US09277614B2
An LED array switching apparatus comprises, on a single PCB substrate: a plurality of LED arrays D1 to Dn connected in series, each LED array having a forward voltage; an AC voltage supply coupled to the plurality of LED arrays; and a plurality of constant current sources G1 to Gn, coupled to outputs of LED arrays D1 to Dn, respectively, each of the constant current sources being switchable between a current regulating state and an open state such that as the voltage of the AC voltage supply increases, LED arrays are switched on and lit to form a higher forward voltage LED string, and as the voltage of the AC voltage supply decreases, LED arrays are switched off and removed from the LED string starting with the most recently lit LED array.
US09277609B2
This invention relates to driver circuits used within high voltage power supplies, e.g. for light bulb assemblies. A driver circuit providing electrical energy at an output derived from electrical energy at an input is described. The driver circuit comprises a power converter, a controller, a supply voltage capacitor, and is configured to provide a supply voltage to the controller. A start-up resistor is coupled to the input of the driver circuit, charges the supply voltage capacitor, and is coupled to the supply voltage capacitor during start-up of the driver circuit. A back-up capacitor is coupled to the output of the driver circuit and with the supply voltage capacitor if a voltage at the back-up capacitor exceeds the supply voltage by a forward voltage threshold, and is decoupled from the supply voltage capacitor if the supply voltage exceeds the voltage at the back-up capacitor by a reverse voltage threshold.
US09277608B2
A circuit for operating a light-emitting diode assembly, wherein the light-emitting diode assembly comprises a plurality of strands connected in parallel of one or more light-emitting diodes which are arranged in series and through which in the operational state a particular partial current of an operating current flowing through the light-emitting diode assembly flows, comprises a current source for providing the operating current. The circuit is designed to detect the greatest partial current and to control an operational value provided by the partial current source on the basis of said greatest partial current such that none of the partial currents exceeds a predetermined maximum current.
US09277603B2
A linear light-emitting diode (LED)-based solid-state universal lamp using a frequency sensing and control mechanism operates normally with both an electronic ballast and the AC mains. The frequency sensing and control mechanism automatically detects voltage types associated with output voltages from the ballast and the AC mains in a single-ended or a double-ended lamp fixture and makes proper management so that the universal lamp works for either case and in either fixture without operational uncertainty. When two shock protection switches are used in two lamp bases, the universal lamp fully protects a person from possible electric shock during initial installation and re-lamping.
US09277594B2
The thermal cycle time for curing a thermoset composite part in an autoclave is reduced by placing a heating blanket in proximity to an area of the composite part that is slow-to-heat, and inductively heating the area of the composite part that is slow-to-heat using the heating blanket.
US09277592B2
The present invention discloses a method for a bearer binding and event report function relocation so as to implement deferred linking of the policy and charging control session in the roaming scenario. The present invention implements the deferred linking of the policy and charging control session in roaming scenarios of home roaming and local breakout by establishing a new subsession of the S9 session between a visited PCRF and a home PCRF in a process of the BBERF relocation, and linking the new subsession of the S9 session to the Gxx session established between the destination BBERF and the visited PCRF and the corresponding Gx session.
US09277590B2
In order to reduce the weight, cost and complexity of an active antenna array, designed for use with a plurality of different mobile telecommunications systems (multi-band system), the array comprises a plurality of antenna elements, which are divided into a plurality of antenna groups; a plurality of RF transceivers, which are divided into transceiver sets, wherein each transceiver of a set is arranged to operate on a different mobile telecommunications system, and including respective phase shifting and feeding networks coupled between each transceiver set and a respective antenna group, so that each transceiver of a set is coupled to each antenna element of the respective antenna group.
US09277589B2
The disclosure concerns a method for providing communication with a mobile station (12) via a first wireless access point (10) as well as the access point. The mobile station (12) has a first identifier for use in a first communication network (14) and the wireless access point comprises a first wireless interface for a first type of wireless communication with mobile stations in relation to the first communication network (14), a second wireless interface for a second type of wireless communication with mobile stations in relation to a second communication network (16), a mapping unit associating the first type of wireless communication for the mobile station with the second type of wireless communication for the mobile station based on the first identifier and a traffic control unit transporting traffic of wireless communication of the second type for the mobile station through the first communication network (14) based on the association.
US09277573B2
A method, computer-readable storage device and apparatus for establishing an ad hoc communication with an unknown contact are disclosed. For example, the method receives an authentication token from a recipient endpoint device for authentication of an unsolicited message from a sender endpoint device, wherein the recipient endpoint device is an unknown contact to the sender endpoint device and the unsolicited message is sent over an open communications protocol, authenticates the authentication token, and sends a confirmation that the authentication token is authenticated to the recipient endpoint device to allow the recipient endpoint device to establish a connection to the sender endpoint device to begin the ad hoc communication.
US09277553B2
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method comprising: setting a first cell having a first TDD UL-DL configuration and a second cell having a second TDD UL-DL configuration; receiving a PHICH signal in a subframe #(n−L) of the first cell, or receiving a PDCCH signal in a subframe #(n−K) of the first cell; and transmitting a PUSCH signal in a subframe #n of the second cell, corresponding to the PHICH signal or the PDCCH signal, wherein the relationship between the subframes #(n−L), #(n−K), and #n is determined in consideration of a parameter value set in a specific TDD UL-DL configuration, which is the TDD UL-DL configuration having the least number of UL subframes from TDD UL-DL configuration(s), in which subframes set as UL in the first or second cell are all set as ULs.
US09277547B2
A method of receiving uplink control information at a communication apparatus in a wireless communication system configured for Time Division Duplex (TDD) operations and having a plurality of cells is described. A first set of at least one of one or more Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) signals and one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) signals are transmitted within M downlink subframes, where M≧1. A second set of at least one of one or more PDCCH signals and one or more PDSCH signals are transmitted within N downlink subframes, where N≧1. Acknowledgment information is received on an uplink subframe, the acknowledgment information including first acknowledgment information corresponding to the first set and second acknowledgment information corresponding to the second set.
US09277540B2
In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided for wireless communication. The method, apparatus, and computer program product, in an implementation, may be configured to provide separate control channels for each of downlink grant information and uplink grant information, encode the control channels with an identifier known only to receiving nodes that are configured to decode the control channels with the identifier, and convey information to the receiving nodes that the identifier is known to the receiving nodes. The method, apparatus, and computer program product, in an implementation, may be configured to determine an aggregation level of a common search space related to common control resources, wherein the aggregation level is less than four, and receive control data from one or more candidates in the common search space that include contiguous control channel elements according to the aggregation level.
US09277539B2
A method for performing inter-cell D2D communication includes: receiving a first signal which is a D2D communication request signal including information on a D2D terminal selected from D2D terminals within a cell to which a base station belongs; determining whether the selected D2D terminal is a D2D terminal within the cell using information on the selected D2D terminal; transmitting a second signal, for requesting inter-cell D2D communication to a base station belonging to a neighboring cell, if the selected D2D terminal is a D2D terminal belonging to the neighboring cell; receiving a third signal for approving the inter-cell D2D communication, from the base station cell as a response to the second signal; and transmitting, to the D2D terminal within the cell, information on a resource allocated for communication between the D2D terminal within the cell and the selected D2D terminal according to the third signal.
US09277531B2
A method includes receiving at a user equipment from a network access node a temporary identifier associated with an interference cancellation group to which the user equipment is assigned; decoding a control channel using the temporary identifier to determine a downlink resource allocation for the user equipment and to determine a downlink resource allocation for at least one other user equipment assigned to the same interference cancellation group; and receiving a downlink signal in accordance with the determined downlink resource allocation for the user equipment while canceling interference from the downlink signal that is associated with the at least one other user equipment by using the determined downlink resource allocation for the at least one other user equipment. Apparatus for performing the method are also disclosed.
US09277530B2
A method performed by a notification handler process running on a device includes receiving a first push notification for a first application while the recipient device is inactive; determining that delivery of the first push notification would cause the device to become active without prompting a user of the device to interact with the first application; in response to determining what delivery of the first push modification would cause, locally storing the first push notification; receiving a second push notification for a second application while the recipient device is still inactive; determining that delivery of the second push notification would cause the device to become active prompting the user to interact with the second application; and in response to determining what delivery of the second push modification would cause, delivering the received second push notification to the second application and the stored first push notification to the first application.
US09277527B2
A capability for determining an offset of a wireless access node is presented. The determined offset of the wireless access node may be used by a location determination process associated with the wireless access node and configured to determine locations of mobile wireless devices that are communicating via the wireless access node. The offset of a wireless access node may be determined by determining a known location of a device when the device communicates via the wireless access node, determining an estimated location of the device when the device communicates via the wireless access node where the estimated location of the device is determined using the location determination process associated with the wireless access node, and determining the offset of the wireless access node based on the known location of the device and the estimated location of the device.
US09277521B2
The present disclosure relates to a method for synchronizing a radio device with a network node of a Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM, radio communication system. The method comprises obtaining a reference array based on a known training sequence, TSC, of a synchronization burst, SB, of a synchronization channel, SCH, of the network node. The method also comprises receiving an SB including the TSC from the network node and forming a received array. The method also comprises comparing the reference array to the received array for finding a sequence of the received array which has identity with the reference array, and thereby finding the position of the TSC in the received SB. The method also comprises determining whether the identity of the found sequence with the reference array is above a predefined threshold, in which case the radio device can be time synchronized based on the found TSC.
US09277519B1
A method for performing mobile communications may include comparing a received digitized signal with a local reference synchronization sequence to generate a plurality of candidate timing estimates. Each of the plurality of candidate timing estimates may represent an estimated temporal location of a synchronization sequence in the received digitized signal. The method may further include demodulating the received digitized signal according to each of the plurality of candidate timing estimates to produce a plurality of reliability metrics, wherein each of the plurality of reliability metrics may be associated with one of the plurality of candidate timing estimates. The method may additionally include selecting one of the plurality of candidate timing estimates as a selected timing estimate based on a comparison between one or more of the plurality of reliability metrics and performing synchronized mobile communications using the selected timing estimate and a frequency offset value associated with the selected timing estimate.
US09277517B2
Exemplary methods and systems may generally be implemented to allow a macro-network base station without access to a GPS reference signal to provide some or all of the functionality for which existing macro-network base stations typically rely on GPS. In a first aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may determine its location using a location-determination technique that is based upon the angles of arrival of FM radio signals from nearby FM stations. In a second aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may stabilize its local oscillator by phase-locking its local oscillator to an FM radio signal, and periodically adjusting its local oscillator to account for phase drift of the FM radio signal. And in a third aspect, an exemplary macro-network base station may synchronize its frame-start timing with a nearby base station using a frame-start timing signal that the base station has synchronized to frame transmissions from the nearby base station during a setup routine.
US09277514B2
A method and apparatus for a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to use a contention-based uplink communications channel, applies a rule-based restriction of access to the contention-based uplink channel that attempts to use at least one contention-free uplink channel allocation for uplink transmissions on a condition that at least one contention-free uplink channel allocation has been granted.
US09277507B2
In a mobile communication system comprising a base station (100) and a plurality of mobile stations (200) and operating closed loop transmitter power control, power control commands for transmission on an uplink are derived from measurements made on received downlink signals comprising non-predetermined data values. Optionally the non-predetermined data values may comprise power control commands for uplink transmit power control.
US09277506B2
To facilitate transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS) on an uplink carrier of a telecommunication system, a shifted SRS is created, wherein a predefined frequency domain position of a SRS is shifted for creation of the shifted SRS, thereby creating an extended SRS region including at least one additional RB being separate from the predefined frequency domain position of the SRS.
US09277487B2
Techniques for performing cell detection with interference cancellation are described. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) may detect for pilots from cells in a wireless network using interference cancellation. The UE may process a received signal to detect for pilots from one or more cells. The pilots may be common pilots transmitted with a reuse factor of one or low reuse pilots transmitted with a reuse factor greater than one. The UE may estimate the interference from a detected cell (e.g., the strongest detected cell) and may cancel the estimated interference from the received signal. The UE may then process the interference-canceled signal to detect for pilots from additional cells. The UE may be able to detect pilots from more cells, e.g., from weaker cells, by canceling the interference due to the pilots from the detected cells. This may be desirable for various applications such as positioning.
US09277486B2
A method of managing short-range wireless communications settings applied at a vehicle includes detecting a plurality of short-range wireless communications settings used by an existing vehicle; storing the plurality of short-range wireless communications settings with a subscriber identity; detecting that a person associated with the subscriber identity has begun using a new vehicle; uploading the plurality of short-range wireless communications settings from the existing vehicle to the new vehicle; and applying the plurality of short-range wireless communications settings associated with the subscriber identity to the new vehicle.
US09277478B2
A network, a method and devices (i.e., mobile node, access router, home agent, destination home agent) are described herein for enabling an efficient hybrid route optimization between two mobile endpoints so they can re-direct their data traffic to an optimal path without exchanging any mobility signaling messages.
US09277477B2
An approach is provided for locating communities over an ad-hoc mesh network. Community identifiers are used to locate communities and community members over an ad-hoc mesh network. The community identifiers are also associated with keys to authenticate members of the community and to protect the privacy and anonymity of information exchanged between the members.
US09277467B2
A method of operation of a communication system includes: estimating a channel; calculating a predicted signal within the channel; evaluating a prediction accuracy of the predicted signal; and adjusting a handoff parameter when the prediction accuracy of the predicted signal is within a threshold range for communicating through a mobile station.
US09277465B1
A first enhanced Node B (eNB) and method for contention-free handoff return in a wireless network are provided. The first eNB in one example embodiment includes a transceiver system configured to communicate with a User Equipment (UE) and a processing system coupled to the transceiver system and configured to receive signal strength information from the UE, with the processing system being further configured to obtain a pre-handoff CF preamble for handoff of the UE from the first eNB to the second eNB, provide the pre-handoff CF preamble to the UE, generate a post-handoff CF preamble for the UE where the UE can use the post-handoff CF preamble to return from the second eNB to the first eNB, and provide the post-handoff CF preamble to the UE.
US09277462B1
A method and system for preserving context records is disclosed. The method is operable in a communication system including a wireless network serving user equipment devices (UEs), where the wireless network stores, for each UE served by the wireless network, a context record for the UE. The method involves the wireless network detecting a trigger condition comprising a condition selected from the group consisting of (i) a threshold number of context release messages being transmitted between at least two network entities in the wireless network, wherein the threshold number is greater than one and (ii) a network entity beginning a shut-down process. The method further involves, in response to detecting the trigger condition, the wireless network (i) detaching from the wireless network each UE being served by the wireless network at the time of detecting the trigger condition but (ii) preserving the context records for the detached UEs.
US09277457B2
Apparatus for use within a radio access network of a cellular communications network, where the cellular communications network belongs to an operator domain. The apparatus comprises a radio control unit for controlling radio channels within one or more cells of the radio access network, and a data source for maintaining or accessing data content, the data source being allocated in use an IP address that is unique at least within said operator domain. The apparatus further comprises an IP packet classifier configurable to inspect packets received from a client and to identify packets addressed to said IP address, and to redirect such identified packets to said data source. The apparatus also comprises an IP packet route selector configured to react to the establishment of a connection between a client and said data source by routing data content packets from said data source to the client via a radio channel or channels controlled by said radio control unit. The IP packet route selector is further able to react to a handover of the client to a peer apparatus responsible for a different set of radio channels by routing data content packets from said data source to the client via an IP backbone network.
US09277456B2
The technology described herein relates to a method in a gateway device and a gateway device for handling a context of a UE moving from a source HeNB (220) to a target HeNB. The gateway device is configured to receive a path switch request message from the source HeNB including a first pair of IDs and the gateway device is configured to transmit a second path switch request message to an MME including a second pair of IDs associated to the first pair of IDs. When the gateway device receives a UE context release request message from the source HeNB, the gateway device determines whether IDs in this message are associated to the same second pair of IDs. If this is the case, the gateway device maintains the UE context otherwise the gateway device releases or de-allocates the UE context.
US09277454B2
A transmitter, a receiver, a transmitting method and a receiving method are proposed. the transmitter, adapted for an user equipment (UE) of a data transmission scheme using a contention-based radio access based on single-carrier frequency division multiplexing access with code division multiplexing (SC-FDMA-CDM) includes a memory unit and a processing unit. The memory unit stores a plurality of parameters. The processing unit is coupled to the memory unit, selects one of the parameters and generates a resource pattern by executing a resource pattern generation process according to the selected parameters, wherein the resource pattern includes a physical index of a plurality of resource blocks and a spreading code index. The communication unit is coupled to the processing unit, generates an uplink transmitting signal according to the resource pattern with a plurality of transmitting data bits.
US09277447B2
A method includes determining one of a multiplicity of subframes in a resource space in which a shortened subframe is to be communicated. Each of the subframes has a predetermined number of symbol positions. The resource space includes the multiplicity of subframes. The method includes communicating the shortened subframe in the determined subframe. The shortened subframe has a multiplicity of active symbols at first symbol positions in the determined subframe and has a multiplicity of blanked symbols at second symbol positions in the determined subframe. In an embodiment, each of the subframes is a first subframe carried on subcarrier. The resource space corresponds to a special subframe in a frame including the special subframe and a multiplicity of second subframes. The special subframe and the plurality of second subframes are located in different timeslots. Apparatus, computer programs, and program products are also disclosed.
US09277425B2
System and methods are provided for communicating with multiple wireless networks using a mobile communication system. An example mobile communication system includes a first communication device configured to communicate with a first wireless network and generate a reference signal for determining a first frequency deviation between the first communication device and the first wireless network, and a second communication device configured to communicate with a second wireless network and determine a second frequency deviation between the second communication device and the second wireless network based at least in part on the reference signal.
US09277421B1
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with estimating noise in a receiver device based on related properties of order statistics are described. According to one embodiment, a method includes generating an initial set of magnitude squared values from a time domain impulse response of a receiver device. The method also includes generating an initial noise power estimate based on a modified set of magnitude squared values and generating a threshold value based on the initial noise power estimate. The method generates a final noise power estimate by averaging values of the initial set of magnitude squared values that are less than the threshold value and removing a thresholding bias from the resulting average.
US09277418B1
In one example embodiment, a device includes a memory configured to store computer-readable instructions therein and a processor. The processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to receive a mixture signal, and determine a first signal and a second signal from the mixture signal, the first signal being a signal of a first technology and the second signal being a signal of a second technology, the first and second signals being overlappingly transmitted signals, at least one of the first signal and the second signal being used for processing of information associated with the at least one of the first signal and the second signal.
US09277400B2
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for providing location enabled security services in a wireless network. In the method, a network access request from a node requesting access to the wireless network is received. A probability level for a position for the requesting node is calculated using position information claimed by the requesting node and position information about the requesting node derived from signal measurements for the requesting node received by at least one existing authorized node in the wireless network. Access for the requesting node to the wireless network is denied if the probability level does not satisfy a specified threshold condition for network security. Access for the requesting node to the wireless network is granted if the probability level does satisfy the specified threshold condition.
US09277399B2
Systems and methods reduce latency associated with establishing communication on a wireless network. In one aspect, an access point determines interface identifiers for associated stations. Because the access point can ensure interface identifiers are not duplicated across associated stations, the need for duplicate address detection by the stations is reduced. In another aspect, an access point provides domain name system server network address information to a station. By providing the network address information of the DNS server, the need for the station to perform separate signaling to obtain the information is reduced. In another aspect, an access point transmits a mapping of a first station's network address to the first station's medium access control address to one or more associated stations. This may reduce the need for an associated station to perform address resolution signaling when attempting to communicate with the first station.
US09277395B2
A service plan is delivered to a mobile phone user without direct user communication with a mobile network operator or providing of personal details. A method comprises packaging a service plan, and at least one of a phone number and data plan, from a mobile network operator; associating the plan and phone number or data plan with a non-provisioned Universal Integrated Circuit Card; cueing service plan loading and activation of the UICC post purchase of the UICC by a user in communication with a provisioner by at least one of 1) product code scanning of the UICC and messages generated thereby; 2) automatic messaging generated by an activation application on the UICC; 3) user directed short messaging; 4) interactive voice responses between user and a provisioner system; 5) network detection software; 6) user interaction with a website; and 7) user entry of a zip code.
US09277385B2
A method for requesting emergency assistance for a vehicle involved in an accident. The method includes the following: storing vehicle operating conditions prior to the accident in a storage device; detecting the accident; after the accident, deactivating charging of a smartphone being charged on a wireless charging pad; transmitting to the smartphone the vehicle operating conditions stored prior to the accident; transmitting the vehicle operating conditions from the smartphone to emergency authorities; and calling the emergency authorities using the smartphone and initiating handsfree communication with the emergency authorities.
US09277378B2
A method, performed by a computer device, may include receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) message. The method may further include analyzing one or more sender parameters associated with the received SMS message to validate the one or more sender parameters; determining whether the one or more sender parameters have been validated based on the analysis; rejecting the SMS message in response to determining that the one or more sender parameters have not been validated; analyzing message content included in the SMS message to validate the message content; determining whether the message content has been validated based on the analysis; rejecting the SMS message in response to determining that the message content has not been validated; and forwarding the SMS message to a recipient, in response to validating the one or more sender parameters and in response to validating the message content.
US09277369B2
Methods for determining a location of a client device in a wireless network having at least a first other network device with a known location are disclosed. Transmission-to-self calibrations are performed at the first other network device and/or the client device to determine RF group delay of the first other network device and/or the client device. The client device receives messages and acknowledgements from the other network devices and determines its location based on information received including the time at which it received the messages, the acknowledgements and the RF groupdelay of the first other network device. As such, the location calculation can be refined by accounting for the RF group delays of the first other network device and/or the client device.
US09277366B2
In general, the invention relates to methods and systems that record the location of a user and determine the corresponding physical named location (e.g. business location) visited by the user. A network includes a server programmed with a database of location information, a database of user information, payment account information, and a wireless communication system capable of communicating with the user's mobile device. The location of the mobile device is ascertained and recorded. The system determines the physical named location (e.g. business location) visited by the user. Bluetooth, wireless transceivers are placed throughout the business location. The mobile device connects to the wireless transceivers with the best signal (e.g., the closest one), or is scanned by a wireless scanner, and the user's location in the store is determined. Targeted content based upon the location of the user in the store is sent to the user.
US09277363B2
A method and apparatus for modifying data synchronization of a portable computing device responsive to movement of the portable computing device are disclosed. Data exchange quality associated with multiple locations is captured and stored. A predicted location of a portable computing device is determined from stored data describing previous locations of the portable computing device or navigation data. Data exchange quality associated with the predicted location is retrieved and analyzed to modify data exchange between the portable computing device and a server. For example, if the data exchange quality of the predicted location is low, a fault-tolerant data exchange method is selected or if data exchange is not possible at the predicted location, data exchanges occur more frequently prior to the portable computing device reaching the predicted location.
US09277361B2
Methods and systems for cross-validating sensor data are described. An example method involves receiving image data and first timing information associated with the image data, and receiving sensor data and second timing information associated with the sensor data. The method further involves determining a first estimation of motion of the mobile device based on the image data and the first timing information, and determining a second estimation of the motion of the mobile device based on the sensor data and the second timing information. Additionally, the method involves determining whether the first estimation is within a threshold variance of the second estimation. The method then involves providing an output indicative of a validity of the first timing information and the second timing information based on whether the first estimation is within the threshold variance of the second estimation.
US09277359B2
Methods, devices and systems enable efficient organizations of group communications on a mobile device. The mobile device may be configured to receive location information from other mobile devices in a communication system, determine the current location and orientation of the mobile device, determine directions and distances from the mobile device to each of the other mobile devices, and generate a first-person perspective and/or top-down perspective display showing relative locations of the other mobile devices. Other multiple mobile devices may be represented in the display as images (e.g., icons, avatars, directional indicators, etc.). The display may provide a user interface to enable a user to quickly organize other mobile devices into groups and initiate group communications with some of the other mobile devices. The mobile device may be configured to group the displayed images into one or more communication units and establish communication links with mobile devices in the communication units.
US09277350B2
A method for wireless data communication between a wireless device having means for short-range data communication, and an electronic device includes mounting a data communication device having means for short-range radio frequency wireless data communication in a general purpose expansion memory location of the electronic device, activating a short-range radio frequency wireless data communication link between the wireless device and the data communication device, and transmitting data between the electronic device and the wireless device so that the wireless device operates as an ordinary expansion memory from the view point of the electronic device.
US09277348B2
Embodiment of the disclosure set forth methods for sharing data in a wireless network. Some example methods include storing in a database a content related information associated with a first mobile device, receiving a request for the content related information from a second mobile device, searching the database for the content related information, and transmitting a search result to the second mobile device to enable the transfer of content between the first mobile device and the second mobile device.
US09277339B2
In a sound source detection apparatus that detects a sound source of a detection subject on the basis of collected sounds, sounds are collected by at least one sound collector, an autocorrelation between sounds collected in time series by the sound collector is calculated, and a determination as to whether or not the sound source of the detection subject exists is made on the basis of the autocorrelation. More particularly, sounds are preferably collected respectively by two or more sound collectors such that the existence of the sound source of the detection subject is determined by determining whether or not the autocorrelations of the sounds collected by the two or more sound collectors satisfy a predetermined condition. By using the autocorrelation to detect the sound source of the detection subject in this manner, high robustness against an S/N ratio is exhibited, leading to an improved detection performance when detecting the sound source of the detection subject.
US09277330B2
A system and method for directional sound sensing directs an optical sensing beam to an object of interest having a rough surface that vibrates acoustically. The light is reflected thereby and scattered as a speckle pattern that includes multiple speckles having a random distribution of phase offsets. A detector array having multiple detector elements receives and detects the speckle pattern and produces signals that are linearly proportional to phase modulation of the speckles. A summer receives signals from at least two of the detector elements that are offset at different phases and sums the received signals to generate a non-vanishing signal representative of an acoustic signal.
US09277326B2
A miniature speaker is disclosed. The miniature speaker includes a frame providing a receiving space, a magnetic circuit positioned in the receiving space and a vibration unit including a diaphragm and a voice coil driving the diaphragm. The magnetic circuit includes a main magnet positioned on a center of the lower plate, a pair of auxiliary magnets positioned spaced from the main magnet for forming a magnetic gap, a pole plate attaching to a top surface of the main magnet, and an upper plate. The upper plate includes a pair of main segments attached to top surfaces of the auxiliary magnets, and a pair of connecting beams connecting with the main segments and located between the two auxiliary magnets. The magnets are prevent from being attracted to each other by virtue of the upper plate.
US09277318B2
A signal processing apparatus includes a filter that performs filtering of a correction filter characteristic including a reverse characteristic of an output characteristic of a microphone on a signal acquired by the microphone.
US09277312B2
An electronic device includes: a main body; a screen panel disposed on a surface of the main body and configured to display an image; a frame-shaped cover panel disposed on the surface of the main body to cover an outer periphery of the screen panel; a bone conduction vibrator incorporated in the main body and attached to a rear surface of the screen panel, and an adhesive layer fixedly attaching the cover panel at a rear surface thereof to an outer peripheral portion of the surface of the screen panel. The adhesive layer extends along the outer peripheral portion of the surface of the screen panel and has a missing portion in which an area to be located in the vicinity of the bone conduction vibrator is missing. The missing portion-provides a gap between the surface of the screen panel and the rear surface of the cover panel.
US09277310B1
An audio playback system for an audio signal generated by an audio output device includes a generally U-shaped headphone arrangement having two opposing ends each terminating with an audio transducer. A top enclosure of the headphone arrangement includes a remote control holder, a personal attachment holder, and a headphone circuit. A remote control is adapted for selective engagement with the remote control holder of the headphone arrangement and is fixable to a personal attachment and worn by the user. Control signals are transmitted to the headphone arrangement by the remote control in response to the person interacting with the remote control. The headphone circuit alters the audio output of the headphone circuit in accordance thereto. The headphone circuit receives the audio signal directly from the audio output device, the network, or indirectly from the remote control. The remote control is also adapted for controlling the audio output device and network.
US09277304B2
The loudspeaker magnetic circuit is an external-magnet type, and has a magnet, an upper plate, and a lower plate. The magnet is sandwiched between the upper plate and the lower plate. At least one of the lower plate and the upper plate is formed of magnetic powder or a mixture of a magnetic powder and resin.
US09277299B2
A line switching device includes multiple input ports to which signals are input and that include first input ports and second input ports different from the first input ports; multiple output ports that include given output ports; a branch unit that branches first signals input from the first input ports; and a switch that selectively outputs, among second signals input from the second input ports and branched signals branched from the first signals by the branch unit, signals that are to be switched to an output port among the given ports.
US09277281B2
An apparatus for providing object-in-content information that includes a central control unit which creates and provides basic content information, receives the object-in-content information and provides the object-in-content information in a user-viewable format. The apparatus also features an object information interface unit which transmits a message containing the basic content information provided by the central control unit to an object-in-content information managing device, receives a message containing object-in-content information corresponding to the basic content information from the object-in-content information managing device, and transmits the object-in-content information contained in the received message to the central control unit.
US09277279B2
A web television includes a display, a tuner, an internet module, and a PIP module. The tuner is arranged to select television video for display on the display and to select television audio for display by a speaker of the web television. The internet module is arranged to supply internet video for display on the display and to supply internet audio for display by the speaker of the web television, and the internet video and audio are derived from internet communications between the web television and internet content providers. The PIP module is arranged to provide a PIP area within a main area of the display. The internet video and the television video may be swapped between the PIP area and the main area of the display, and the speaker of the web television may be swapped between the internet audio and the television audio.
US09277278B2
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for enhancing audience measurement data. Offline and online audience measurement data may be compared and correlated to improve the quality of each data and source set. Positive correlations between the offline and online data sets related to a particular event may indicate demographic traits that are likely true, such that outliers may be removed from the set or considered at a reduced weight. Negative correlations may indicate that demographic information within a source set, such as the online measurement data, may be false or suspect.
US09277267B2
A content output system includes a content output apparatus; and an information display apparatus, the content output apparatus and the information display apparatus being capable of communicating with each other. The content output apparatus includes a selection section configured to select, in response to a selection instruction, one piece of content from among a plurality of pieces of content that can be output, as content composed of a video signal and/or an audio signal; and an output section configured to output the content selected by the selection section. The information display apparatus includes a display section; and a control section configured to allow the display section to display, as content information display, information on the plurality of pieces of content that can be output from the content output apparatus in a state in which content that is output from the output section of the content output apparatus is displayed so as to be distinguished from remaining pieces of content that can be output.
