display controlling part, a gesture detecting part and a broadcast job execution controlling part. The broadcast job display controlling part controls, when the broadcast direction receiving part receives an operation input directing execution of a broadcast, the touch panel to display identifying information of a transmission job and a job identifier indicating a communication state of the transmission job for every transmission jobs. The broadcast job execution controlling part controls, when a gesture area detected by the gesture detecting part is corresponding to a display area of a given job identifier among the job identifiers, the broadcast job executing part to not execute the transmission job not yet transmitted among the transmission jobs corresponding to the job identifiers.
US08867079B2

There is provided an information processing apparatus including: a body area network communication part that performs communication with a terminal apparatus carried by a user, using a user's human body as a communication channel; a display and operating part having a display part that displays a screen and having, on the display part, an electrode for body area network communication, the screen receiving an operation performed by the user; and a control part that displays on the display part an operation key for allowing information stored in the terminal apparatus to be obtained by the body area network communication, when it is determined at the time of the user touching the electrode that communication between the body area network communication part and the terminal apparatus can be performed.
US08867077B2

An information processing apparatus includes an operation receiving unit for receiving an operation; a setting receiving unit for displaying a setting condition for printing or transmission and receiving a change to the setting condition, after the operation receiving unit receives an instruction to start printing or transmitting; and a storage unit in which the setting condition is stored by the setting receiving unit via an operating system by using, as a key, identification information acquired by the setting receiving unit, the identification information identifying a printing or transmission process and being generated by the operating system according to the instruction to start printing or transmitting. An image processing unit acquires the identification information from the operating system, and reads, from the storage unit, the setting condition using the identification information as a key, and converts document data into print data of a printing device based on the setting condition.
US08867076B2

Disclosed is a system, apparatus, and method for installing a printer application on a printer. A cloud based server system receives a recommendation message from a source printer over a network connection such as, for instance, the Internet. The recommendation message may contain an email address for a destination printer and a printer application name. The cloud server system may verify that the email address in the request message corresponds to a valid destination printer. The cloud server system may then forward the printer application name to the destination printer where it is processed. A download request to the cloud server system may be generated requesting the specific printer application. The cloud server system may push the requested printer application over the network where it is installed on the destination printer.
US08867062B2

A system, method and computer program for enabling signings/dedications on a remote basis is provided. A first computer at a first location is associated with an individual from whom a signature or dedication is required. A second computer at a location where the signing or dedication is required is linked to the first computer so as to provide a two-way audiovisual communication system. The second computer is operate e to receive input from one or more individuals regarding their request for a signature and/or dedication, and to communicate the request to the first computer. The first computer is operable to permit the individual associated with the first computer to review the request, and based on such request provide a signature and/or personalized dedication as an input to an input device connected to the first computer. The first computer transmits the signature and/or personalized dedication from the first computer to the second computer. The second computer is >@5r0+5 to receiving the signature and/or personalized dedication, and provide the signature and/or personalized dedication to a plotting apparatus device connected to the second computer. The plotting apparatus device is >@5r0+5 to apply the signature and/or personalized dedication introduced to the plotting apparatus device to an article, substantially in the handwriting of the individual associated with the first computer, based on the operation of the plotting apparatus device. A computer program for enabling the functions described is also provided. A related method is also disclosed.
US08867060B2

An information processing apparatus which is capable of preventing unauthorized access from an external apparatus, such as a PC, and improving user-friendliness. A wired communication section and a wireless communication section receive requests for acquiring screen data from external apparatuses. When a request is received via wireless communication, a CPU determines whether or not a security method used for the wireless communication is a predetermined security method. When the CPU determines that the security method is not the predetermined security method, the CPU and an operation panel cause screen data responsive to the received request to be transmitted to the external apparatus on condition that a predetermined input operation is performed on the operation panel.
US08867044B2

In a method for scanning edges of an object using a computing device, the computing device is connected to an image measuring machine including an image capturing device. A start point, an end point, a scan direction, and a scan distance interval are set. Scan points on the edges of the object are determined. For each scan point, the computing device aims the image capturing device at the scan point, controls the image capturing device to capture images of the object at different depths, and records focal points. Definition values of the images are calculated and an image with a highest definition value is determined. A focal point corresponds to the image with the highest definition value and so coordinates of the scan point are determined. Scanned edges of the object are formed based on all the scan points.
US08867043B2

A method of determining optical properties of textured surfaces by irradiation of the surface to be investigated. At least part of the radiation irradiated onto the surface and reflected by the latter is detected by a detector device which permits a location-resolved evaluation of the radiation striking it. A first characteristic value from the radiation detected, characteristic of a texture of the surface is detected. A second characteristic value from the radiation detected, characteristic of a further optical property of the surface is detected. And, a result value is determined on the basis of the first characteristic value and the second characteristic value.
US08867029B2

Systems and methods for facilitating focusing of an image scanner, such as a confocal microscope, are disclosed. Measurement of optical characteristics in certain areas of a test sample are compared to stored or baseline optical characteristic profiles to determine an appropriate correction to properly focus the scanner. In one aspect, the method includes obtaining a dynamic profile at a current detection region of a test sample and associating the dynamic profile to a profile selected from a set of stored baseline profiles. Each of the stored baseline profiles is associated with a correction.
US08867028B2

Subject matter disclosed herein relates to measuring modes of a waveguide.
US08867024B2

A system for exposing a resist layer to an image that includes a layer reflective to imaging tool radiation and a resist layer having a region of photosensitivity over the reflective layer. An imaging tool projects radiation containing an aerial image onto the resist layer, with a portion of the radiation containing the aerial image passing through the resist and reflecting back to the resist to form an interference pattern of the projected aerial image through the resist layer thickness. The thickness and location of the resist layer region of photosensitivity are selected to include from within the interference pattern higher contrast portions of the interference pattern in the direction of the resist thickness, and to exclude lower contrast portions of the interference pattern in the resist thickness direction from said resist layer region of photosensitivity, to improve contrast of the aerial image in said resist layer region of photosensitivity.
US08867023B2

A method for determining an exposure condition for use in projecting an image of a pattern of an original on a substrate includes a setting step of setting an exposure condition, an image calculating step of calculating a dimension of an image to be projected on the substrate under the set exposure condition, an electrical characteristic calculating step of calculating an electrical characteristic of at least one of a portion for use as an interconnection and a portion for use as a transistor in a pattern to be formed on the substrate in accordance with a result calculated in the image calculating step, a determining step of determining whether the electrical characteristic calculated in the electrical characteristic calculating step satisfies a requirement, and an adjusting step of adjusting the set exposure condition when the electrical characteristic is determined not to satisfy the requirement in the determining step.
US08867017B2

A liquid immersion exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate via a projection optical system and liquid includes a movable member having an upper surface, a part of which holds the substrate. A liquid immersion system that has a supply port and a recovery port supplies the liquid to a space between the projection optical system and the upper surface via the supply port of a supply path and recovers the liquid of a liquid immersion region formed in the space via the recovery port of a recovery path. A flow path is connected to the supply path between the supply port and a source of the liquid, the flow path permitting flow therethrough to remove liquid that remains in the supply path, the liquid that remains in the supply path having been supplied from the source of the liquid without being discharged from the supply port.
US08867014B2

A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel; a main frame surrounding sides of the liquid crystal panel; a backlight unit disposed under the liquid crystal panel and surrounded by the main frame, the backlight unit including a light guide plate, a lamp at a side of the light guide plate, a reflector under the light guide plate and an optical sheet on the light guide plate, wherein a rear surface of the reflector is exposed through an opening of the main frame; and a protection sheet attached to the rear surface of the reflector to protect the rear surface of the reflector and including a protruding part at a side of the protection sheet, the protection sheet has a rectangular shape.
US08867010B2

A display panel has a plurality of gate terminals that are formed of a gate metal layer and a plurality of source terminals that are formed of a source metal layer, disposed alternately as seen in a plane. From each of the source terminals an intermediate region and a terminal region are provided with inorganic insulating film such that a source terminal lead formed of the source metal layer is covered therewith. The intermediate region is provided with organic insulating film such that the inorganic insulating film is covered therewith. The inorganic insulating film is smaller in thickness in the terminal region than in the intermediate region. The inorganic insulating film has an opening in the terminal region to expose at least a portion of a surface of the source terminal.
US08867009B2

An LCD device provides enhanced display quality. An insulating layer is formed on a first substrate. The insulating layer covers the contact portion of a switching device in which the switching device is electrically connected to a transparent electrode and has an opening for exposing a portion of the transparent electrode. A reflection electrode is electrically connected to the transparent electrode through the opening. The insulation layer covers a first portion of a driving circuit formed on the first substrate. A sealant is interposed between the first and second substrate to engage the first and second substrate and to cover a second portion of the driving circuit. Therefore, the driver circuit may operate normally, and the distortion of the signal outputted from the driver circuit may be prevented.
US08867002B2

To provide a photoalignable material that can yield a photoalignable film having a high optical uniformity and no alignment defect, and allows photoalignment with exposure in a short period of time. A photoalignable polymer composition containing a specific photoalignable polymer having a silicone group or a fluorine-substituted alkyl group, and a photoalignable group, and a specific non-photoalignable polymer is manufactured, and the photoalignable film is manufactured by applying the polymer composition onto a base material or the like, drying an applied surface thereon, and irradiating the applied surface with light.
US08866997B2

Linear photo-oriented polymer (LPP) layers are situated to align liquid crystals in a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) layer situated at or on the LPP layers. The LCP layer can include a guest such as a fluorophore that aligns with the liquid crystal so as to emit polarized fluorescence in response to an excitation beam. Layer LPP/LCP structures can be provided as light emitters, patterned polarizers, patterned retarders and other devices based on selection of one or more guest materials included in the LCP and alignable with the liquid crystal.
US08866971B2

To apportion desired video processing between a video source device and a video sink device, at one of the devices, and based upon an indication of video processing algorithms of which the other device is capable and an indication of video processing algorithms of which the one device is capable, a set of video processing algorithms for achieving desired video processing is identified. The identified set of video processing algorithms is classified into a first subset of algorithms for performance by the other device and a second subset of algorithms for performance by the one device. At least one command for causing the other device to effect the first subset of video processing algorithms is sent. The one device may be configured to effect the second subset of algorithms.
US08866966B2

An image editing apparatus capable of easily setting an aspect ratio for use when edited image data are output. The image editing apparatus includes a determination unit for determining, among a plurality of images, which of vertically long images or horizontally long images are larger in the number of images, a decision unit for deciding an aspect ratio of images which are the largest in the number of images among the vertically or horizontally long images, whichever are determined as being larger in number by the determination unit, and an output unit for outputting the plurality of images at the aspect ratio decided by the decision unit.
US08866960B2

An imaging apparatus, including an imaging device determining an index value representing differences in sizes of plural polarization components having polarization directions different from each other included in light from each point in an imaging area, and continuously image a polarization information image having a pixel value based on the determined index value to form a moving image of the polarization information image; and a light exposure adjuster adjusting a light exposure such that the differences in sizes of the plural polarization components are maximum at a predetermined light exposure adjustment time during the continuous imaging.
US08866954B2

A solid-state imaging device has normal pixels, first phase difference pixels, and second phase difference pixels. “R”, “G”, and “B” denote colors of color filters provided for the respective pixels. A color dependence characteristic calculator averages output signals from the normal pixels located at the center of a screen, on a color basis, and thereby calculates average output signals. A color determination section determines a main color of a subject, out of three primary colors, based on the average output signals. An AF controller performs focus adjustment of a taking lens based on the output signals of the determined main color, out of the output signals from the first phase difference pixels and the second phase difference pixels.
US08866948B2

In an image capture mode, a noise reading operation and image signal reading operation are used. In a photometric operation mode, the image signal reading operation is used.
US08866945B2