US09277263B2
A system is disclosed for inserting advertising description data into an audio/visual data stream, the system including but not limited to a first server processor in data communication with a first computer program comprising instructions embedded in a computer readable medium, wherein the processor is configured to insert advertising trigger signal data into the audio/visual data stream at a super head office (SHO) and send the audio/visual data stream with trigger signal data to an end user client device; and a second processor at a VHO is configured to receive the audio visual data stream and trigger signal data from the first processor, generate a per-VHO multicast data stream and inject advertising description data into the per-VHO multicast stream upon detection of the advertising trigger data in the audio/visual data stream and send the per-VHO multicast data stream from the VHO to the end user client device.
US09277260B2
Device capabilities, media rights, and content are managed using a convergence platform to allow seamless consumption of content across disparate devices. Media content can be paused on one device having a particular set of capabilities and rights and resumed on a different device having another set of capabilities and rights. A user can play media on a mobile device, continue playing the media on a desktop computer, and subsequently move to a large screen television and capabilities and rights are automatically identified to seamlessly provide the most appropriate authorized content. Personalized media content information can be provided based on maintained information for user playback stoppage events and the user can resume playback of any number of media streams.
US09277240B2
A method for encoding an image having been cut up into partitions. The method includes: predicting data of a current partition based on an already encoded and then decoded reference partition, generating a predicted partition; determining residual data by comparing data relating to the current partition with the predicted partition, the residual data associated with various digital data items. Prior producing a signal containing the encoded information, performing the following steps: determining, from the predetermined residual data, a subset containing residual data capable of being modified; calculating the value of a function representative of the residual data; comparing the calculated value with a value of at least one of the digital data items; based on the comparison, modification or non-modification of at least one of the residual data items of the subset; and, in the event of a modification, entropy encoding the at least one modified residual data item.
US09277232B2
An image data encoding apparatus and method and an image data decoding apparatus and method are provided. The image data encoding apparatus may perform at least one image prediction with respect to image data, and select a prediction mode for encoding. The image data encoding apparatus may simultaneously perform both intra prediction and color prediction, and thereby may efficiently perform encoding.
US09277221B2
An image processing apparatus includes a division unit configured to divide an input image into a plurality of subblocks subjected to quantization control a subblock quantization parameter calculation unit configured to calculate a quantization parameter of each of the subblocks, a basic block quantization parameter calculation unit configured to set a basic block including at least two subblocks and to calculate a quantization parameter of the basic block, a difference value calculation unit configured to calculate a difference value between the quantization parameter of the basic block and the quantization parameter of each subblock included in the basic block, and a difference value coding unit configured to code the difference value.
US09277217B2
Provided are video encoding device that encodes high-quality video, restricting increase of the required bandwidth, while maintaining playback compatibility with playback devices conforming to MPEG-2 standard, and video playback device. Data creation device 5401 includes: 2D compatible video encoder 2602 that generates stream conforming to MPEG-2 format by compress-encoding original video of normal quality; base-view video encoder 2605 that generates stream, composed of black images, that includes the same number of pictures as stream that is obtained by compress-encoding original video; and dependent-view video encoder 5409 that generates dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding higher-quality original video, by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in stream conforming to the MPEG-2 format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting higher-quality original video.
US09277213B2
Provided is a video encoding device having an AFF-mode-determining unit (140) for determining the AFF mode when an input image is an interlaced image, and a video encoding unit (110) for encoding the input image depending on a result of the mode determination obtained from the AFF-mode-determining unit (140). The AFF-mode-determining unit (140) makes a determination combining: a mode determination result based on each of a texture value when an image is treated as a field and a frame, or based on an equivalent object; and a mode determination result based on the ease of predicting a motion vector in both encodings estimated with reference to a previously obtained movement vector, or based on the cost.
US09277205B2
Mixed mode imaging is implemented using a single-chip image capture sensor with a color filter array. The single-chip image capture sensor captures a frame including a first set of pixel data and a second set of pixel data. The first set of pixel data includes a first combined scene, and the second set of pixel data includes a second combined scene. The first combined scene is a first weighted combination of a fluorescence scene component and a visible scene component due to the leakage of a color filter array. The second combined scene includes a second weighted combination of the fluorescence scene component and the visible scene component. Two display scene components are extracted from the captured pixel data in the frame and presented on a display unit.
US09277204B2
A lightweight, low volume, inexpensive LADAR sensor incorporating 3-D focal plane arrays is adapted specifically for modular manufacture and rapid field configurability and provisioning. The present invention generates, at high speed, 3-D image maps and object data at short to medium ranges. The techniques and structures described may be used to extend the range of long range systems as well, though the focus is on compact, short to medium range ladar sensors suitable for use in multi-sensor television production systems and 3-D graphics capture and moviemaking. 3-D focal plane arrays are used in a variety of physical configurations to provide useful new capabilities.
US09277203B2
The present invention provides a new and improved stereoscopic camera, system and network of such for acquiring stereoscopic image data and, in particular, stereoscopic images of a location or points and objects within a location. Some of the benefits of these include simultaneous left/right view acquisition, a system where the display is remote from the stereoscopic camera, stereoscopic digital zoom wherein a subset of pixels is displayed, pan-tilt-zoom choice of the displayed image, interactive adjustment of images, and a network of stereoscopic cameras with a common image processing unit. The invention is capable of producing high resolution, real-time stereoscopic image data while avoiding or mitigating the deleterious effects of spurious parallax.
US09277192B2
The present invention relates to a system of real time micro hot cell image control for radiopharmaceutical automatic synthesizing apparatus including at least one CCD camera, a plurality of radioactivity detector, a logic control device, a computer interface control device. The plurality of radioactivity detector are connected to the logic control device, and the logic control device sends a corresponding location code to the computer interface control device when the detected radioactivity value is greater than the threshold value for selecting a nearest CCD camera and sending the taken image of the location to the computer interface control device for monitoring whether the automatic production line of radiopharmaceuticals is kept in normal operation.
US09277190B2
An endoscope apparatus includes a light source device, an image pickup device, and an observation monitor. The video processor applies, on the basis of a difference between a first image signal having a peak wavelength of a spectral characteristic and a second image signal having a peak wavelength of the spectral characteristic that a value in the absorption characteristic is lower than the value in the absorption characteristic of the first image signal and a scattering characteristic of the living tissue is suppressed more than the scattering characteristic of the first image signal between a wavelength band including a maximum value and a wavelength band at a minimum value in an absorption characteristic of a living tissue, processing for enhancing the first image signal and generates an enhanced and corrected image signal.
US09277187B2
A monitoring system includes a plurality of image-capturing apparatuses each including an event detector that executes on a corresponding captured image at least one of a plurality of processing algorithms for detection of a monitor event, and a transmission controller that outputs to a network only a processing result of the executed processing algorithm when a monitor event is not detected and that outputs to the network at least the captured image when a monitor event is detected; and a management apparatus managing the plurality of image-capturing apparatuses via the network and including an event determination unit that determines occurrence of a monitor event in accordance with the received processing result and a record controller that records the received captured image.
US09277183B2
A system and method for distributing auxiliary data embedded in video data includes a content source that embeds the auxiliary data into the video data. The content source then encodes the video data together with the auxiliary data to create a distribution multiplex including compressed video data. A decoder receives and decompresses the distribution multiplex to reproduce the video data with the auxiliary data embedded. A television or other device then detects and extracts the auxiliary data from the video data. The television or other device processes the auxiliary data to support a variety of possible interactive applications including displaying a synchronized widget on a display of the television.
US09277182B2
A system and method includes an automation system generating a modified content signal from a content signal by inserting insertion material into the content signal during a break and a monitoring system monitoring the content signal. The automation system controls the automation system to return to the content signal in response to monitoring the content signal when the break ends on the content signal before an end of the insertion material.
US09277171B2
An electronic device includes: a digital signal transmission/reception unit configured to perform two-way transmission of a digital signal using multiple differential signal lanes prepared at a transmission path with an external device; a transmission path arrangement determining unit configured to determine a transmission path arrangement including the number of use lanes, a use lane number, and a transmission direction by performing communication with the external device using a two-way communication line prepared at the transmission path with the external device; and a transmission path arrangement control unit configured to control the arrangement of the digital signal transmission/reception unit based on the information of the transmission path arrangement determined at the transmission path arrangement determining unit.
US09277163B2
Display apparatus for providing enhanced electronic program guide and method of controlling the same
A method of controlling a display apparatus including receiving, via a receiving unit, first metadata corresponding to contents to be displayed on the display apparatus from at least a first source externally connected to the display apparatus, said first metadata including channel information and broadcast programs to be broadcast for each channel included in the channel information; matching, via a controller thumbnail images with the broadcast programs; generating, via the controller, an enhanced program guide including a designated time zone indicating when a broadcast program is to be broadcast and a corresponding matched thumbnail image; and displaying via the display apparatus, the enhanced program guide based on a selection signal requesting the enhanced program guide be displayed.
US09277162B2
A keystone correction apparatus and method of curved display are provided. The apparatus includes a curved screen that displays an image and a projector that has an infrared lighting device to irradiate infrared light to the curved screen. An infrared imaging device is configured to capture infrared light reflected from the curved screen. A controller is configured to determine whether the curved screen is distorted using an infrared image captured by the infrared imaging device and perform a keystone correction.
US09277160B2
Disclosed herein is a program listing display control apparatus including: a program listing picture storage block configured to store a program listing picture in which are disposed program time slots to which a plurality of broadcast programs are allocated; a display control block configured to control a display apparatus to display the program listing picture; a control information input block configured to input control information for controlling the acquisition of additional information to be added to the program listing picture; and an information acquisition block configured to acquire program identification information for identifying the programs to which the additional information is added and the additional information regarding the programs identified by the program identification information, on the basis of the control information input through the control information input block.
US09277152B2
A photographing optical lens assembly includes, in order from object side to image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element and a sixth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element has positive refractive power. The third and fourth lens elements have refractive power. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. An object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element are aspheric. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. When specific conditions are satisfied, it is easier to miniaturize the photographing optical lens assembly and achieve better image quality in a limited space.
US09277150B2
Image pickup apparatus and camera system capable of improving calculation accuracy of defocus amount
An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element that includes imaging pixels and focus detection pixels and that performs a photoelectric conversion of an object image, a readout unit that reads a pair of image signals from the focus detection pixels with a predetermined period, a storage unit that stores the pair of image signals read by the readout unit and optical information of the pair of image signals, an addition unit that adds a plurality of signals of time-series continuous frames of the pair of image signals, and a conversion coefficient determination unit that determines a conversion coefficient that converts an image shift amount of a pair of image signals of an addition frame obtained by the addition unit into a defocus amount, and the conversion coefficient determination unit determines the conversion coefficient of the addition frame based on the time-series continuous optical information.
US09277145B2
An imaging device is provided which includes a solid-state imaging device that includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a form of a two-dimensional (2D) matrix, and outputs pixel signals corresponding to subject light incident on the plurality of pixels, and a plurality of image-acquiring units that acquire the pixel signals output from the solid-state imaging device, and output image data corresponding to the acquired pixel signals, wherein each of the plurality of image-acquiring units acquires pixel signals of one of divisional imaging regions obtained by dividing an imaging region in which all pixels arranged in the solid-state imaging device image the subject light by the number of image-acquiring units, and outputs image data corresponding to the acquired pixel signal of the divisional imaging region as divisional image data.
US09277141B2
According to certain embodiments, an image processing system includes a computing system that receives a video signal including data for one or more images and determines a region of interest in a particular image of the one or more images. Using the determined region of interest, the computing system instructs the camera to generate a peripheral region of one or more subsequent images having a reduced information intensity level relative to the information intensity level with which the region of interest of the one or more subsequent images are generated. The region of interest of the one or more subsequent images corresponds to the region of interest of the particular image. The peripheral region including portions of the image other than the region of interest.
US09277124B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit that includes a shooting lens for collecting an image of a subject to be shot; and an imaging element that forms the image collected by the shooting lens and generates image data through photoelectric conversion of formed image. The imaging apparatus also includes an inclination detector that detects an inclination of the imaging apparatus from a predetermined position, through a rotation around a shooting optical axis of the shooting lens. The apparatus also includes a control unit that changes an operating mode to a switchable state capable of switching between operating modes when a predetermined time has elapsed in a state in which the inclination detected by the inclination detector falls within a predetermined range in which the operating modes of the imaging apparatus are switched to each other.
US09277121B2
A 360° camera can be embedded within a fire pull station of a fire alarm system, the fire alarm system can include at least one of a fire detection component, a signaling component, and control panel. The fire pull station can include a mounting bracket and a housing. The mounting bracket can securely affixes the station to a surface. The housing can include of at least one of a power source, a pull, and a circuitry. The 360° camera can include an image sensor and a 360° lense array. The camera can obtain electrical power from the power source of the station.
US09277120B2
An image capturing apparatus realizes a precise focus assist function without losing edge information of a multi-pixel video image. The image capturing apparatus includes an image sensor arranged in a Bayer array, a circuit for converting resolution of the video signal obtained by the image sensor, a circuit for extracting high frequency components of each color pixel data of the video signal, a selection circuit for selecting the high frequency components of four pixels in a unit of the Bayer array and for outputting the component of the greatest amplitude as peaking information, and a superimposition circuit for superimposing the peaking information on the video signal of the resolution or substituting the video signal with the peaking information.
US09277115B2
An image pickup apparatus arranged to perform a focus adjustment by moving a focus lens based on an image pickup signal, parallelly reading out the image pickup signal obtained in a period set by a timing signal for setting a first exposure period and the image pickup signal obtained in a period set by a timing signal for setting a second exposure period from an image pickup unit by shifting the timing signals from each other in phase, obtain a focus evaluation value from the image pickup signal obtained in the set exposure period, and determine a position of the focus lens corresponding to the focus evaluation value based on a focus lens position when the image pickup signal is read out for the first exposure period and a focus lens position when the image pickup signal is read out for the second exposure period.
US09277111B2
A specific subject region is detected, and if a focus detection area that is encompassed in the specific subject region is present, focus detection is performed on that focus detection area. This makes it possible to reduce the influence of a conflict between far and near subjects and reduce the amount of time required for focus detection in an image capture apparatus and in a control method therefor, the image capture apparatus being for performing automatic focus detection based on contrast evaluation values for a plurality of focus detection areas that are each located at a fixed position and each has a fixed size.
US09277109B2
A system for collecting data comprising a mobile terminal for capturing a plurality of frames of image data, the mobile terminal having a first imaging assembly and a second imaging assembly, the first imaging assembly for capturing a first frame of image data representing a first object and the second imaging assembly for capturing a second frame of image data representing a second object, wherein the system for use in collecting data is operative for associating first frame information and second frame information, the first frame information including one or more of image data of the first frame of image data and information derived utilizing the image data of the first frame of image data, the second frame information including one or more of image data of the second frame of image data and information derived utilizing the image data of the second frame of image data.
US09277104B2
A method of assembling a vehicular camera includes providing a lens assembly having a base portion, a lens barrel and a plurality of optical elements in the lens barrel, and providing a circuit element having a circuit board and an imaging array. An adhesive bead is dispensed at the base portion and/or circuit element. The circuit element is placed at the base portion with the adhesive bead therebetween and the optical elements are aligned with the imaging array via a six axis robotic device when the circuit element is at the base portion and in contact with the adhesive bead. The adhesive bead is cured to a first cure level via exposure of the adhesive bead to ultraviolet light. The assembly is moved to a second curing stage and the adhesive bead is cured to a second cure level via heating the adhesive bead.
US09277101B2
An approach for enabling users to generate an interpolated view of content based on footage captured by multiple cameras is described. An interpolation platform receives a plurality of images from a plurality of video cameras providing overlapping fields of view. A camera angle that is different from angles provided by the plurality of cameras is selected. The interpolation platform then generates an interpolated image corresponding to the selected camera angle using a portion or all of the plurality of images from the plurality of cameras.
US09277100B2
In a method to control a printer or copier, a color measurement unit is provided for determining a measurement value of a print marking in a measurement region of color measurement unit. The print marking is printed on the printing substrate web. In addition a positioning marking is also printed on the printing substrate web in a predetermined position relative to the print marking in order to determine a relative position between the print marking and the measurement region of the color measurement unit. The positioning marking comprises at least two partial regions printed in different colors, the partial regions being formed such that a determined color value of the positioning marking changes given a movement of the measurement region of the color measurement unit transverse to a movement direction of the printing substrate web. A real color value is determined with the color measurement unit if the measurement region of the color measurement unit is arranged in a region of the positioning marking. A relative position between the print marking and the color measurement unit is determined depending on a real color value. The measurement value of the print marking is determined and the printer or copier is controlled depending on the measurement value of the print marking.
US09277095B2
A distribution evaluation apparatus includes an evaluation value calculating unit that calculates weighted energy, as an evaluation value representing distribution of located objects x and y, by calculating a product resulting from multiplying weighting function values ω(x) and ω(y) and probability density function values φ(x) and φ(y) representing densities or sizes of the located objects x and y, by a mutual influence value determined by a function fr having as a variable a distance between the located objects x and y, and then by summing the resulting products with respect to all the located objects x and y into the weighted energy, and an evaluating unit that evaluates the distribution of the located objects in accordance with the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculating unit.
US09277090B2
A document reproduction system includes an optical scanning device configured to output an electronic representation of a document comprising both machine printed and non-machine printed elements; and a computing device in communication with the optical scanning device. The computing device is configured to distinguish between the machine printed and non-machine printed elements in the electronic representation of the document. The computing device is configured to selectively print or store only the machine or non-machine printed elements based on user input. A method of document reproduction includes scanning a document having both printed and non-printed content to produce an electronic image; and automatically distinguishing between the printed and non-printed elements in the electronic image of the document.
US09277088B2
An information processing apparatus for searching, from a plurality of photo book templates, for a photo book template to lay out a plurality of images therein, comprises: a unit configured to compare position information defined for each of a plurality of image frames included in the photo book templates with position information of each of the plurality of images, and to lay out, in an image frame among the plurality of image frames, an image among the plurality of images that matches the position information defined for the image frame; and a unit configured to search for a photo book template to lay out the plurality of images therein based on the number of images laid out by the layout unit and a layout of the thus laid-out images.
US09277085B2
An information processing apparatus that is capable of accessing to a destination file even when a file including effective entity data and link information to the destination file is transmitted to an external apparatus. An obtaining unit obtains a destination file when a designated file to be transmitted contains link information to the destination file that is different from the designated file. An edition unit edits the link information contained in the designated file so as to become valid link information to the destination file even when the destination file obtained by the obtaining unit and the designated file will be transmitted to an external apparatus. A transmission unit transmits the designated file containing the link information edited by the edition unit and the destination file to the external apparatus.
US09277082B2
Provided is an image reading apparatus that can inhibit occurrence of a bright spot line image due to microstructures of a light guide. An image reading apparatus satisfies: 45−φ≦θ≦φ−ω/n (0≦ω≦ωmax); and 45−φ≦θ≦φ (−ωmax≦ω≦0), where θ is an angle (deg.) between a surface of original and a reflecting surface of a microstructure reflection surface of a light guide, ω is a half angle of view (deg.) of an imaging forming lens, ωmax (ωmax>0) is a maximum value (deg.) of the half angle of view of the imaging forming lens on an LED light source side with respect to a reading optical axis of the imaging lens, −ωmax is a maximum value (deg.) of the half angle of view of the imaging lens on a side opposite to the LED light source with respect to the reading optical axis, n is a refractive index of the light guide, and φ=sin−1(1/n).
US09277072B2
A light guide includes a plurality of boss portions. A round hole portion is provided near the center of a base member for fixing the light guide, and slit portions are provided on both ends thereof. The round hole portion supports one boss portion in both the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction of the light guide. The slit portions support boss portions in the lateral direction of the light guide, but are free in the longitudinal direction of the light guide. That is, the center of the light guide is fixed from both directions, and thus both ends of the light guides can expand away in the longitudinal direction. This cuts the influence of expansion by half.
US09277070B2
An image scanning device includes a housing, a scanning unit disposed inside the housing and configured to scan, at a scanning position, an image of a sheet, a conveying mechanism disposed inside the housing, and a cover. The conveying mechanism is configured to convey the sheet along a common path to the scanning position in a first direction, and to discharge the sheet having passed the scanning position selectively along a return path in a second direction and along a one-way path in the first direction. The cover is configured to receive the sheet discharged from the one-way path in an inclined position in which the cover extends upward from the one-way path and is inclined relative to the one-way path.
US09277058B2
Network resources for a call between a calling party and a called party are allocated. The network resources for the call are reserved based on a reservation request. The network resources are reserved before any one network resource from the reserved network resources is committed. The reserved network resources for the call are committed when a called party indicates acceptance for the call.
US09277053B2
A method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus for providing ready-to-dial global phone numbers is provided. In one embodiment of the present invention, a telephone number parser parses a received telephone number into a collection of telephone number components. The telephone number parser validates each telephone number component of the collection of telephone number components. A telephone number manager stores the collection of telephone number components. In response to receiving a request for a telephone number, a telephone number assembler generates the telephone number from the collection of telephone number components. The telephone number is configured to be successfully dialed from a location from which the telephone number is to be dialed. Finally, the telephone number manager displays the telephone number.
US09277052B2
A recording of a subject is covertly generated prior to, and subsequent to an operator answering the call. The recording of the subject prior to the operator answering the call involves recording the subject and/or enabling the operator to listen in on the subject prior to indicating to the subject that the operator is communicating on the line. The subject is connected and a ring tone is generated and played back to the subject while audio received from the subject on the connection is recorded or otherwise monitored. Playback of the ringtone leads the subject to believe a connection has not yet been established. The operator may listen to the audio transmitted by the subject without the subject knowing the operator is covertly ascertaining situational information. The operator may provide a selection or answer the call to begin bi-direction communication with the subject which causes the ring tone to cease playing and lead the subject to believe the connection has just been established.
US09277051B2
A service server apparatus is provided which can easily cope with a correction of an error of a task performed based on the content of verbal speeches of a speaker. The service server apparatus includes a service activating unit that receives an instruction for performing a different task from a task performed by an application relating to a speech communication, a telephone/call control enabler that records verbal speeches of the speaker during a speech communication between a plurality of speech communication terminal device, a speech recognizing enabler which performs a task based on the recorded speeches and which generates task data including text data representing the result of the performance and speech data representing the result of the performance, a text translating enabler, and a speech synthesizing enabler.
US09277047B2
A method includes: a) assigning, at a MME, after initiation of a user session of an UE, a correlation ID to the user session; b) defining, at the MME, in response to an initiation of a first trace session of the UE during the user session, a first mapping correlation which maps a first trace ID reflecting the first trace session, to the correlation ID, and sending the first mapping correlation to a TCE; and c) defining, at the MME, in response to an initiation of a second trace session of the UE during the user session, a second mapping correlation which maps a second trace ID reflecting the second trace session, to the correlation ID, and sending the second mapping correlation to the TCE. The first and second mapping correlation enable the TCE to assign trace session information to the user session.
US09277035B2
A portable electronic device includes a first housing, a second housing detachably latched to the first housing through a latching tab, and a releasing mechanism. The releasing mechanism includes a button, an elastic member, and a shaft. The button surrounds the shaft and is rotatably assembled to the first housing by the shaft. The elastic member is coiled around the shaft and elastically resists the button to apply an elastic force to enable the button resisting the first housing. When the button rotates about the shaft under a pressure overcoming the elastic force, the latching tab is pushed to release the latching tab and the second housing.
US09277032B2
The subject disclosure is generally directed towards a technology by which non-contiguous channels of unequal bandwidth may be aggregated for use by communication devices. A data stream is partitioned (e.g., via puncturing) into partitioned data streams for communication over aggregated non-contiguous channels, one partitioned data stream per channel, in which partitioning is based upon each channel's bandwidth. Secondary puncturing may be used on any partitioned data stream that is to be transmitted over a channel associated with a regulatory constraint, e.g., a regulatory mask. Database querying, which may include providing device filter characteristics, may be used to obtain the set of channels available for use, along with any regulatory mask associated with a channel.
US09277027B2
A method and device for providing a message in a remote User Interface (UI) system are provided. The method includes, if a notification message to be sent to a second device connected to a first device is generated in a remote server or the first device communicating with the remote server, the first device generates access information to the notification message, includes the access information in a notification message event indicating occurrence of the notification message, and sends the notification message event to a plurality of second devices in a multicast transmission. Upon receiving a request for the notification message from the plurality of second devices, the first device sends the notification message to the second device whose IDentifier (ID) is identical to a device ID included in the access information, among the plurality of second devices.
US09277013B2
In an embodiment, a given user equipment (UE) in a local communication session (e.g., a P2P or ad-hoc session) between multiple UEs is designated to record session data. The given UE records the session data exchanged between the multiple UEs during the local communication session and uploads the recorded session data to a server after the local communication session has terminated. In another embodiment, a session controller (e.g., a remote server or a P2P node) receives multiple media feeds from multiple transmitting UEs, and selectively interlaces subsets of the multiple media feeds into interlaced output feed(s) that are transmitted to target UE(s). The target UE(s) provide feedback which permits the session controller to determine a lowest relevant configuration (LRC) for the target UE(s) that is used to regulate the interlaced output feed(s) transmitted thereto.
US09277003B2
A computing device associated with a cloud computing environment identifies a first worker cloud computing device from a group of worker cloud computing devices with available resources sufficient to meet required resources for a highest-priority task associated with a computing job including a group of prioritized tasks. A determination is made as to whether an ownership conflict would result from an assignment of the highest-priority task to the first worker cloud computing device based upon ownership information associated with the computing job and ownership information associated with at least one other task assigned to the first worker cloud computing device. The highest-priority task is assigned to the first worker cloud computing device in response to determining that the ownership conflict would not result from the assignment of the highest-priority task to the first worker cloud computing device.
US09276998B2
A method of transferring files in a data-processing network using a current node within the network includes reading an outbound content and outbound characteristics of an outbound file. An outbound message is created having outbound strings including a first set of the outbound strings representing the outbound characteristics and a second set of the outbound strings representing the outbound content. The outbound message is sent to a receiver node within the network. An inbound message is received from a sender node within the network. The inbound message has inbound strings including a first set of the inbound strings representing inbound characteristics and a second set of the inbound strings representing inbound content. An inbound file having the inbound content is stored, and the inbound characteristics are applied to the inbound file.
US09276986B2
Methods and apparatuses are provided for facilitating remote data processing. A method may include accessing content represented by data having a first size. The method may further include preprocessing the data to generate reduced data having a second size being smaller than the first size. The method may additionally include causing the reduced data to be sent to a remote data processing apparatus configured to process the reduced data to derive data related to the content. Corresponding apparatuses are also provided.
US09276984B2
A method for delivering media content over a network includes transcoding the media content to generate multiple copies of the media content, each of the multiple copies having a different destination type or a different source type or both, storing the multiple copies in a cache, receiving requests for the media content, and selecting and delivering a copy of one of the multiple copies in response to each of the requests. A further method for providing media content transcoding services includes fetching media content, selecting one of multiple transcoders for transcoding from multiple source types to multiple destination types, wherein the one transcoder is selected based at least on the destination type, sending the media content to the selected transcoder, transcoding the media content to the destination type, thereby generating transcoded media content, and transmitting the transcoded media content.
US09276981B2
There is provided a system and method for determining an optimal bandwidth for a communication between a networked client device and a server. There is provided a method comprising identifying the networked client device, identifying a location of the networked client device, obtaining a client device profile for the networked client device corresponding to the location, and determining the optimal bandwidth using the client device profile. In this manner, client devices may almost instantly stream the highest quality video available.
US09276979B2
A computer implemented method of streaming media on a computing device is disclosed in which a streaming protocol adapter is provided on the computing device for streaming media to a local streaming client on the computing device with enhanced resiliency. The streaming adapter downloads one or more stream files that include the media file formatted for delivery according to a transfer protocol, and also include streaming template transactions for supporting communicating from the streaming adapter to the streaming client. The streaming client may be a standard real-time streaming protocol (RTSP) client, and the streaming adapter may be an RTSP adapter.
US09276978B2
Live media distribution systems and methods enable scalable and efficient caching of live media content over computer networks. A live media backend generates video fragments for distribution to a content delivery network. The content may originally be streamed live by a live media source. The live media backend determines priority information for the video fragments and attaches a priority identifier to a data envelope for the video segments. The video fragments with the attached priority identifier are sent to a content delivery network. The content delivery network can access the attached priority identifier without analyzing the content of the video fragment to enable intelligent caching of video segments within the media distribution system.
US09276976B2
The present invention relates to a streaming apparatus, and a method in a network system, comprising at least a first and a second streaming apparatus (1001, 1002) for data streaming, each being adapted to upload and store media data, comprising a plurality of media data compositions, for example representing movies and/or TV channels, the network system further comprising a plurality of user devices (11). The method comprises the first streaming apparatus (1001) receiving a plurality of streaming requests from a plurality of the user devices (11), the first streaming apparatus (1001) determining whether to stream media data compositions according to the streaming requests, sending, if the first streaming apparatus (1001) determines not to stream a media data composition, the corresponding streaming request to the second streaming apparatus (1002), the first streaming apparatus (1001) creating request information related to streaming requests received by the first streaming apparatus (1001), and the first streaming apparatus (1001) determining, based at least partly on the request information, whether to upload and store a further media data composition (Mnpq).
US09276969B2
A system and method for providing a setup timer in a SIP-based network including initiating a session by transmitting one or more messages to a first user. The system and method also comprises starting a first timer upon transmitting the one or more messages, wherein the first timer is configured to expire after a first predetermined time period. The system and method further comprises starting a second timer upon transmitting the one or more messages, wherein the second timer is configured to expire after a second predetermined time period. The system and method furthermore comprises transmitting one or more instructions upon expiration of at least one of the first timer and the second timer, and taking one or more actions based at least in part on the one or more instructions.
US09276962B2
A broadband gateway, which enables communication with a plurality of devices, handles at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider. The broadband gateway may operate as a home gateway to negotiate with one or more visited gateways, a common authorized service area or domain (ASD) for providing services to the visited gateways. The home gateway may establish one or more corresponding communication links with the visited gateways based on the negotiated common ASD. The home gateway communicates corresponding content for the services to the visited gateways via the established corresponding communication links. The home gateway communicates information about gateway functionalities required for the services to the visited gateways. The visited gateways may port gateway functionalities forwarded by the home gateway, or may perform gateway functionality conversion to support the services, which may be acquired via the home gateway and/or the visited gateways from networks.
US09276953B2
The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for detecting and blocking unauthorized MAC addresses used by virtual machines. In one embodiment, the disclosure provides automated and consistent verification of VM traffic against values assigned to each VM by network administrator. In another embodiment, the disclosure provides for validating a newly discovered VM by comparing its attributes with the corresponding description of the known VMs stored at a database. A re-validation check may also be implemented. If the VM is validated, the VM will be processed according to network policy to support features including VMReady. If the VM fails validation, other actions can be taken.
US09276951B2
A computer-implemented method for discovering network attack paths is provided. The method includes a computer generating scoring system results based on analysis of vulnerabilities of nodes in a network configuration. The method also includes the computer applying Bayesian probability to the scoring system results and selected qualitative risk attributes wherein output accounts for dependencies between vulnerabilities of the nodes. The method also includes the computer applying a weighted-average algorithm to the output yielding at least one ranking of nodes in order of likelihood of targeting by an external attacker.
US09276943B2
Program code generates on a first computer within a computer system a unique key for a computer software application, wherein the computer software application is on a second computer within the computer system. The program code generates on the first computer an authorization code that grants a designated end user access to implement a change to a configuration item on a second computer during a configurable time period. The program code verifies the authorization code inputted into the second computer to determine if the end user has authority to implement the change on second computer, wherein the authorization code is separated into a first string and a second string each having a fixed number of bits. The program code grants access to the end user to implement the change to the configuration item on the second computer if the end user has the authority to implement the change.
US09276941B2
A system controls access to a group of media items. A client device is operable by a user. A media server is coupled to at least one media data source, wherein the at least one media data source stores one or more media items for supply, by the media server, to the client device over a network. An authorization server is coupled to an authorization data source. The authorization data source stores data identifying a group of media items of fixed group size N that are accessible by the user, each media item in said group having a different associated availability parameter value indicating a number of time periods M within which access to the media item is available, wherein the authorization server is arranged to authorize the media server to supply a media item to the client device if said media item belongs to the group of media items.
US09276931B2
An approach for providing multiplexed security token values is described. A security token value multiplexing platform may determine a time interval for generating a security token value, wherein the time interval is different from a previous time interval at which a previous security token value was generated. The security token value multiplexing platform may further select an algorithm from a plurality of algorithms for generating the security token value based on the time interval. The security token value multiplexing platform may also generate the security token value using the algorithm.
US09276929B2
A method and apparatus for multi-domain authentication is described. In one example, credentials are received for a user accessing a first domain. User access to the first domain and a second domain is confirmed. A token is created for access to the second domain and the is provided with access to the second domain.
US09276926B2
A mechanism for securely transmitting credentials to instantiated virtual machines is provided. A central server is used to turn on a virtual machine. When the virtual machine is turned on, the central server sends it a secret text string. The virtual machine requests the credentials from the central server by transmitting the secret string and its instance ID. The central server validates the secret string and source IP to determine whether they are authentic. Once verified, the central server transmits the credentials to the virtual machine in a secure channel and invalidates the secret string. The credentials can now be used to authenticate API calls.
US09276925B2
Methods and systems for managing cloud zones are described herein. A management server for a cloud of computing resources may add private zones to the cloud. The private zones may contain computers owned and operated by a user of the cloud, such as a cloud customer, rather than the cloud operator. The management server may manage the computing resources in the private zone by sending commands to an agent, which in turn relays the management server's commands to the individual computing resources. The agent may be authenticated using a token.
US09276920B2
A scalable access filter that is used together with others like it in a virtual private network to control access by users at clients in the network to information resources provided by servers in the network. Each access filter uses a local copy of an access control data base to determine whether an access request is made by a user. Each user belongs to one or more user groups and each information resource belongs to one or more information sets. Access is permitted or denied according to access policies which define access in terms of the user groups and information sets. The first access filter in the path performs the access check, encrypts and authenticates the request; the other access filters in the path do not repeat the access check. The interface used by applications to determine whether a user has access to an entity is now an SQL entity. The policy server assembles the information needed for the response to the query from various information sources, including source external to the policy server.
US09276911B2
System and methods are provided for performing privacy-preserving, high-performance, and scalable DNA read mapping on hybrid clouds including a public cloud and a private cloud. The systems and methods offer strong privacy protection and have the capacity to process millions of reads and allocate most of the workload to the public cloud at a small overall cost. The systems and methods perform seeding on the public cloud using keyed hash values of individual sequencing reads' seeds and then extend matched seeds on the private cloud. The systems and methods are designed to move the workload of read mapping from the extension stage to the seeding stage, thereby ensuring that the dominant portion of the overhead is shouldered by the public cloud.
US09276895B2
A service discovery request is received from a printing device at a cloud server. The request includes profile information for the printing device. In response to the request, service information is provided to the printing device. The service information includes location information and an encryption scheme for retrieving a list of services available to the printing device.
US09276894B2
Applications in social networks support interaction between members through various types of channels such as notifications, newsfeed, and so forth. For each channel, applications are ranked based on their user affinity measures. User affinity is based on measuring positive and negative interactions by users as both senders and recipients of messages generated by applications. Metrics are computed for the different types of messages and interactions provided by applications. For each channel, an application receives user affinity score based on specific weighted combination of the metrics. Applications use channel resources to send messages to increase their user base. Given the large number of applications that are available, the extent to which applications are allowed to use channels is controlled, limiting their resource consumption. User affinity scores of applications calculated for a channel are used to decide the allocation of channel resources for an application.
US09276881B2
Message processing includes activating an out-of-office function for a messaging account, wherein the out-of-office function has a scheduled end time. A determination is made, using a processor, that a current time is after the scheduled end time and that a deactivation condition for the out-of-office function has not occurred. Responsive to the determination, an out-of-office action is performed using the processor.
US09276873B2
Quality of service may be achieved in a network using time-bases queues that are associated with different maximum latency periods. A device may receive a request to allocate resources for a packet flow, the resources being allocated at a number of network devices. The device may select, in response to the request, a set of queues that includes a queue selected at each of the network devices, the selected queue, at each of the network devices, being associated with a maximum latency period. The device may transmit one or more messages, to the network devices, indicating that the selected set of queues are to be used for buffering of the packet flow during packet scheduling.
US09276872B2
A system and method for sharing access to an internet protocol (IP) network among multiple internet service providers (ISPs) uses multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). End-users are coupled to a broadband customer access network. Each end-user is also associated with at least one of the ISPs. An aggregation router interfaces the customer access network with a network backbone. The network backbone includes a border router for interfacing between the network backbone and the network of an ISP. When the border router is activated, it creates a forwarding equivalency class (FEC) corresponding to the ISP. The border router stores a label for the FEC and the interface for reaching the ISP in an FEC table. The border router advertises the label binding for the FEC to all upstream nodes. An intermediate node receiving the label binding creates its own FEC table, associates a new label with the FEC, and advertises the new label binding to its upstream nodes. The aggregation router receives and builds a FEC table containing the label bindings for all ISPs reachable over the network backbone. When the aggregation router receives a data packet from an end-user, the aggregation router determines the ISP associated with the end-user, labels the data packet with the label corresponding to the FEC for that ISP, and routes the packet on the network backbone. The packet eventually reaches the border router, which pops off the label and passes the packet to the ISP.
US09276867B2
In one embodiment, a hierarchical scheduling system including multiple scheduling layers with layer bypass is used to schedule items (e.g., corresponding to packets). This scheduling of items performed in one embodiment includes: propagating first items through the hierarchical scheduling system and updating scheduling information in each of the plurality of scheduling layers based on said propagated first items as said propagated first items propagate through the plurality of scheduling layers, and bypassing one or more scheduling layers of the plurality of scheduling layers for scheduling bypassing items and updating scheduling information in each of said bypassed one or more scheduling layers based on said bypassing items. In one embodiment, this method is performed by a particular machine. In one embodiment, the operations of propagating first items through the hierarchical scheduling system and bypassing one or more scheduling layers are done in parallel.
US09276860B2
A regional data center system corresponding to a particular region of the world. The data center system includes multiple data centers, each configured such that region-specific requests for services may be satisfied by any of the data centers. One or more of the data centers may also perform load balancing on received region-specific request. In order to perform load balancing, the receiving data center may itself process the requests, but in some cases may determine that the request is to be processed by another data center within the regional data center system.
US09276854B2
In an embodiment, a method is provided. The method of this embodiment provides generating one or more packets of data, the one or more packets of data being associated with a connection; and associating the one or more packets with one of a plurality of transmit queues based, at least in part, on the connection associated with the one or more packets.
US09276852B2
A communication system includes: a control apparatus setting a process rule defining a process content appropriate to a received packet in a forwarding node; and a forwarding node comprising a packet process unit processing a received packet in accordance with the process rule. The forwarding node further includes: a request unit transmitting a process rule setting request to the control apparatus if the received packet is a first packet for which the process rule is not set; and a restriction unit restricting transmission of the setting request for a second packet satisfying a condition obtained from the first packet.
US09276837B2
A route setting apparatus having a processor and a memory which stores an instruction to cause the processor to generate a layer label in which a first signal type for transmission of a main signal is described on a layer-by-layer basis, to store, on a layer-by-layer basis, a score correspondingly associated with one or more of second signal types, and to generate data based on the score correspondingly associated for one of the second signal types that matches the first signal type in the layer label. The instruction causes the processor to determine an optimal route based on the generated data which includes data received from another apparatus included in a route for the transmission of the main signal, and transmit and receive the layer label and the generated data.
US09276835B2
An epoch-based network processor internally segments packets for processing and aggregation in epoch payloads. FIFO buffers interact with a memory management unit to efficiently manage the segmentation and aggregation process.
US09276831B2
Disclosed are techniques for accurately determining network latency. The techniques include steps for transmitting a latency packet between a network test device and a remote network node. The techniques particularly include steps for recording timestamps upon transmission and receipt of the latency packet by the respective network device and the remote network node. Network latency is determined based on a difference between timestamps of the network device (transmitting and receiving the latency packet) and a difference between the timestamps of the remote network node (transmitting and receiving the latency packet).
US09276829B2
Methods and systems for enabling an application to track provenance information include analyzing an application binary to discover injection points for provenance tracking code; overwriting instructions in the application binary at the injection points to create an instrumented application, where the overwritten instructions link the application binary to one or more instrumented libraries that invoke a provenance layer to track data operations; and deploying the instrumented application on a client device.
US09276827B2
Embodiments described herein use APIs on network devices in a SDN enabled network to monitor the network traffic flowing through the network devices and determine an identity of the client initiating the network traffic. Specifically, the APIs provide a user application with user credentials, IP addresses, MAC addresses, and other identifying information mined from the network flows. Once the identity is found, the application may identify the client's current geographic location. The network devices may continue to monitor the network devices to identify any movement events associated with the client. In response to a movement event, the application may reallocate resources proximate to the new geographic location of the client.
US09276824B2
A method of controlling access from a virtual machine executed in a server device to a storage device, the method including acquiring a service level corresponding to a virtual machine identifier that identifies a virtual machine and is output from the virtual machine together with an input/output command by using the virtual machine identifier and by referring to a storage device that stores correspondence relationship between the virtual machine identifier and the service level and executing the input/output command from the virtual machine in accordance with the acquired service level in at least either the server device or the storage device.
US09276811B1
Techniques are described for providing virtual networking functionality for managed computer networks. In some situations, a user may configure or otherwise specify one or more virtual local area networks (“VLANs”) for a managed computer network being provided for the user, such as with each VLAN including multiple computing nodes of the managed computer network. Networking functionality corresponding to the specified VLAN(s) may then be provided in various manners, such as if the managed computer network itself is a distinct virtual computer network overlaid on one or more other computer networks, and communications between computing nodes of the managed virtual computer network are handled in accordance with the specified VLAN(s) of the managed virtual computer network by emulating functionality that would be provided by networking devices of the managed virtual computer network if they were physically present and configured to support the specified VLAN(s).
US09276807B2
A device determines a communication failure associated with a first network, and selects, based on the communication failure, a failover device from a list of failover devices. The device and the failover devices communicate via short-range communications, and the selected failover device connects to a second network. The device provides, to the selected failover device, a request to receive a service from the first network, and determines whether the selected failover device accepts the request. When the selected failover device accepts the request, the device establishes a communication channel with the selected failover device, and receives the service from the first network via the selected failover device, the communication channel, and the second network.
US09276792B1
A phase-domain delta-sigma (ΔΣ) modulator in a phase digitizer determines a demodulated phase error based on a phase-modulated frequency signal, in which a carrier frequency is modulated with a fundamental frequency and an associated phase, and a selected one of a set of reference signals, where the demodulated phase error represents a difference between the phase and a reference phase of the selected one of the set of reference signals. Moreover, a digital filter in the phase-domain ΔΣ modulator filters the demodulated phase error. Furthermore, a latch in the phase-domain ΔΣ modulator provides a bit stream by sampling one or more bits of the filtered demodulated phase error, where an average value of the bit stream represents the phase. Next, control logic in the phase-domain ΔΣ modulator selects the one of the set of reference signals.
US09276791B2
A method of transmitting a Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) frame in a Very High Throughput (VHT) Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system includes generating a MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) to be transmitted to a destination station (STA), generating a PLCP Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) by adding a PLCP header, including an L-SIG field containing control information for a legacy STA and a VHT-SIG field containing control information for a VHT STA, to the MPDU, and transmitting the PPDU to the destination STA. A constellation applied to some of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) symbols of the VHT-SIG field is obtained by rotating a constellation applied to an OFDM symbol of the L-SIG field.
US09276785B2
A waveform equalization apparatus includes an A/D converter, a waveform equalizer, a training sequence generator, a clock recovery circuit, multiple matched filters, and a clock optimization logic. The A/D converter oversamples a reception signal in synchronization with a base clock signal and generates an A/D converted data sequence. The waveform equalizer performs an arithmetic operation to equalize a waveform. The training sequence generator generates a data sequence for training. The data sequence for training is used instead of an output data of the detector so as to converge a coefficient used in the arithmetic operation in advance. The clock recovery circuit supplies the base clock signal without executing a clock recovery operation during a training period, and executes the clock recovery operation according to the output data of the detector. The matched filters receive the A/D converted data sequence, and execute a filter arithmetic operation.
US09276779B2
Systems and methods for providing a full fail-safe capability in signal transmission networks are disclosed. For example, a system for providing a full fail-safe capability in signal transmission networks includes at least a first electronic circuit to transmit and receive signals or data, at least one driver unit coupled to the at least a first electronic circuit, and at least one receiver unit coupled to the at least a first electronic circuit and the at least one driver unit. The at least one receiver unit includes at least one offset signal generating unit, a signal comparing unit, and a switching unit to couple an offset signal from the at least one offset signal generating unit to an input of the signal comparing unit.
US09276771B1
Exemplary embodiments provide compression of data that will be saved to a multipath table for a given set of routing rules. Thus, the total space required in the multipath table for storing a given set of routing rules is reduced. A routing rule associated with a network switch may be represented using a building block that includes one or more entries. The one or more entries form an unordered enumeration of egress ports of the network switch. In the routing rule, the weight of an egress port is represented by the number of times the egress port appears in the building block. Compression of data may be accomplished by combining one or more of the routing rules into a same building block having one or more entries. The building block may be stored in the multipath table, hereby programming the one or more of the rules into the multipath table.
US09276760B2
Techniques for transmitting a packet from a source switch module to a destination switch module. Embodiments retrieve path information specifying a route to the destination switch module. A packet is created that includes (i) at least a portion of the path information and (ii) a set of load/store operations to be executed by the destination switch module. Embodiments then transmit the packet to a first switch module using a first port, the first port specified in the retrieved path information. The first switch module is configured to transmit the packet based on the at least a portion of the path information in the packet, and the destination switch module is configured, upon receiving the packet, to copy the set of load/store operations into an execution buffer to be automatically executed.
US09276752B2
A secure software update provides an update utility with an update definition, a private encryption key and a public signature key to a target device. A software update package is prepared on portable media that includes an executable update program, a checksum for the program that is encrypted with a symmetrical key, an encrypted symmetrical key that is encrypted with a public encryption key and a digital signature prepared with a private signature key. The update process authenticates the digital signature, decrypts the symmetrical key using the private encryption key, and decrypts the checksum using the symmetrical key. A new checksum is generated for the executable update program and compared to the decrypted checksum. If inconsistencies are detected during the update process, the process is terminated. Otherwise, the software update can be installed with a relatively high degree of assurance against corruption, viruses and third party interference.
US09276751B2
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for constructing a linked object. During operation, the system constructs a first portion of the linked object. The first portion includes at least one or more data items and a computable identifier calculated based on the one or more data items, and the first portion is referenced by a self-certified name associated with the linked object. The system constructs a second portion of the linked object. The second portion includes at least the computable identifier and an external link that references a second linked object using a self-certified name associated with the second linked object.
US09276743B2
Method and system of key distribution by trusted nodes for a vehicular ad hoc network, the nodes of said network having at least one pair of public-private keys and the corresponding certificates, issued by a CA, said method comprising each vehicle node, on entering said network region, requesting a set of keys from an RSU node that is within range and within that region, said RSU node sending said vehicle node a set of private keys, selected from a pool of private keys, and a list with the key identifiers of the private keys shared by said vehicle node and the other vehicle nodes that have most recently contacted said RSU for a predetermined period of time; such that two nodes are able to establish a secure connection without further interaction by deriving a shared secret which is a cryptographic hash function of the keys shared by said two nodes.
US09276735B2
An information processing apparatus including a random number generation unit configured to generate a pair of random numbers from a seed, a message generation unit configured to generate a message based on a pair of multi-order multivariate polynomials F=(f1, . . . , fm) defined in a ring K, the pair of random numbers, and a vector s that is an element of a set Kn, a message supply unit configured to supply the message to a verifier storing the pair of multi-order multivariate polynomials F and vectors y=(y1, . . . , ym)=(f1(s), . . . , fm(s)), and a response supply unit configured to supply the verifier with response information corresponding to a verification pattern selected by the verifier from among k (where k≧3) verification patterns.
US09276729B2
A method includes receiving a signal including a two-dimensional signal pattern in a time-frequency representation, the two-dimensional signal pattern including first reference resource elements at predetermined positions in the two-dimensional signal pattern. The method further includes determining a first covariance measure based on the first reference resource elements of the signal pattern. The method further includes determining a second covariance measure based on resource elements of the signal pattern different from the first reference resource elements. The method further includes determining a noise and interference covariance measure of the received signal based on the first covariance measure and based on the second covariance measure.
US09276723B1
Systems and methods of wirelessly transmitting user data are provided. A plurality of wireless communication devices are selected for a user data packet. Distinct user data is included for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices in the user data packet. Portions of the user data packet including the user data for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices are identified. The user data packet is then transmitted over a wireless air interface.
US09276722B2
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatuses for providing an expanded search space for a relay-specific control channel on a backhaul link. According to certain aspects, due to inband interference, a Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH) may be signaled utilizing resources reserved for backhaul data. According to certain aspects, a two-dimensional search space may be provided for R-PDCCH. R-PDCCH may be transmitted in one of a plurality of layer-specific search spaces corresponding to one of a plurality of antenna ports. Further, in a layer-specific search space, R-PDCCH may be transmitted using at least one of multiple R-PDCCH decoding candidates from a common search space and/or a relay node-specific search space.
US09276714B2
The present invention relates to a method for operating a secondary station in a network, the secondary station comprising a transceiver adapted for simultaneously receiving transmissions from a primary station controlling a first cell and at least one primary station controlling a second cell, the method comprising the secondary station (a) selecting a first precoding matrix for the first cell out a primary set of precoding matrices for the first cell, (b) selecting a subset of at least one precoding matrix for the at least one second cell in dependence on the first precoding matrix, out of a set of subsets of precoding matrices for the second cell, (c) selecting a second precoding matrix for the at least one second cell out of the selected subset of precoding matrices for the second cell, (d) transmitting a first indicator representative of the first precoding matrix.
US09276712B2
A method and apparatus for supporting a random access using a random access channel (RACH) are disclosed. The WTRU detects a format of control information in at least one control channel element (CCE) of a common area in a control portion of a downlink transmission. The control information indicates a resource allocation in a data portion of the downlink transmission. The WTRU recovers a random access response assigned to the WTRU from the indicated resource allocation of the data portion on a condition that the at least one CCE has a random access radio network terminal identifier (RA-RNTI) assigned to the WTRU.
US09276711B2
Disclosed are a multi-carrier supporting method and apparatus. A terminal receives information on at least one allocated component carrier from among a plurality of component carriers from a base station, and receives activation control information on an active component carrier that is activated from among the at least one allocated component carrier via a downlink control channel. The terminal transmits a reception acknowledgement for the activation control information via an uplink control channel.
US09276710B2
Techniques for supporting communication with carrier extension are described. In one design, a base carrier and at least one segment available to a user equipment (UE) for communication may be determined. At least one operating parameter for the UE may be determined based on a composite bandwidth of the base carrier and the at least one segment. The UE may communicate based on the at least one operating parameter, which may include a resource block group (RBG) size and/or a bitmap used for resource allocation on the downlink, a gap used for resource allocation with frequency hopping on the downlink, a number of hopping bits used for resource allocation with frequency hopping on the uplink, a subband size and/or a number of bandwidth parts used for channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting, a sounding reference signal (SRS) bandwidth and/or a SRS configuration for SRS transmission on the uplink, and/or other operating parameters.
US09276709B2
Notifying served user equipments (UEs) of the presence or absence of cell-specific reference signal (CRS) symbols transmitted by neighboring base stations in the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) region of a subframe can be achieved through various of signaling techniques. The served UE may be notified by communicating a one or multi-bit indicator in a physical layer signaling channel of the serving cell, such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the subframe. Alternatively, the served UE may be notified through higher layer signaling.
US09276694B2
A system and method for fault recovery in a branched optical network. In response to a fault, power distribution in channels on recovering digital line segments is adjusted to minimize a merit function based on one or more system parameters.
US09276690B2
The present invention discloses a distributed electrical cross apparatus, and a system and method for the distributed electrical cross apparatus implementing an SNC cascade protection. The apparatus includes a backboard and at least four single-boards integrated with electrical cross units, wherein the single-boards are inserted in the limited number of slots in the backboard, and these single-boards also set line-side service access units, client-side service access units and backboard access units. The present invention has both accessing of line-side services and accessing of client-side services in the same single-board, access and flexible scheduling of various services such as line-side services and client-side services and so on are implemented on the backboard with limited number of slots, and the function of the distributed electrical cross system processing various services is increased in the case of low cost.
US09276686B2
Distributed antenna systems (DASs) can include a plurality of spatially separated remote antenna units. According to at least one example, a first group of remote antenna units can simulcast downlink transmissions on a first carrier with a particular sector identity (ID). A second group of remote antenna units, including at least one different remote antenna unit from the first group, can simulcast downlink transmissions on a second carrier with the same sector ID. According to at least one other example, two or more remote antenna units which include respective coverage areas that are non-adjacent to one another can be employed to simulcast downlink transmissions.
US09276681B2
Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for transforming a data symbol for interference avoidance. The method for transforming a data symbol includes; dividing a plurality of proper data symbols into a plurality of data streams; granting individual spectral weightings to the plurality of respective data streams; combining the plurality of data streams granted with the individual spectral weightings into one final data stream; performing inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) of the final data stream; and adding a cyclic prefix (CP) to the plurality of data streams that is subjected to the IDFT, wherein each of the plurality of data streams granted with the individual spectral weightings include an improper data symbol.
US09276679B2
An insert-molded fiber optic transmission component has at least one insert and a main body portion. The main body portion has at least one adjoining surface, a portion of the at least one adjoining surface lying in a first plane. The insert has an engaging face disposed against the outer edge surface and a reference surface adjacent the engaging face, where the reference surface lies in a second plane, and the adjoining surface is adjacent the engaging face of the at least one insert and the first and second planes being parallel to and offset from one another.
US09276664B2
A system for providing mobile interactive satellite services includes a satellite operable to communicate with mobile units, a terrestrial base transceiver station operable to communicate with mobile units, and a ground station in communication with the satellite and the terrestrial base transceiver station to provide mobile interactive satellite services. The mobile interactive satellite services include a multicast component and an interactive component such that the ground station provides both the multicast component and the interactive component using the satellite, with the terrestrial base transceiver station used to provide an ancillary terrestrial component. A device for communicating with a mobile interactive satellite service system includes an antenna, a transceiver coupled to the antenna and operable to communicate with a mobile interactive satellite service system, a user input device, an output device, a processor unit, and a network interface. The processor unit is coupled to the user input device, the output device, and the transceiver such that the processor is operable to output received information from the transceiver using the output device, to receive interactive information from the user input device, and to transmit data based on the received interactive information using the transceiver. The network interface is coupled to the processor such that the processor is operable to side load information.
US09276662B2
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for performing a handover related to a mobile cell. A method for a user equipment handing over a mobile relay, according to one embodiment of the present invention, can comprise a step of reporting to a serving base station information on the state of the user equipment with respect to the mobile relay handover, and a step of handing over the mobile relay based on a handover command by the serving base station, the handover being determined based on the state of the user equipment. As a result, a way for efficiently and accurately performing the handover related to the mobile cell can be provided.
US09276661B2
A method and apparatus for cooperation in wireless communications. Cooperation is considered among a number of network elements, including at least one wireless transmit-receive unit, at least one relay station, and at least one base station.
US09276659B2
A data transmission method and device are provided in a wireless communication system with user equipment (UE). A UE transmits uplink data through sounding reference signals (SRS) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in a SRS subframe. A single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol allocated to said SRS and the SC-FDMA symbol do not overlap within said SRS subframe.
US09276656B2
The present invention is directed to improvements for distributed antenna systems and more particularly to methods and systems for improving uplink communications. In one embodiment, Aggregation Point Noise Blocking provides for blocking or filtering the noise contributed by one or more of the branches coupled to an aggregation point that are not carrying the signal from a particular terminal. Signal activity from a given terminal on a particular branch can be identified and that information can be used to selectively block or filter the signal noise contributed by the other branches to an aggregation point. The selective blocking or filtering can also include an attenuation function to attenuate the signal and provide dynamic range smoothing. In another embodiment the signal can be regenerated to produce a signal that has a restored or very high SNR. An uplink regeneration block can be provided which demodulates the uplink signal to recover the transmitted information and then re-modulates the transmitted information to regenerate a signal at a restored or very high SNR.
US09276655B2
A method for transmitting data in a multiple-input-multiple-output space-time coded communication using a mapping table mapping a plurality of symbols defining the communication to respective antennae from amongst a plurality of transmission antennae and to at least one other transmission resource. The mapping table may comprise Alamouti-coded primary segments and may also comprise secondary segments, comprising primary segments. The primary segments in the secondary segments may be defined in accordance to an to Alamouti based code pattern applied at the segment level to define a segment-level Alamouti based code.
US09276652B2
A wireless communication system includes a first wireless station including antenna elements, transmission units corresponding to the antenna elements, and a transmission directivity control unit that controls transmission directivity of the antenna elements, and second wireless stations each including a reception power measurement unit that measures a reception power. The transmission directivity control unit determines the transmission directivity of each of the antenna elements so that a signal does not reach a particular second wireless station among the second wireless stations. The transmission units generate wireless signals using the transmission directivity. The antenna elements transmit the generated wireless signals. The reception power measurement unit measures the reception power in a period that is set so that a signal does not reach the particular second wireless station by using the directivity, and detect the presence or absence of interference caused by the low accuracy of channel information.
US09276647B2
The present invention reduces the amount of frequency resources required for uplink cooperative communication. There is provided a base station device that is applied to a communication system in which a plurality of base station devices establish cooperative communication with at least one mobile station device and includes a base station-to-base station communication section 220 and a control information determination section 216. The base station-to-base station communication section 220 communicates with another base station device when establishing cooperative communication. The control information determination section 216 allocates a band for communication use by the mobile station device in such a manner that a signal received cooperatively by another base station device and a signal received uncooperatively by another base station device overlap with each other at certain frequencies.
US09276641B2
The present invention relates to a wireless power transmission method for preventing frequency interference, and more particularly, to a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power transmission method for preventing frequency interference that flexibly controls an operation of the wireless power transmitter in order to avoid signal interference and collision between different apparatuses using frequencies adjacent to a frequency band of a power signal transmitted from the wireless power transmitter.
US09276639B2
An electronic device may contain an input-output device such as a speaker, vibrator, or near field communications antenna. The input-output device may include an inductor. The inductor in the input-output device may be shared by wireless charging circuitry in the electronic device so that wireless charging signals can be converted into power to charge a battery in the electronic device. A separate inductor may also be provided within an input-output device to support wireless charging. A drive circuit may supply drive signals to the input-output device such as audio signals, vibrator control signals, or near field communications output signals for external near field communications equipment. An input amplifier that is coupled across the inductor in the input-output device may be used in receiving near field communications signals.
US09276634B1
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward the use of broadcast transmissions to multiple endpoint devices. These broadcast transmissions can be particularly useful for reducing the communication bandwidth used during transmission of configuration data to the endpoint devices. In order to implement the broadcast communications, the present disclosure describes a mechanism for configuring targeted endpoint devices to be responsive to the broadcast communications. For instance, a configuration command can be sent to each of the targeted endpoint devices. The configuration command can include a virtual ID. The targeted endpoint devices can configure themselves to listen for subsequent broadcast messages addressed to the virtual ID. Configuration data can then be sent using the virtual ID and associated broadcast messages.
US09276629B2
A method of operating a Rake receiver circuit includes determining a first property of a first signal received over a dedicated channel and over a first transmission path. The method further includes determining a delay profile of a second signal and determining, on the basis of the delay profile and the first property, if the first transmission path is to be assigned to a Rake finger of the Rake receiver circuit.
US09276621B2
A differential communication system includes a first differential communication device including a differential transmitter, a second differential communication device including a differential receiver, and a differential isolator coupling the differential transmitter to the differential receiver. The differential receiver includes a comparator operative to develop waveform region information from the received waveform, a filter adapted to remove noise from the received waveform using the waveform region information, and an adaptive sampler adapted to adjust a received waveform sampling point after it has been filtered.