An image capture apparatus that includes an array of color filters for green, red, and magenta colors arranged over a semiconductor substrate in the manner of a primary color Bayer pattern except a magenta color replaces the blue color. Light passing through the magenta color filter is integrated separately in a magenta pixel for a shallow photodiode signal and a deep photodiode signal in a first photodiode and a deeper second photodiode in the substrate, respectively. A mezzanine photodiode may be disposed between the first and second photodiodes and held at a fixed voltage level or reset multiple times during charge integration. A red pixel value for the magenta pixel is a function of the deep photodiode signal and an adjacent red pixel's red pixel signal. A minimum exists in its derivative with respect to the former at a value of the former that varies with the latter.
US08866942B2

Provided are an auto focus adjusting device, method, and a recording medium storing a program product for executing the auto focusing method. The method includes: deriving an input image from an image capturing device by changing a position of a focus lens; deriving a gamma correction image by applying a gamma curve to the input image; and deriving an auto focus (AF) value about a position of a focus lens through the gamma correction image.
US08866941B2

A solid-state imaging device is provided. The solid-state imaging device includes an imaging area that includes arrayed pixels having photoelectric converting units and transistor elements; and a peripheral circuit, in which a wiring line in the imaging area that is shifted based on pupil correction amount and a wiring line in the peripheral circuit that is not shifted are connected through a connection expanded portion integrally formed with one or both of the wiring lines.
US08866939B2

According to one embodiment, there is provided an analog gain range determining unit that determines a range to which an analog gain setting an amplification factor of a pixel signal read from a pixel belongs, a clamp parameter control condition setting unit that sets a control condition of a clamp parameter setting the black level based on a result of the determination by the analog gain range determining unit, and a clamp parameter control unit that controls the clamp parameter based on the control condition set by the clamp parameter control condition setting unit.
US08866936B2

An Active Random Field is presented, in which a Markov Random Field (MRF) or a Conditional Random Field (CRF) is trained together with a fast inference algorithm using pairs of input and desired output and a benchmark error measure.
US08866925B2

Compensation is performed for an image capture device which includes an image sensor which has a tunable spectral response and which is tunable in accordance with a capture mask. The compensation is for spatial non-uniformity in color sensitivity of the image sensor. A default capture mask is applied to the image sensor, and a sample image is captured using the image sensor tuned by the default capture mask. Color of the sample image is analyzed to identify spatial non-uniformity in color sensitivity of the image sensor. A compensation capture mask is constructed. The compensation capture mask is constructed using calculations based on the identified spatial non-uniformity so as to compensate for spatial non-uniformity in color sensitivity of the image sensor. The compensation capture mask is stored in a memory of the image capture device for application of the compensation capture mask to the image sensor.
US08866923B2

A modular camera and printer is disclosed. A camera module is provided having an image sensor for capturing an image in a RGB format. The camera module also has a central processing unit with program memory for storing program steps for execution by the central processing unit to operate the camera module, and an image storage memory for storing the captured image in the RGB format. An image processing unit of the camera module is in communication with the image storage memory and transforms image data in the image storage memory into a L*a*b* format. The camera module also has a serial bus for outputting transformed image data in the L*a*b* format. A printer module is provided also having a serial bus in communication with the serial bus of the camera module. The printer module receives the image data from the camera module in the L*a*b* format, converts the image data to a color space of the printer module, and then prints the image data on a printhead.
US08866922B2

After a plurality of differently exposed images are obtained, and tone levels of the plurality of images are adjusted, image elements corresponding to changes of objects are detected based on pixel value differences between the plurality of images. Then, the numbers of blown-out highlight and shadow-detail loss image elements in the image elements corresponding to the changes of the objects are counted for the plurality of images. Then, an image in which the total of the numbers of image elements is smallest is selected. Furthermore, image elements corresponding to the changes of the objects in the selected image are used as those corresponding to image elements corresponding to the changes of the objects in an HDR image to be generated.
US08866921B2

Devices and methods involving enhanced resolution image capture are provided. A representative electronic device includes: an image capture sensor having a plurality of pixels, the image capture sensor being operative to acquire a frame of image information by converting light incident upon the pixels during an exposure duration into electrical signals; and an image capture system selectively operative in a first image capture mode and a second image capture mode; in the first image capture mode, the image capture system outputs an image corresponding to a single frame of image information acquired during a single exposure duration; and in the second image capture mode, the image capture system outputs an enhanced image corresponding to frames of image information acquired during multiple exposure durations such that the enhanced image exhibits a higher resolution than a resolution exhibited by the acquired image associated with the first mode.
US08866906B1

The present invention is a systems for visual and sound surveillance using a land vehicle with multiple cameras that may have a small pan-tilt-zoom camera profile that may be attached to a roof or ceiling of the land vehicle. The cameras may be positioned in a passenger side front and rear corner, in a driver side position behind a driver seat location, and in a driver side rear corner. A platform with a controller may be in communication with the cameras, and may have a display, a keyboard, a camera position control device, and a recorder.
US08866904B2

There is provided a calibrating apparatus for an on-board camera of a vehicle, which allows speedy, yet reliable decision of acceptance/rejection of calibration result, with a simple apparatus construction, without depending on or being influenced by the calibration environment. An image processing target region on which an image processing for detection of each calibration point in each one of calibration markers in a camera-captured image which is a projecting plane of a camera coordinate system is displayed as a region frame in the form of a graphic image, in superposition with the camera-captured image.
US08866900B2

An information processing apparatus for extracting a more appropriate representative frame image from moving image data that includes a plurality of frames of image data arranged in a time series includes: an input unit configured to input moving image data; a detecting unit configured to detect a frame image, which includes an image similar to a prescribed image pattern; a tracking unit configured to detect a frame image, which includes an image similar to the image included in the detected frame image; a storage unit configured to store the successive frame images in association with time information; a splitting unit configured to split the moving image data into a plurality of time intervals with starting time and end time of each of one or more image sequences; and an extracting unit configured to extract a representative frame image.
US08866898B2

A system and method are disclosed living room movie creation. Movies can be directed, captured, and edited using a system that includes a depth camera. A virtual movie set can be created by using ordinary objects in the living room as virtual props. The system is able to capture motions of actors using the depth camera and to generate a movie based thereon. Therefore, there is no need for the actors to wear any special markers to detect their motion. A director may view scenes from the perspective of a “virtual camera” and record those scenes for later editing.
US08866893B2

Imaging apparatus performs controlling to read pixel information from pixels belonging to target area by each frame. One frame period is period from when an exposure period for exposing pixels on a horizontal line that is to be read first from among horizontal lines belonging to the target area of a sensor is started and until when reading of the pixel information generated by each of the pixels on the horizontal line is completed. The imaging apparatus sequentially emits, by each illumination period of a length corresponding to at least two frame periods, illumination lights in synchronization with start of the exposure period. The imaging apparatus performs a predetermined controlling by performing controlling to exclude, from predetermined processing target, image data corresponding to the pixel information read during first frame period of the illumination period, while by acquiring image data corresponding to the pixel information read during other frame period.
US08866886B2

The disclosed method for processing a digital broadcast signal including a 3-dimensional, 3D, content comprises encoding 3D video data for the 3D content, the 3D video data including a left picture for a left view and a right picture for a right view for a 3D image, generating signaling data including a subtitle segment having information for signaling 3D subtitles for the 3D content, and transmitting the digital broadcast signal including the encoded 3D video data and generated signaling data.
US08866874B2

System and method involving user interfaces and remote control devices. These user interfaces may be particularly useful for providing an intuitive and user friendly interaction between a user and a device or application using a display, e.g., at a “10 foot” interaction level. The user interfaces may be specifically designed for interaction using a simple remote control device having a limited number of inputs. For example, the simple remote control may include directional inputs (e.g., up, down, left, right), a confirmation input (e.g., ok), and possibly a mute input. The user interface may be customized based on current user activity or other contexts (e.g., based on current or previous states), the user logging in (e.g., using a communication device), etc. Additionally, the user interface may allow the user to adjust cameras whose video are not currently displayed, rejoin previously left videoconferences, and/or any of a variety of desirable actions.
US08866873B2

The present disclosure relates to a system for distributing video conference resources among connected parties and methods thereof. In an illustrative embodiment, an ad-hoc network providing conferencing resources is presented. The network can include a master device and a number of slave devices. Each of the slave devices can present their bandwidth capabilities to the master device. End devices can be connected to the master device. When no additional connections can be made to the master device, slave devices can be used to add the end devices into the conference. The slave device can thus share its resources to the conference. In one embodiment, individual slave devices can handle different types of codecs.
US08866871B2

An image processing method and an image processing device are provided. The image processing method includes: determining a first width and a second width, where the second width is the width of a gap between display devices of target images on N screens, the first width is the width of a blind spot between source images corresponding to the N screens, N is an integer greater than 1, and the N screens are of a same size and are arranged side by side at a same height; and when the first width is different from the second width, adjusting the source images according to the determined first width and second width so as to obtain the target images, so that no mismatch exists in the stitched target images on the N screens.
US08866867B2

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for recording videos in a video call. The method includes: determining a key voice input end of the video call and acquiring an image of the key voice input end; storing audio data of the video call; synthesizing the acquired image and audio, and then writing the synthesized image and audio into a recorded video file. The present invention solves the defect that the existing video call methods can not record flexibly by determining a source of a key voice, acquiring an image corresponding to the key voice, and synthesizing the image and a recorded audio, so that the sound and the image in the recorded video can be displayed correspondingly, and since only the image of the key voice input end in the call is displayed, the image in the recorded video is clearer.
US08866842B2

Various embodiments of methods and apparatus for adaptive content authoring are disclosed. A dimensionally-linked authoring interface comprising a dimension control for associating values of a dimension to frames is displayed. A plurality of frames and input associating each of the plurality of frames to a respective value of the dimension are received. A data structure comprising the plurality of frames and associations between the frames and the respective values of the dimension is generated.
US08866841B1

The present invention is directed to the realistic three-dimensional presentation of images in scenes, and is particularly useful for providing and tailoring artwork to appear on scene. In one embodiment, reserved names, such as reserved ink names, are provided to artwork, which results in the image being modified, such as by filling with a surface image, modifying layers properties, and/or turning layers on or off. In another embodiment, resizing of objects is provided in 2.5D or 3-D. In yet another embodiment, automatic adjustment of layer opacity, highlighting and/or shading is provided to artwork provided to a scene to provide a more realistic look.
US08866838B2

Methods and data processing systems are disclosed for color management in a multiple display system. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes color managing media based on a color gamut of a first display. Then, the method mirrors the media in a mirrored mode onto the first display and a second display. Then, the method processes the media for the second display through a gamma information for the second display. The gamma information is for a non-mirrored mode for the second display. The first and second displays may have different color gamuts. These color gamuts can be used for generating or modifying the gamma information for the second display. The gamma information may provide a color management for the second display that is based on the second display and is independent of the first display.
US08866833B2

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for a dynamic display refresh. In use, a state of a display device is identified in which an entirety of an image frame is currently displayed by the display device. In response to the identification of the state, it is determined whether an entirety of a next image frame to be displayed has been rendered to memory. The next image frame is transmitted to the display device for display thereof, when it is determined that the entirety of the next image frame to be displayed has been rendered to the memory. Further, a refresh of the display device is delayed, when it is determined that the entirety of the next image frame to be displayed has not been rendered to the memory.
US08866832B2

A decoding execution unit decodes image data encoded with a resolution higher than that of a display device. A display buffer stores image data decoded by the decoding execution unit. A standby buffer stores image data decoded by the decoding execution unit while the image data stored in the display buffer is being displayed. A reduced image buffer stores image data produced by reducing the entirety of the image data. An image display control unit switches from the image data stored in the display buffer to the image data stored in the standby buffer if the decoding of the image data by the decoding execution unit is completed, and enlarges the image in the reduced image buffer and stores the enlarged image in the display buffer if the decoding of the image data by the decoding execution unit is not completed.
US08866827B2

Described is a technology in a computing environment comprising a programming language for general purpose computation on a graphics processing unit (GPU), along with an associated compiler. A Bulk-Synchronous GPU Programming (BSGP) program is programmed to include barriers to describe parallel processing on GPUs. A BSGP compiler detects barriers corresponding to supersteps, converts BSGP programs to kernels based on the barriers, and combines them. During compilation, the compiler aligns barriers in the statements and bundles the corresponding supersteps together. A par construct is provided to allow the programmer to control aspects of bundling, e.g., by specifying a block independent statements. Thread manipulation emulation is provided to transparently emulate thread creation and destruction, with operations fork and kill. Also provided is remote variable access intrinsics for efficient communications between threads, and collective primitive operations.
US08866826B2