US09276619B1
A modulator and demodulator pair may switch configurations without introducing errors as a result of the switch. Different configurations may, for example, correspond to different symbol rates and/or different amounts of controlled inter-symbol interference (ISI) introduced to the transmitted signal. For example, a first configuration may use be a near-zero ISI configuration (e.g., using Nyquist signaling) and a second configuration may introduce a significant (e.g., amount that would result in errors above a desired threshold if demodulation relied on symbol-by-symbol slicing) but controlled amount of ISI (e.g., using partial response or faster-than-Nyquist-rate signaling). Switching between modulator/demodulator configurations may be needed to maintain a stable link in the case of dynamic channels. At any given time, a modulator and demodulator pair may, for example, switch to a configuration that provides maximal throughput for the current channel conditions.
US09276612B2
By utilizing Reed-Solomon erasure decoding algorithms and techniques, the system is able to perform error detection for the case where the number of bytes received in error exceeds a correcting capability of a decoder. The error detection can be used, for example, to determine whether a codeword is decodable, and whether the retransmission of data is necessary. The retransmission can be accomplished by assembling a message that is sent to another modem requesting retransmission of one or more portions of data, such as one or more codewords.
US09276610B2
The architecture is able to switch to Non-blocking check-node-update (CNU) scheduling architecture which has better performance than blocking CNU scheduling architecture. The architecture uses an Offset Min-Sum with Beta=1 with a clock domain operating at 440 MHz. The constraint macro-matrix is a spare matrix where each “1’ corresponds to a sub-array of a cyclically shifted identity matrix which is a shifted version of an identity matrix. Four core processors are used in the layered architecture where the constraint matrix uses a sub-array of 42 (check nodes)×42 (variable nodes) in the macro-array of 168×672 bits. Pipeline processing is used where the delay for each layer only requires 4 clock cycles.
US09276609B2
Systems and method relating generally to solid state memory, and more particularly to systems and methods for generated data from a solid state memory. A data processing system includes a solid state memory, a data de-randomizer circuit operable to de-randomize a read data set accessed from the solid state memory device, a soft data generation circuit operable to receive multiple instances of one or more elements the read data set and access a scramble compensating extended look up table using the multiple instances of the element to receive corresponding soft data, and a data decoder circuit operable to apply a soft decoding algorithm to the soft data to yield a decoded output. Each instance of a respective element may be read using a different reference value.
US09276604B2
Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide analog to digital conversion of an analog input. A multistage modulator using a feed-forward technique can alternately convert integrated samples of the analog input to digital representations. For example, the modulator is arranged to alternately output the digital representations to form a digital representation of the analog input.
US09276602B1
Provided are, among other things, systems, apparatuses, methods and techniques for converting a discrete-time quantized signal into a continuous-time, continuously variable signal. An exemplary converter preferably includes: (1) multiple oversampling converters, each processing a different frequency band, operated in parallel; (2) multirate (i.e., polyphase) delta-sigma modulators (preferably second-order or higher); (3) multi-bit quantizers; (4) multi-bit-to-variable-level signal converters, such as resistor ladder networks or current source networks; (5) adaptive nonlinear, bit-mapping to compensate for mismatches in the multi-bit-to-variable-level signal converters (e.g., by mimicking such mismatches and then shifting the resulting noise to a frequently range where it will be filtered out by a corresponding bandpass (reconstruction) filter); (6) multi-band (e.g., programmable noise-transfer-function response) bandpass delta-sigma modulators; and/or (7) a digital pre-distortion linearizer (DPL) for canceling noise and distortion introduced by an analog signal bandpass (reconstruction) filter bank.
US09276585B2
A frequency-locked loop circuit has a digital control oscillator that generates a clock, and an FLL controller that generates a frequency control code to control an oscillation frequency of the clock. The FLL controller has a frequency comparison unit and a delay code control unit. The frequency comparison unit compares a frequency of a clock generated by the digital control oscillator with a frequency of a multiplied reference clock. The delay code control unit generates, based on a comparison result of the frequency comparison unit, the frequency control code so that the frequency of the clock generated by the digital control oscillator matches the frequency of the multiplied reference clock. The frequency comparison unit determines the frequency of the clock by using first and second thresholds. The delay code control unit generates the frequency control code according to a determination of the frequency comparison unit.
US09276578B2
A dynamic logic gate includes a nano-electro-mechanical-switch, preferably a four-terminal-nano-electro-mechanical-switch. The invention further refers to dynamic logic cascade circuits comprising such a dynamic logic gate. In particular, embodiments of the invention concern dynamic logic cascade circuits comprising single or dual rail dynamic logic gates.
US09276557B1
An acoustically coupled frequency selective radio frequency (RF) device is provided. The device includes a piezoelectric substrate overlain by a plurality of electrodes. The device further includes a pair of RF input terminals at least one of which is electrically connected to at least one of the electrodes, and a pair of output RF terminals, at least one of which is electrically connected to at least one other of the electrodes. At least one of the electrodes is electromechanically reconfigurable between a state in which it is closer to a face of the piezoelectric substrate and at least one state in which it is farther from the face of the piezoelectric substrate.
US09276550B2
An impedance matching switch circuit module includes a first switch device connected to first and second high-frequency input/output terminals, a second switch device connected between the first high-frequency input/output terminal and a first matching terminal, and a third switch device connected between the second high-frequency input/output terminal and a second matching terminal. Impedance matching elements having appropriately set element values (inductances or capacitances) are connected to the first and second high-frequency input/output terminals and the first and second matching terminals, and on/off control is performed for the first, second, and third switch devices.
US09276546B2
An assembly and method for providing electromagnetic interference isolation. The assembly includes an enclosure which has a first panel and a second panel. Bus bars extend through the first panel and the second panel. A mounting plate is positioned between the first panel and the second panel. The mounting plate has locating members thereon. A plurality of inductive cores are positioned proximate the locating members, the inductive cores having openings through which the bus bars extend. The inductive cores are precisely positioned in the enclosure to facilitate the electromagnetic interference isolation.
US09276539B2
The invention relates to headphones which can facilitate the transfer of electrical power from the headphones' internal power source to other devices. A pair of headphones can connect to a device through a modified cable. The modified cable triggers the transfer of electrical power to the device. A pair headphones may have a modified port which, when connected to the device through a non-modified or regular cable, causes the transfer of power from the headphones. A power management component connected to the internal power source of the headphones helps control or regulate the transfer of power transfer to and from the headphones.
US09276537B2
A method of sharing inductors for inductive peaking of an amplifier includes calculating a single stage inductance of a single stage for inductive peaking in order to have a stable impulse response. The method further includes determining a number of stages for shared inductance for inductive peaking. The method further includes sharing at least two inductors having the shared inductance among the determined number of stages for inductive peaking.
US09276532B2
A circuit may include one or more transistors connected directly to an output, and an inductance network. The inductance network may connect to a source node of at least one of the transistors, to compensate capacitance of the output. Thus, the response time of the circuit may decrease, and a non-dominant frequency response pole frequency of the circuit may increase.
US09276527B2
Methods of turning on and/or turning off amplifier segments in a scalable periphery amplifier architecture are described in the present disclosure. The turning on and/or turning off the amplifier segments according to the various embodiments of the present can reduce spectral splatter in adjacent channels. In some embodiments, amplifier performance and efficiency can be improved by dissipating heat more uniformly.
US09276523B1
Embodiments disclose automated systems and methods for washing solar panels. The solar panels may be arranged in rows with varying lengths. A washing device unit may be configured to clean a first row, and a second washing may be configured to clean a second row, wherein the first row may include more solar panels than the first row. The first washing device may be configured to receive cleaning fluid from a fluid source and supply the cleaning fluid to the second washing device in areas that the second row is adjacent to the first row.
US09276520B2
Systems and methods for positioning solar energy collection devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, an integrated unit combines the necessity of solar panel repositioning with water filtration. While also providing clean water for the end user, the integrated unit uses controlled weight displacement to rotate a solar panel to follow the sun from east to west—a process also known as horizontal (azimuth) solar tracking.
US09276519B2
A securing structure for a solar cell module installed on a roof of a building, having an external thread portion extending upward from a placement member, at least one flat plate-like shim member having a slit through which the external thread portion passes and a through-hole and stacked on the placement member, a flat plate-like connecting member placed on the shim member having an insertion hole through which the external thread portion passes, a droop portion drooping in the groove of the placement member through the through-hole, and a plurality of upward projecting portions projecting upward and sticking in the solar cell module and being made of an electrically conductive material, and a first securing member and a second securing member pressing downward on the solar cell module and the solar cell module placed on the connecting member with the external thread portion screwed into an internal thread portion.
US09276513B2
A motor control system for determining a reference d-axis current is provided, and includes a motor, a DC power source and DC input lines, and a current command controller. The DC power source generates a bridge voltage across the DC input lines. The current command controller is in communication with the motor and the DC input lines. The current command controller is configured to monitor the bridge voltage and a torque reference command. The current command controller is configured to determine a peak current based on the torque reference command. The current command controller is configured to determine a current angle based on the peak current. The current command controller is configured to determine the reference d-axis current based on the current angle.
US09276504B2
A ceramic member, in a carrier device, includes: a plurality of ceramic layers that have insulating properties and are integrally sintered; a clamping electrode formed on a first ceramic layer among the plurality of ceramic layers and inside of the plurality of ceramic layers, and configured to attract a dielectric material by electrostatic force; a power feed port configured to receive a supply of electric power to the clamping electrode from outside of the ceramic member; a land formed on a second ceramic layer, which is different from the first ceramic layer among the plurality of ceramic layers, and configured to receive electric power through the power feed port; and a via arranged to pass through at least one of the plurality of ceramic layers and provided as a conductive material to electrically connect the clamping electrode with the land.
US09276500B2
A reservoir capacitor includes a first capacitor group having two or more capacitors, which are serially coupled to each other between a first power voltage supply terminal and a second power voltage supply terminal, a second capacitor group having two or more capacitors, which are serially coupled to each other between a third power voltage supply terminal and a fourth power voltage supply terminal and a connection line suitable for electrically coupling a first coupling node between the capacitors of the first capacitor group to a second coupling node between the capacitors of the second capacitor group.
US09276497B2
A method for operating a power converter having at least one power converter half-bridge, in which a controllable switching element and a freewheeling diode connected parallel thereto and in the blocking direction are provided respectively between a first direct voltage terminal and an alternating voltage terminal as well as between the alternating voltage terminal and a second direct voltage terminal. The switching elements of the at least one half-bridge are controlled in alternating fashion and in each case interrupted by controlling pauses. The duration of the controlling pauses is set on the basis of a determined voltage drop at at least one of the freewheeling diodes.
US09276486B2
A matrix converter includes a power converter, a command generator, and a commutation controller. The power converter includes bidirectional switches each having a conducting direction controllable by switching elements. The bidirectional switches are disposed between input terminals coupled to phases of an AC power source and output terminals coupled to phases of a load. The command generator generates a control command based on a voltage command specifying a pulse width of pulse width modulation control. The commutation controller controls the switching elements by a commutation method based on the control command so as to perform commutation control. The command generator includes a corrector to, when an error in an output voltage is caused by the commutation control, correct the pulse width specified in the voltage command in generating the control command to reduce the error in the output voltage.
US09276483B2
A method for controlling an active-clamp flyback power converter is provided. The method includes comprises: generating a switching signal in response to a feedback signal for switching a low-side transistor and regulating an output of the active-clamp flyback power converter; generating an active-clamp signal after the switching signal is disabled; generating a hysteresis bias to adjust the feedback signal; and generating a pulse signal periodically to enable the switching signal. The low-side transistor is coupled to switch a transformer. The switching signal is coupled to drive the low-side transistor. The active-clamp signal is coupled to drive a high-side transistor. A pulse width of the active-clamp signal is determined by a first resistor. The high-side transistor is connected in series with a capacitor to develop an active-clamp circuit. A minimum frequency of the switching signal is determined by a second resistor during a heavy load condition.
US09276462B2
Provided is a controller that is capable of reducing fall in a waveform of a power supply voltage when the power supply voltage supplied to a CPU is reduced. A controller for controlling voltage regulators includes a differential amplifier that outputs a measurement voltage corresponding to a power supply voltage supplied to a load and an error amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal supplied with a target voltage and an inverting input terminal supplied with a measurement voltage. The error amplifier compares the target voltage and the measurement voltage and outputs a signal for controlling the voltage regulators. Further included in the controller is a correction circuit that applies an offset voltage to the inverting input terminal of the error amplifier when the power supply voltage supplied to the load is reduced.
US09276459B2
The present application provides a control device for controlling a switching converting module to generate an output signal of constant output current from a rectified AC power supply signal. The switching converting module comprises a primary winding for receiving the rectified AC power supply signal and a power switch coupled in series with the primary winding. The control device comprises: an AGC amplifier configured to receive a first sampling signal sampled from the rectified AC power supply signal, and to generate a reference signal of constant amplitude according to the first sampling signal; a signal comparator configured to compare the reference signal with a current sensing signal in proportion to a primary side current flowing through the primary side winding to generate a comparison signal; a signal generator configured to receive a second sampling signal sampled from the output signal, and to generate a clock signal according to the second sampling signal; and a control logic configured to generate a control signal for switching the power switch according to the comparison signal and the clock signal.
US09276458B2
The present invention relates to a power converter (1, 1′) comprising an input terminal (+IN, −IN) connected to an input power source, at least an input switch arrangement (T1, T2; T10, T12), and an output terminal (+OUT, −OUT). The input switch arrangement (T1, T2; T10, T12) is arranged to convert the input power, where the power converter (1) further comprises a control unit (P1, N1) that is arranged to control at least the input switch arrangement (T1, T2; T10, T12). The control unit (P1, N1) is arranged to perform said control of the input switch arrangement (T1, T2; T10, T12) in dependence of the efficiency of at least a part of the power converter, the control unit (P1, N1) having information regarding the power at the input terminal (+IN, −IN) and the power at the output terminal (+OUT, −OUT). The present invention also relates to a corresponding method.
US09276451B2
An electrical motor includes a motor case inside which an inner space is formed, a bearing disposed so as to pass through a wall of the motor case, a rotor shaft rotatably supported by the bearing, and an earth conductor fixed with the motor case and provided with a frame and an electrical conductor provided on the frame. The frame has an annular inner circumferential surface along an outer circumference of the rotor shaft and is fixed with the motor shaft. The electrical conductor is disposed on the inner circumferential surface of the frame so as to slidably contact its end with the rotor shaft. A bypass flow passage is provided between the earth conductor and the motor case. The inner space is communicated with an outside of the motor case via the bypass flow passage. According to the motor, its inside can be cooled without damaging the earth conductor.
US09276449B2
An actuator noise reducer reduces the noise output of an HVAC actuator. The noise reducer has a spring arm with a sliding bearing surface which is pressed against a side of the rotating motor shaft. The spring arm introduces a generally radial force on the motor shaft, taking up bearing play and gently pressing the motor shaft into its bearing. A cylindrical hoop mount of the noise reducer mates with and encircles a cylindrical portion of the electrical motor adjacent the shaft for mounting the actuator noise reducer on the motor by axial sliding.
US09276443B2
A rotating element with embedded permanent magnets is provided that includes: a rotor core adapted to be within the diameter direction of a stator; first permanent magnets embedded near the exterior circumference face of the core, and orthogonally extending with a d axis; and second permanent magnets embedded on both sides of each of the first magnets, and extending along a q axis. The rotating element further includes gaps formed in the core away from both circumference direction ends of the first magnets. The gaps further include exterior end parts at the furthermost exterior side with respect to the diameter direction of the core, and interior end parts at the furthermost interior side with respect to same. The magnetic pole faces of the first magnets are located between the exterior and interior end parts of the gaps.
US09276441B2
A stator core comprises a circumferentially deformable part formed on a radially outer peripheral side of a yoke; circumferentially facing divided parts formed on a radially inner peripheral side of the yoke, each having a dividing line that is oriented in a radial direction and reaches a portion between teeth and divided surfaces that face each other without a gap; and radially facing divided parts formed at the center between the radially inner and outer sides of the yoke along the circumferential direction at the predetermined interval, and each having divided surfaces that face each other in the radial direction, and being continuous at one ends with the respective circumferentially facing divided parts. The circumferentially facing divided parts each have a compressive stress being smaller than a compressive stress acting on the circumferentially deformable part or being zero.
US09276431B2
An apparatus for managing power in an electric vehicle includes a control circuit and a first switch. The control circuit is configured to generate a first control signal based on a current of a battery operable for powering the electric vehicle, and to generate a second control signal based on a voltage of the battery. The first switch is configured to control connection of the battery to a power source and a load in the electric vehicle according to the first control signal. The first control signal controls a voltage at a terminal of the first switch to maintain the current of the battery to be substantially equal to a current setting, and the second control signal controls the battery to switch between a first state and a second state.
US09276428B2
According to one embodiment, a management circuit for a portable device includes an input terminal, a first step-up converter, a first step-down converter, and a second step-down converter. The input terminal is coupled to receive a supply voltage from a power supply. The first step-up converter, coupled to the input terminal, selectively converts the supply voltage to a boosted voltage. The first step-down converter, coupled to the first step-up converter, selectively provides a first output power voltage to a first radio frequency (RF) module. The second step-down converter, coupled to the first step-up converter, selectively provides a second output power voltage to a second radio frequency (RF) module. The first step-up converter performs the conversion of the supply voltage when the supply voltage is under a threshold voltage.
US09276418B2
A battery cartridge and kiosk apparatus, system and method, which enables consumers to conveniently exchange depleted rechargeable batteries for fully-charged batteries, and to recycle used primary batteries. The system includes a self-contained, typically automated kiosk designed for high volume battery exchange at low cost, and also includes re-usable battery trays for convenient, safe, and standardized handling and transport of rechargeable consumer batteries. A kiosk of the invented system may also be configured to utilize renewable-energy mechanisms to provide power for operation and/or recharging. Rechargeable batteries are stored and managed in a high-density, simple yet reliable storage rack wherein they are recharged in parallel while preserving long battery life. Batteries may be “keyed” to prevent recharging via third-party charging devices, enabling operating efficiencies and cost reductions.
US09276417B2
A plurality of battery cells (100) are connected in series to each other. A temperature measurement unit (300) measures temperatures of two or more battery cells (100). A battery control unit (400) controls charge and discharge of the battery cells (100) on the basis of the temperatures measured by the temperature measurement unit (300). In addition, when the charge of the battery cells (100) is performed or the discharge of the battery cells (100) is performed, the battery control unit (400) specifies a lowest temperature cell having the lowest temperature and a highest temperature cell having the highest temperature, on the basis of the temperatures measured by the temperature measurement unit (300). In addition, the battery control unit (400) continues the charge or discharge, as it is, when a first condition in which a temperature difference ΔT between the highest temperature cell and the lowest temperature cell is equal to or greater than a reference value T1 is not satisfied. On the other hand, when the temperature difference ΔT satisfies the first condition, the battery control unit (400) outputs a first signal.
US09276410B2
A system for providing power from a direct current (DC) source to the power grid. The system includes a first inverter with an input and an output. The input is adapted to connect to the DC source. A first switch disposed between the output and the power grid. A second inverter with a DC terminal and an AC terminal, the AC terminal is adapted to connect in parallel with the output of the first inverter. A battery adapted to connect to the DC terminal of the second inverter. A second switch connected between the DC terminal of the second inverter and the input of the first inverter. The second switch also operatively connects the DC source to the battery. The system may further include a charging circuit adapted to be disposed between the input and the DC terminal and a load adapted to connect to the output.
US09276409B2
Improved techniques for photovoltaic power generation are described. Inverter failure is can be a significant problem in solar photovoltaic systems as it can lead to loss of opportunity to harvest energy. A solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation system is described comprising solar PV panels and power conditioning units. A dc power distribution bus is coupled to the solar PV panels and the power conditioning units to switchably share dc power from the solar PV panels between the power conditioning units. Power distribution controllers detect a faulty power conditioning unit and reroute power from a solar PV panel coupled to the faulty power conditioning unit to other power conditioning units via the dc distribution bus.
US09276405B2
A system may include a switchover element configurable to source or sink power from or to an electronic device electrically coupled to the switchover element and a controller in communication with the switchover element. The controller may be configured to determine if the electronic device is healthy. When the electronic device is healthy, the controller may configure the switchover element to deliver power from the electronic device to the system andconfigure the switchover element to provide the power to any unhealthy electronic device electrically coupled to the system.
US09276401B2
A solid state circuit-breaker switch has a first solid state switch coupled to a positive terminal of a high voltage source, a second solid state switch coupled to a return terminal of the high voltage source, and a diode connected between the switches. A load is coupled between the switches and in parallel with the diode such that voltage transients across the load are limited during turn of conditions. Related methods of operating the switch during turn-on and turn-off events within rated current operation are described, as are turn-on and turn-off events in overload conditions.
US09276395B2
The invention relates to an electrical circuit adapted for cutting off an electrical supply to an electrical equipment, said electrical circuit receiving as input at least two discrete electrical signals xi, i=1, N, the electrical circuit comprising: —a voltage source; —a number N>1 cutoff units Ui connected together, i=1, . . . , N in series between the voltage source and the electrical equipment, and a last cutoff unit UN being connected to the electrical equipment, each cutoff unit Ui exhibiting an open or closed state as a function of an electrical control signal; the cutoff units Uj, j=1, N−1 upstream of the last cutoff unit UN each being controlled by a distinct discrete electrical signal xj, j=1, . . . , N−1, the last cutoff unit being controlled as a function of the state of the cutoff units Uj, j=1, . . . , N−1 upstream and a discrete electrical signal xN different from that controlling the upstream cutoff units Uj, j=1, N−1.
US09276381B2
A quantum cascade laser includes a semiconductor substrate, and an active layer being provided on the substrate, and having a cascade structure in which quantum well emission layers and injection layers are alternately laminated, and the laser has a base portion including the substrate, and a stripe-shaped ridge portion including the active layer. Further, a reflection control film is formed from a ridge end face over a base end face on an end face in a resonating direction of the laser, and, on the base end face, for a second side and a third side adjacent to a first side on the ridge portion side of the base end face, and a fourth side facing the first side, the reflection control film is formed on a region other than regions near those three sides with predetermined widths.
US09276378B2
A surface emitting laser element includes a lower DBR formed on a substrate; an active layer formed above the lower DBR; an upper DBR formed on the active layer. The upper DBR includes a dielectric multilayer that is formed as a result of dielectrics having different refractive indexes being alternately laminated and formed, a light shielding part is formed above the upper DBR, and the light shielding part has an opening at a central area for emitting light.
US09276375B2
A system for generating a shaped optical pulse is disclosed. The system includes a master oscillator for generating an initial optical pulse, which is then directed to a semiconductor optical amplifier to amplify a portion of the initial optical pulse. The amplified pulse is reflected from a fiber Bragg grating to spectrally clean the amplified pulse and the reflected portion is returned back through the semiconductor optical amplifier. The semiconductor optical amplifier is activated a second time to amplify the reflected portion of the pulse. The time delay between the two activations of the semiconductor optical amplifier is selected to generate an output pulse with desired duration and/or amplitude profile over time.
US09276373B1
A high-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) is introduced into a coherent Brillouin RFL configuration to thereby produce a frequency stabilized random laser.
US09276372B2
In a laser (12, 18) with a laser resonator (13), the laser resonator (13) has a non-linear optical loop mirror (1, 1′), NOLM, which is adapted to guide counter-propagating portions of laser pulses, and to bring the counter-propagating portions of laser pulses into interference with each other at an exit point (4) of the NOLM (1, 1′). The non-linear optical loop mirror (1, 1′) contains a non-reciprocal optical element (7, 7′) on a linear section of the NOLM. In addition to the NOLM, the laser resonator (13) has a linear cavity section. The linear section of the NOLM and the linear cavity section (19) are reassembled on a microoptical bench (112) or within a cylindrical carrier (112).
US09276371B2
A supercontinuum optical pulse source provides a combined supercontinuum. The supercontinuum optical pulse source comprises one or more seed pulse sources, and first and second optical amplifiers arranged along first and second respective optical paths. The first and second optical amplifiers are configured to amplify one or more optical signals generated by said one or more seed pulse sources. The supercontinuum optical pulse source further comprises a first microstructured light-guiding member arranged along the first optical path and configured to generate supercontinuum light responsive to an optical signal propagating along said first optical path, and a second microstructured light-guiding member arranged along the second optical path and configured to generate supercontinuum light responsive to an optical signal propagating along said second optical path. The supercontinuum optical pulse source further comprises a supercontinuum-combining member to combine supercontinuum generated in at least the first and second microstructured light-guiding members to form a combined supercontinuum. The supercontinuum-combining member comprises an output fiber, wherein the output fiber comprises a multimode optical fiber supporting a plurality of spatial modes at one or more wavelengths of the combined supercontinuum.
US09276357B2
The present disclosure is an apparatus for retaining a plug within a receptacle. The apparatus for retaining a plug within a receptacle may include a receptacle body and a retention device. The retention device may include a face portion and at least one prong, each prong of the at least one prong including a barb. The retention device is configured to retain a plug inserted within the receptacle body by contact with a shroud of the plug from the barb of each prong of the at least one prong of the retention device.
US09276355B2
A high voltage plug-in and unplugged type gas immersed cable termination comprising a recess inside the blind end of the electrode to allow the extension of the locking pin to lock the connector with the electrode and thereby anchor the power cable. The locking pin is designed to anchor the power cable to safeguard against sliding down of the power cable during the operation period. The high voltage plug-in and unplugged type gas immersed cable termination can be unplugged manually. The locking pin can be replaced before re-plugging-in of the termination.
US09276351B2
A composite insert has at least one metallic contact element which is extrusion-coated with the aid of a premolded part which has a first three-dimensional sealing surface to an injection mold, a stiffener of the contact element being formed beyond a transition region of the premolded part to the injection mold.
US09276348B1
A connector for electrically and mechanically coupling a lead pin to a pulse generator that includes a housing and a plunger having openings which can be aligned in an unlocked position to permit insertion and retraction of the lead pin. The connector also has a biasing member which moves and then holds the plunger in a locked position relative to the housing such that the housing and plunger pinch the lead pin thereby coupling the lead pin to the connector.
US09276347B2
A socket cover contains: a cap, a first lid, and a second lid. The cap has an orifice defined thereon, the first lid is disposed on a first side of the orifice of the cap and covers a first part of the orifice, and the first lid has a cutout defined on a non-closed position thereof opposite to the orifice of the cap. The second lid is disposed on a second side of the orifice of the cap and covers a second part of the orifice which is not covered by the first lid, and the second lid has a projection corresponding to the cutout of the first lid. Thereby, when a plug is inserted in a socket, the cap is positioned stably to enhance using safety and aesthetics appearance.
US09276346B1
A power inlet box suitable for outdoor or external use is configured in such a manner so as to prevent moisture from entering the power inlet enclosure. A hinged lid assembly is installable directly on the top face of a flanged power inlet enclosure to provide a face seal therewith. The hinged lid assembly has a cover and a base that form a tongue-and-groove seal, thus providing a first line of defense from moisture or other contaminants entering the inlet. As a second line of defense, a tapered stopper is provided on the inside of the cover to provide a stopper seal. A lateral seal is provided at the hinge point of the hinged lid assembly to prevent moisture from entering the hinge area where a tongue-and-groove seal is not present.
US09276334B1
An electrical connector includes a terminal block having a pocket, a poke-in chamber in the pocket configured to receive an electrical wire during a poke-in termination, and a plug channel in the pocket configured to receive a plug contact during a plug mating termination. An electrical contact is received in the pocket having a base held in the pocket and a wire trap beam extending from the base into the poke-in chamber. The wire trap beam is configured to engage the electrical wire when poked-in to the poke-in chamber. A plug interface is arranged in the plug channel. The plug interface has a slot defined by a first arm and a second arm. The first and second arms are configured to engage in physical contact with the plug contact when plugged into the plug channel. The base, wire trap beam and plug interface are a one-piece unitary structure.
US09276327B2
An array antenna for radar sensors has a supply line, a plurality of antenna elements each connected to the supply line via a feed line, and circuit elements for distributing power to the antenna elements, in which the supply line is made reflective at one end and the circuit elements for power distribution are situated exclusively in the feed lines.
US09276324B2
A selectively reflective construct, and a method for making the construct, are described. In one embodiment reflectance, transmission and absorption properties may be controlled in multiple electromagnetic bands. A construct is described comprising a) a thermally transparent, visually opaque substrate comprising a polymeric material and a colorant, and b) a thermally reflective layer comprising a low emissivity component which is optionally transparent to radar signal.
US09276321B2
An electronic device (100) includes an antenna system (150) having two antennas (110, 120). A first antenna (110) has a first antenna element (111) positioned outside a first corner (191) of a planar, rectangular ground plane (165) and a second antenna element (115) positioned outside a second corner of the ground plane that is diagonally across from the first corner. A second antenna (120) has a third antenna element (121) positioned near a third corner (193) of the ground plane that is adjacent to the first corner and a fourth antenna element (125) positioned near a fourth corner (195) of the ground plane that is diagonally across from the third corner. At low-band frequencies, the antenna elements (111, 115) of the first antenna (110) are driven out-of-phase relative to each other. Similarly, at low-band frequencies, the antenna elements (121, 125) of the second antenna (120) are driven out-of-phase relative to each other.
US09276317B1
Methods, apparatuses, and systems for quad-mode antennas of user devices are described. The quad-mode antenna includes a loop element coupled to a single radio frequency (RF) input and ground. The loop element is configured to operate in four resonant modes to radiate electromagnetic energy in response to the single RF input.
US09276287B2
The disclosed embodiments provide a battery cell. The battery cell includes a set of layers forming a non-rectangular shape, wherein the set of layers comprises a cathode with an active coating, a separator, and an anode with an active coating. The battery cell also includes a first conductive tab coupled to the cathode and a second conductive tab coupled to the anode. The layers are enclosed in a flexible pouch, and the first and second conductive tabs are extended through seals in the pouch to provide terminals for the battery cell. Furthermore, the non-rectangular shape is created by removing material from one or more of the layers.
US09276275B2
Provided is a fuel cell system capable of preventing a fuel cell from being polarized at a high potential for a long time during start-up. A fuel cell system 1 includes a first injector 23A and a second injector 23B in a fuel gas inlet passage. When an ECU 60 determines that a power generation down time is equal to or more than a predetermined period at start-up of a fuel cell stack 10, a target pressure of hydrogen supplied to an anode passage 12 is set to be higher for supply than when the power generation down time is less than the predetermined period. In addition, as the power generation down time of the fuel cell stack 10 becomes longer, the target pressure is set to be higher. Also, a pressure increase in the fuel cell stack is set to be lower than that during ordinary power generation.
US09276269B2
A catalyst layer containing a catalyst material, the catalyst layer having a porosity of 20 to 90% by vol and satisfying a relation: R1≧R0×1.2, wherein R1 is an alignment ratio of the catalyst layer; and R0 is an alignment ratio of the catalyst material in powder form having a random crystalline plane distribution, and each of the alignment ratios is calculated from a X-ray diffraction spectrum having a diffraction angle 2θ range from 10 to 90 degree measured using Cu-Kα-rays.
US09276263B2
An all-solid state secondary cell which has a positive electrode active material layer, negative electrode active material layer, and solid electrolyte layer, wherein at least one of said positive electrode active material layer, said negative electrode active material layer, and said solid electrolyte layer includes an inorganic solid electrolyte and a binder comprised of an average particle size 30 to 300 nm particulate-shaped polymer and said particulate-shaped polymer is present in said positive electrode active material layer, said negative electrode active material layer, and said solid electrolyte layer in a state holding the particulate state, is provided.
US09276261B2
Provided are active materials for electrochemical cells. The active materials include silicon containing structures and treatment layers covering at least some surface of these structures. The treatment layers may include aminosilane, a poly(amine), and a poly(imine). These layers are used to increase adhesion of the structures to polymer binders within active material layers of the electrode. As such, when the silicon containing structures change their size during cycling, the bonds between the binder and the silicon containing structure structures or, more specifically, the bonds between the binder and the treatment layer are retained and cycling characteristics of the electrochemical cells are preserved. Also provided are electrochemical cells fabricated with such active materials and methods of fabricating these active materials and electrochemical cells.
US09276257B2
The invention relates to an anode for lithium secondary battery comprising vapor grown carbon fiber uniformly dispersed without forming an agglomerate of 10 μm or larger in an anode active material using natural graphite or artificial graphite, which anode is excellent in long cycle life and large current characteristics. Composition used for production for the anode can be produced, for example, by mixing a thickening agent solution containing an anode active material, a thickening agent aqueous solution and styrene butadiene rubber as binder with a composition containing carbon fiber dispersed in a thickening agent with a predetermined viscosity or by mixing an anode active material with vapor grown carbon fiber in dry state and then adding polyvinylidene difluoride thereto.
US09276228B2
To provide a light-emitting element which uses a fluorescent material as a light-emitting substance and has higher luminous efficiency. To provide a light-emitting element which includes a mixture of a thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance and a fluorescent material. By making the emission spectrum of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance overlap with an absorption band on the longest wavelength side in absorption by the fluorescent material in an S1 level of the fluorescent material, energy at an S1 level of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance can be transferred to the S1 of the fluorescent material. Alternatively, it is also possible that the S1 of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance is generated from part of the energy of a T1 level of the thermally activated delayed fluorescent substance, and is transferred to the S1 of the fluorescent material.
US09276226B2
Disclosed are organic-inorganic hybrid self-assembled multilayers that can be used as electrically insulating (or dielectric) materials. These multilayers generally include an inorganic primer layer and one or more bilayers deposited thereon. Each bilayer includes a chromophore or “π-polarizable” layer and an inorganic capping layer composed of zirconia. Because of the regularity of the bilayer structure and the aligned orientation of the chromophore resulting from the self-assembly process, the present multilayers have applications in electronic devices such as thin film transistors, as well as in nonlinear optics and nonvolatile memories.
US09276225B2
The present disclosure relates to an electroluminescent diode device, comprising a transparent flexible substrate which is successively disposed with a first protective layer, an anode, a hole transport layer, a UV light emitting layer, a hole blocking layer, an electron transport layer, and a cathode, wherein the UV light emitting layer comprises a UV light emitting material which is at least one selected from the group consisting of fluorenes, triphenylamines, and quinquephenyls.
US09276217B2
There is provided an electroactive compound having Formula I In the formula: Ar1, Ar2, and Ar3 are the same or different and are aryl groups; R1 is the same or different at each occurrence and is D, alkyl or aryl; a is an integer from 0-4. The compound has a LUMO level deeper than −2.3 eV and a band gap of at least 2.9 eV.
US09276216B2
An organic molecular device of an embodiment includes a first and a second conductive layers and an organic molecular layer having an organic molecule provided between the first and the second conductive layer. The organic molecule includes a one-dimensional or quasi one-dimensional π-conjugated system chain having either a first aromatic ring or a second aromatic ring. The first aromatic ring has one or more substituents that are an electron withdrawing group, each substituent of the first aromatic ring is independently selected from the group consisting of the electron withdrawing group and hydrogen, the second aromatic ring has one or more substituents that are an electron releasing group, and each substituent of the second aromatic ring is independently selected from the group consisting of the electron releasing group and hydrogen. The first aromatic ring or the second aromatic ring exist in an unbalanced manner in the π-conjugated system chain.
US09276215B2
The present invention relates to polymers (I), or (II), and their use as organic semiconductor in organic devices, especially in organic photovoltaics (solar cells) and photodiodes, or in a device containing a diode and/or an organic field effect transistor. The polymers according to the invention have excellent solubility in organic solvents and excellent film-forming properties. In addition, high efficiency of energy conversion, excellent field-effect mobility, good on/off current ratios and/or excellent stability can be observed, when the polymers according to the invention are used in organic field effect transistors, organic photovoltaics (solar cells) and photodiodes.
US09276209B2
An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor substrate; a diode; and a phase change element over and electrically connected to the diode. The diode includes a first doped semiconductor region of a first conductivity type, wherein the first doped semiconductor region is embedded in the semiconductor substrate; and a second doped semiconductor region over and adjoining the first doped semiconductor region, wherein the second doped semiconductor region is of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type.
US09276206B2
Devices and methods for forming a device are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate and forming a memory cell pair on the substrate. Each of a memory cell of the memory cell pair includes at least one transistor having first and second gates formed between first and second terminals and a third gate disposed over the second terminal. The first gate serves as an access gate (AG), the second gate serves as a storage gate and the third gate serves as an erase gate (EG). The first cell terminal serves as a bitline terminal and the second cell terminal serves as a source line terminal. The source line terminal is a raised source line terminal and is elevated with respect to the bit line terminal and the source line terminal is common to the memory cell pair.
US09276201B2
A method of forming a hybrid oxide capping layer (HOCL) is disclosed and used in a magnetic tunnel junction to enhance thermal stability and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in an adjoining free layer. The HOCL has a lower interface oxide layer and one or more transition metal oxide layers wherein each of the metal layers selected to form a transition metal oxide has an absolute value of free energy of oxide formation less than that of the metal used to make the interface oxide layer. One or more of the HOCL layers is under oxidized. Oxygen from one or more transition metal oxide layers preferably migrates into the interface oxide layer during annealing to further oxidize the interface oxide. As a result, a less strenuous oxidation step is required to initially oxidize the lower HOCL layer and minimizes oxidative damage to the free layer.
US09276197B2
A hybrid domain wall Hall cross device consists of a semiconductor Hall cross having a top surface and a pair of arms intersecting at a center region, and a ferromagnetic wire fabricated on the top surface, electrically isolated from the Hall cross, and having a constriction proximate to the center of the Hall cross. The device provides a magnetoelectronic MRAM storage cell with improved performance characteristics. Binary storage is associated with a trapped domain wall having one of two stable orientations. The bit state can be written using current driven domain wall motion. This is a STT process in which the write current is applied to a thin film, low impedance wire. Heating is minimized and no wear-out mechanism is known to exist.
US09276192B2
Disclosed is a magnetoelectric (ME) composite including both a piezoelectric material and a magnetostrictive material, wherein a piezoelectric single crystal material having high piezoelectric properties is used as the piezoelectric material, and a metal magnetostrictive material having high magnetostrictive properties is used as the magnetostrictive material, thus achieving an ME composite having a layered structure via adhesion. When the ME layered composite is manufactured such that a <011> crystal orientation of the piezoelectric single crystal material is set to a thickness direction, high ME voltage coefficient, which is at least doubled, compared to a conventional <001> crystal orientation, can be obtained, and such an effect is further maximized in the resonance of the composite.
US09276190B2
A method is disclosed of constructing a composite material structure, comprised of an aerogel substrate, which is then overlaid throughout its interior with an even and continuous thin layer film of doped thermoelectric semiconductor such that electrical current is transmitted as a quantum surface phenomena, while the cross-section for thermal conductivity is kept low, with the aerogel itself dissipating that thermal conductivity. In one preferred embodiment this is achieved using a modified metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) process in the gas phase, with the assist of microwave heating after the reactant gases have evenly diffused throughout the interior of the aerogel substrate.
US09276184B2
An LED module A1 includes an LED chip 1, a lead group 4 including a lead 4A on which the LED chip 1 is mounted and a lead 4B spaced apart from the lead 4A, a resin package 2 covering part of the lead group 4, and mounting terminals 41 and 42 provided by part of the lead group 4 that is exposed from the resin package 2 and spaced apart from each other in direction x. The LED module further includes a mounting terminal 43 spaced apart from the mounting terminal 41 in direction y, and a mounting terminal 44 spaced apart from the mounting terminal 42 in direction y. This arrangement allows the LED module A1 to be mounted at a correct position on a circuit board.
US09276179B2
There is provided a light emitting device highly resistant to the environment, and having good heat resistance, light resistance and gas barrier property, and a method for producing same. With the light emitting device, a substrate 2 and interconnect patterns 5A, 5B formed on the surface thereof are covered with an acrylic resin primer 10 having better gas barrier property than a silicone resin sealing resin part 3. Light resistance is ensured by the silicone resin sealing resin portion 3 and the gas barrier property can be ensured by the acrylic resin primer 10.
US09276171B2
Provided is a nitride semiconductor light-emitting diode having a higher light extraction efficiency and a higher polarization degree. A nitride semiconductor light-emitting diode according to the present invention comprises an active layer generating a polarized light, a first side surface, a second side surface, a third side surface, and a fourth side surface. The first and second side surfaces consist only of a plane including the Z-axis and the Y-axis. The third and fourth side surfaces are perpendicular to the first and second side surfaces and include the X-axis. The third and fourth side surfaces include an inclined surface.
US09276170B2
A semiconductor light emitting element includes a laminated semiconductor layer including a light emitting layer that emits light by passing a current, the laminated semiconductor layer has a lower semiconductor bottom surface, a semiconductor side surface that rises from an edge of the lower semiconductor bottom surface upwardly and outwardly of the laminated semiconductor layer, and a lower semiconductor top surface that faces upward by extending inwardly of the laminated semiconductor layer from an upper edge of the semiconductor side surface, an edge of the lower semiconductor top surface includes first and second linear portions extending linearly and plural connecting portions connecting the first and second linear portions, and, when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the lower semiconductor top surface, each connecting portion is positioned inside a point of intersection of extended lines of the first and second linear portions connected to the connecting portion.
US09276161B2
An infrared camera system is provided to detect absorption of infrared radiation in a selected spectral bandwidth. In one example, an infrared camera system includes a lens adapted to receive infrared radiation from a survey scene comprising one or more gasses. The infrared camera system also includes a focal plane array comprising a plurality of quantum well infrared photo detectors (QWIPs). The QWIPs are tuned to detect a limited spectral bandwidth of the infrared radiation corresponding to at least a portion of an infrared absorption band of the one or more gasses. The infrared camera system also includes an optical band pass filter positioned substantially between the lens and the focal plane array. The optical band pass filter is adapted to filter the infrared radiation to a wavelength range substantially corresponding to the limited spectral bandwidth of the QWIPs before the infrared radiation is received by the focal plane array.
US09276158B2
A photodiode that can provide a THz operation with a stable output. A photodiode having a pin-type semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor layer structure and n and p electrodes. The semiconductor layer structure is obtained by sequentially layering an n-type contact layer, a low concentration layer, and a p-type contact layer. The low concentration layer is obtained by layering an electron drift layer, a light absorption layer, and a hole drift layer while being abutted to the n-type contact layer. The n electrode and the p electrode are connected to the n-type contact layer and the p-type contact layer, respectively. During operation, the low concentration layer is depleted.
US09276155B2
In a method for producing a solar cell, a layer stack of dielectric layers is applied to a back of a solar cell substrate and the layer stack is heated and is held at temperatures of at least 700° C. during a time period of at least 5 minutes. The novel solar cell has a layer stack of dielectric layers on its back. At least one of the dielectric layers of the layer stack is densified so that its resistivity to firing-through of pastes with glass components is enhanced.
US09276153B2
A solar cell wafer having a porous layer on a surface of a semiconductor wafer typified by a silicon wafer, which can further reduce reflection loss of light at the surface. A solar cell wafer 100 of the present invention has a porous layer 11 having a pore diameter of 10 nm or more and 45 nm or less, on at least one surface 10A of a semiconductor wafer 10, and the layer thickness of the porous layer 11 is more than 50 nm and 450 nm or less.
US09276151B2
This disclosure generally relates to films capable of use in electronic device modules and to electronic device modules including such films. The disclosure also generally relates to materials for use in such films.
US09276146B2
An infrared sensor device includes at least one sensor element formed in a semiconductor substrate, an SOI wafer that defines a gap below and around the sensor element, and a suspension device that is configured to suspend the sensor element in the SOI wafer. The sensor element is substantially arranged below the suspension device, thereby achieving a high sensitivity, low thermal capacity, low thermal coupling to the substrate and a high image refresh rate.
US09276145B2
An array-type light-receiving device includes a semiconductor substrate having a cleavage direction; a light-receiving surface disposed on the semiconductor substrate; and a plurality of pixels two-dimensionally arranged on the light-receiving surface in a first array direction and a second array direction, each of the pixels including a staked semiconductor layer including an optical absorption layer. The first and second array directions are tilted relative to the cleavage direction of the semiconductor substrate at a predetermined angle α, as viewed from above the light-receiving surface. In addition, the first and second array directions and the cleavage direction extend along the light-receiving surface.
US09276130B2
High field-effect mobility is provided for a transistor including an oxide semiconductor. Further, a highly reliable semiconductor device including the transistor is provided. In a bottom-gate transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer, an oxide semiconductor layer functioning as a current path (channel) of the transistor is sandwiched between oxide semiconductor layers having lower carrier densities than the oxide semiconductor layer. In such a structure, the channel is formed away from the interface of the oxide semiconductor stacked layer with an insulating layer in contact with the oxide semiconductor stacked layer, i.e., a buried channel is formed.
US09276120B2
A method of manufacturing a transistor includes: forming an oxide semiconductor film and a gate electrode on a substrate, the oxide semiconductor film having a channel region, and the gate electrode facing the channel region; and forming an insulating film covering the gate electrode and the oxide semiconductor film. Infiltration of moisture from the insulating film into the oxide semiconductor film is suppressed by the substrate.
US09276119B2
Provided is a method of manufacturing a gradually stretchable substrate. The method includes forming convex regions and concave regions on a top surface of a stretchable substrate by compressing a mold onto the stretchable substrate and forming non-stretchable patterns by filling the concave regions of the stretchable substrate. The stretchable substrate includes a stretchable region defined by the non-stretchable patterns, the non-stretchable patterns have side surfaces in contact with the stretchable region, and the side surfaces of the non-stretchable patterns are formed of protrusions and a non-protrusion between the protrusions repetitively connected to one another.
US09276118B2
A method for manufacturing a fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) device, comprises forming a plurality of fins on a substrate, forming a plurality of gate regions on portions of the fins, wherein the gate regions are spaced apart from each other, forming spacers on each respective gate region, epitaxially growing a first epitaxy region on each of the fins, stopping growth of the first epitaxy regions prior to merging of the first epitaxy regions between adjacent fins, forming a dielectric layer on the substrate including the fins and first epitaxy regions, removing the dielectric layer and first epitaxy regions from the fins at one or more portions between adjacent gate regions to form one or more contact area trenches, and epitaxially growing a second epitaxy region on each of the fins in the one or more contact area trenches, wherein the second epitaxy regions on adjacent fins merge with each other.
US09276112B2
A semiconductor device having tipless epitaxial source/drain regions and a method for its formation are described. In an embodiment, the semiconductor device comprises a gate stack on a substrate. The gate stack is comprised of a gate electrode above a gate dielectric layer and is above a channel region in the substrate. The semiconductor device also comprises a pair of source/drain regions in the substrate on either side of the channel region. The pair of source/drain regions is in direct contact with the gate dielectric layer and the lattice constant of the pair of source/drain regions is different than the lattice constant of the channel region. In one embodiment, the semiconductor device is formed by using a dielectric gate stack placeholder.
US09276103B2
This specification is directed to a semiconductor device capable of reducing a leakage current by forming a first GaN layer including a plurality of GaN layers and FexNy layers interposed between the plurality of GaN layers, in a semiconductor device having the first GaN layer, an AlGaN layer, a second GaN layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode which are deposited in a sequential manner, and a fabricating method thereof.To this end, a semiconductor device according to one exemplary embodiment includes a first GaN layer, an AlGaN layer on the first GaN layer, a second GaN layer on the AlGaN layer, and a source electrode, a drain electrode and a gate electrode formed on a portion of the second GaN layer, wherein the first GaN layer comprises a plurality of GaN layers and FexNy layers interposed between the plurality of GaN layers.
US09276098B2
According to example embodiments, a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) includes a first semiconductor layer on a substrate and a second semiconductor layer on the first semiconductor layer. The first and second semiconductor layers define a recessed region. A semiconductor doped layer is in the recessed region of first and second semiconductor layers. A 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) region is at a portion of the first semiconductor layer adjacent to both sides of the semiconductor doped layer.
US09276097B2
A transistor device includes a compound semiconductor body, a drain disposed in the compound semiconductor body and a source disposed in the compound semiconductor body and spaced apart from the drain by a channel region. A gate is provided for controlling the channel region. The transistor device further includes a gate overvoltage protection device connected between the source and the gate, the gate overvoltage protection device including p-type and n-type silicon-containing semiconductor material.
US09276095B2
A semiconductor device includes: a first semiconductor region; a second semiconductor region; a third semiconductor region; a fourth semiconductor region; an insulation film, which is arranged on an inner wall of a recess that extends from an upper surface of the fourth semiconductor region and reaches the second semiconductor region with penetrating the fourth semiconductor region and the third semiconductor region; a control electrode, which is arranged on the insulation film on a side surface of the recess and faces the third semiconductor region; a first main electrode, which is electrically connected to the first semiconductor region, and a second main electrode, which is electrically connected to the fourth semiconductor region, wherein a ratio of a width of the recess to a width of the third semiconductor region contacting the second main electrode is 1 or larger.
US09276088B1
Methods for making high voltage IC devices utilizing a fin-type process and resulting devices are disclosed. Embodiments include forming two pluralities of silicon fins on a substrate layer, separated by a space, wherein adjacent silicon fins are separated by a trench; forming an oxide layer on the substrate layer and filling a portion of each trench; forming two deep isolation trenches into the oxide layer and the substrate layer adjacent to the two pluralities of silicon fins; forming a graded voltage junction by implanting a dopant into the substrate layer below the two pluralities of silicon fins; forming a gate structure on the oxide layer and between the two pluralities of silicon fins; implanting a dopant into and under the two pluralities of silicon fins, forming source and drain regions; and forming an epitaxial layer onto the two pluralities of silicon fins to form merged source and drain fins.
US09276085B2
The present invention provides a semiconductor structure comprising a substrate; a gate stack on the substrate; a spacer on the sidewalls of the gate stack; a source/drain junction extension formed in the substrate on both sides of the gate stack by epitaxial growth; and a source/drain region in the substrate on both sides of the source/drain junction extension. Accordingly, the present invention also provides methods for manufacturing the semiconductor structure. The present invention can provide a source/drain junction extension with a high doping concentration and a low junction depth, thereby effectively improving the performance of the semiconductor structure.
US09276077B2
A metallization scheme employing a first refractory metal barrier layer, a Group IIIA element layer, a second refractory metal barrier layer, and an oxidation-resistant metallic layer is employed to form a source region and a drain region that provide electrical contacts to a compound semiconductor material layer. The first and second refractory metal barrier layer are free of nitrogen, and thus, do not introduce additional nitrogen into the compound semiconductor layer, while allowing diffusion of the Group IIIA element to form locally doped regions underneath the source region and the drain region. Ohmic contacts may be formed at a temperature as low as about 500° C. This enables fabrication of FET whose source and drain are self-aligned to the gate.
US09276075B2
A semiconductor device has a semiconductor substrate including a body region, a drift region, a trench that extends from a surface of the semiconductor substrate into the drift region through the body region, and a source region located adjacent to the trench in a range exposed to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, the source region being isolated from the drift region by the body region. A specific layer is disposed on a bottom of the trench, and it has a characteristic of forming a depletion layer at a junction between the specific layer and the drift region. An insulating layer covers an upper surface of the specific layer and a sidewall of the trench. A conductive portion is formed on a part of the side wall of the trench. The conductive portion is joined to the specific layer, and reaches the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US09276067B2
An SiC semiconductor device having a p-type 4H—SiC region formed on a part of a surface portion of an SiC substrate, a defect reduction layer formed in a surface portion of the 4H—SiC region, the defect reduction layer having C defect density <1015 cm−3 by introduction of carbon, a thickness of the defect reduction layer being equal to or less than 5 nm from a surface of the SiC substrate, a gate insulating film formed on the defect reduction layer, and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film.
US09276065B2
Provided is a semiconductor device formed with a trench portion for providing a concave portion in a gate width direction and with a gate electrode provided within and on a top surface of the trench portion via a gate insulating film. At least a part of a surface of each of the source region and the drain region is made lower than other parts of the surface by removing a thick oxide film formed in the vicinity of the gate electrode. Making lower the part of the surface of each of the source region and the drain region allows current flowing through a top surface of the concave portion of the gate electrode at high concentration to flow uniformly through the entire trench portion, which increase an effective gate width of the concave portion formed so as to have a varying depth in a gate width direction.
US09276061B2
A diode includes: a p-type semiconductor substrate; an n-type semiconductor layer; a p-type isolation region formed to surround a predetermined region of the n-type semiconductor layer on the p-type semiconductor substrate; an n-type buried layer formed across the p-type semiconductor layer and the n-type semiconductor layer within the predetermined region; an n-type collector wall formed in the n-type semiconductor layer; a p-type anode region and a plurality of n-type cathode regions formed in a diode formation region; and a p-type guard ring formed to surround the diode formation region in a region between the diode formation region of the surface layer of the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type isolation region. A transistor for reducing a leakage current is formed by the p-type anode region, the p-type guard ring, and an n-type semiconductor between the p-type anode region and the p-type guard ring.
US09276057B2
A capacitor structure includes a substrate with a plurality of dielectric layers sequentially formed thereon, a trench formed in the dielectric layers, wherein the trench is composed of at least two interconnected dual damascene recesses, each dual damascene recess formed in one dielectric layer; and a capacitor multilayer disposed on the sidewall of the trench.
US09276055B1
There is provided a flexible display having a plurality of innovations configured to allow bending of a portion or portions to reduce apparent border size and/or utilize the side surface of an assembled flexible display.
US09276052B2
A display device includes a plurality of light-emitting elements aligned on a TFT substrate in a formation of a matrix. The plurality of light-emitting elements each have a flat surface portion and including a light-emitting layer, an anode, and a cathode, an insulating layer formed on the TFT substrate and under the light emitting element, and a tilted metal surface provided on a peripheral area surrounding the flat surface portion of the light-emitting element and having a tilt angle with respect to the flat surface portion of the light-emitting element. The tilted metal surface is provided on a surface of a slope of a bank that is provided on the insulation layer, and a width of a cross-section of the bank becomes smaller as the cross section comes farther away from a surface of the TFT substrate. A counter substrate is placed on the TFT substrate.
US09276048B2
Embodiments of the subject invention relate to a method and apparatus for infrared (IR) detection. Organic layers can be utilized to produce a phototransistor for the detection of IR radiation. The wavelength range of the IR detector can be modified by incorporating materials sensitive to photons of different wavelengths. Quantum dots of materials sensitive to photons of different wavelengths than the host organic material of the absorbing layer of the phototransistor can be incorporated into the absorbing layer so as to enhance the absorption of photons having wavelengths associated with the material of the quantum dots. A photoconductor structure can be used instead of a phototransistor. The photoconductor can incorporate PbSe or PbS quantum dots. The photoconductor can incorporate organic materials and part of an OLED structure. A detected IR image can be displayed to a user. Organic materials can be used to create an organic light-emitting device.
US09276047B2
A method for manufacturing a flexible display device includes forming a separation layer on a carrier substrate, laminating a flexible substrate having an area that is larger than an area of the separation layer, to the separation layer; forming a dummy pattern on and along an edge of the flexible substrate; exposing a portion of the separation layer by removing a portion of the flexible substrate at a side of the flexible substrate; and separating the separation layer and the flexible substrate from each other.
US09276034B2
A surveillance device includes an electronic component and a protective surface outwardly of the electronic component. A generally transparent substrate is formed from a first material. Spaced portions of an electrically conductive coating are formed within channels in the substrate. The electrically conductive material is a semiconductor material. A method is also disclosed.
US09276033B2
A semiconductor device including a first material layer adjacent to a second material layer, a first via passing through the first material layer and extending into the second material layer, and a second via extending into the first material layer, where along a common cross section parallel to an interface between the two material layers, the first via has a cross section larger than that of the second via.
US09276027B2
An image sensor including a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type that is arranged in a substrate, a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type that is arranged in the first semiconductor region to form a charge accumulation region. The second semiconductor region includes a plurality of portions arranged in a direction along a surface of the substrate. A potential barrier is formed between the plurality of portions. The second semiconductor region is wholly depleted by expansion of a depletion region from the first semiconductor region to the second semiconductor region. A finally-depleted portion to be finally depleted, of the second semiconductor region, is depleted by the expansion of the depletion region from a portion of the first semiconductor region, located in a lateral direction of the finally-depleted portion.
US09276019B2
A method of manufacturing an array substrate 20 according to the present invention includes a line forming step, and line forming step includes following performances. A plurality of source lines 27 are formed on a glass substrate GS so as to extend from a first region A1 on the glass substrate GS to a second region A2 that is adjacent to the first region on an outer side thereof. A plurality of source driver side check lines 45A are formed on the glass substrate GS so as to extend from the second region A2 to a third region that is adjacent to the first region A1 on an outer side thereof and adjacent to the second region A2. A plurality of first line connection portions 49 are formed in the second region A2 and the first line connection portions 49 connect the source lines 27 and the first source driver side check lines 45A. A capacity stem line 43 and a common line 44 are formed to extend from the first region A1 to the third region A3. A second source driver side check line 45B and a second line connection portion 50 that connects each of the capacity stem line 43 and the common line 44 and the source driver side check line 45B are formed in the third region A3.
US09276017B2
A display device including a first substrate. The first substrate including an active region and a dummy region formed in an outer edge of the active region, the active region including a plurality of pixel regions and being configured to implement an actual image, the dummy region including a gate in panel (GIP) circuit, control signal lines, a ground, and common lines. The GIP circuit is overlapped by at least a part of the control signal lines, the ground, and the common lines with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. The display device further includes a thin film transistor (TFT) for a shift register is provided in each of a plurality of stages of the GIP circuit; and a source contact hole and a gate contact hole of each TFT for the shift registers, the source contact hole and the gate contact hole being formed along a corresponding control signal line.
US09276014B2
An array substrate, a method of fabricating the same, and a liquid crystal display device are disclosed. The method comprises: sequentially forming a first transparent conductive material layer, an insulation material layer, a semiconductor material layer and a photoresist layer on a substrate base and forming patterns including a gate line, a gate, a gate insulation layer, a semiconductor layer and a first transparent electrode by patterning process; forming a passivation layer and forming a source via and a drain via connected to the semiconductor layer in the passivation layer; sequentially forming a second transparent conductive material layer and a source-drain metal layer and forming patterns including a source, a drain and a second transparent electrode by patterning process, the gate insulation layer is formed only on the gate and the gate line, the source and the drain include stacked second transparent conductive material layer and source-drain metal layer.
US09276009B2
Vias are formed within a stack of alternating active and insulating layers by forming a first sub stack, a second sub stack over the first sub stack, a first buffer layer therebetween and a second buffer layer under the first sub stack. An upper layer of the first sub stack is exposed through a set of vias by first and second etching processes. The first etching process forms a first set of etch vias through the second sub stack and stops at or in the first buffer layer. The second etching process etches through the first buffer layer to the upper layer of the first sub stack. A third etching process etches through the first set of etch vias, through the first sub stack and stops at or in the second buffer layer. A fourth etching process and etches through the second buffer layer.
US09276007B2
A method for fabricating a memory device with a self-aligned trap layer and rounded active region corners is disclosed. In the present invention, an STI process is performed before any of the charge-trapping and top-level layers are formed. Immediately after the STI process, the sharp corners of the active regions are exposed. Because these sharp corners are exposed at this time, they are available to be rounded through any number of known rounding techniques. Rounding the corners improves the performance characteristics of the memory device. Subsequent to the rounding process, the charge-trapping structure and other layers can be formed by a self-aligned process.
US09276002B2
The present disclosure generally provides for an integrated circuit (IC) structure with a bulk silicon finFET and methods of forming the same. An IC structure according to the present disclosure can include: a bulk substrate; a finFET located on a first region of the bulk substrate; and a layered dummy structure located on a second region of the bulk substrate, wherein the layered dummy structure includes a first crystalline semiconductive layer, a second crystalline semiconductive layer positioned on the first crystalline semiconductive layer, wherein the first crystalline semiconductive layer comprises a material distinct from the second crystalline semiconductive layer, and a third crystalline semiconductive layer positioned on the second crystalline semiconductive layer, wherein the third crystalline semiconductive layer comprises the material distinct from the second crystalline semiconductive layer.
US09275999B2
A method for fabricating floating body memory cells (FBCs), and the resultant FBCs where gates favoring different conductivity type regions are used is described. In one embodiment, a p type back gate with a thicker insulation is used with a thinner insulated n type front gate. Processing, which compensates for misalignment, which allows the different oxide and gate materials to be fabricated is described.