Parallel graphics-processing methods and mobile computing apparatus with parallel graphics-processing capabilities are disclosed. One exemplary embodiment of a mobile computing apparatus includes physical memory, at least two distinct graphics-processing devices, and a bus coupled to the physical memory and the at least two graphics-processing devices. A virtual graphics processing component enables each of at least two graphics-processing operations to be executed, in parallel, by a corresponding one of the at least two distinct graphics-processing devices, which operate in the same memory surface at the same time.
US08866822B2

Techniques and tools described herein provide effective ways to program a property of a target object to vary depending on a source. For example, for a key frame animation for a property of a target UI element, an alternate time source is set to a property of a source UI element. When the target UI element is rendered at runtime, the animation changes the target value depending on the value of the property of the source UI element. Features of UI elements and animations can be specified in markup language. The alternate time source can be specified through a call to a programming interface. Animations for multiple target UI elements can have the same source, in which case different parameters for the respective animations can be used to adjust source values in different ways.
US08866821B2

Techniques for efficiently tracking points on a depth map using an optical flow are disclosed. In order to optimize the use of optical flow, isolated regions of the depth map may be tracked. The sampling regions may comprise a 3-dimensional box (width, height and depth). Each region may be “colored” as a function of depth information to generate a “zebra” pattern as a function of depth data for each sample. The disclosed techniques may provide for handling optical flow tracking when occlusion occurs by utilizing a weighting process for application of optical flow vs. velocity prediction to stabilize tracking.
US08866814B2

Systems and methods are provided for producing a rendered drawing or rendering from a detailed image of an object (e.g. photograph) resulting in a rendering that is photogrammetric and that preserves detail in the said image of said object. The combination of the metric nature and image detail preservation in a rendering resulting from the process enhances the usefulness of the rendering to users. The invention is useful in particular for large format renderings such as wire frame style drawings used for blueprints in the architecture, engineering and construction industry (AEC industry) when used for existing structures. The processes combine graphic arts techniques with photogrammetric techniques to preserve, fully or partially, information about an object as captured in image detail of said object and to present said information in photogrammetrically correct rendering, which rendering may be incorporated into drawings useful to and/or familiar to end users of said drawings.
US08866811B2

Position and orientation information of a specific part of an observer is acquired (S403). It is determined whether or not a region of a specific part virtual object that simulates the specific part and that of another virtual object overlap each other on an image of a virtual space after the specific part virtual object is laid out based on the position and orientation information on the virtual space on which one or more virtual objects are laid out (S405). When it is determined that the regions overlap each other, an image of the virtual space on which the other virtual object and the specific part virtual object are laid out is generated; when it is determined that the regions do not overlap each other, an image of the virtual space on which only the other virtual object is laid out is generated (S409).
US08866809B2

System and method for rendering dynamic three-dimensional appearing imagery on a two-dimensional user interface screen of a portable computing device in dependence on a user's view-point of the screen. The method includes processing, on a portable computing device, data defining a plurality of user view-points of a user interface screen of the portable computing device. The method next includes rendering a first image of a constructed scene on the user interface screen based on a first determined user's view-point of the user interface screen of the portable computing device. The method then includes rendering a different image of the constructed scene on the user interface screen based on a subsequently determined user's view-point of the user interface screen and thereby presenting the illusion of a three-dimensional image of the constructed scene on the user interface screen.
US08866805B2

A stereoscopic image display includes a display panel which includes a plurality of pixels each including a main display unit and an auxiliary display unit, is divided into a first screen block and a second screen block, and includes a first discharge control line connected to auxiliary display units of the first screen block and a second discharge control line connected to auxiliary display units of the second screen block, a control voltage generator which generates a first discharge control voltage of a first AC waveform and a second discharge control voltage of a second AC waveform, of which a phase is later than a phase of the first AC waveform by a half frame period, and a control voltage delay unit which delays the first and second discharge control voltages.
US08866803B2

A scanning position of laser light applied to a projection plane is detected, and based on the detected scanning position, a synchronization signal is generated to designate a scan timing. A correction region detection portion detects whether or not a part corresponding to a prescribe region of an image on the projection plane is scanned by laser light, based on the generated synchronization signal. When the part corresponding to the prescribed region is scanned, a correction amount derivation portion corrects a gradation signal based on the difference between the detected quantity of laser light and a prescribed quantity of light to be output from the laser for displaying the image in the prescribed region.
US08866799B2

A display apparatus includes a display panel, a plurality of gate lines driving circuit parts, a plurality of data lines driving circuit parts and a timing control part. The display panel includes a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines. The gate lines driving circuit parts output gate signals to the gate lines. The data lines driving circuit parts output data signals to the data lines. The timing control part applies a dummy gate signal to at least one dummy gate line, controls a latch sequence of image data and an output sequence of the gate lines driving circuit parts in a reverse sequence, in response to an inverted-mounting mode selection signal for displaying an inverted mount image to the display panel. Because signal lines can be shortened, heat generated by the display apparatus may be decreased and image quality of the display apparatus may be improved.
US08866779B2

A display device includes a display panel and a touch panel built in the display panel. The touch panel includes a sensitivity correcting unit configured to correct the sensitivity of the touch panel. The sensitivity correcting unit includes a difference acquiring unit configured to acquire a signal difference (S1−S2) between a detection signal S1 acquired by detection electrodes when a driving signal V1 is input to scanning electrodes from a driving-signal supplying unit and a detection signal S2 (S1>S2) acquired by the detection electrodes when a driving signal V2 (V1>V2) different from the driving signal V1 is input to the scanning electrodes from the driving-signal supplying unit and a parameter changing unit configured to change parameters of at least one of the driving-signal supplying unit and a detecting unit when the signal difference (S1−S2) is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold.
US08866762B2

Various embodiments of a capacitive touchscreen system and corresponding methods are described. A touchscreen controller is operably connected to a first plurality of drive electrodes, a second plurality of sense electrodes, and a host processor. The touchscreen controller has computer-readable button group programming instructions and data loaded into a first memory portion thereof from the host processor that comprise steps for sensing and arbitrating among touches occurring on and within a first plurality of buttons. Firmware instructions and data are loaded into a second portion of the memory of the touchscreen controller. The first plurality of buttons is arranged in a first group on the touchscreen, and the first group is located within a first portion of the touchscreen. Capacitive sensing of touches occurring on and within at least second portions of the touchscreen that are located outside the first portion of the touchscreen are controlled by the firmware instructions.
US08866761B2

An operation display device includes: a display unit that displays an image; a touch panel that is mounted on the display unit; a detecting unit that detects a pressed position on the touch panel and detects a pressing force against the touch panel; and an execution control unit.The execution control unit, if the pressing force is more than a predetermined threshold, executes a first function that is predetermined in accordance with the pressed position and, if the pressing force is equal to or less than the threshold, executes a second function that is predetermined in accordance with the pressed position.
US08866756B2

A touch screen panel that that is less susceptible to malfunction by static electricity. The touch screen panel includes: a transparent substrate; sensing cells formed on the transparent substrate, comprising: first sensing cells connected in a first direction; and second sensing cells connected in a second direction intersecting with the first direction; and connecting patterns formed on the transparent substrate, comprising: first connecting patterns connecting the first sensing cells in the first direction, and second connecting patterns connecting the second sensing cells in the second direction; wherein the sensing cells include prominences extending toward adjacent ones of the sensing cells.
US08866755B2

A touch-controlled electronic apparatus includes a loading plate, a touch panel, a flexible PCB, a sensor pad, and a control circuit. The loading plate has a display touch area, a wire area, and a hot bonding area. The touch panel is disposed on the display touch area of the loading plate. The flexible PCB has a touch button area and a control circuit area. The sensor pad is disposed on the touch button area of the flexible PCB and is used as touch buttons. The control circuit is disposed on the control circuit area of the flexible PCB. The flexible PCB is disposed and bonded to the loading plate, wherein the touch button area is disposed on at least one of the wire area and the hot bonding area.
US08866749B2

A backlight module for an operation interface of a portable electronic device is disclosed. The operation interface includes at least one keypad. The backlight module includes a light guide film including at least one hole corresponding to the at least one keypad, a backlight board installed in the bottom of the light guide film for reflecting light, and a light emitting unit installed in a side of the light guide film for generating light source to inside of the light guide film, wherein the at least one hole of the light guide film is filled with a phosphor material.
US08866741B2

A method, medium and apparatus browsing images is disclosed. The method browsing images includes sensing acceleration imparted to a portable digital device, and moving an image onto a display area in accordance with a tilt angle of the portable digital device if the sensed acceleration is greater than a first threshold value.
US08866740B2

The system provides a gestural interface to various visually presented elements, presented on a display screen or screens. A gestural vocabulary includes ‘instantaneous’ commands, in which forming one or both hands into the appropriate ‘pose’ results in an immediate, one-time action; and ‘spatial’ commands, in which the operator either refers directly to elements on the screen by way of literal ‘pointing’ gestures or performs navigational maneuvers by way of relative or “offset” gestures. The system contemplates the ability to identify the users hands in the form of a glove or gloves with certain indicia provided thereon, or any suitable means for providing recognizable indicia on a user's hands or body parts. A system of cameras can detect the position, orientation, and movement of the user's hands and translate that information into executable commands.
US08866738B2

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a browsing log recorder, a first display module, a second display module, an operation input module and a controller. The browsing log recorder is configured to record a browsing log of e-books. The controller is configured to cause the first display module to display the interrupted page of the most recently interrupted e-book or to cause the second display module to display the list of interrupted e-books in accordance with an operation of the operation input module.
US08866735B2

A method and apparatus for activating a function of the electronic device is disclosed herewith. The method includes detecting a first input by a motion sensor. Further, the method activates a touch sensor of the electronic device in response to detecting the first input. The method then detects a second input by the motion sensor within a predetermined time period from the first input. Next, the method determines, in response to detecting the second input, whether contact has occurred at the touch sensor and activates a function of the electronic device in response to determining that contact has occurred at the touch sensor when the second input is detected.
US08866731B2

A system for one or more portions of one or more regions of an electronic paper assembly having one or more display layers includes, but is not limited to: obtaining and one or more multi-layer display control modules configured to direct control of display of one or more portions of one or more display layers of the electronic paper assembly regarding display of second information having one or more classifications in response to the first information associated with one or more changes in the one or more conformations of the one or more portions of the one or more regions of the electronic paper assembly. In addition to the foregoing, other related method/system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.
US08866707B2

In a display device using a delta arrangement, in a case where a circuit of a large number of elements such as a static memory is arranged every pixel, a wire becomes complicated to cause wiring delay. A shape of a pixel electrode is formed polygonally to arrange in a case where the number of elements such as a static memory is large or in a case where an area of an element required to be included in a pixel is large in a delta arrangement. The shape of the pixel electrode is arranged in a polygon so that a wire along a pixel shape can be used. Even in a case of a pixel with a large number of elements, parasitic resistance of a wire and parasitic capacitance of a wire can be reduced so that wiring delay can be solved.
US08866704B2

In a light-emitting apparatus including a cap layer disposed on a second electrode and a contact portion, which is disposed in an external region outside the light-emitting region and which electrically connects the second electrode to the drive circuit, the formation end of the cap layer is located in the side nearer to the light-emitting region than is the formation end of the second electrode.
US08866701B2

Methods and systems for transparent user interface integration between remote (“published”) applications and their local counterparts are described, providing a seamless, unified user experience, and allowing integration of a start menu, dock, taskbar, desktop shortcuts, windows, window and application switching, system tray elements, client-to-host and host-to-client file type association, URL redirection, browser cookie redirection, token redirection, status message interception and redirection, and other elements. These methods and systems further enhance theme-integration between a client and remote desktop or virtual machine by remoting all UI elements to a recipient for generation, including text controls, buttons, progress bars, radio buttons, list boxes, or other elements; presenting them with the receiver's product and OS-specific UI; and returning status back to the sender. This may achieve a more unified and transparent UI integration. Furthermore, international text may be correctly received in cross-language environments, or translated into the language of the presenting environment.
US08866698B2