US09275989B2
One illustrative integrated circuit product disclosed herein includes a metal-1 metallization layer positioned above a semiconducting substrate, a capacitor positioned between a surface of the substrate and a bottom of the metal-1 metallization layer, wherein the capacitor includes a plurality of conductive plates that are oriented in a direction that is substantially normal relative to the surface of the substrate, and at least one region of insulating material positioned between the plurality of conductive plates.
US09275984B2
A multi-chip package system includes a signal transmission line commonly coupled to a plurality of semiconductor chips to transfer data to/from the semiconductor chips from/to outside; and a termination controller suitable for detecting a loading value of the signal transmission line and controlling a termination operation on the signal transmission line based on the loading value.
US09275982B2
A package structure including: a first semiconductor device including a first semiconductor substrate and a first electronic device, the first semiconductor device having a first side and a second side, wherein at least part of the first electronic device being adjacent to the first side, and the first semiconductor device has a via-hole formed through the first semiconductor device, wherein the via-hole has a first opening adjacent to the first side; an interconnection structure disposed in the first semiconductor device, wherein the interconnection structure includes: a via structure disposed in the via-hole without exceeding the first opening; a first pad disposed on the first side of the first semiconductor device and covering the via-hole; and a second semiconductor device vertically integrated with the first semiconductor device.
US09275979B2
LED packages, and LED lamps and bulbs, are disclosed that are arranged to minimize the CRI and efficiency losses resulting from the overlap of conversion material emission and excitation spectrum. In different devices having conversion materials with this overlap, the present invention arranges the conversion materials to reduce the likelihood that re-emitted light from a first conversion materials will encounter the second conversion material to minimize the risk of re-absorption. In some embodiments this risk is minimized by different arrangements where there is separation between the two phosphors. In some embodiments this separation results less than 50% of re-emitted light from the one phosphor passing into the phosphor where it risks re-absorption.
US09275978B2
A layer of microscopic, 3-terminal transistors is printed over a first conductor layer so that bottom electrodes of the transistors electrically contact the first conductor layer. A first dielectric layer overlies the first conductor layer, and a second conductor layer over the first dielectric layer contacts intermediate electrodes on the transistors between the bottom electrodes and top electrodes. A second dielectric layer overlies the second conductor layer, and a third conductor layer over the second dielectric layer contacts the top electrodes. The devices are thus electrically connected in parallel by a combination of the first conductor layer, the second conductor layer, and the third conductor layer. Separate groups of the devices may be interconnected to form more complex circuits. The resulting circuit may be a very thin flex-circuit.
US09275972B2
A resin-encapsulated semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element mounted on a die pad portion, a plurality of lead portions arranged so that leading end portions thereof are opposed to the die pad portion, and thin metal wires connecting electrodes of the semiconductor element to the lead portions. An encapsulation resin encapsulates the die pad portion, semiconductor element and lead portions in such a manner that a bottom surface part of the die pad portion and a lead bottom surface part, lead outer surface part, and lead upper end part of the lead portions are exposed from the encapsulation resin. A plating layer is formed on the lead bottom surface parts and the lead upper end parts. The encapsulation resin has cutouts on a side surface thereof vertically above the portions of the lead upper end parts on which the plating layer is formed.
US09275971B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards techniques and configurations for a bridge interconnect assembly that can be embedded in a package assembly. In one embodiment, a package assembly includes a package substrate configured to route electrical signals between a first die and a second die and a bridge embedded in the package substrate and configured to route the electrical signals between the first die and the second die, the bridge including a bridge substrate, one or more through-hole vias (THVs) formed through the bridge substrate, and one or more traces disposed on a surface of the bridge substrate to route the electrical signals between the first die and the second die. Routing features including traces and a ground plane of the bridge interconnect assembly may be separated by an air gap. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09275970B1
A circuit element includes a semiconductor chip and a wire for connecting between the semiconductor chip and an additional circuit element. A plurality of wire bond connections electrically connect the wire and the semiconductor chip. The plurality of wire bond connections can be disposed on a surface of the semiconductor chip and on a surface of the wire.
US09275969B2
This disclosure relates generally to an electronic package that can include a die and a dielectric layer at least partially enveloping the die. Electrical interconnects can be electrically coupled to the die and passing, at least in part, through the dielectric layer. An optical emitter can be electrically coupled to the die with a first one of the electrical interconnects and configured to emit light from a first major surface of the electronic package. A solder bump can be electrically coupled to the die with a second one of the electrical interconnects and positioned on a second major surface of the electronic package different from the first major surface.
US09275967B2
A die and a substrate are provided. The die comprises at least one integrated circuit chip, and the substrate comprises first and second subsets of conductive pillars extending at least partially therethrough. Each of the first subset of conductive pillars comprises a protrusion bump pad protruding from a surface of the substrate, and the second subset of conductive pillars each partially form a trace recessed within the surface of the substrate. The die is coupled to the substrate via a plurality of conductive bumps each extending between one of the protrusion bump pads and the die.
US09275964B2
An under-bump metallization (UBM) structure for a substrate, such as an organic substrate, a ceramic substrate, a silicon or glass interposer, a high density interconnect, a printed circuit board, or the like, is provided. A buffer layer is formed over a contact pad on the substrate such that at least a portion of the contact pad is exposed. A conductor pad is formed within the opening and extends over at least a portion of the buffer layer. The conductor pad may have a uniform thickness and/or a non-planar surface. The substrate may be attached to another substrate and/or a die.
US09275962B2
An integrated electronic circuit having probe indentations filled by a hard covering substance. The integrated circuit device results from a process of manufacture including forming a substrate comprising a plurality of functional components of the electronic circuit, creating a plurality of conductive layers on such substrate to form an electric contact region with high hardness equal to or greater than a first hardness value of about 300 HV, contacting the electric contact region with a probe thereby causing an indentation. In an embodiment, the process further comprises, after the test run, creating a covering conductive layer on at least one part of the electric contact region contacted by the probe to fill the indentation.
US09275959B2
Semiconductor packages are provided. In some embodiments, the semiconductor package includes a substrate, a first ground line including a first internal ground line disposed along edges of the substrate and a plurality of first extended ground lines between the first internal ground line and sidewalls of the substrate, a chip on the substrate, a molding member disposed on the substrate to cover the chip, and an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding layer covering the molding member, the EMI shielding layer extending along the sidewalls of the substrate and contacting the end portions of the plurality of first extended ground lines. The plurality of first extended ground lines include end portions that are exposed at the sidewalls of the substrate.
US09275958B2
An embodiment of the invention provides a chip package which includes: a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a first recess extending from the first surface towards the second surface; a second recess extending from a bottom of the first recess towards the second surface, wherein a sidewall and the bottom of the first recess and a second sidewall and a second bottom of the second recess together form an exterior side surface of the semiconductor substrate; a wire layer disposed over the first surface and extending into the first recess and/or the second recess; an insulating layer positioned between the wire layer and the semiconductor substrate; and a metal light shielding layer disposed over the first surface and having at least one hole, wherein a shape of the at least one hole is a quadrangle.
US09275955B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards an integrated circuit (IC) package having first and second dies with first and second input/output (I/O) interconnect structures, respectively. The IC package may include a bridge having first and second electrical routing features coupled to a portion of the first and second I/O interconnect structures, respectively. In embodiments, the first and second electrical routing features may be disposed on one side of the bridge; and third electrical routing features may be disposed on an opposite side. The first and second electrical routing features may be configured to route electrical signals between the first die and the second die and the third electrical routing features may be configured to route electrical signals between the one side and the opposite side. The first die, the second die, and the bridge may be embedded in electrically insulating material. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09275949B2
Provided is a semiconductor device in which a semiconductor element mounted on a wiring substrate is placed in a hollow portion, the hollow portion being formed by the wiring substrate, a protective member, and a wall member, with the wiring substrate, the protective member, and the wall member being a bottom surface, a top surface, and side surfaces thereof, respectively. The wall member has a vent hole provided therein, which communicates the hollow portion to/from the outside, and the vent hole includes a pillar member formed of a material having a linear expansion coefficient which is smaller than that of the wall member. Therefore, airtightness of the hollow portion is maintained to prevent entry of foreign matters at ordinary temperature, and vapor pressure in the hollow portion is relieved when heated.
US09275943B2
An electronic device includes at least one chip and an insulating body embedding the chip. The electronic device further includes a heat-sink in contact with the chip. The heat-sink includes a plate having a first thickness. A recess is provided in the plate that defines a central portion of the plate having a second thickness less than the first thickness. The chip is mounted to the central region of the heat-sink within the recess. The insulating body includes a surface, such as a mounting surface, including an opening exposing at least a portion of the heat-sink. The device may further include a reophore extending through a side surface of the insulating body, that reophore being in contact with the heat sink.
US09275935B2
Technology that achieves high integration of a semiconductor device employing TSV technology is provided. A through electrode is configured by a small-diameter through electrode having a first diameter and being formed on a main surface side of a semiconductor wafer, and a large-diameter through electrode having a second diameter larger than the above-described first diameter and being formed on a back surface side of the semiconductor wafer, and the small-diameter through electrode is arranged inside the large-diameter through electrode in a planar view so that a center position of the small-diameter through electrode and a center position of the large-diameter through electrode do not overlap with each other in the planar view.
US09275933B2
A semiconductor device includes a substrate; an inter layer dielectric disposed on the substrate; a TSV penetrating the substrate and the ILD. In addition, a plurality of shallow trench isolations (STI) is disposed in the substrate, and a shield ring is disposed in the ILD surrounding the TSV on the STI. During the process of forming the TSV, the contact ring can protect adjacent components from metal contamination.
US09275929B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that includes providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a semiconductor material, forming a dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate, forming an interconnect layer on the dielectric layer, attaching a semiconductor die to the semiconductor substrate, and electrically coupling an active side of the semiconductor die to the interconnect layer, the interconnect layer to route electrical signals of the semiconductor die. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09275928B2
A metallic ring is located on a multilayer ceramic substrate. An optical semiconductor laser is located on the multilayer ceramic substrate, inside the metallic ring. A metallic cap with a window is joined to the metallic ring. The metallic cap covers the optical semiconductor laser. An external heat sink is joined to an external side surface of the metallic cap. These features make it possible to improve high-frequency characteristics, producibility, and heat dissipation.
US09275923B2
Some embodiments relate to a device and method for a band pass filter with a reduced cost, area penalty, and manufacturing complexity relative to current solutions. An integrated passive device chip includes a plurality of capacitors embedded in a common molding compound along with a transceiver chip. The integrated passive device chip and the transceiver chip are also arranged within a polymer package. An ultra-thick metallization layer is disposed within the polymer package and configured to couple the integrated passive device chip to the transceiver chip. The ultra-thick metallization layer also forms a plurality of transmission lines, wherein the combined integrated passive device chip and transmission lines form a band pass filter with improved frequency response, noise immunity, and cost and area as compared to conventional solutions.
US09275905B1
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes implanting a first type of dopants in a first region and a second region and implanting a second type of dopants in the second region. In addition, an un-doped silicon layer is formed over the first and second regions, and a first and a second fin structures are formed. The first fin structure includes a first type of anti-punch through structure implanted with the first type of dopants and a first un-doped silicon structure over the first type of anti-punch through structure, and the second fin structure includes a second type of anti-punch through structure implanted with the second type of dopants and a second un-doped silicon structure formed over the second type of anti-punch through structure.
US09275894B2
In accordance with some embodiments, a method for forming a semiconductor device structure is provided. The method includes forming a dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate. The dielectric layer has at least one first trench in the dielectric layer. The method also includes forming a seed layer on a sidewall and a bottom surface of the first trench. The method further includes forming a first conductive layer on the seed layer. The method includes performing a thermal treatment process to melt and transform the seed layer and the first conductive layer into a second conductive layer. The method also includes forming a third conductive layer on the second conductive layer to fill the first trench.
US09275893B2
The present disclosure concerns a method of detaching a layer to be detached from a donor substrate, comprising the following steps: a) assembling the donor substrate and a porous substrate, b) application of a treatment of chemical modification of the crystallites, the chemical modification being adapted to generate a variation of the volume of the crystallites, the volume variation generates deformation in compression or in tension of the porous substrate, the deformation in compression or in tension generates a stress in tension or in compression in the donor substrate, which causes fracture in a fracture plane, the fracture plane delimiting the layer to be detached, the stress leading to the detachment of the layer to be detached from the donor substrate.
US09275891B2
A process for fabricating an integrated circuit includes, in a stack of layers including a silicon substrate overlaid with a buried insulating layer overlaid with a silicon layer, etching first trenches into the silicon substrate, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the silicon layer to fill the first trenches and form first trench isolations, forming a mask on the silicon nitride layer, etching second trenches into the silicon substrate, in a pattern defined by the mask, to a depth greater than a depth of the first trenches, filling the second trenches with an electrical insulator to form second trench isolations, carrying out a chemical etch until the silicon layer is exposed, and forming a FET by forming a channel, a source, and a drain of the field effect transistor in the silicon layer.
US09275886B2
Provided is a position detecting device that is capable of precisely detecting the coordinates of the center of a disc-shaped substrate from image data captured by one camera, calculating the amount of positional misalignment of the disc-shaped substrate on a support member as the disc-shaped substrate is being transported during processing, and correcting the position such that the substrate can be located at the precise loading position. Isosceles right triangles, each having the radius of the disc-shaped substrate as one side, are generated from the coordinates of two places on edge data extracted from the image data and the radius on the edge data, and the coordinates of the center position of the disc-shaped substrate are detected by using the Pythagorean theorem.
US09275881B2
A liquid processing apparatus of the present disclosure includes a rotatable substrate holder that holds a wafer from above, and a top plate nozzle that supplies at least rinse liquid to the wafer and is provided in the rotation center of the substrate holder. The top plate nozzle is movably configured with the substrate holder in the top-bottom direction, and the rinse liquid is supplied to the wafer from the top plate nozzle while the top plate nozzle is spaced from the substrate holder. When the top plate nozzle approaches to the substrate holder, the rinse liquid is supplied to the lower surface of the substrate holder from the top plate nozzle to clean the lower surface of the substrate holder.
US09275880B2
The present invention provides a liquid replenishing device comprising a liquid storage tank, a chemical liquid supply pipeline, an ultrapure water supply pipeline, an ultrapure water quantitative supplement pipeline and a circulating pipeline. The chemical liquid supply pipeline supplies chemical liquids to the liquid storage tank. The ultrapure water supply pipeline supplies ultrapure water to the liquid storage tank. The ultrapure water quantitative supplement pipeline quantitatively replenishes ultrapure water to the liquid storage tank. One end of the circulating pipeline is connected with the outlet of the liquid storage tank, the other end of the circulating pipeline is connected with the inlet of the liquid storage tank.
US09275875B2
An object is to provide a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, which has stable electrical characteristics and high reliability. In a manufacturing process of a bottom-gate transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer, heat treatment in an atmosphere containing oxygen and heat treatment in vacuum are sequentially performed for dehydration or dehydrogenation of the oxide semiconductor layer. In addition, irradiation with light having a short wavelength is performed concurrently with the heat treatment, whereby elimination of hydrogen, OH, or the like is promoted. A transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer on which dehydration or dehydrogenation treatment is performed through such heat treatment has improved stability, so that variation in electrical characteristics of the transistor due to light irradiation or a bias-temperature stress (BT) test is suppressed.
US09275873B2
A method, e.g., of forming and using a mask, includes forming an inverse mask over a dielectric layer; forming a mask layer conformally over the inverse mask; removing horizontal portions of the mask layer; and after removing the horizontal portions, simultaneously etching the inverse mask and vertical portions of the mask layer. The etching the inverse mask is at a greater rate than the etching the vertical portions of the mask layer. The etching the inverse mask removes the inverse mask, and the etching the vertical portions of the mask layer forms a mask comprising rounded surfaces distal from the dielectric layer. Recesses are formed in the dielectric layer using the mask. Locations of the inverse mask correspond to fewer than all locations of the recesses.
US09275867B2
Methods for removing a material layer from a base substrate utilizing spalling in which mode III stress, i.e., the stress that is perpendicular to the fracture front created in the base substrate, during spalling is reduced. The substantial reduction of the mode III stress during spalling results in a spalling process in which the spalled material has less surface roughness at one of its' edges as compared to prior art spalling processes in which the mode III stress is present and competes with spalling.
US09275865B2
Methods for plasma treatment of films to remove impurities are disclosed herein. Methods for removing impurities can include positioning a substrate with a barrier layer in a processing chamber, the barrier layer comprising a barrier metal and one or more impurities, maintaining the substrate at a bias, creating a plasma comprising a treatment gas, the treatment gas comprising an inert gas, delivering the treatment gas to the substrate to reduce the ratio of one or more impurities in the barrier layer, and reacting a deposition gas comprising a metal halide and hydrogen-containing gas to deposit a bulk metal layer on the barrier layer. The methods can further include the use of diborane to create selective nucleation in features over surface regions of the substrate.
US09275864B2
A process integration is disclosed for fabricating non-volatile memory (NVM) cells (105-109, 113-115) on a first flash cell substrate area (111) which are encapsulated in one or more planar dielectric layers (116) prior to forming an elevated substrate (117) on a second CMOS transistor area (112) on which high-k metal gate electrodes (119-120, 122-126, 132, 134) are formed using a gate-last HKMG CMOS process flow without interfering with the operation or reliability of the NVM cells.
US09275862B2
Methods, apparatuses and devices related to the manufacturing of compensation devices are provided. In some cases, an n/p-codoped layer is deposited for calibration purposes to minimize a net doping concentration. In other cases, alternatingly n- and p-doped layers are then deposited. In other embodiments, an n/p-codoped layer is deposited in a trench where n- and p-dopants have different diffusion behavior. To obtain different doping profiles, a heat treatment may be performed.
US09275858B2
A semiconductor device having favorable electric characteristics and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A transistor includes an oxide semiconductor layer formed over an insulating layer, a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer which overlap with part of the oxide semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer in contact with part of the oxide semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode layer over the gate insulating layer. In the transistor, a buffer layer having n-type conductivity is formed between the source electrode layer and the oxide semiconductor layer and between the drain electrode layer and the oxide semiconductor layer. Thus, parasitic resistance is reduced, resulting in improvement of on-state characteristics of the transistor.
US09275840B2
Proposed is a method for providing uniform distribution of plasma density in a CCP plasma processing apparatus. According to the method the through gas holes of the showerhead of used in the plasma processing chamber of the apparatus are provided with conical nozzles formed on the side of the gas holes that face the gas reservoir of the cooler plate. The cone angle θ of the nozzles decreases in the direction from the peripheral portion to the central area of the showerhead in the range from 120° to 0°. Since the conical nozzles increase the gas gap between the showerhead and the cooler plate, more favorable conditions are created for electric breakdown. In order to protect the surfaces of the conical nozzles and gas holes from deterioration by hollow cathode discharge, these surface are coated by a protective coating resistant to electrical breakdown and chemical corrosion.
US09275839B2
A plasma chamber for activating a process gas, including at least four legs forming a toroidal plasma channel, each leg having a cross-sectional area, and an outlet formed on one leg, the outlet having a greater cross-sectional area than the cross-sectional area of the other legs. The plasma chamber further includes an inlet for receiving the process gas and a plenum for introducing the process gas over a broad area of the leg opposing the outlet to reduce localized high plasma impedance and gas flow instability, wherein the leg opposing the outlet defines a plurality of holes for providing a helical gas rotation in the plasma channel.
US09275834B1
A method of removing titanium nitride is described. The silicon nitride resides on a patterned substrate. The titanium nitride is removed with a gas-phase etch using plasma effluents formed in a remote plasma from a fluorine-containing precursor, a nitrogen-and-hydrogen-containing precursor and an oxygen-containing precursor. Plasma effluents within the remote plasma are flowed into a substrate processing region where the plasma effluents react with the titanium nitride.
US09275828B2
A single column charged particle source with user selectable configurations operates in ion-mode for FIB operations or electron mode for SEM operations. Equipped with an x-ray detector, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis is possible. A user can selectively configure the source to prepare a sample in the ion-mode or FIB mode then essentially flip a switch selecting electron-mode or SEM mode and analyze the sample using EDS or other types of analysis.
US09275827B2
A charged particle beam apparatus includes: a charged particle beam column; a detector configured to detect secondary charged particles; an image processor; a display device; a needle arranged in an irradiation area of charged particle beam; a needle actuator; a user interface; and a controller configured to control the needle actuator to actuate the needle in accordance with a target position that is set by the user interface. The controller controls the needle actuator to move the needle to track a change of the target position that is set by the user interface.
US09275826B2
Electron microscope support structures and methods of making and using same. The support structures are generally constructed using semiconductor materials and semiconductor manufacturing processes. The temperature of the support structure may be controlled and/or gases or liquids may be confined in the observation region for reactions and/or imaging.
US09275825B2
A novel specimen holder for insertion in electron microscopes, wherein the novel specimen holder is designed to minimize electrical noise so that signal integrity can be maintained during in situ electron microscopy.
US09275818B1
A vacuum tube optimization circuit can automatically ensuring that the preheating required for the thermionic effect to occur within the vacuum tubes within a vacuum tube device, has been sufficient to allow the vacuum tubes to reach their operating temperatures, before allowing signal voltage or current to be applied to their anodes, cathodes, and/or other thermionically-active components. This reduces the diffusion of component-specific surface material coatings onto the surfaces of other internal elements within the vacuum tube, functioning to extend the service life of the vacuum tubes.
US09275817B2
An objective lens for use in probe-forming particle-optical columns such as focused ion beam equipment, scanning electron microscopes, and helium microscopes is described. It comprises two interleaved (quadrupole/octopole) lenses and two or three ancillary octopole lenses, and is capable of simultaneous compensation of spherical (Cs) and chromatic (Cc) aberrations of the objective lens alone or of the complete particle-optical column. Additional apparatus comprising a gridded aperture and position-sensitive detector is specified, together with a method to measure and minimize all of the five independent third-order aberration coefficients of the objective lens.
US09275807B2
An interlock system for a circuit-interrupting device. The circuit-interrupting device includes a gearbox, a load-breaker in series with a visible disconnect, and an assembly driving the visible disconnect between an open state and a closed state. The interlock system includes a cam and a bias-driven follower. The cam is coupled to a shaft and is driven by the shaft between a first cam state when the load-breaker is in an open state and a second cam state when the load-breaker is in a closed state. The bias-driven follower has a first follower state when the cam is in the first cam state and has a second follower state when the cam is in the second cam state. In the second follower state, the bias-driven follower blocks movement of at least one component of the assembly. The cam and the bias-driver follower are positioned inside the gearbox.
US09275806B2
A lever member is for a trip assembly of an electrical switching apparatus. The electrical switching apparatus includes a housing, a signaling mechanism, separable contacts, and an operating mechanism structured to open and close the separable contacts. The trip assembly includes a mounting assembly disposed on the housing and a drive assembly. The drive assembly includes an actuator coupled to the mounting assembly and a plunger disposed on the mounting assembly and being cooperable with the operating mechanism. The lever member includes: a pivot portion structured to engage the mounting assembly; a first arm portion structured to engage the plunger; and a second arm portion disposed between the pivot portion and the first arm portion, the second arm portion being structured to engage the actuator.
US09275803B2
An electric storage apparatus has a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator. Each of the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate has a collector plate and an active material layer containing an electrolytic solution, and the active material layer is formed in a predetermined width on a partial region of a collector plate. The separator is placed between the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate and contains an electrolytic solution. At least one of the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate, an edge of the active material layer in a width direction has a waveform. A set value Wn of the width of the active material layer and a variation ΔW of the width of the active material layer satisfy a condition of 0.03≦ΔW/Wn≦0.056.
US09275802B2
A method of forming an electrolyte solution involves combining ammonium tetrafluoroborate and a quaternary ammonium halide in a liquid solvent to form a quaternary ammonium tetrafluoroborate and an ammonium halide. The ammonium halide precipitate is removed from the solvent to form an electrolyte solution. The reactants can be added step-wise to the solvent, and the method can include using a stoichiometric excess of the ammonium tetrafluoroborate to form a substantially halide ion-free electrolyte solution.
US09275801B2
This disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for enhanced dielectric properties for electrolytic capacitors to store energy in an implantable medical device. One aspect of the present subject matter includes a method for manufacturing a capacitor adapted to be disposed in an implantable device housing. An embodiment of the method includes providing a dielectric comprising aluminum oxide and doping the aluminum oxide with an oxide having a dielectric constant greater than aluminum oxide. Doping the aluminum oxide includes using sol-gel based chemistry, electrodeposition or atomic layer deposition (ALD) in various embodiments.
US09275789B2
A method for controlling a contactless power supplying device that excites a primary coil and supplies power using an electromagnetic induction effect to a secondary coil of a power receiving device arranged in an electric appliance is provided. A full-bridge circuit is full-bridge-operated to excite the primary coil when the electric appliance is on a setting surface. The full-bridge circuit is half-bridge-operated to excite the primary coil when the electric appliance is not on the setting surface.
US09275787B2
Magnetic components including pre-formed clips are described that are more amenable to production on a miniaturized scale. Discrete core pieces can be assembled with pre-formed coils and physically gapped from one another with more efficient manufacturing techniques.
US09275777B2
A method for processing a metal film (1) embedded in a carrier (2) includes the step of heating the metal film (1) in such a way that the metal film (1) is transformed in a subregion into at least one insulator section (3). The metal film (1) is preferably locally heated by laser radiation (4). Also described is a component (10, 11, 12, 13) which is produced by the method and includes an electrostatic clamp, a drive mechanism which is adapted for moving a workpiece under the action of electrical fields, a resistor element or a display device, for example.
US09275776B1
Cables incorporating discontinuous shielding elements are described. A cable may include at least one twisted pair of individually insulated conductors, and a shield element may be positioned adjacent to the at least one twisted pair. The shield element may include a plurality of segments positioned along a longitudinal direction of the cable. Each segment may include a respective dielectric substrate with electrically conductive material formed on the substrate, and each segment may be electrically isolated from the other segments. A respective overlap may be formed between adjacent segments along a shared longitudinal edge. Additionally, a jacket may be formed around the at least one twisted pair and the shield element.
US09275775B2
An electrical insulation system includes a first insulation layer having a first polymer and a first filler in the form of nanoparticles, and a second insulation layer including a second polymer and a second filler in the form of either chromium oxide, Cr2O3, iron oxide, Fe2O3, or a mixture of chromium oxide and iron oxide. At least one of the insulation layers is in the form of a solid and flat sheet. An insulation system combining the first insulation layer with well dispersed nanoparticles and the second insulation layer filled with Cr2O3particles and/or Fe2O3 particles.
US09275774B2
A busbar for use in a busbar assembly, the busbar having an elongate body portion structured to be generally disposed about, an in contact with an elongate inner component, the body portion being formed from a conductive material.
US09275773B2
The present invention relates to a dispersion comprising metallic, metal oxide or metal precursor nanoparticles and a polymeric dispersant, the dispersant comprising an anchor group with affinity for the metallic, metal oxide or metal precursor nanoparticles that is chemically bonded to a polymeric backbone characterized in that the dispersant has a 95 wt. % decomposition at a temperature below 300° C. as measured by Thermal Gravimetric Analysis. It further relates to metallic fluids or inks prepared from the dispersion and to the preparation of the dispersion and the metallic fluid or inks.
US09275761B2
An integral pressurized water reactor that combines all of the components typically associated with a nuclear steam supply system, such as the steam generator, reactor coolant pumps, pressurizer and the reactor, into a single reactor pressure vessel. The reactor pressure vessel is itself enclosed in a containment pressure vessel that also houses a number of safety systems, such as the core make-up tanks, the primary side of residual heat removal heat exchangers, an automatic depressurization system and a recirculation system that enables continuous core cooling through natural circulation over an extended period of time. Actuation of the passive systems is done by single actuation of valves, powered from redundant batteries.
US09275757B2
The system and methods allow for emulation of random hardware failure of an internal embedded memory array of an integrated circuit (IC) device. Emulation of potential defects is performed in order to evaluate the behavior of the rest of the design. This non-intrusive emulation is performed in a pseudo-functional mode in order to evaluate the behavior of one or more memory cores in their standard functional mode. The solution enables the creation of failures and tracking both the detection of the failures and the time required time for detection. Specifically, the emulation of an internal memory array with respect of random failures and the associated diagnostic mechanism ensures that detection and correction mechanisms work as expected. A typical non-limiting use case is to ensure that safety control logic of an IC behaves as expected in cases of data corruption within an embedded memory core.
US09275756B2
The method of generating an address scramble includes receiving address information for each of a plurality of memory cells included in a semiconductor memory device and the address information that includes a logical address and a physical address corresponding to each of the memory cells; generating an address scramble logical expression, the address scramble logical expression relating logical addresses to physical addresses based on the address information; and reducing the address scramble logical expression using a given algorithm.
US09275754B2
Disclosed are a shift register capable of reducing power consumption, a data driver having the same, and a liquid crystal display device. The shift register includes a storing cell array including storage cells which store a plurality of serial data, and a control array for outputting sampling signals, which are sequentially shifted every period of data transmission such that the storage cells sequentially store the data, in response to at least one clock signal having a frequency lower than a transmission frequency of the data.
US09275752B2
A configuration for a bit-1 read-only memory (ROM) cell is provided. The bit-1 ROM cell comprises a first circuit connected to a second circuit. The first circuit comprises a first transistor and the second circuit comprises a second transistor. The second circuit is configured to receive a YMUX signal. The second circuit is connected to a word-line bar. The second circuit is configured to maintain a disconnection or connection between the first transistor and the word-line bar based upon the YMUX signal. The first circuit is located on a different physical layer than the second circuit.
US09275741B1
Systems and methods are disclosed for programming data in a non-volatile memory array are disclosed. A data storage device includes a non-volatile memory array including a plurality of non-volatile memory cells and a controller configured to receive a signal indicating a temperature of at least a portion of the data storage device. The controller determines a first offset program verify level associated with a first programming level based at least in part on the temperature and programs a first set of the memory cells of the non-volatile memory array using the first offset program verify level.
US09275735B2
An array organization and architecture for a content addressable memory (CAM) system. More specifically, a circuit is provided for that includes a first portion of the CAM configured to perform a first inequality operation implemented between 1 to n CAM entries. The circuit further includes a second portion of the CAM configured to perform a second inequality operation implemented between the 1 to n CAM entries. The first portion and the second portion are triangularly arranged side by side such that the first inequality operation and the second inequality operation are implemented between the 1 to n CAM entries using the same n wordlines.
US09275732B2
A circuit includes a current generator and a voltage generator. The current generator is configured to generate a predetermined current flowing toward a selected cell in a memory array via a node during a write operation. The voltage generator is configured to generate a predetermined voltage. The voltage level at the node is clamped at a predetermined value associated with the predetermined voltage as the selected cell is switched between a low resistance state and a high resistance state during the write operation.
US09275724B2
A method comprises selecting a memory cell included in a memory cell array in which data is to be stored. The memory cell array is connected with a logic gate array. The memory cells of the memory cell array are individually coupled with a corresponding logic gate of the logic gate array by a separate word line output. The method also comprises communicating a write row output signal to the logic gate array. The write row output signal is communicated from a write address row decoder to the logic gate array. The write address row decoder has a plurality of write row outputs coupled with the logic gate array. The method further comprises communicating a write column output signal to the logic gate array. The write column output signal is communicated from a write address column decoder to the logic gate array.
US09275723B2
A floating body SRAM cell that is readily scalable for selection by a memory compiler for making memory arrays is provided. A method of selecting a floating body SRAM cell by a memory compiler for use in array design is provided.
US09275716B2
A memory includes a first cell array configured to include a plurality of first memory cells connected to a plurality of word lines, a second cell array configured to include a plurality of second memory cells connected to the plurality of word lines, wherein a group of the plurality of second memory cells which are connected to a corresponding word line stores the number of activations for the corresponding word line, and an activation number update unit configured to update a value stored in the corresponding group of the plurality of second memory cells connected to the activated word line of the plurality of word lines.
US09275713B2
A planar STT-MRAM comprises apparatus, a method of operating and a method of manufacturing a spin-torque magnetoresistive memory and a plurality of magnetoresistive memory element having a ferromagnetic recording layer forming a flux closure with a self-aligned ferromagnetic soft adjacent layer which has an electric field enhanced perpendicular anisotropy through an interface interaction with a dielectric functional layer. The energy switch barrier of the soft adjacent layer is reduced under an electric field along a perpendicular direction with a proper voltage on a digital line from a control circuitry; accordingly, the in-plane magnetization of the recording layer is readily reversible in a low spin-transfer switching current.
US09275711B2
A command processing circuit of a memory device includes a clock divider, a clock controller and a command decoder. The clock divider generates a plurality of divided clock signals based on an external clock signal having a first frequency. The divided clock signals have a second frequency lower than the first frequency. Each of the divided clock signals has a phase that is different from phases of the other divided clock signals. The clock controller generates an operating clock signal based on a command signal and the divided clock signals, where the command signal is transferred in synchronization with the external clock signal. The operating clock signal has the second frequency and a phase corresponding to reception timing of the command signal. The command decoder decodes the command signal in synchronization with the operating clock signal.
US09275709B2
This invention makes is possible to protect programs and shorten the activation time of an electronic apparatus even if a non-volatile memory such as an MRAM stores the programs including a boot program, and is used as a main memory. Upon power-on or receiving a reset signal, a program stored in bank 102 of the non-volatile memory is transferred to another bank. Upon completion of the transfer operation, to disable access from the outside of the non-volatile memory to the bank 102 to protect the bank 102, the bank is set in a disconnection state in the non-volatile memory. A signal indicating completion of the program transfer operation is output to the outside, and a reset-release signal to a processor is generated using the signal as a trigger.
US09275693B1
The semiconductor memory device may include a power control signal generator and a sense amplifier circuit. The power control signal generator may generate a first power control signal in response to a detection signal generated from detecting a level of a power supply voltage signal. The sense amplifier circuit may generate a first power signal driven to have a first drive voltage in response to the first power control signal. The sense amplifier circuit may sense and amplify a level of a bit line using the first power signal as a power supply voltage.
US09275690B2
A method includes forming a power control circuit through coupling a gate switch array between a buffer stage at an input of the power control circuit and an amplifier array including N amplifier stages in parallel to each other, with N>1. The method also includes coupling each of the N amplifier stages to a corresponding gate switch of the gate switch array, and controlling an output power of the power control circuit by switching one or more appropriate gate switches of the gate switch array to apply an input signal from the buffer stage to a corresponding one or more amplifier stages coupled to the one or more appropriate gate switches such that a maximum output power is achieved when all of the N amplifier stages are turned on and a minimum output power is achieved when only one amplifier stage is turned on.
US09275687B2
A semiconductor chip includes a core region having a plurality of first memory cells and a first edge adjacent to a first side of the core region. The first edge includes a first region and a second region. The first region includes a plurality of second memory cells, and the second region includes a first pad portion through which at least one of an address signal, a command signal, a clock signal, a data signal and a control signal is inputted or outputted.
US09275685B2
A computer-implemented method, including detecting an event associated with an image displayed on a display device within a software application, loading a media player into the software application behind the image, where the media player is configured to play a media file associated with the image, and causing a representation of a frame of the media file to be displayed within the media player instead of the image.
US09275683B1
Disclosed are systems and methods for identifying a scene-change/non-scene-change transition between frames. One embodiment takes the form of a method including receiving a first frame of video; defining a first region of the first frame, wherein the first region is associated with a first plurality of pixels of the first frame; receiving a second frame of video; defining a second region of the second frame, wherein the second region is associated with a second plurality of pixels of the second frame; using (i) a first plurality of luma values associated with the first plurality of pixels and (ii) a second plurality of luma values associated with the second plurality of pixels, as a basis to identify the pair of the first and second frames as having a particular scene-change/non-scene-change attribute; and storing in a memory an indication that the pair of the first and second frames has the identified attribute.
US09275680B2
Described is a user interface that displays a representation of a stereo scene, and includes interactive mechanisms for changing parameter values that determine the perceived appearance of that scene. The scene is modeled as if viewed from above, including a representation of a viewer's eyes, a representation of a viewing screen, and an indication simulating what each of the viewer eyes perceives on the viewing screen. Variable parameters may include a vergence parameter, a dolly parameter, a field-of-view parameter, an interocular parameter and a proscenium arch parameter.
US09275678B2
A system according to one embodiment includes a tape cartridge, the tape cartridge comprising: a housing; a magnetic recording tape in the housing; and a non-tape nonvolatile memory coupled to the housing, the nonvolatile memory being for storing therein an index comprising file system information for a plurality of files stored on the magnetic recording tape. A method for storing data on a tape cartridge according to one embodiment includes writing a plurality of files to a magnetic recording tape of a tape cartridge; and writing an index to a non-tape nonvolatile memory of the tape cartridge, the index including information about locations of data of the plurality of files on the magnetic recording tape.
US09275669B1
The present disclosure generally relates to a PMR media for use in a HDD. The PMR media has an amorphous ferri-magnetic material layer disposed within the capping structure. The amorphous ferri-magnetic material layer reduces the noise. The amorphous ferri-magnetic material layer may be disposed between capping layer or on top of the capping layers. Additionally, the amorphous ferri-magnetic material layer may contain Tb.
US09275665B2
In one embodiment, a slider includes a substrate, a magnetic head, and a coupling capacitor. In one embodiment, a slider includes a substrate, a magnetic head, and a coupling capacitor configured to AC couple an electronics ground of the slider to the substrate and DC decouple the electronics ground of the slider from the substrate, the coupling capacitor including: a first conductive layer, a gap layer positioned above the first conductive layer, a dielectric layer positioned above the gap layer and the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer positioned above the dielectric layer. In another embodiment, a method for forming a capacitor includes forming a substrate, forming a first conductive layer above the substrate, forming a gap layer above the first conductive layer, forming a dielectric layer above the gap layer and the first conductive layer, and forming a second conductive layer above the dielectric layer.
US09275663B2
Technologies are described herein for utilizing a head heater to test temperature stability of a head of a storage device and to prevent the head from operating in an unstable temperature condition. A temperature condition of a read/write head in a storage device is ascertained and it is determined whether the temperature condition is within a predetermined range of temperature conditions in which the read/write head exhibits instability. If the temperature condition of the read/write head is within the predetermined range, a power level of a head heater of the read/write head is adjusted to change the temperature condition of the read/write head to be outside of the predetermined range.
US09275653B2
Systems and methods for providing voice-to-text haptic augmentation in a user interface are disclosed. For example, in one embodiment, a system for converting audible speech information to a haptic effect includes a microphone and a processor in communication with the microphone, the processor configured to receive an audio signal associated with a voice from the microphone, determine a characteristic of the audio signal, and generate an actuator signal based at least in part on the characteristic, the actuator signal configured to cause an actuator to output a haptic effect.
US09275652B2
A signal manipulator for manipulating an audio signal having a transient event may have a transient remover, a signal processor and a signal inserter for inserting a time portion in a processed audio signal at a signal location where the transient event was removed before processing by the transient remover, so that a manipulated audio signal has a transient event not influenced by the processing, whereby the vertical coherence of the transient event is maintained instead of any processing performed in the signal processor, which would destroy the vertical coherence of a transient.
US09275641B1
Provided are systems and methods for creating custom dialog system engines. The system comprises a dialog system interface installed on a first server or a user device and a platform deployed on a second server. The platform is configured to receive dialog system entities and intents associated with a developer profile and associate the dialog system entities with the dialog system intents to form a custom dialog system engine associated with the dialog system interface. The web platform receives a user request from the dialog system interface, activates the custom dialog system engine based on identification, and retrieves the dialog system entities and intents. The user request is processed by applying the dialog system entities and intents to generate a response to the user request. The response is sent to the dialog system interface.
US09275639B2
A client-server architecture for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) applications, includes: (a) a client-side including: a client being part of distributed front end for converting acoustic waves to feature vectors; VAD for separating between speech and non-speech acoustic signals; adaptor for WebSockets; and (b) a server side including: a web layer utilizing HTTP protocols and including a Web Server having a Servlet Container; an intermediate layer for transport based on Message-Oriented Middleware being a message broker; a recognition server and an adaptation server both connected to said intermediate layer; a Speech processing server; a Recognition Server for instantiation of a recognition channel per client; an Adaptation Server for adaptation acoustic and linguistic models for each speaker; a Bidirectional communication channel between a Speech processing server and client side; and a Persistent layer for storing a Language Knowledge Base connected to said Speech processing server.
US09275636B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for estimating the accuracy of a transcription of a voice recording. Specifically, in a typical embodiment, each word of a transcription of a voice recording is checked against a customer-specific dictionary and/or a common language dictionary. The number of words not found in either dictionary is determined. An accuracy number for the transcription is calculated from the number of said words not found and the total number of words in the transcription.
US09275634B2
An email system for mobile devices, such as cellular phones and PDAs, is disclosed which allows email messages to be played back on the mobile device as voice messages on demand by way of a media player, thus eliminating the need for a unified messaging system. Email messages are received by the mobile device in a known manner. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the email messages are identified by the mobile device as they are received. After the message is identified, the mobile device sends the email message in text format to a server for conversion to speech or voice format. After the message is converted to speech format, the server sends the messages back to the user's mobile device and notifies the user of the email message and then plays the message back to the user through a media player upon demand.
US09275632B1
A method, apparatus and non-transitory computer readable storage medium, in one embodiment, interpreting at least one input from a user via a wireless device, receiving at least one user account with the at least one input, deriving at least one representation of user intent, identifying at least one task based on the at least one representation of user intent, contacting at least one service to perform the identified at least one task and synthesizing speech to communicate a result of the contact to the wireless device.
US09275631B2
Waveform concatenation speech synthesis with high sound quality. Prosody with both high accuracy and high sound quality is achieved by performing a two-path search including a speech segment search and a prosody modification value search. An accurate accent is secured by evaluating the consistency of the prosody by using a statistical model of prosody variations (the slope of fundamental frequency) for both of two paths of the speech segment selection and the modification value search. In the prosody modification value search, a prosody modification value sequence that minimizes a modified prosody cost is searched for. This allows a search for a modification value sequence that can increase the likelihood of absolute values or variations of the prosody to the statistical model as high as possible with minimum modification values.
US09275629B2
A method and system for maximizing radiated power from a linear array of acoustic projectors. In one case, the method realizes omni-directional acoustic beam patterns from a linear array of acoustic projectors contained within an acoustically-impervious enclosure with an acoustically transparent aperture. In another case, the method realizes an efficient set of beams for a conventional horizontal projector array or a similar acoustic projector array, which may be within an acoustically transparent enclosure. Drive signals are determined by finding a mutual impedance matrix that characterizes the interdependence of the acoustic projectors and solving an eigenvalue problem for the mutual impedance matrix. One of the eigenvalues is selected on the basis that it maximizes radiated power, and the corresponding eigenvectors are used to derive the corresponding drive signals.
US09275613B2
Systems, kits and methods are provided for mounting multiple tuning machines to a stringed musical instrument without requiring permanent alteration of the instrument. An exemplary mounting element includes a multiplicity of post apertures. Each post aperture is configured to receive a string post of a respective tuning machine, which is then axially secured within respective head stock holes of the instrument. The mounting element includes one or more alignment detents associated with the post apertures. The axial securement generally does not require penetration of the instrument independent of the head stock holes. When the string posts are received by their post apertures and are axially secured to the head stock of the instrument, the alignment detents restrict rotation of the tuner gear housing with respect to the instrument. The axial securement is preferably via threaded engagement between a threaded hub of the tuning machine and a respective barrel nut.
US09275610B2
The present invention discloses an object tracking apparatus including a reference object, an optical sensor and a controller. The reference object has a plurality of light emitting devices, for generating an optical signal. The optical sensor is for detecting the optical signal and generating an identification signal in response to the optical signal. The controller is for generating a control signal according to the identification signal and outputting the control signal to the reference object, thereby adaptively adjusting a light emitting number or light emitting intensity of the plurality of light emitting devices. The present invention discloses a method for controlling an object tracking apparatus.
US09275606B2
A display device, a driving control device of the display device, and a driving control method are disclosed. In one aspect, the display device comprises a display unit consisting of a plurality of pixels including a light emitting element emitting light according to a driving current corresponding to a data signal; a scan driver transmitting a scan signal through a plurality of scan lines; a data driver transmitting a data signal through a plurality of data lines; a power supply unit supplying a driving voltage to drive a plurality of pixels through a power source wire; and a driving controller connected to the power source wire, obtaining an actual output voltage value of the driving voltage output from the power source voltage supply unit, and compensating a deviation of the driving voltage in a process step by using the actual output voltage value.
US09275603B2
Described herein are technologies related to playing moving-images content and more particularly to playing such content on a display possessing a display refresh rate which is typically greater than the inherent frame rate (e.g., a cinematic frame rate) of the content. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US09275602B2
A display device including a display panel including gate and data line that cross each other; a first control signal generation unit generating a source output enable signal and a first gate output enable signal in synchronization with a data enable signal modulated according to a spread frequency clock signal; a second control signal generation unit counting a number of clocks of a fixed-frequency clock signal based on a point of time at which a logic high state of the source output enable signal ends, and outputting a second gate output enable signal when the number of the counted clocks becomes equal to a reference value; and a gate driving unit controlling outputting of a gate signal to the gate lines using the second gate output enable signal.
US09275600B2
The present invention discloses a source electrode driving module for providing a data signal to an LCD unit, comprising: a Gamma correction chip and a source electrode driving chip, wherein, the Gamma correction chip comprises a P-GAMMA driving chip with three to eight output channels; the P-GAMMA driving chip is used for generating multiple control voltages providing to the source electrode driving chip; the source electrode driving chip comprises a first resistor string and a second resistor string; the multiple control voltages generated by the P-GAMMA driving chip connect into the first resistor string and the second resistor string according to turning points of a Gamma curve of the LCD unit, wherein, n is an integer, and 6≦n≦10. The present also disclose an LCD panel including the source electrode driving module described above.
US09275599B2
A display apparatus is provided which includes a display panel; a gate driver configured to drive a plurality of gate lines, a data driver configured to drive a plurality of data lines, a level shifter configured to generate a gate on voltage corresponding to an atmospheric temperature and to generate a gate clock signal, the gate on voltage becoming higher depending on a decrease in an atmospheric temperature, and a timing controller configured to control the gate driver and the data driver and to generate agate pulse signal having a pulse width corresponding to a voltage level of the gate on voltage.
US09275595B2
A source driving circuit includes an output buffer circuit to compensate for slew rate of signals used to drive a display device. The output buffer circuit includes a bias current control signal generating circuit and a channel amplifying circuit. The bias current control signal generating circuit performs an exclusive OR operation on an input signal and an output signal of a reference operational amplifier to generate a bias current control signal. The channel amplifying circuit adjusts the slew rate of a plurality of output voltage signals in response to the bias current control signal. The output signals are then used to control the display device.
US09275587B2
A liquid crystal panel LCP includes a first side and a second side which are adjacent to each other. This liquid crystal panel LCP includes: data signal lines Sa and Sb formed so as to extend in a direction parallel to the second side, and also so as to array in a direction perpendicular to the second side; a plurality of vertical-side source terminals f formed along the second side to which edge portions of the plurality of data signal lines Sa and Sb formed in a position on a closer side to the second side of the data signal lines Sa and Sb are each connected; and a plurality of horizontal-side source terminals F formed along the first side to which edge portions of the plurality of data signal lines Sa and Sb formed in a position on a farther side from the second side are each connected. Thus, higher definition can be handled.
US09275582B2
A scan driver includes scan-driving blocks, each including a first transistor having a gate coupled to a first node to supply a first power to an output terminal, a second transistor having a gate coupled to a second node to couple a second clock to the output terminal, a third transistor having a gate coupled to a first input to supply the first power to the first node, a fourth transistor having a gate coupled to a second input to supply a second power to the first node, and a fifth transistor having a gate coupled to a first clock to couple the first input to the second node. A first scan-driving block further includes a sixth transistor coupled between the second input and the fourth transistor gate, and a NOT gate configured to invert the first input signal and to supply the inverted signal to the sixth transistor gate.
US09275579B2
A system and method for extracting a parasitic capacitance value from a pixel circuit including a light emitting device, a drive device to provide a programmable drive current to the light emitting device, a programming input, and a storage device to store a programming signal. The system and method determine the biasing voltage of an internal node of the pixel circuit during a driving cycle for a desired measurement level, and modify voltages of the pixel circuit that do not affect said biasing voltage to eliminate unwanted cross talk. In different implementations, the biasing voltage is determined by measuring the voltage at an internal node, or by calculating the voltage at the internal node.
US09275569B2
A threshold voltage sensing circuit applied in a display panel includes a first sensor and a second sensor. The first sensor positioned in the display panel receives an operation signal at a regular time point after start-up and continuously receives multiple driving signals which are the same as those received by the pixel circuits of the display panel and outputs a first output voltage accordingly. The second sensor positioned in the display panel receives the driving signals at a regular time point after start-up and outputs a second output voltage accordingly. When the voltage difference between the first output voltage and the second output voltage is beyond a variation standard, the low level of the gate voltage of the pixel circuit is adjusted.
US09275565B2
A jersey hanger assembly is described. The jersey hanger assembly allows homes, businesses, schools, or other buildings to display an athletic jersey as a symbol of team pride or of support for an athletic team or an individual player on the team. The jersey hanger assembly includes a bracket member. The bracket member includes a receiving member. The jersey hanger assembly includes a pole with first and second opposing ends. The second pole end is insertable into the receiving member. The pole has a curved shape between the first and second opposing ends.A jersey flag for hanging on the jersey hanger is described. The jersey flag is material of a fabric cut or shaped to resemble an athletic jersey. The material includes a team logo or insignia. A sleeve or an open seam in positioned in the upper portion of the jersey flag to receive the pole.
US09275556B1
For use in training needle techniques such as spinal anesthesia and or lumbar epidural steroid injections, a spinal model includes a complete natural bone vertebral column that is embedded in a matrix of crystal clear ballistic gel. The synthetic gel does not harbor bacteria, can be reused and does not require refrigeration. Natural bone offers significantly better image contrast over radiopaque replicas. A transparent synthetic gel matrix permits observation of needle progression by both the trainee and the trainer and provides unique opportunities for coaching and intercession to prevent poor needle placement prior to its occurrence.
US09275554B2
A device, system, and method for enhanced memorization of a document. A document may be initially uploaded into a computer system and the textual information of the document may be converted into a test template for memorization and/or testing. Portions of the test template may be converted into various test items, and the test items, in combination with the contents of the scanned document, may be displayed by the computer system for a user to answer in order to enhance his or her memorization of the document. The test questions may comprise: fill-in-the-blank questions, multiple choice questions, true or false questions, Scrabble®-like questions, and/or a combination thereof.
US09275547B2
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a computer implemented method, computer program product, and system for management of parking spaces in a parking area. Identifying an individual entering a parking area and a vehicle in the parking area that corresponds to the identified individual. Determining a distance between the identified individual and the identified vehicle in the parking area. Determining whether the identified individual is moving toward the identified vehicle. Responsive to determining that the identified individual is moving toward the identified vehicle, determining whether the determined distance is less than an associated distance threshold condition. In another embodiment, detecting a parking ticket entering the parking area and identifying an individual and a vehicle in the parking area that correspond to the detected parking ticket.
US09275531B2
Systems (100) and methods (600-900) for adaptively controlling a transmitter field in an EAS detection system. The methods comprise: detecting the presence of a first person located in proximity to a first pedestal of the EAS detection system using a first proximity sensor disposed on the first pedestal; determining a first distance value representing a distance from the first pedestal to the first person whose presence was previously detected using distance information obtained from the first proximity sensor; using the first distance value to select a criteria for use in determining whether the alarm issuance should be inhibited; and adaptively controlling the alarm issuance if the criteria which was previously selected is met based at least on a first amplitude of a security tag signal received at the first pedestal.
US09275529B1
Systems (100) and methods (600) for making a marker. The methods comprise: obtaining a resonator material which has been annealed under a tensile force selected to provide a maximum resonant amplitude at a bias field Hmax in the marker; and providing with the bias material of the marker an operating bias field Hoperating with a value less than a value of said bias field Hmax. The value of Hoperating is reduced by performing at least one of the following operations: selectively modifying a geometry of a bias material which is to be disposed in a housing of the marker; selectively modifying a spacing between the resonator material and the bias material arranged in a stacked configuration; and partially de-gaussing the bias material subsequent to being fully saturated.
US09275520B2
A gaming system and method enables a player to assign at least one amplifier to at least one accumulator. In one embodiment, the amplifier causes an increase in the rate of advancement for the accumulator. In one embodiment, the gaming system provides the player any awards associated with the level of one or more of the accumulators.
US09275519B2
A gaming system comprises a first gaming device displaying a first primary wagering game in response to receipt of a first wager from a first player and a second gaming device displaying a second primary wagering game in response to receipt of a second wager from a second player. The system further comprises a community display having a plurality of display regions thereon, and at least one controller operative to (i) detect activation of a first supplemental feature by the first player, (ii) detect activation of a second supplemental feature by the second player, (iii) determine in which of the plurality of display regions to display the first and second supplemental features in accordance with at least a first rule set, and (iv) display the first and second supplemental features on the community display.
US09275518B2
A wagering game developer can provide an online wagering game community, and receive continuous and current feedback about wagering games. The wagering game developer can use the online wagering game community to gauge popularity of wagering games, demonstrate wagering games, test wagering games, estimate wagering game life cycles, etc. Moreover, the wagering game developer can use the creativity of community members to modify and, perhaps, develop wagering games. The wagering game developer can decompose different aspects of a wagering game into executable code units that are platform independent, re-usable, and/or configurable (“wagering game widgets”). Users combine wagering game widgets, whether derived from a wagering game or user generated, to create a wagering game for playing in the online wagering game community. Wagering game developers can reward users who create the most popular wagering games, and develop proper versions of these user-created wagering games for deployment in wagering game establishments.
US09275513B2
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to communication methods in gaming networks using portable devices. In some networks portable devices communicate information about the status of particular gaming machines on the gaming network. In other networks portable devices are used as a secondary display for the gaming device. In yet other networks bonus games may be played on the portable devices. Further embodiments include a portable device that operates to match a current state of a game to a pre-defined state or states.
US09275502B2
A driving information restoration system of a vehicle includes: a cluster configured to be operated in a receiving standby mode or transmit driving information stored therein to a diagnosis system depending on a comparison result of the driving information stored therein and driving information stored in controller, display hot key information received from the diagnosis system, transmit information input by a driver to the diagnosis system, and store the driving information received from the diagnosis system.
US09275501B2
A method for controlling a function of a motor vehicle (18) employs a use module (4) at a storage location (6, 8) for a device outside the motor vehicle (18). The use module (4) and the storage location (6, 8) have recognition interfaces (10, 12, 14). The motor vehicle (18) has a first communication module (22), and a second communication module (16) is provided for the use module (4) and for the storage location (6, 8). The recognition interfaces make contact when the use module (4) is at the storage location (6, 8). If a storage location (28, 32) change is registered for the use module (4), a message with an instruction to perform the function of the motor vehicle (18) is transferred from the second communication module (16) for the use module (4) and the storage location (6, 8) to the first communication module (22) of the motor vehicle.
US09275500B2
A cooling system according to an exemplary embodiment may include a heat generation device that is cooled by a coolant solution that exchanges heat with the heat generation device to maintain the heat generation device at a required temperature. More specifically, the cooling system includes a temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the coolant solution, a conductivity sensor that detects the conductivity of the coolant solution, and a controller that uses coolant solution temperature and coolant solution conductivity that are detected through the temperature sensor and the conductivity sensor to determine a condition of the coolant solution.
US09275498B2
A tessellation unit of a graphics processing unit (GPU) determines domain coordinates for vertices of a received primitive. The tessellation unit outputs the determined domain coordinates for the vertices. The tessellation unit further determines that a domain type for the received primitive is not one of tri, isoline, or quad domain, and outputs information indicative of a graphical feature associated with one or more of the determined domain coordinates when the domain type is not one of the tri, isoline, or quad domain.
US09275497B2
Surface form data as an object to which a grain is applied is inputted to a data input part. A plane polygon forming part projects a borderline of the surface form data on an x-y plane and changes the borderline to poly-lines to form a two-dimensional polygon mesh having the borderline as an outer edge. A three-dimensional polygon forming part connects together intersections of straight lines extending to a z-axis direction from apexes of the polygon mesh and the original surface form data to obtain a three-dimensional polygon mesh and further make the mesh uniform. A grain forming part obtains an amount of displacement from texture data corresponding to the apex of the three-dimensional polygon mesh through a texture model formed and deformed in a texture model deforming part to set polygon data obtained by connecting together the apexes respectively displaced in normal directions as the surface processed data.
US09275491B2
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method for generating work to be processed by a graphics pipeline residing within a graphics processor. The method includes the steps of receiving an indication that a first graphics workload is to be submitted to a command queue associated with the graphics processor, allocating a first portion of shader accessible memory for one or more units of state information that are necessary for processing the first graphics workload, populating the first portion of shader accessible memory with the one or more units of state information, and transmitting to the command queue of the graphics processor the one or more units of state information stored within the first portion of shader accessible memory, wherein the first graphics workload is processed within the graphics pipeline based on the one or more units of state information.
US09275488B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for applying a controllable and predictable muscle oscillation to a portion of a body such as a character in a predetermined and intuitive way. Positions of separate muscle locations are analyzed throughout a timeline. A third derivative with respect to time of the positions of the separate muscles is calculated to measure a change of acceleration for a particular point of interest. The change in the acceleration gives positive or negative changes in the applied forces. The direction and magnitude of the applied forces is passed onto a part of a solution that creates a procedural oscillation based on the magnitude and the direction of the applied forces in the muscle space.
US09275487B1
A method for performing non-affine deformations. The method includes receiving data representing mathematical vectors associated with elements defining an object. The elements are organized in a hierarchy, a different subset of mathematical vectors is associated with one or more elements, and the mathematical vectors within each subset are defined relative to a local coordinate space associated with each element. The method further includes determining that a first non-affine deformer is to be applied to a first set of the elements, and, for each element in the first set, applying the first non-affine deformer to world coordinate space values corresponding to the mathematical vectors within the subset of mathematical vectors associated with the element to generate modified world coordinate space values for the mathematical vectors.
US09275485B2
A method of creating an image mosaic is provided. A plurality of image files is read at a computing device. The plurality of image files contains image data defining a plurality of overlapping images. A dual adjacency mesh for an image mosaic is defined based on an arrangement of the plurality of overlapping images. The dual adjacency mesh is defined as a plurality of nodes and edges that connect a pair of the plurality of nodes. A node is defined for each image of the plurality of overlapping images, and an edge is defined when an overlap exists between a pair of images of the plurality of overlapping images. The image mosaic is presented in a display of the computing device. The image mosaic is created from the plurality of overlapping images based on the defined dual adjacency mesh.
US09275476B1
A conversation management module receives user selections of sections in a digital media item from one or more users. The conversation management module also receives one or more comments associated with the selected sections. The conversation management module displays or provides conversation windows in a first portion of an interface, where each window associated with a selected section and displays comments associated with the selected section in the corresponding conversation window. The conversation management module also provides a list of users in a second portion of the interface and a list of keywords which appear in the comments in a third portion of the interface.
US09275475B2
A method that simulates a three dimensional scene by producing reflections in a two dimensional scene. In some embodiments, the two dimensional scene includes a display area for displaying a set of images, and at least one object that is displayed near the display area. The method generates reflections of the set of images on the object and superimposes the generated reflections on the display of the object. In some embodiments, the method generates and displays the reflections in real-time as it displays the set of images in order to cause the display of the set of images to appear to be part of a 3D environment. In some embodiments, the set of images are part of a video that a device displays in real-time. The device generates reflections off one or more neighboring objects from the content displayed in each video frame.
US09275473B2
An image processing apparatus includes a display unit that displays an image of a measurement object and an image of an object which corresponds to the measurement object and has a 3-dimensional (3D) shape which is calculated in advance, a designating unit that designates a first point on the image of the measurement object and a second point on the image of the object, a calculating unit that performs a geometric calculation of a first figure, an adjusting unit that adjusts a pose or a position of at least one of the image of the measurement object and the image of the object based on a result of the geometric calculation, and a measuring unit that calculates spatial coordinates on the object corresponding to a measurement position designated after the pose or the position is adjusted, and calculates a size of the object based on the calculated spatial coordinates.