Bi-stable display technology and refresh display technology are integrated into a single device, which manages the use of these technologies to achieve power savings while providing a rich set of display functionalities that support interaction with content in a synergistic manner. Power saving functionality facilitates conservation of battery operating life, and flexible display functionalities enable access, display, and interaction with content in various ways.
US08866691B2

A multimode antenna structure is provided for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals in a communications device. The communications device includes circuitry for processing signals communicated to and from the antenna structure. The antenna structure includes a plurality of antenna ports for coupling to the circuitry; a plurality of antenna elements, each operatively coupled to a different one of the antenna ports; and a plurality of connecting elements. The connecting elements each electrically connect neighboring antenna elements such that the antenna elements and the connecting elements are arranged about the periphery of the antenna structure and form a single radiating structure. Electrical currents on one antenna element flow to connected neighboring antenna elements and generally bypass the antenna ports coupled to the neighboring antenna elements such that an antenna mode excited by one antenna port is generally electrically isolated from a mode excited by another antenna port at a given desired signal frequency range, and the antenna structure generates diverse antenna patterns.
US08866689B2

A multiband dipole antenna solution suitable for use in various wireless device applications, and methods of tuning and utilizing the same. In one embodiment, the antenna is adapted for use in long term evolution (LTE or LTE-A) radio devices. In one implementation, the antenna comprises (i) two planar directly fed radiating elements operating in a lower frequency band and disposed on two opposing sides of a dielectric structure, and (ii) two electromagnetically coupled radiating elements operating in an upper frequency band also disposed on the opposing sides of the dielectric structure. An additional pair of electromagnetically coupled radiator elements is utilized to achieve wider antenna operating bandwidth.
US08866688B2

A planar oscillator is provided includes an oscillator portion formed by four oscillator arms, the four oscillator arms defining two orthogonal half-wave oscillators, each oscillator arm being of a square and these oscillator arms being arranged in a square configuration, each oscillator arm having a feeding terminal defined at a corner thereof facing another oscillator arm; a connective portion connected among these oscillator arms so that these arms are connected with each other; and a medium base plate for printing the oscillator portion and connective portion thereon. In addition, a plurality of through holes is defined in the medium base plate. The antenna made according to the invention is simple and compact in construction and good in performance. In addition, the antenna is easy to be manufactured and assembled. Moreover, the antenna of the invention benefits from wide bandwidth, high gain and cross polarization ratio, and excellent isolation.
US08866674B2

At a current position, a measurement packet is determined by a mobile terminal device at a measurement time. The measurement packet includes transmitter identifications of radio transmitters receivable at the current position of the mobile terminal device at the measurement time. By means of reference measurement packets provided to the mobile terminal device, the mobile terminal device itself can determine its current position. Additionally, a deviation of the determined transmitter identifications of the measurement packet from reference transmitter identifications of the reference measurement packets is determined. If a deviation of the reference transmitter identifications from the transmitter identifications determined at the current position is detected, experience messages can be generated that can again result in an update measure as, for example, updating the reference database by adding new transmitter identifications to the reference database and/or removing obsolete reference transmitter identifications from the reference database.
US08866669B2

A handheld electronic device, such as a GPS-enabled wireless communications device with an embedded camera, a GPS-enabled camera-phone or a GPS-enabled digital camera, determines whether ephemeris data needs to be obtained for geotagging digital photos taken with the device. By monitoring user activity with respect to the camera, such as activation of the camera, the device can begin pre-acquisition of a GPS position fix by obtaining needed ephemeris data before the photograph is actually taken. This GPS pre-acquisition improves the likelihood that a position fix (GPS lock) is achieved by the time the photo is taken (to enable immediate geotagging). Alternatively, the photo can be geotagged retroactively by appending the current location to the metadata tag associated with the digital photo. An optional acquisition status indicator can be displayed on a user interface of the device to indicate that a position fix is being obtained.
US08866664B2

Provided is a vehicle-mounted radar device capable of obtaining a high azimuth resolution with a simple configuration.The vehicle-mounted radar device is mounted on a vehicle, and includes: a detector for irradiating a periphery of the vehicle with electromagnetic waves, and for outputting a reception signal obtained from reflected waves that are reflected from an object that exists in the periphery of the vehicle; a vehicle information calculator for calculating information related to a movement of the vehicle with a use of vehicle information of the vehicle; a storage unit for storing a plurality of the reception signals outputted by the detector at different time points; and a synthetic aperture processor for conducting a synthetic aperture processing on the reception signals obtained by the vehicle at different positions, based on the information related to the movement of the vehicle.
US08866663B2

In exemplary implementations of this invention, a radio signal is transmitted between a transmitter and a receiver. Either the transmitter, or receiver, or both, have a directional antenna. When organic tissue passes between (or is stationary between) the transmitter and receiver, the tissue causes a reduction of the received signal strength (RSS) of the signal, as compared to a baseline RSS. The larger the amount of tissue, the greater is the reduction of the RSS. By analyzing the degradation of the signal, information about organic tissue between the transmitter and receiver may be determined. For example, the number of persons passing through a physical threshold may be determined. Or the fact that one person is walking faster than, and catching up with, a second person as they pass between the transmitter and receiver may be determined.
US08866660B2

A system and method for mitigating Analog to Digital (A/D) clipping is disclosed. The mean and variance of analog input data are tracked and the bits of A/D are dynamically reassigned to keep the input signal within their range. The quantization levels of A/D are dynamically re-mapped to avoid changes in sensitivity of sensor system. The method is based on random walk statistic and keeps the sensitivity of the sensor system constant. Also the system and method provides a way to mitigate A/D clipping that avoids changing the sensitivity by dynamically re-mapping the quantization levels of the A/D, keeping the sensitivity of the system constant.
US08866658B2

A resistor string digital-to-analog converter includes a high-order resistor string, first high-order switches, a high-order decoder, a low-order decoder, and a conversion unit. The high-order resistor string includes a plurality of voltage acquisition points that are coupled through unit resistors. The high-order decoder generates a first high-order control signal in accordance with a high-order bit value, and operates in accordance with the first high-order control signal to bring into conduction a first high-order switch coupled to a pair of voltage acquisition points adjacent to each other through one or more voltage acquisition points. The low-order decoder generates a low-order control signal for controlling the conversion unit. The conversion unit divides a pair of high-order analog voltages output from a pair of voltage acquisition points.
US08866654B2

A method and electronic device for outputting time values and energy of an analog input signal by dynamically determining a plurality of threshold values, comparing, using a plurality of comparator circuits, the plurality of threshold values against the analog input signal, outputting, using at least one time to digital conversion circuit connected to each of the plurality of comparator circuits, a plurality of time values, each time value output when the analog input signal meets or exceeds a threshold value of the threshold values, filtering the analog input signal, performing, using an analog-to-digital conversion circuit, analog-to-digital conversion of the filtered analog input signal to generate a digital signal, and calculating, in response to receiving a trigger signal, an energy of the digital signal.
US08866653B2

A successive approximation (SAR) analog-to-digital converter for generating a digital signal of N bits is provided. The converter includes a capacitive digital-to-analog conversion circuit including an (N−1)-th conversion unit to a first conversion unit. Each of the first conversion unit to the (N−2)-th conversion unit includes a capacitor. The (N−1)-th conversion unit comprises a number of sub-capacitors. Each of the sub-capacitors of the (N−1)-th conversion unit has substantially the same capacitance with corresponding capacitor of the first conversion unit to the (N−2)-th conversion unit. During the conversion process, the SAR control circuit, after generating the value of the most significant bit (MSB) of the digital signal, generates the value of the next bit by controlling the (N−1)-th conversion unit. Then, the SAR control circuit repeatedly uses at least one of the sub-capacitors of the (N−1)-th conversion unit to generate the value of other bits to perform self linear compensation.
US08866647B2

A recording medium stores an information processing program that causes a computer to execute storing a compression symbol map group having a bit string indicating for each character code, presence or absence of the character code in a file group, and a Huffman tree whose leaf corresponding to the character code has a pointer to a compression symbol map of the character code, the Huffman tree converting the character code into a compression symbol of the character code; compressing sequentially and according to the Huffman tree, a character code to be compressed and described in a file of the file group; detecting access to the leaf at the compressing; identifying by a pointer in the accessed leaf, a compression symbol map of the character code to be compressed; and updating a bit that indicates presence or absence of the character code to be compressed, in the identified compression symbol map.
US08866637B1

Method for collecting video files of one or more Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) components, including receiving information pertaining to the one or more LDAR components within a specified area, recording a video of the LDAR components for a predetermined amount of time using a camera, associating the video with the information, and storing the video along with the information to a memory located in a computer.
US08866626B2

A method, system and computer software for detecting an incipient failure of a generator in a power system including the steps of ascertaining one or more generator reference parameter of the generator for use as a baseline reference; measuring one or more operating parameter values of the generator; using the one or more operating parameter values to solve for an estimated present value of the one or more of the generator's current performance parameters using particle swarm optimization technique; and determining whether the estimated present values of the one or more of the generator's current performance parameters are outside of an acceptable limit.
US08866624B2

Signaling systems are disclosed that indicate a change in an absorbent article, such as the presence of a body fluid. The various different signaling systems disclosed do not include any conductive elements contained on the interior of the article as were required in the past. Instead, the changes are monitored from the outer cover of the article. In one aspect, for instance, a signaling device is provided for sensing and indicating the presence of a body exudate in an absorbent article, the device including a housing and a capacitive sensor disposed within the housing, the capacitive sensor adapted to sense a change in capacitance due to an insult to the absorbent article. The signaling device can include an attachment mechanism for removably attaching the housing to the absorbent article.
US08866623B2

The present invention provides an alert interactive system designed to serve as an alertness tool to ensure that a person, such as an aircraft pilot, a car or truck driver, a soldier or sailor on watch, or a security professional, remains alert. The alert interactive system provides instructions and time for the person to enter a code, and provides an alert to that person and others when the code is not entered timely and correctly. The present invention indicates when the person is not alert, and may be taking a nap, may be fully asleep, or unconsciousness.
US08866616B2

An radio frequency identification (“RFID”) system and RFID tag that include a substrate body having a surface where the substrate body defines a plane of the tag, an RFID integrated circuit disposed on the surface of the substrate body, and an antenna that has an antenna pattern, which is disposed on the substrate body and in electrical communication with the RFID integrated circuit, the antenna generating a radiation pattern with maximum gain along an axis that is substantially coplanar with the tag. The antenna can include a first antenna portion and a second antenna portion, the first antenna portion having a first antenna end and a second antenna end, the first antenna end of the first antenna portion in electrical communication with the RFID integrated circuit and the first antenna portion forming an antenna pattern in a counterclockwise direction, and the second antenna portion having a first antenna end and a second antenna end, the first antenna end of the second antenna portion in electrical communication with the RFID integrated circuit and the second antenna portion forming an antenna pattern in a clockwise direction.
US08866597B2

The present invention relates to a radio remote control system of a machine that comprises at least one machine drive for a moveable machine part, which machine drive can be controlled by the radio remote control system, comprising a hand-held unit (10) comprising a control unit, a transmitter and at least one motion sensor, wherein the control unit is configured to communicate control commands issued by a user to a transmitter, and to cause the transmitter to transmit the control commands to the machine, in particular to an associated receiver, and wherein movements of the hand-held unit (10) in space about at least one tilt axis or pitch axis (KA, DA) can be detected by the motion sensor in such a way that in a motion control mode, the detected movements can be converted by the control unit into control commands, which can be communicated to the machine, wherein the motion control mode can be activated by a user input at the hand-held unit (10). It is proposed according to the invention that the control unit is also configured such that on activating the motion control mode, the current attitude (I) of the hand-held unit (10) in space is detected as the current reference attitude (I), so that movements relative to this current reference attitude (I) can be detected by the motion sensor, and can be communicated by the control unit as control commands to the machine. The invention also relates to an operating method for a radio remote control system according to the invention.
US08866594B1

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader containing a reader key authenticates an RFID tag containing a tag key by receiving a reader challenge from a verification authority; determining a reader response based at least on the reader challenge and the reader key; sending a first message including at least the reader response but not the reader key to the verification authority; receiving a tag identifier from the tag; challenging the tag with a tag challenge; receiving a tag response based at least on the tag challenge and the tag key but not including the tag key; sending a second message including at least the tag identifier and the tag response to the verification authority; and receiving an electronically-signed reply from the verification authority. The reader validates the verification authority reply by checking the signature. The verification authority may notify a designated party if a response is incorrect.
US08866593B2

An apparatus includes a battery pack, processor attached to the battery pack, and an antenna attached to the processor for establishing a radio link with an electronic device powered by the batter pack.
US08866591B2

An identification device (1) for a pneumatic spring (2) includes an RFID transponder (8), which is completely embedded into the elastomer matrix (13) of the flexible member (4). An electromagnetic field is generated by a read device (9), wherein the energy necessary for supplying the RFID transponder (8) is taken from the electromagnetic field generated by the read device (9). When the read device (9) is active, information can be exchanged between the RFID transponder (8) and the read device (9). The RFID transponder (8) operates completely without an internal energy supply. The RFID transponder (8) may also be configured as a read/write transponder including a memory chip, wherein data may be stored on the memory chip in a safe and permanent manner. By retrieving data from the RFID transponder (8), an identification of the pneumatic spring (2) is possible even without any internal power supply of the RFID transponder.
US08866588B2

A method performs an update for a first device that consumes information with a known expiration time. The first device operates within a network that accommodates other devices also consuming the information. The method includes setting a time for the first device to refresh the information, the time to refresh being based on a pseudorandom time offset. The method also includes sending a refresh request to a resource for the data during the set time.
US08866584B2

To provide a control system capable of avoiding communication with an unintended external device when a number of external devices exist outside the device. A control system includes a control device 200 that controls at least one function, and at least one external device 900-1 to 900-n (n is an arbitrary integer) existing outside the control device 200. Further, the control device 200 counts a number of reception signals received from the external device 900-1 to 900-n and suspends communication with the external device 900-1 to 900-n according to the counted number of reception signals.
US08866583B2

A universal system and method for controlling existing garage doors via existing garage door openers. The system includes a module operable both manually and automatically to control the existing garage door, Wifi communication circuitry to receive instructions wirelessly from a remote, circuitry for automatic and remote control of the garage door and circuitry for pushing garage door status information.
US08866582B2

A system for mounting an outdoor fluorescent lamp lighting fixture to a pole includes a compression sleeve configured to receive and tighten around the pole, a pivot base fixed to the compression sleeve, a mount configured for securing to the fluorescent lamp lighting fixture and for pivotally coupling to the pivot base, where the mount includes multiple adjustment points configured to allow the mount to be fixed at varying angles relative to the pivot base.
US08866574B2

A process for producing a rare earth magnet comprises: an adhesion step of causing a diffusion element capable of diffusing inwardly to adhere to the surface part of a magnet material comprising a compact or sintered body of rare earth alloy particles; and an evaporation step of heating the magnet material in vacuum to evaporate at least a portion of the diffusion element having been retained on or in the surface part of the magnet material.
US08866572B2

A magnetization apparatus and process for producing thin magnetized sheets and rolls. It has permanent magnet pieces oriented and magnetized perpendicular to the other components of soft pole piece surfaces. This orientation permits the adjustably controlled field strength of the magnetic field produced. By varying the number of pole pieces and the corresponding permanent magnets the magnetic coupling and magnetic field strength varies. This field variance shifts the aligned poles into a “random orientation”. Therefor the alignment of like poles on the consecutive sheets is avoided and the sheets can lay flat and not be repelled by aligned poles.
US08866564B2

The present invention is an orthomode transducer (OMT) device that allows for dual polarized dual frequency band antenna feed systems. The OMT device includes a waveguide structure having a first end and a second end such that the first end defines a port for receiving signals. The waveguide structure includes an outer wall defining a waveguide chamber therein and the outer wall includes a first cylindrical section proximate the first end. The waveguide structure also includes a second cylindrical section proximate the second end and a region therebetween. At least one longitudinal groove is introduced proximate the second end and extends towards the first end of the waveguide structure. The OMT device further includes at least one waveguide coupled to the outer wall of the waveguide chamber which is in signal communication with the waveguide chamber through an opening in the region of the outer wall.
US08866561B2

An adjustable impedance matching network for providing an adjustable matching impedance (Rm) is presented. The matching network includes first and second impedance adjusting circuits. The first impedance adjusting circuit is adapted to adjust the value of an imaginary part of the matching impedance while substantially maintaining the value of a real part of the matching impedance based on frequency information frequency and a target reference value. The second impedance adjusting circuit is adapted to adjust the value of an imaginary part of the matching impedance to be substantially equal to zero based on the frequency information, so as to adjust the real part of the matching impedance to be substantially equal to the target reference value.
US08866559B2

A parametric audio system that permits greater control over the bandwidth of a modulated signal. The system includes a carrier signal generator for generating a carrier signal, at least one audio signal source for generating at least one audio signal, and a modulation component for generating an envelope signal based on the at least one audio signal, modulating the phase of the carrier signal based on a predetermined function to generate a first modulated signal, and multiplying the envelope signal and the first modulated signal to generate a second modulated signal. By selection of the predetermined function, the modulation component can alter the spectrum of the second modulated signal, thereby permitting greater control over the bandwidth of the second modulated signal.
US08866558B2

A standing wave oscillator includes a cross-coupled differential transistor pair having a pair of input terminals and a pair of output terminals; and a resonant circuit coupled to the input terminals of the cross-coupled differential transistor pair. The resonant circuit includes: a capacitance between the input terminals of the cross-coupled differential transistor pair; and a differential dual-mode coplanar waveguide (CPW) having opposite differential ends thereof connected to respective input terminals of the cross-coupled differential transistor pair. CPW ground lines of the differential dual-mode coplanar waveguide each have a first end thereof connected to the first supply voltage and have a second end thereof floating or unterminated.
US08866556B2

A phase shift phase locked loop (PSPLL) are described. The phase shift PLL includes a PLL and a phase adjusting circuit coupled to the inputs of the PLL. The phase adjusting circuit has a first input, a first output, a second input, a third input, and a second output. The first output and the second output are coupled to a first input and a second input of the PLL, respectively. The second input of the phase adjusting circuit receives a feedback signal and the third input of the phase adjusting circuit receives a control signal. The phase adjusting circuit receives a reference signal and sends a first output signal and a second output signal based on the reference signal to the PLL to adjust a phase of an output signal of the PLL in an increment less than a time period of the output signal of the PLL.
US08866536B1

A process monitoring circuit may be used to determine appropriate voltage for integrated circuits including a non-volatile memory. The process monitoring circuit includes a bandgap reference, a clock generator, a negative bias circuit, a temperature insensitive oscillator, a low dropout voltage regulator, a counter, a comparison circuit, and a charge. The process monitoring circuit may also include a pulse width generator. The process monitoring circuit is able to determine the process corner of which a monitored circuit belongs to and generate an output voltage according to the process corner of the monitored circuit.
US08866535B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes: a first switching element; a first interconnection; a first resistor; and a second interconnection. The first switching element includes a first control terminal, a first electrode terminal, and a first conductor terminal. The second switching element includes a second control terminal, a second electrode terminal, and a second conductor terminal. The first interconnection includes a first through a fourth interterminal interconnections. The first resistor is connected at a first end to the first control terminal. The second resistor is connected at a first end to the second control terminal and is connected at a second end to a second end of the first resistor. The second interconnection is provided between the first electrode terminal and the second electrode terminal and/or between the first control terminal and the second control terminal.
US08866530B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes an interface, a power supply, a driver, and a switch section. The interface includes a first MOSFET and converts a terminal switch signal of input serial data into parallel data. The first MOSFET is provided on the SOI substrate and has a back gate in a floating state. The power supply includes a second MOSFET and generates an ON potential higher than a potential of a power supply to be supplied to the interface. The second MOSFET is provided on the SOI substrate and has a back gate connected to a source. The driver includes a third MOSFET and outputs a control signal for controlling the ON potential to be in a high level according to the parallel data. The third MOSFET is provided on the SOI substrate and has a back gate connected to a source.
US08866528B2

A dual flip-flop circuit combines two or more flip-flip sub-circuits into a single circuit. The flip-flop circuit comprises a first flip-flop sub-circuit and a second flip-flop sub-circuit. The first flip-flop sub-circuit comprises a first storage sub-circuit configured to store a first selected input signal and transfer the first selected input signal to a first output signal when a buffered clock signal transitions between two different logic levels and a dock driver configured to receive a clock input signal, generate an inverted clock signal, and generate the buffered clock signal. The second flip-flop sub-circuit is coupled to the clock driver and configured to receive the inverted clock signal and the buffered clock signal. The second flip-flop sub-circuit comprises a second storage sub-circuit configured to store a second selected input signal and transfer the second selected input signal to a second output signal when the buffered clock signal transitions.
US08866521B2

A voltage generation circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus includes a plurality of pumping units configured to provide voltages to an output node; a sensing unit configured to sense a voltage level of the output node and generate a pumping enable signal; an oscillator configured to generate an oscillator signal in response to the pumping enable signal; and a control unit configured to selectively output the oscillator signal to the plurality of pumping units in response to an active signal, a power-up signal and a mode register set signal.
US08866498B2

A differential capacitive transducer system is disclosed that includes first and second capacitive cores and a chopping system. The first core a first input coupled to a first capacitor, a second input coupled to a second capacitor, and a first output. The second core includes a third input coupled to a third capacitor, a fourth input coupled to a fourth capacitor, and a second output. The chopping system has first and fourth inputs coupled to positive signals, and second and third inputs coupled to negative signals. As the chopping system switches between high and low states, it couples the core inputs to different polarity signals reducing charge buildup. The different polarity signals can have substantially same magnitudes. Chopper clock and main clock frequencies can be selected to provide substantially zero average voltages at the core inputs. The system can include an integrator circuit and differential summing circuits.
US08866486B2

A device for detecting and locating at least one electric discharge in equipment insulated by fluid contained in an electrically-conductive housing. The equipment includes a plurality of grounding lines connected between the housing and ground. The device includes a plurality of Rogowski coil type current detectors and a mechanism synchronously comparing signals delivered by the current detectors. The coil of each detector is placed around a respective one of the lines. Each detector delivers a signal representative of current flowing in the line, with occurrence of an electric discharge giving rise to a sudden variation in the current, and with electric discharge being located within an inside zone of the housing situated in proximity of the line that is surrounded by the detector that was first to deliver the sudden variation of current.
US08866478B2

In a magnetic resonance apparatus and operating method therefor, and in a processor that is programmed to design RF pulses for operating such a magnetic resonance apparatus, the RF pulses are designed to mitigate off-resonance effects caused by inhomogeneity of the basic (B0) magnetic field in the magnetic resonance apparatus. The RF pulses of a parallel transmit array are designed with different spatial phase distributions, that deviate from a constant phase from pulse-to-pulse, with the absolute value of the difference between respective spatial phase distributions of any two successively radiated RF pulses corresponding to the off-resonance that is caused by B0-inhomogeneity during the time between the radiation of the successive pulses. Additionally, or separately, currents supplied to the shim coils can be taken into account in the design of the RF pulses as an additional degree of freedom, with the shimming of the basic magnetic field produced by the shim currents deviating from shim currents designed to ideally produce a homogenous B0 field.
US08866469B2

Several systems and methods for monitoring the proximity of a device to a power line are disclosed. Electric field monitoring systems are mounted to the device and include a plurality of electric field sensors and a monitoring system base unit. Each electric field monitoring sensor senses the strength of a magnetic field in which the sensor is positioned and transmits a corresponding magnitude output signal to the base unit when polled by the base unit. If a sensor reports a magnetic field exceeding a threshold, the frequency of polling for that sensor may be increased. If a sensor reports a magnetic field exceeding another (possibly identical) threshold, an alarm may be activated, movement of the device may be limited or stopped or another action or a combination of actions may be taken.
US08866462B2

This invention involves with a low power IC (Integrated Circuit) with high energy efficiency. This invention describes a Buck converter that can track the minimum energy point of the load. It works by estimating input energy of every sensing period, taking advantage of energy consumption curve of IC in sub-threshold. Energy estimation is implemented with counting conducted pulses, while maintaining constant input energy of each pulse by regulating output voltage and ON time with digital control circuit. With digital control circuit, minimum energy point can be tracked with a lookup table stored inside. Most of this invention's control circuit is digital, with benefits of low power consumption and small chip area.
US08866451B2

A power supply apparatus includes a first power factor correction circuit, a second power factor correction circuit and a control circuit that includes a first switching control unit that outputs a first switching signal for controlling a first switching element of the first power factor correction circuit generated in accordance with a detected result by an output voltage of the first power factor correction circuit and a current flowing through the first switching element, and a second switching control unit that outputs a second switching signal for controlling a second switching element of the second power factor correction circuit generated in accordance with a detected result by an output voltage of the second power factor correction circuit and a current flowing through the second switching element.
US08866446B2

An end-of-discharge voltage correction section subtracts, from an end-of-discharge open voltage, the product I×RO of a discharge current I of a block and an ohmic resistance RO of the block and the product ITD×RP of a discharge current ITD obtained by performing a time delay process on the discharge current and a polarization resistance RP of the block. Then, a resulting value is set as an end-of-discharge voltage VL. The ohmic resistance RO is increased as an equivalent cycle count CY increases, and is increased as a healthy parallel number NPH decreases. An increment ΔCY of the equivalent cycle count CY in each charge/discharge cycle becomes greater as a discharge depth DD increases. The healthy parallel number NPH is derived by multiplying a healthy parallel number NPHR of a reference block by the ratio of a capacity CPR of the reference block to a capacity CPS of a target block.
US08866445B2

In some embodiments, a power supply system includes two power modules each configured to be electrically coupled to a set of battery cells. The set of battery cells produces a first voltage when in a first operational state, and a second voltage when in a second operational state. The second voltage is less than the first voltage. The first power module is configured to provide a third voltage to a load device that is substantially equal to the first voltage, when the set of battery cells is in the first operational state. The second power module is configured to provide a fourth voltage to the load device that is substantially equal to the first voltage, when the set of battery cells is in the second operational state.
US08866441B2

A method for operating a battery system having multiple battery packs. The method includes decoupling the output of a discharged battery pack from the vehicle load, reducing the voltage between an output of a charged battery pack and the vehicle load prior to coupling the output of the charged battery pack to the vehicle load.
US08866437B2

A power receiving port includes an inlet, a pullout hole for a pullout type cord, and a selector switch. Inlet is connectable with a charging cable provided outside a vehicle. Pullout type cord is pulled out from pullout hole so as to be connectable to a socket of a power source outside the vehicle. In power receiving port, pullout hole is provided at a position where a distance between the pullout hole and a joint openably combining a lid with power receiving port is more than a distance between the inlet and the joint. Selector switch is to select whether to use inlet or pullout type cord by a user.
US08866434B2

A control system for a turbine blade, including: an operational control element for generating and outputting an operational control signal, the operational control signal for non-emergency operation of a motor for controlling pitch of the turbine blade; an emergency control element, separate from and different from the operational control element, for generating and outputting an emergency control signal for emergency operation of the motor; and, an output stage element for receiving the operational and emergency control signals and for selecting one of the operational or emergency control signals, and with a means for receiving power for operation of the motor and with a means for providing the received power to the motor according to the selected operational or emergency control signal.
US08866433B2

A method of estimating an initial rotor position of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may comprise the steps of driving a phase current in each of a plurality of phases of the SR machine to a predefined limit, performing an integration of a common bus voltage associated with each phase, determining a flux value for each phase based on the integrations, and determining the initial rotor position based on the flux values.
US08866421B2

A motor drive controller to drive a motor, based on multiple sensors that generates multiple sensor signals corresponding to different positions of the rotor; including a first phase detector to compare a respective one of the multiple sensor signals with a paired sensor signal from the same sensor to detect phases of the rotor, and output a first phase information signal representing a first detected phase; a phase divider to divide the phases, detected by the first phase detector into multiple predetermined phase intervals; a signal selector to select one of the respective multiple sensor signals from the multiple sensors in the multiple predetermined phase interval; and a second phase detector to detect whether the signal selected by the signal selector reaches a predetermined threshold level corresponding to a predetermined phase of the rotor, and output a second phase information signal representing a second detected phase.
US08866420B2

Disclosed is an electric power consumption control system for a factory where a plurality of machine tools (Mi, Mp1, Mp2) are installed. A machine tool (Mi) is provided with a control device (10) whereby either the rotational acceleration/deceleration (Pi) for the motor for the machine tool and/or the rotational speed (Si) thereof is controlled on the basis of information regarding electric power consumption (Wt) in the factory so that electric power consumption will not exceed a specified value (We). This electric power consumption control system is also provided with electric power detection instruments (11, 12, 13) and an electric power monitoring instrument (20) which measure the electric power consumption of all the machine tools installed in the factory, thereby obtaining the electric power consumption of the factory, and provide information regarding the electric power consumption to the control device of the machine tool equipped with the control device.
US08866418B2

A system and method are disclosed for controlling electrical machines including a controller component which receives a first signal providing a measured parameter of the electrical machine and a second signal providing a reference parameter of the electrical machine, using the first and second signals being used to produce a first control signal. A first filter component receives the first signal from the electrical machine and uses the first signal to produce a second control signal. A second filter component receives a third signal which relates to a reference parameter of a second electrical machine and uses the third signal to produce a third control signal. The system and second control signals are used to produce a first output control signal for provision to the first electrical machine, and the first and third control signals are used produce a second output control signal for provision to the second electrical machine.
US08866416B2

A first device is provided, wherein the first device is an illumination source comprising OLEDs and inorganic LEDs. The first device includes a first light source that has one or more first light emitting devices. Each of the first light emitting devices includes an inorganic light emitting diode (LED) that emits light that has a peak wavelength in the visible spectrum between 400 and 500 nm. The device also includes a second light source that has one or more second light emitting devices. Each of the second light emitting devices comprises an organic light emitting diode (OLED) that emits light that has peak wavelength in the visible spectrum between 500 and 800 nm. The device also includes a driving component. The first light source and the second light source are disposed such that their emissions combine.
US08866411B2

A discharge lamp system includes a discharge lamp, a power source, a converter, a lamp state signal detection module and a controller. The power source provides a DC power. The converter converts the DC power into a current required by the discharge lamp. The lamp state signal detection module receives a lamp state signal and outputs a lamp state detection signal. The controller processes the lamp state detection signal and a given synchronization signal to generate an average lamp current signal and a pulse current signal, and then processes the average lamp current signal and the pulse current signal to generate a control signal. The controller performs current control of the discharge lamp through the converter according to the control signal. Furthermore, a method for controlling a discharge lamp is also disclosed herein.
US08866404B2

The present invention provides a driving circuit, a backlight module and a display apparatus using the same. The driving circuit comprises a first inductor, a second inductor, a first power switch, a second power switch, a driving circuit unit and a push-pull circuit. The first inductor and the second inductor are connected between the light-emitting diodes and a power supply. The first power switch is connected between the first inductor and the light-emitting diodes. The second power switch is connected between the second inductor and the light-emitting diodes. The push-pull circuit is connected to the first power switch and the second power switch. The driving circuit unit is connected to the push-pull circuit. An electrolytic capacitor or a capacitor having high capacitance can be omitted in this invention.
US08866403B2

An LED driver is presented with a sensing circuit and attenuator circuits to provide three-way switched dimming as well as phase-cut dimming to control the output power driving an LED load allowing installation into conventional three-way switched lamp sockets or in sockets wired to a wall or table mounted phase-cutting dimmer control. When installed in a three way socket, the circuit senses the position of the three way switch and changes the lamp current accordingly. The lamp can also be dimmed by a table-top dimmer or a wall dimmer (in a three-way socket or in a conventional dual contact socket) by applying a phase-cut power input, with the driver circuit including circuitry to sense the average value of a phase-cut power line to adjust lamp current.
US08866399B2

Methods and apparatus for controlling a high intensity discharge lamp and a power supply system for the high intensity discharge lamp are disclosed. The system relates to a method for controlling high intensity discharge lamp comprising supplying a signal of variable frequency and constant filling factor from a switches cascade to a ballast circuit and the lamp, said ballast circuit having at least one condenser and at least one inductance. The method uses the signal of periodically fluctuating frequency and constant filling factor of 50%, supplied from the electronic switches cascade of the half-bridge type, connected with the ballast circuit and the lamp, where the ballast circuit includes at least first condenser, the lamp and includes first inductance and second condenser forming a resonant circuit. A supply system for high intensity discharge lamp is also disclosed.
US08866398B2

A controller for controlling a power converter includes a signal generator and a driver. The power converter receives an input voltage and provides an output voltage to power a load. The signal generator receives a sense signal indicating a current flowing through the power converter, receives a detection signal indicating whether the power converter operates in a predetermined state, and generates a square wave signal according to the sense signal and the detection signal. The square wave signal has a first voltage level proportional to a peak level of the current when the power converter operates in the predetermined state; otherwise, the square wave signal has a second voltage level. The driver generates a driving signal based on the square wave signal to control a current flowing through the load.
US08866397B2

A lighting battery relates to a cylindrical rechargeable battery. The lighting battery comprises a battery body, a driving circuit, a switch and light-emitting diodes, wherein the switch is an inching switch, and the driving circuit has a trigger pin which is connected to the switch whereby a trigger signal is acquired to control the driving circuit operate or stop. The power pin and grounding pin of the driving circuit is respectively connected to the positive pole and the negative pole of the battery body, as well as the output pin of the driving circuit is connected to the light-emitting diodes.
US08866391B2

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a self identifying light source including an emitter that produces visible light; and an autonomous modulator in electrical communication with the emitter that automatically and continually modulates the visible light produced by the emitter, wherein the modulated visible light represents an identification code of the light source. In some embodiments, the emitter is a light emitting diode (LED) and further comprising an LED driver that provides a specified voltage and current to each LED in the light source.
US08866388B2

A vehicle lamp controller includes a lamp control unit that performs lamp control, in which light amount or light distribution of each of a plurality of lamps to be provided on a vehicle that runs on electric power from a battery, is controlled, according to a priority that is assigned to each of the plurality of lamps, wherein the priorities are determined based on degrees of necessity of the plurality of lamps in securing safety for the vehicle. The vehicle lamp controller may further include a remaining battery charge detecting device for detecting a remaining charge of a battery, and the lamp control unit may be configured to perform the lamp control according to the priorities when the remaining charge becomes lower than a predetermined threshold.
US08866386B2

A direction indication lamp control device includes: a current control element including an end which outputs a drive current having a magnitude corresponding to amplitude of a pulse signal; a current clamp unit which limits the drive current to a current upper limit value; a voltage clamp unit which limits a reference voltage to a voltage upper limit value; and a wire disconnection detection unit which outputs a wire disconnection detection signal in a case where the drive current corresponding to the pulse wave of the pulse signal is equal to or less than a wire disconnection detection value, or in a case where the reference voltage is equal to the voltage upper limit value. The current upper limit value is smaller than the drive current flowing through a direction indication lamp when the reference voltage is the voltage upper limit value.
US08866385B2

A self-ballasted lamp includes a base body, a light source unit attached to one side of the base body, a lens attached to the light source unit, a cap provided on the other side of the base body and a lighting circuit arranged in the space provided by the base body and the cap. The light source unit includes a light source constituted by semiconductor light emitting elements. The lens has a lens body facing the light source and an attachment leg for attaching the lens body to the light source unit. A claw portion to be secured to the light source unit can be provided on the attachment leg.
US08866379B2

A display device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The display device includes: a display panel; a cover on the display panel; an adhesive on at least one of the cover or the display panel to attach the cover to the display panel; and a flow prevention member on at least one of the display panel or the cover, wherein the adhesive member is arranged at an inner space of the flow prevention member.
US08866374B2

A light emitting device includes a light emitting structure comprising a first conductivity type semiconductor layer, a second conductivity type semiconductor layer and an active layer disposed between the first conductivity type semiconductor layer and the second conductivity type semiconductor layer to emit a light of a first wavelength; and a re-emission layer disposed on the light emitting structure, the re-emission layer comprising a nitride semiconductor, wherein the re-emission layer absorbs the light of the first wavelength range and the re-emission layer emits a light of a second wavelength range longer than the first wavelength range, and the re-emission layer is configured of multi layers having different indium (In) compositions, respectively, and the indium content in the multi-layer is largest in a top layer of the multi-layers.
US08866366B2

A piezoelectric sensor device includes a piezoelectric element, a signal processing unit, a polarization processing unit and a connection switching unit. The piezoelectric element has a piezoelectric body and a pair of electrodes sandwiching the piezoelectric body. The signal processing unit is configured to execute at least one of signal input from the piezoelectric element, and signal output to the piezoelectric element. The polarization processing unit is configured to execute polarization processing in which polarization voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element. The connection switching unit is configured to switch between a first connection state with which the electrodes and the signal processing unit are connected, and a second connection state with which the electrodes and the polarization processing unit are connected.
US08866354B2

An electrical drive unit for a motor vehicle, with the drive unit including a wheel-hub drive that drives a vehicle wheel and that is arranged on the vehicle wheel by a wheel bearing, the wheel-hub drive having a rotor and a stator. According to the invention, a sealing device is provided between the rotor and the stator, and/or between the rotor and a component adjacent to the rotor, and/or between the stator and a component adjacent to the stator. A sealing surface of the sealing device is arranged on a radius with the center point around a virtual tilt axis of the wheel bearing, or substantially along a tangent to the radius.
US08866341B2

A voltage regulator circuit for providing a regulated output voltage is provided. The voltage regulator circuit includes an error amplifier configured to provide a control signal based on at least a portion of a fed-back output voltage and a reference voltage. A first output stage is configured to operate at a first supply voltage and provide the regulated output voltage based on the control signal. At least one second output stage configured to operate at a second supply voltage different from the first supply voltage and provide the regulated output voltage based on the control signal. A switch-over unit is configured to switch over the control signal between the first output stage and the second output stage.
US08866331B2

A power supply device includes: a first line, a second line, and a third line, each having a different electric potential from one another; a battery circuit in which a fuel cell stack and an electric storage device are connected in series; and a first DC-DC converter, wherein both ends of the battery circuit are connected to the first line and the third line, a connection point of the electric storage device and the fuel cell stack of the battery circuit is connected to the second line, a primary side of the first DC-DC converter is connected to the second line and the third line, a secondary side of the first DC-DC converter is connected to the first line and the third line, and electric power is outputted from the first line and the third line.
US08866329B2

A tidal power generating device having a large area to receive pressure of a tidal current and can be used in a water surface region. The tidal power generating device includes a cylindrical body that floats by itself and a blade that is continuously provided from a front portion to a rear portion on an outer periphery of the cylindrical body and has torsion in a single direction. The cylindrical body has an interior space through which a power generating nonrotary shaft, a connecting pipe, and a mooring nonrotary shaft pass. The power generating nonrotary shaft is provided with a fan-shaped weight and a power generator. The rear portion of the cylindrical body is sunk when the tidal power generating device is placed on water.
US08866322B2

A magnitude and direction, or a measure responsive thereto, of a velocity (V) of a first portion (17) of an atmosphere (20) are determined from at least first and second portions of scattered light (30) generated along a common beam of light (28) within the first portion (17) of the atmosphere (20) and received along linearly independent directions at locations that are relatively remote with respect to one another, at least one of which is relatively remote from a source (11) of the beam of light (28).
US08866320B2

An energy generator for generating energy from renewable alternative sources, includes: a flotable platform adapted to be partially immersed in a fluid; a tower element arranged on the platform and including at least one wind generator for collecting wind energy and converting the same into electric energy, at least one first energy accumulator and at least one inverter. The energy generator further includes at least one system for storing and converting mechanical energy; the system for storing and converting mechanical energy including at least one charge mechanical accumulator, at least one flywheel balance coupled with the charge mechanical accumulator and a device for converting mechanical energy into electric energy. The wave motion or the stream of fluid where the platform is immersed determines an oscillating movement of the platform, of the tower element and of the at least one balance to charge the mechanical accumulator, which in turn releases the energy produced by its movement to the device for converting mechanical energy.
US08866318B2

A method improving acceleration efficiency of a gas generator of a gas turbine by reducing take-up of electric power, during transition phases, to conserve a sufficiently large surge margin for an operating line. The method increases acceleration/deceleration power of the gas generator by adjusting voltage of an electric network onboard the aircraft. After a phase of starting the gas turbine, voltage of the onboard network is adjusted by a voltage set value controlled by determining unballasting/ballasting status of a main electricity generation source of the onboard network. The status-determining is executed according to demand for taking power to be supplied for propulsion of the aircraft. The status-determining is followed by selecting a voltage set value from plural levels according to the determining the unballasting/ballasting status, and applying the selected set value to a control loop of the voltage supplied to the onboard network.
US08866313B2

A substrate includes a die-bonding zone and a glue spreading pattern. The die-bonding zone is set to bond a die. The glue spreading pattern is placed in the die-bonding zone and includes a containing space. The die is placed on the glue spreading pattern, an area of a bottom of the die is greater than an area of an opening of the glue spreading pattern, the containing room of the glue spreading pattern is filled with a glue, and the die is bonded to the substrate by means of the glue.
US08866310B2

A semiconductor device is provided, which comprises a first semiconductor package, a second semiconductor package, and a connection structure. The first semiconductor package includes a first substrate. The first substrate includes a first region and a second region. The second semiconductor package is mounted on the first semiconductor package. The connection structure electrically connects the second semiconductor package and the first semiconductor package. The connection structure comprises first connection patterns at the first region. The first connection patterns provide a data signal at the first region. The connection structure further comprises second connection patterns at the second region. The second connection patterns provide a control/address signal at the second region. A number of the second connection patterns is less than a number of the first connection patterns.
US08866309B2

A first back surface of a first chip faces toward a carrier. A first active surface of the first chip has first pads and a first insulting layer thereon. A second chip is disposed on the first chip and electrically connected to the carrier. A second active surface of the second chip faces toward the first active surface. The second active surface has second pads and a second insulting layer thereon. Bumps connect the first and second pads. First and second daisy chain circuits are respectively disposed on the first and second insulting layers. Hetero thermoelectric device pairs are disposed between the first and second chips and connected in series by the first and second daisy chain circuits, and constitute a circuit with an external device. First and second heat sinks are respectively disposed on a second surface of the carrier and a second back surface of the second chip.
US08866304B2

Systems, methods, and devices are provided to enable an integrated circuit device of relatively higher capacity. Such an integrated circuit device may include at least two component integrated circuits that communicate with one another. Specifically, the component integrated circuits may communicate through a “stitched silicon interposer” that is larger than a reticle limit of the lithography system used to manufacture the interposer. To achieve this larger size, the stitched silicon interposer may be composed of at least two component interposers, each sized within the reticle limit and each separated from one another by a die seal structure.
US08866303B2

Disclosed is a semiconductor device that comprises a plurality of through-silicon vias (TSVs), a signal line and a selective connector for causing the signal line to be either electrically connected to one of the TSVs or electrically isolated from all of the TSVs, based on a control signal.
US08866301B2

A package system includes a first integrated circuit disposed over an interposer. The interposer includes at least one molding compound layer including a plurality of electrical connection structures through the at least one molding compound layer. A first interconnect structure is disposed over a first surface of the at least one molding compound layer and electrically coupled with the plurality of electrical connection structures. The first integrated circuit is electrically coupled with the first interconnect structure.
US08866299B2

A semiconductor device includes a workpiece having a bottom surface opposite the top surface. Metallization layers are disposed over the top surface and a protective layer is disposed over the metallization layers. The semiconductor device further includes a metal silicide layer disposed on the bottom surface. The metal silicide layer is less than about five atomic layers in thickness. A first metal layer is disposed over the metal silicide layer such that a metal of the first metal layer is the same as a metal of the metal silicide layer.
US08866296B2

A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor chip with a plurality of electrode pads disposed at a top surface thereof; a plurality of thin film terminals set apart from one another via respective separator portions, which are located below a bottom surface of the semiconductor chip; an insulating layer disposed between the semiconductor chip and the thin-film terminals; connecting members that connect the electrode pads at the semiconductor chip with the thin-film terminals respectively and a resin layer disposed so as to cover the semiconductor chip, the plurality of thin-film terminals exposed at the semiconductor chip, the separator portions and the connecting members.
US08866294B2

A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die with a plurality of bumps formed over a surface of the first semiconductor die. A penetrable adhesive layer is formed over a temporary carrier. The adhesive layer can include a plurality of slots. The semiconductor die is mounted to the carrier by embedding the bumps into the penetrable adhesive layer. The semiconductor die and interconnect structure can be separated by a gap. An encapsulant is deposited over the first semiconductor die. The bumps embedded into the penetrable adhesive layer reduce shifting of the first semiconductor die while depositing the encapsulant. The carrier is removed. An interconnect structure is formed over the semiconductor die. The interconnect structure is electrically connected to the bumps. A thermally conductive bump is formed over the semiconductor die, and a heat sink is mounted to the interconnect structure and thermally connected to the thermally conductive bump.
US08866293B2

A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor chip having at least an electrode pad, a first metal layer formed on the electrode pad, a second metal layer completely formed on and in contact with the first metal layer, and a conductive pillar disposed on the second metal layer, where a material of the first metal layer is different from a material of the second metal layer, the first metal layer has a first distribution-projected area larger than a second distribution projected-area of the conductive pillar, and the second metal layer has a third distribution-projected area that is the same as the second distribution-projected area of the conductive pillar.
US08866274B2

In one embodiment, a method of forming a semiconductor package comprises providing a first die having contact regions on a top surface but not on an opposite bottom surface. A dielectric liner layer is deposited under the bottom surface of the first die. The first die is attached with the deposited dielectric liner layer to a die paddle of a substrate. A bond layer is disposed between the substrate and the dielectric liner layer.
US08866271B2

A semiconductor device manufacturing method includes loading a substrate, on which a high-k film is formed, into a processing chamber, performing a reforming process by heating the high-k film through irradiation of a microwave on the substrate, and unloading the substrate from the processing chamber.
US08866264B2

A semiconductor device implemented with structures to suppress leakage current generation during operation and a method of making the same is provided. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate of first conductivity type, a second insulation film, which has at least one aperture between first and second apertures, formed on top of a first insulation film. The semiconductor device layer structure accommodates tensile stress differences between device layers to suppress lattice dislocation defects during device manufacturing and thus improves device reliability and performance.
US08866258B2

According to an exemplary embodiment, an interposer structure for electrically coupling a semiconductor die to a support substrate in a semiconductor package includes at least one through-wafer via extending through a semiconductor substrate, where the at least one through-wafer via provides an electrical connection between the semiconductor die and the support substrate. The interposer structure further includes a passive component including a trench conductor, where the trench conductor extends through the semiconductor substrate. The passive component further includes a dielectric liner situated between the trench conductor and the semiconductor substrate. The passive component can further include at least one conductive pad for electrically coupling the trench conductor to the semiconductor die. The passive component can be, for example, an inductor or an antenna.
US08866256B2

In one general aspect, an apparatus can include a semiconductor substrate, and a first conductive fuse bus having a triangular-shaped portion with a bottom surface aligned along a plane substantially parallel to a surface of the semiconductor substrate. The apparatus can include a second conductive fuse bus having a bottom surface aligned along the plane, and a plurality of fuse links coupled between the triangular-shaped portion of the first conductive fuse bus and the second conductive fuse bus.
US08866255B2

A semiconductor device is provided that comprises a semiconductor substrate comprising an active area and a peripheral region adjacent the active area and structure positioned in the peripheral region for hindering the diffusion of mobile ions from the peripheral region into the active area.
US08866252B2

We describe a RESURF semiconductor device having an n-drift region with a p-top layer and in which a MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) channel of the device is formed within the p-top layer.
US08866251B2

The present invention provides a solid-state imaging element including: a silicon layer having a photodiode formed therein and a positive charge accumulation region formed on the surface thereof; and an optical waveguide formed above the photodiode to guide incident light into the photodiode, wherein an insulating layer is formed in the optical waveguide, and the insulating layer has a dielectric constant of 5 or greater and negative fixed charge.
US08866250B2

A device includes a semiconductor substrate, a black reference circuit in the semiconductor substrate, a metal pad on a front side of, and underlying, the semiconductor substrate, and a first and a second conductive layer. The first conductive layer includes a first portion penetrating through the semiconductor substrate to connect to the metal pad, and a second portion forming a metal shield on a backside of the semiconductor substrate. The metal shield is aligned to the black reference circuit, and the first portion and the second portion are interconnected to form a continuous region. The second conductive layer includes a portion over and contacting the first portion of the first conductive layer, wherein the first portion of the first conductive layer and the portion of the second conductive layer form a first metal pad. A dielectric layer is overlying and contacting the second portion of the first conductive layer.
US08866225B2

A field effect transistor including: a support layer, a plurality of active zones based on a semiconductor, each active zone configured to form a channel and arranged between two gates adjacent to each other and consecutive, the active zones and the gates being arranged on the support layer, each gate including a first face on the side of the support layer and a second face opposite the first face. The second face of a first of the two gates is electrically connected to a first electrical contact made on the second face of the first of the two gates, and the first face of a second of the two gates is electrically connected to a second electrical contact passing through the support layer. The gates of the transistor are not electrically connected to each other.
US08866220B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor section, a control electrode, and a first electrode. The semiconductor section extends in a first direction. The control electrode is provided across a first insulating film from the semiconductor section in a second direction. The semiconductor section includes first, second, third, and fourth semiconductor regions. The first semiconductor region has a first conductivity type. The second semiconductor region has a second conductivity type, and is provided on the first semiconductor region to oppose the control electrode. The third semiconductor region has the first conductivity type, and is provided on the second semiconductor region. The fourth semiconductor region has the second conductivity type, and is provided together with the third semiconductor region. The first electrode is provided on the semiconductor section. The fourth semiconductor region is provided displaced to opposite side of the semiconductor section from the control electrode.
US08866218B2

In one general aspect, a system can include a through-silicon-via (TSV) coupling a drain region associated with a vertical transistor to a back metal disposed on a second side of the substrate opposite the first side. The system can include a first metal layer, and a second metal layer aligned orthogonal to the first metal layer. The system can define a conduction path extending substantially vertically through the TSV to the substrate and laterally through the substrate.
US08866213B2

An approach to use silicided bit line contacts that do not short to the underlying substrate in memory devices. The approach provides for silicide formation in the bit line contact area, using a process that benefits from being self-aligned to the oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) nitride edges. A further benefit of the approach is that the bit line contact implant and rapid temperature anneal process can be eliminated. This approach is applicable to embedded flash, integrating high density devices and advanced logic processes.
US08866212B2

In one example, the memory device disclosed herein includes a gate insulation layer and a charge storage layer positioned above the gate insulation layer, wherein the charge storage layer has a first width. The device further includes a blocking insulation layer positioned above the charge storage layer and a gate electrode positioned above the blocking insulation layer, wherein the gate electrode has a second width that is greater than the first width. An illustrative method disclosed herein includes forming a gate stack for a memory device, wherein the gate stack includes a gate insulation layer, an initial charge storage layer, a blocking insulation layer and a gate electrode, and wherein the initial charge storage layer has a first width. The method further includes performing an etching process to selectively remove at least a portion of the initial charge storage layer so as to produce a charge storage layer having a second width that is less than the first width of the initial charge storage layer.
US08866207B2

A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) includes a magnetic free layer, having a variable magnetization direction; an insulating tunnel barrier located adjacent to the free layer; a magnetic fixed layer having an invariable magnetization direction, the fixed layer disposed adjacent the tunnel barrier such that the tunnel barrier is located between the free layer and the fixed layer, wherein the free layer and the fixed layer have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; and one or more of: a composite fixed layer, the composite fixed layer comprising a dusting layer, a spacer layer, and a reference layer; a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) fixed layer structure, the SAF fixed layer structure comprising a SAF spacer located between the fixed layer and a second fixed magnetic layer; and a dipole layer, wherein the free layer is located between the dipole layer and the tunnel barrier.
US08866191B2

A transistor in which the electric field is reduced in critical areas using field plates, permitting the electric field to be more uniformly distributed along the component, is provided, wherein the electric field in the active region is smoothed and field peaks are reduced. The semiconductor component has a substrate with an active layer structure, a source contact and a drain contact located on said active layer structure. The source contact and the drain contact are mutually spaced and at least one part of a gate contact is provided on the active layer structure in the region between the source contact and the drain contact, a gate field plate being electrically connected to the gate contact. In addition, at least two separate field plates are placed directly on the active layer structure or directly on a passivation layer.
US08866190B2

A semiconductor device that includes one semiconductor device formed in one semiconductor material and a second semiconductor device formed in another semiconductor material on a common substrate, and a method of fabricating the semiconductor device.
US08866181B2

In at least one embodiment of the component (10) the latter comprises a first substrate (1) and a second substrate (2), at least one radiation-emitting or radiation-receiving element (3) being arranged on the first substrate (1), which element contains at least one organic material. The first substrate (1) and the second substrate (2) are arranged relative to one another such that the element (3) is located between the first substrate (1) and second substrate (2). The first substrate (1) and second substrate (2) are bonded together mechanically by means of a bonding agent (4) arranged in a sheet between the first substrate (1) and the second substrate (2), which bonding agent contains a glass and surrounds the element (3) with the organic material in the manner of a frame. Furthermore, the component (10) comprises a sealant (5) between the first substrate (1) and the second substrate (2), the sealant (5) surrounding and sealing the element (3) with the organic material and the bonding agent (4) in the manner of a frame.
US08866179B2

According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a semiconductor layer, a first electrode, a second electrode, an insulating layer, a first interconnection layer, a second interconnection layer, a first metal pillar, a second metal pillar, a resin layer and a conductive material. The conductive material is provided on a surface of the resin layer between the first metal pillar and the second metal pillar, and electrically connects the first metal pillar and the second metal pillar.
US08866178B2

A light emitting device may be provided that includes a conductive support member, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, an insulation layer between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, and a light emitting structure that includes a second semiconductor layer on the second conductive layer, a first semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer. The first conductive layer may include at least one conductive via that passes through the second conductive layer, the second semiconductor layer and the active layer. A top surface of the at least one conductive via is provided into the first semiconductor layer. The insulation layer may substantially surround a side wall of the conductive via.
US08866175B2

An optoelectronic semiconductor chip includes a semiconductor layer sequence and a carrier substrate. A first and a second electrical contact layer are arranged at least in regions between the carrier substrate and the semiconductor layer sequence and are electrically insulated from one another by an electrically insulating layer. A mirror layer is arranged between the semiconductor layer sequence and the carrier substrate. The mirror layer adjoins partial regions of the first electrical contact layer and partial regions of the electrically insulating layer. The partial regions of the electrically insulating layer which adjoin the mirror layer are covered by the second electrical contact layer in such a way that at no point do they adjoin a surrounding medium of the optoelectronic semiconductor chip.
US08866170B2

An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes a substrate, a pixel electrode on the substrate, an organic light emitting member on the pixel electrode, a common electrode on the organic light emitting member, a thin film encapsulation member covering the common electrode, a black matrix on the thin film encapsulation member, and an upper protection film on the black matrix. The black matrix has a color filter at a location corresponding to the organic light emitting member. A sum of a thickness of the color filter and a distance between the color filter and the organic light emitting member is smaller than a width of the organic light emitting member.
US08866169B2

A light emitter package having increased feature sizes for improved luminous flux and efficacy. An emitter chip is disposed on a submount with a lens that covers the emitter chip. In some cases, the ratio of the width of the light emitter chip to the width of said lens in a given direction is 0.5 or greater. Increased feature sizes allow the package to emit light more efficiently. Some packages include submounts having square dimensions greater than 3.5 mm used in conjunction with larger emitter chips. Materials having higher thermal conductivities are used to fabricate the submounts, providing the package with better thermal management.
US08866159B1

A high quality single crystal wafer of SiC is disclosed having a diameter of at least about 100 mm and a micropipe density of less than about 25 cm−2.
US08866147B2

A semiconductor structure includes a III-nitride substrate and a drift region coupled to the III-nitride substrate along a growth direction. The semiconductor substrate also includes a channel region coupled to the drift region. The channel region is defined by a channel sidewall disposed substantially along the growth direction. The semiconductor substrate further includes a gate region disposed laterally with respect to the channel region.
US08866146B2

A method (100) of fabricating an LED or the active regions of an LED and an LED (200). The method includes growing, depositing or otherwise providing a bottom cladding layer (208) of a selected semiconductor alloy with an adjusted bandgap provided by intentionally disordering the structure of the cladding layer (208). A first active layer (202) may be grown above the bottom cladding layer (208) wherein the first active layer (202) is fabricated of the same semiconductor alloy, with however, a partially ordered structure. The first active layer (202) will also be fabricated to include a selected n or p type doping. The method further includes growing a second active layer (204) above the first active layer (202) where the second active layer (204) Is fabricated from the same semiconductor alloy.
US08866142B2

The present invention relates to a display device and a manufacturing method thereof. A display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate including a first surface and a second surface, a first line disposed on the first surface and made of a transparent metal oxide semiconductor, and a first semiconductor disposed on the first surface and made of the transparent metal oxide semiconductor.
US08866141B2

A thin film transistor and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The thin film transistor includes: a gate electrode formed on a substrate and having a plurality of horizontal electrode parts spaced apart at regular intervals; a gate insulating film formed over the entire surface of the substrate including the gate electrode; an active pattern formed on the gate insulating film above the plurality of horizontal electrode parts; an etch stop film pattern formed above the active pattern and the gate insulating film so as to overlap top portions of the active pattern and the gate electrode and; a source electrode formed on the active pattern, the gate insulating film, and the etch stop film pattern so as to overlap top portions of adjacent horizontal electrode parts; and a drain electrode formed on the active pattern, the gate insulating film, and the etch stop film pattern so as to overlap top portions of horizontal electrode parts located on the outermost ends.
US08866132B2

Thin-film transistors and techniques for forming thin-film transistors (TFT). In some embodiments, there is provided a method of forming a TFT, comprising forming a body region of the TFT comprising an organic semiconducting material, and forming a protective layer comprising an organic insulating material. Forming the protective layer comprises contacting the body region of the TFT with a solution comprising the organic insulating material. The organic insulating material is a material that phase separates with the organic semiconducting material when the solution contacts the organic semiconducting material. In other embodiments, there is provided an apparatus comprising a TFT. The TFT comprises a body region comprising an organic semiconducting material and a protective layer contacting the body region and comprising an organic insulating material that, when a solution comprising the organic insulating material contacts the organic semiconducting material, causes the organic insulating material to phase separate with the organic semiconducting material.
US08866130B2

The light output surface structure layer has a concavo-convex structure on a surface opposite to the organic EL element. The concavo-convex structure includes flat surface portions parallel to one surface of the organic EL element and an inclined surface portion tilted relative to the flat surface portions. The projected area which is formed by projecting the inclined surface portion in a direction perpendicular to the flat surface portions onto a plane parallel to the flat surface portions is equal to or less than 0.1 times the total area of the flat surface portions. On a cross section of a flat surface portion cut along a plane parallel to the width and thickness directions thereof, the ratio H/W is 1 or greater and 2.5 or less, where H and W are the height and the width thereof, respectively.
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