US09275467B2
Contours of objects appearing in a digital image are extracted in a plurality of one-directional passes across the digital image. Each pass loads rows or columns of the image into a local memory, in the order they appear in the image, and analyzes them for the presence of portions of the full contour. The portions are then combined to create the full contour.
US09275464B2
Embodiments are directed towards determining within a digital camera whether a pixel belongs to a foreground or background segment within a given image by evaluating a ratio of derivative and deviation metrics in an area around each pixel in the image, or ratios of derivative metrics across a plurality of images. For each pixel within the image, a block of pixels are examined to determine an aggregate relative derivative (ARD) in the block. The ARD is compared to a threshold value to determine whether the pixel is to be assigned in the foreground segment or the background segment. In one embodiment, a single image is used to determine the ARD and the pixel segmentation for that image. Multiple images may also be used to obtain ratios of a numerator of the ARD, useable to determine an extent of the foreground.
US09275447B2
A method and system for describing image region based on color histogram is provided. The method for describing an image region based on color histogram comprising: a color quantization step for quantizing said image region into a quantized color region, wherein a specific color range and colors outside the specific color range are differently treated in the quantizing; a color histogram calculation step for computing one or more color histograms according to said quantized color region; and a histogram assembling step for generating a unique vector by using said one or more color histograms.
US09275444B2
There is provided an image processing apparatus including: a prediction tap selection unit which selects a pixel which is a prediction tap used for prediction operation for acquiring a pixel value of a target pixel which is a target from a second image obtained by converting a first image, from the first image; a classification unit which classifies the target pixel to any class from a plurality of classes; a tap coefficient output unit which outputs a tap coefficient of a class of the target pixel from tap coefficients, acquired by learning to minimize an error between a result of the prediction operation using a student image corresponding to the first image and a teacher image corresponding to the second image; and an operation unit which acquires a pixel value of the target pixel by performing the prediction operation using the tap coefficient and the prediction tap.
US09275439B2
A subtraction image is generated by performing subtraction between a mask image serving as a radiation image obtained by capturing an object, at least of a specific region of which does not include contrast medium, and a live image serving as a radiation image obtained by capturing the object which includes the contrast medium. The emphasis degree serving as the degree of emphasis processing for the subtraction image is determined based on at least either the mask image or live image. The emphasis processing is performed for the subtraction image based on the emphasis degree.
US09275436B2
An editing apparatus includes at least a processor and a memory that cooperate to function as a display control unit to cause a display device to display information for editing. A specifying unit specifies a processing area of the displayed information for editing the information in accordance with a user's operation. A determining unit determines an end point based on the user's operation for specifying the processing area of the displayed information. A setting unit sets an instruction portion, on the information displayed on the display device, for providing an instruction to select a type of editing to be performed on the specified area. The instruction portion is set on a position based on the determined end point. An editing unit executes the type of editing selected via the instruction portion, in accordance with a user's operation on the specified processing area of the displayed information.
US09275428B2
Methods and systems rasterize a document to produce a bitmap having first pixels of a first color as background uniformly located across a watermark region and second pixels of a second color located in a pattern forming foreground items within the watermark region. The rasterization causes the first pixels to deposit a first marking material (forming the first color) to a first height on the print media, and the rasterization causes the second pixels to deposit a second marking material (forming the second color) to a second height (different from the first height) on the print media. In the printed document, by having the first color be different from the second color and the second height be different from the first height, this causes the relative darkness between the background and the foreground items to reverse when the printed document is viewed from different angles (relative to a light source).
US09275427B1
Implementations are provided herein relating to audiovisual matching. Audio and video channel data is merged to create a single multi-channel fingerprint used to match media content. Audio channel data is used to generate audio fingerprints. Video channel data is used to generate a video fingerprints. Multi-channel fingerprints can then be generated based on the audio channel fingerprints and video channel fingerprints. In this sense, entropy can be increased while the multi-channel fingerprint can be less resistant to noise.
US09275426B2
A method and apparatus for unifying graphics processing unit (GPU) computation languages is disclosed. The method comprises identifying a GPU of a computer system; accessing a plurality of macros representing a difference in source code between a first GPU computation language and a second GPU computation language, expanding each macro in the plurality of macros based on the identified GPU and executing a kernel on the computer system using the expanded macro.
US09275422B2
Large graph data in many application domains dynamically changes with vertices and edges inserted and deleted over time. The problem of identifying and maintaining densely connected regions in the graph thus becomes a challenge. Embodiments of the invention describe a method using a k-core measure as a metric of dense connectivity over large, partitioned graph data stored in multiple computing servers in a cluster. The method describes steps to identify a k-core subgraph in parallel and to maintain a k-core subgraph when a new edge is inserted or an existing edge is deleted. The embodiments thus enable practitioners to identify and monitor large scale graph data, such as exemplified by multiple topical communities in a social network, in a scalable and efficient manner.
US09275421B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for information retrieval. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a search input including one or more search terms; determining whether the search input includes a particular token; in response to determining that the search input includes the particular token, determining whether the one or more search terms are associated with a particular social page; in response to determining that the one or more search terms are associated with the particular social page, providing the particular social page without providing search results.
US09275420B1
The disclosure includes a system and method for changing user profile impression. The system includes a controller, a preview module, a determination module and a graphical user interface module. The controller receives an input describing a selection of a profile impression from a user. The preview module determines profile preview data based at least in part on the selection and source data describing one or more user activities. The determination module receives user review data that describes a user review input based at least in part on the profile preview data. The determination module determines profile impression data based at least in part on the profile preview data and the user review data. The graphical user interface module determines graphical data based at least in part on the profile impression data.
US09275415B2
A system includes an optical splitter that may receive an optical signal containing trading information from over an exchange network. The optical splitter may split the optical signal at a physical layer into a plurality of signals and transmit the plurality of signals toward a plurality of hosts at a customer end, which may execute transactions using the trading information.
US09275414B2
Systems and methods of providing a mass decision mode in a mobile application are provided. An object management module receives a plurality of objects to be presented to a user via a mass decision mode graphical user interface (GUI) of a client application residing on a client device. A mass decision module generates the mass decision mode GUI, the mass decision mode GUI including a description of the respective objects of the plurality of objects and a mass decision option. The mass decision option is an option to apply a deviant decision to a first portion of the one or more objects and to apply a default decision to a remainder portion of the one or more objects upon being selected. A deviant decision module assigns, upon receiving a selection of an object of the one or more objects, the deviant decision to the object.
US09275406B2
A method of vending a physical copy of a digital image includes embedding a version of the digital image and software for purchasing the physical copy of the image from an online image provider into source code for a website, such that, when the website is displayed, the version of the digital image is displayed and the software for purchasing is controlled through a user interface displaying the website.
US09275401B2
Video media subscribers attempt to circumvent embedded ads in downloads by modifying the media files to render only the content feature. A media program is defined as an integrated set of media files including the requested content feature and the accompanying promotional materials. Media files associated with a particular content feature are stored as an integrated whole, and security tokens computed on selected random portions of the collection of media files that define the media program (content feature and interspersed ads). A hash engine computes a security token on selected blocks of the media files. The security tokens and corresponding metadata are stored in a secure repository. Before rendering the content feature, the hash values are recomputed on the downloaded media program; and compared to the corresponding locations from the stored hash values and metadata.
US09275397B2
A financial transaction system includes a computer readable storage medium and a processor in communication with the computer readable storage medium. The processor is configured to receive a financial transaction request message from a payment device reader, and parse the financial transaction request message. The financial transaction request message includes a cardholder response to an offer to enroll in a loyalty program of a commercial entity. The processor is further configured to store the cardholder response in the computer readable storage medium.
US09275393B2
A computer-implemented method is disclosed herein. The method includes the step of storing, in a consumer purchase history database, identities of items purchased by a consumer. The method also includes the step of receiving, with a processing device of a recipe suggestion server, a recipe request signal from the consumer after said storing step. The method also includes the step of maintaining, in a recipe database, a plurality of recipes wherein each recipe is defined by a plurality of ingredients. The method also includes the step of comparing, with the processing device, the identities of items purchased by the consumer with the respective plurality of ingredients associated with one or more of the plurality of recipes. The method also includes the step of transmitting, with the processing device, at least one of the plurality of recipes to the consumer wherein the plurality of ingredients of the at least one of the plurality of recipes is correlated with the identities of items purchased by the consumer.
US09275392B2
Technologies are generally described for an information system configured to manage parking facility resources. The system can create and apply models and profiles regarding customers, parking space usage, access patterns, events, traffic, and other factors related to the parking facility. Parking facility operators may use the models to seek optimized revenues or profits. Increased revenue for parking facility operators may be supported by allocating resources to longer staying and better paying customers. New opportunities such as reselling, auctions, or options may further improve revenue generation for parking facilities. Customers may interface with the information system for availability queries, interactive reservation, and various other functions that may improve convenience, security, privacy, and service quality for the customers as well as for neighboring businesses and venues. Improved efficiency in parking facility resource consumption may reduce street traffic congestion. Parking security may be improved by adaptive lighting and camera operation.
US09275388B2
A method of processing a transaction comprising the steps of generating a position signal indicative of position of a touching of a touch screen having a transparent reference surface, displaying an image of the touching of the screen responsive to the position signal, and changing the image as a function of the difference between the position signal and a predetermined position value.
US09275387B1
The invention provides a wallet vault, in the form of a tangibly embodied processing machine, disposed in communication with a financial payment network, the wallet vault comprising a communication portion and a processing portion. The processing portion may perform processing including storing token information of a customer and real credentials of the customer, the token information associated with the real credentials of the customer, the real credentials constituted by an account number of the customer; inputting the token information with transaction ID information from a processing entity in the financial network, the token information with transaction ID information generated by a merchant processing a transaction for the customer; associating the token information of the customer with the real credentials of the customer; and outputting the associated real credentials with the transaction ID information to the processing entity.
US09275371B2
A system, computer program product and method of keeping track of an attachment that has been detached from an e-mail message are provided. Generally, a table on which an attachment that has been detached from an e-mail message is cross-referenced to its storage location is used. Further, a link is inserted into the e-mail message to facilitate access to the detached attachment. If the attachment is ever moved from its storage location to a new storage location, the cross-referencing table is updated to reflect the new storage location. The link is also updated to facilitate access to the attachment at the new storage location.
US09275370B2
A device executes a virtual interview application, and receives first user input, via the virtual interview application, to create multiple first media clips for a first virtual interview, with each of the first media clips including a different interview question. The device submits, from the device to a remote network device, the multiple first media clips for conducting the first virtual interview with a plurality of first interviewees.
US09275363B2
Devices, systems and methods for facilitating interactions between individuals are disclosed. The exemplary method may include providing member facility information and allowing other members to review the facility information. Members may request a meeting with another member with details of the requested meeting via the system. The request is transmitted to another member and the other member may accept, deny, or modify the request by the other member. Members may have an other members inclusive list or other members exclusive list to assist in facilitating interactions. Ratings may be used to rate other members and interaction facilities to aid in facilitating future interactions.
US09275361B2
A weight sensing system for retail shelves includes multiple shelves having an electrical communication and power distribution system, and weight sensors located on the top surfaces of the shelves and coupled to the electrical communication and power distribution system for detecting the placement of retail products on the shelves. A controller monitors real-time at-the-shelf inventory and issues alerts when a retail product becomes out-of-stock, is anticipated to become out-of-stock, or is misplaced on a shelf. Collection of real-time inventory data enables comprehensive inventory control at the shelf and in storage areas.
US09275360B2
An account opening computer system is configured to provide a flexible front end user interface, separating and decoupling the computer implemented user journey from computer implemented business process(es). The flexible front end user interface includes a plurality of portlets and a component-based object-oriented flow configuration to configure and/or navigate the flow of display screens. Various embodiments are described, including a computer implemented method of account opening using a flow configuration.
US09275351B2
A user interface for presenting travel itineraries to a user includes an itinerary region for displaying travel itineraries and a filter region. Each travel itinerary has a corresponding value for a first travel criterion and the travel itineraries are grouped into categories based on the values of the first travel criterion. The filter region includes a plurality of cells, each of which is associated with one of the categories of travel itineraries. When a user selects a cell, the itinerary region displays only travel itineraries in the category associated with the selected cell.
US09275346B2
According to some aspects, a system is provided comprising at least one computer readable storage medium storing a cache of flight information comprising a plurality of flight solutions, the cache capable of being accessed to obtain flight solutions that meet a criteria specified in one or more flight search queries, and at least one computer programmed to apply at least one machine learning model to at least some of the flight information in the flight information cache to classify at least one of the plurality of flight solutions according to an assessed fidelity of the at least one flight solution, and perform at least one action based on the classified at least one flight solution.
US09275342B2
A method and apparatus enables identification of customer characteristics and behavior, and predicts the customer's intent. Such prediction can be used to adopt various business strategies to increase the chances of conversion of customer interaction to a sale, and thereby can increase revenue, and/or enhance the customer's experience.
US09275340B2
In some example embodiments, a system and method are provided for graph pattern analysis. In example embodiments, pattern data of a primary network that includes data relating to relationships between entities are received. A secondary network based on the pattern data of the primary network is generated by using an algorithm that processes pattern characteristics extracted from the pattern data. The generated secondary network is provided for further analysis.
US09275333B2
A knowledge-based system under uncertainties and/or incompleteness, referred to as augmented knowledge base (AKB) is provided, including constructing, reasoning, analyzing and applying AKBs by creating objects in the form E→A, where A is a rule in a knowledgebase and E is a set of evidences that supports the rule A. A reasoning scheme under uncertainties and/or incompleteness is provided as augmented reasoning (AR).
US09275322B2
A wearable tag capable of wireless communications includes a first elastic layer, a second elastic layer over the first elastic layer, wherein the second elastic layer is embedded with a first conductive circuit. The wearable tag includes a dielectric layer on the second elastic layer, a third elastic layer on the dielectric layer, wherein the third elastic layer is embedded with a second conductive circuit, wherein the dielectric layer comprises via holes that contain electric connections between the semiconductor chip and the first conductive circuit. A semiconductor chip is in connection with the first conductive circuit and the second conductive circuit, wherein the semiconductor chip, the first conductive circuit, and the second conductive circuit are configured to wirelessly communicate with external devices. The wearable tag also includes a fourth elastic layer on the semiconductor chip.
US09275321B2
The disclosure provides a cross-linkable polymer composition, a core layer for an information carrying card comprising such cross-linked composition, resulting information carrying card, and methods of making the same. A crosslinkable polymer composition comprises a curable base polymer resin in a liquid or paste form, and a particulate thermoplastic filler. The base polymer resin is selected from the group consisting of urethane acrylate, silicone acrylate, epoxy acrylate, urethane, acrylate, silicone and epoxy. The particulate thermoplastic filler may be polyolefin, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a copolymer of vinyl chloride and at least another monomer, or a polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a compound or blend thereof.
US09275317B2
A color prediction system includes: database storing absorption/scattering coefficients of each primary color ink; sections for: selecting a spot color ink as a combination of primary color inks that reproduce a colorimetric value of a color sample, reading absorption and scattering coefficients of the primary color inks of a reference spot color from the database, obtaining absorption and scattering coefficients of the spot color ink of a specified formulation ratio, and calculating a spectral reflectance of the spot color ink to be reproduced; obtaining a reproduced color from the spectral reflectance; obtaining a difference from the colorimetric value of the color sample and correcting the formulation ratio to calculate a formulation ratio with an allowable difference; and calculating a Neugebauer primary color of overprinted spot color inks from the absorption and scattering coefficients of the spot color inks calculated at formulation ratios determined by the formulation ratio determination section.
US09275311B2
A system and method to detect similarities between images. The system and method allow comparisons between a query image and one or more catalog images in a manner that is resilient to scanning, scaling, rotating, cropping and other distortions of the query image. The system includes an image processing module that determines and/or calculates principle features of a catalog image and constructs a feature vector using one or more of the principle features. The system also includes a matching module that matches a query image to one or more catalog images. The system finds matches based on a distance measure of features present in the query image and features present in the catalog images.
US09275304B2
Disclosed is a feature vector classification device which includes an initial condition setting unit; a variable calculating unit configured to receive a training vector and to calculate an error and a weight according to setting of the initial condition setting unit; a loop deciding unit configured to determine whether re-calculation is required, based on a comparison result between the calculated error and an error threshold; and a hyperplane generating unit configured to generate a hyperplane when an end signal is received from the loop deciding unit.
US09275303B2
A method is provided for constructing a composite image having an authentication image formed therein. The authentication image is viewable using a decoder lens having one or more decoder lens frequencies. The method includes generating two gray-scale component images having tonal areas that are tonally balanced around at least one tonal value. At least one of the two gray-scale component images includes a representation of the authentication image. The method further includes determining a first pattern of the component image elements for the two gray-scale component images, the first pattern including a first element configuration and at least one element frequency that is equal to or a multiple of one of the decoder lens frequencies. The method includes extracting at least a portion of the content from the component image elements of the two gray-scale component images and constructing a composite image having a second pattern of composite image elements.
US09275302B1
A two-dimensional (2D) image and a three-dimensional (3D) of an environment may be captured. Upon identifying a location and/or contour of an object from the 3D image, the object from the 3D image may be mapped onto the 2D image. The object, including its location and contour, may be identified from the 2D image. Based at least partly on a comparison between the object from the 3D image and the object from the 2D image, a disparity may be calculated. The location and contour of the object may be determined when it is determined that the disparity is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold. Otherwise, the object from the 3D image may be remapped onto the 2D image.
US09275289B2
A method for removing false foreground image content in a foreground detection process performed on a video sequence includes, for each current frame, comparing a feature value of each current pixel against a feature value of a corresponding pixel in a background model. The each current pixel is classified as belonging to one of a candidate foreground image and a background based on the comparing. A first classification image representing the candidate foreground image is generated using the current pixels classified as belonging to the candidate foreground image. The each pixel in the first classification image is classified as belonging to one of a foreground image and a false foreground image using a previously trained classifier. A modified classification image is generated for representing the foreground image using the pixels classified as belonging to the foreground image while the pixels classified as belonging to the false foreground image are removed.
US09275287B2
An indication control unit 11 indicates a side-rearward image of a vehicle 1 captured by a left-rearward camera 2L and a right-rearward camera 2R mounted on the vehicle 1, after superimposing guidelines showing a guide of a distance from the vehicle 1, to a left-rearward indicator 3L and a right-rearward indicator 3R. A road shape recognizing unit 13 recognizes a shape of a road on which the vehicle is traveling. When it is recognized by the road shape recognizing unit 13 that the vehicle 1 is traveling on the road of a predetermined shape, the indication control unit 11 sets the guidelines to non-display, or sets an indicating position of the guidelines according to the shape of the road recognized by the road shape recognizing unit 13.
US09275279B2
According to an embodiment, an image processing apparatus selects as an output image a candidate character component, from which a non-character component is removed, in a gradation having the largest number of pixels when there is a significant difference between the number of character pixels in the gradation having the largest number of character pixels and the number of character pixels in a gradation having the second largest number of character pixels, and selects as an output image a candidate character component, from which the non-character component is removed, in a gradation having the smallest number of edge pixels when there is no significant difference between the number of character pixels in the gradation having the largest number of character pixels and the number of character pixels in the gradation having the second largest number of character pixels.
US09275276B2
A posture estimation device that is capable of highly precisely estimating the posture of an object comprising multiple parts. Said device (100) comprises: a posture information database (110) that for each of multiple postures, holds posture information that defines the placement of multiple parts; a fitting unit (160) that computes, for each of the parts in an image, a correlation level between the placement of the parts and the posture information; a difficulty level information table (130) that holds an estimation difficulty level that is a degree of difficulty of estimating each part position and computed on the basis of each parallel line components of each of the parts contained in the posture information; and a posture estimation unit (170) that to the correlation level, applies a weighting based on the estimation difficulty level, and on the basis of the weighted correlation level, estimates the posture of the object.
US09275271B2
A method, performed in an electronic device, for connecting to a target device is disclosed. The method includes capturing an image including a face of a target person associated with the target device and recognizing an indication of the target person. The indication of the target person may be a pointing object, a speech command, and/or any suitable input command. The face of the target person in the image is detected based on the indication and at least one facial feature of the face in the image is extracted. Based on the at least one facial feature, the electronic device is connected to the target device.
US09275260B2
An electrical connector is used to mount to a circuit board. The electrical connector comprises a housing having a spacer, a cage and a terminal block. The cage is engaged with the housing, the cage and the housing together are provided on the circuit board and the spacer is spaced apart from the circuit board, so as to together define a first slot positioned above the spacer and a receiving space positioned under the spacer and is adjacent to the circuit board. The terminal block comprises an insulative plate positioned in the receiving space and the insulative plate is parallel to and spaced apart from the spacer so as to in turn form a second slot in the receiving space.
US09275259B2
Systems and methods for verifying character(s) on a personalized document, and electronically verifying a magnetic stripe and a smartcard chip of the personalized document, are provided. A quality assurance station is located downstream of personalization stations of a document personalization system. The quality assurance station can provide automated, in-line verification and quality assurance for personalized documents. The quality assurance station integrates a vision verification sub-station, a magnetic stripe sub-station, and a smartcard sub-station.
US09275257B2
Secure communication of user inputs is achieved by isolating part of an endpoint device such that certificates and encryption keys are protected from corruption by malware. Further, the communication is passed through a trusted data relay that is configured to decrypt and/or certify the user inputs encrypted by the isolated part of the endpoint device. The trusted data relay can determine that the user inputs were encrypted or certified by the protected certificates and encryption keys, thus authenticating their origin within the endpoint device. The trusted data relay then forwards the inputs to an intended destination. In some embodiments, the isolated part of the endpoint device is configured to detect input created by auto-completion logic and/or spell checking logic.
US09275245B2
A request to obtain data items associated with an entity is received from a client device. One or more computing devices determine whether access to the data items is restricted by an access control policy and whether the client device complies with the access control policy. In response to determining that the client device complies with the access control policy, at least a portion of the data items that the access control policy permits the client device to access are identified. An integration of the at least a portion of the data items with additional data items is initiated.
US09275243B2
System, computer program product, and method embodiments for communication between a kernel operational on a storage subsystem and a key manager (KM) through a hardware management console (HMC) to provide encryption support are provided. In one embodiment, an event request is initiated by the kernel to the KM to execute an event flow. Pursuant to a communication request by the kernel to the HMC, a socket of the HMC is opened along a communication path between the KM and the kernel according to an event flow type selected by the KM for the event flow. Data including a data payload is sent by the KM to the kernel, the data payload corresponding to the selected event flow type.
US09275241B2
In a cryptographic method between a portable data carrier and a terminal device there are employed a public data-carrier key and a secret data-carrier key of the data carrier as well as a public terminal key and a secret terminal key of the terminal device. The data carrier employs as a public data-carrier key a static public key. As a secret data-carrier key the data carrier employs a secret key that is derived from a secret basic key associated with the public data-carrier key. Within the framework of the method, the terminal device checks an authentication parameter associated with the data carrier and different from the data-carrier keys.
US09275239B2
According to one aspect of an example, there is provided a transaction gateway in a first network for receiving a transaction from the first network and for sending the transaction to a transaction processor in a second network. The transaction gateway is arranged to identify restricted data in the transaction, to modify the received transaction by replacing identified restricted data with replacement data different to the identified restricted data, and to send the modified transaction to the transaction processor in the second network.
US09275236B2
A method for securing a first program with a second program, a third program and a fourth program, each program comprising constitutive elements having a finite number of program points and evolution rules associated with the program points and defining the passage from one program point to another program point, and each program comprising a definition of a set of properties each property being associated with one or more of the constitutive elements of the program. The fourth program constructed by defining at least one relation between at least one constitutive element of the second program and at least one constitutive element of the third program, said relation being named a correspondence relation, and at least one property of the third program being proven, propagate the proof of said property to at least one property of the first program by exploitation of the correspondence relation.
US09275229B2
A method to circumvent malicious software via a system configured to bypass a device driver stack and, consequently, also bypass the malicious software that may be adversely affecting the device driver stack by using an alternative stack such as a crash dump I/O stack. The crash dump I/O stack is poorly documented relative to the device driver stack and functions independently from the device driver stack.
US09275227B2
Policy-driven administration of mobile applications includes receiving a policy defined by a client system. The policy is defined by rules configured for implementation by a scanner and a compliance definition indicative of a threshold acceptability value for output of the implementation of the scanner on a mobile application. The policy-driven administration also includes executing the scanner for the mobile application and identifying an association between a mobile device and the client system. The policy-driven administration of mobile applications further includes controlling access to the mobile application by the mobile device based on results of executing the scanner using the compliance definition.
US09275225B2
Technologies for securing an electronic device include determining addresses of one or more memory pages, injecting for each memory page a portion of identifier data into the memory page, storing an indication of the identifier data injected into each of the memory pages, determining an attempt to access at least one of the memory pages, determining any of the identifier data present on a memory page associated with the attempt, comparing the indication of the identifier data with the determined identifier data present on the memory page, and, based on the comparison, determining whether to allow the access.
US09275223B2
Technologies for securing an electronic device include trapping an attempt to access a secured system resource of the electronic device, determining a module associated with the attempt, determining a subsection of the module associated with the attempt, the subsection including a memory location associated with the attempt, accessing a security rule to determine whether to allow the attempted access based on the determination of the module and the determination of the subsection, and handling the attempt based on the security rule. The module includes a plurality of distinct subsections.
US09275214B2
A codebook, comprising a number of groups of symbols in a predetermined pattern printed on a card or the like is issued to a user. The user is attributed or selects an extraction pattern representing an order of progression through the symbols in each group of symbols. When the user wishes to make an authentication action an authentication party challenges the user to submit the symbols found at selected positions in the extraction pattern. The user applies the extraction pattern to the codebook and retrieves the symbols found at the selected positions, and submits these to the authenticating party. The authenticating party applies the same extraction pattern to the same codebook, and determines whether the results match those submitted by the user, and in a case where the two sets of symbols match, authenticates the user.
US09275210B2
A method of identifying a user of a device having a security policy and including a touch sensitive input device. The method includes receiving data corresponding to use of the touch sensitive input device by the user and determining from the received data at least one feature. Based on the at least one feature and a signature associated with an identifiable user, the method determines a likelihood that the user is the identifiable user and modifies, based on the likelihood, the security policy on the device.
US09275208B2
A system and method for authenticating a user and creating and applying a user profile may include authenticating an administrator via an administrator identification. A user identification distinct from the administrator identification may be received, as well as a set of selected features associated with the user. A profile may be created and may include the user identification and the set of selected features. The profile may be applied in response to authenticating a user based on the user identification.
US09275200B2
An information processing apparatus includes a storage for storing a plurality types of software licenses in association with a number of possessed licenses, a product type of a software product, and a device specification condition, a receiver for receiving information of a software product operating in a management target device and information of a device specification of the management target device, a determining module for determining a software license to be assigned to the management target device based on the number of possessed licenses, a number of the product types, or the device specification condition, when there is a plurality of software licenses, in which the software product is included in the product type and the device specification meets the device specification condition, among the plurality types of software licenses, and an assigning module for assigning a software license determined by the determining module to the management target device.
US09275199B2
A computer-based method and system for detecting violation of intellectual property rights of a digital file, comprising, in a distribution channel, digitally sending or streaming the file from a sending party to a receiving party, adding a watermark to the digital file at the sending party prior to sending or streaming the file, wherein the watermark comprises an identifier of the sending and receiving party(s), as well as a unique file ID. In one embodiment, the party is informed about user and/or customer behavior, and can take precautions.
US09275196B2
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with implementing security functions in a read-only memory (ROM) are described. According to one embodiment, an device includes a read-only memory (ROM) that stores (i) a plurality of security functions and (ii) a mapping of locations of the plurality of security functions in the ROM. The device also includes a processing unit configured to, in response to a request by a process being executed by the processing unit, determine a location in the ROM of a security function using the mapping, and execute the security function for the process from the ROM.
US09275195B1
One customer of the license clearinghouse may act as an intermediary and perform selected tasks on behalf of another customer. In particular, an intermediary customer can make rights inquiries that access the portion of the central repository that belongs to its client in order to determine rights available to the client. In one embodiment, the portion of the central repository that is accessed in response to a rights inquiry is determined by an IP address of the device being used to make the rights inquiry. This IP address is used to retrieve a record having a customer ID and a field that indicates whether the IP address corresponds to a rights intermediary. If this is the case, a keyword corresponding to the customer ID of the customer that is provided in the rights request by the rights intermediary is used to access the central repository.
US09275190B2
A method and system for building a statistical four-chamber heart model from 3D volumes is disclosed. In order to generate the four-chamber heart model, each chamber is modeled using an open mesh, with holes at the valves. Based on the image data in one or more 3D volumes, meshes are generated and edited for the left ventricle (LV), left atrium (LA), right ventricle (RV), and right atrium (RA). Resampling to enforce point correspondence is performed during mesh editing. Important anatomic landmarks in the heart are explicitly represented in the four-chamber heart model of the present invention.
US09275178B1
A method for modeling variation includes identifying delay-impacting parameters associated with path elements in arrival paths and required paths. Arrival time traversal and required time traversal are performed for the arrival paths and required paths based on assumptions made for the delay-impacting parameters associated with the path elements.
US09275169B2
An apparatus for processing a sequence of tokens to detect predetermined data, wherein each said token has a token type, and the predetermined data has a structure that comprises a predetermined sequence of token types, including at least one optional token type. The apparatus comprises a processor arranged to: provide a tree for detecting the predetermined data, the tree comprising a plurality of states, each said state being linked with at least one other state by a respective condition, the arrangement of linked states forming a plurality of paths; and compare the token types of the sequence of tokens to respective conditions in the tree to match the sequence of tokens to one or more paths in the tree, wherein the predetermined data can be detected without using an epsilon reduction to take account of said at least one optional token type.
US09275164B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for presenting search results. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a query and determining whether it is desirable to group search results responsive to the query. If so, the method further includes grouping search results by, for example, domain and displaying an indicator (e.g., a favicon) in proximity to a URL associated with search results that are related to the domain. In another aspect, a method includes crawling web properties to determine if a domain has an associated indicator, and storing an identifier associated with the indicator in a database that associates the identifier with one or more words indicative of the domain. Upon receipt of a query that includes the one or more words, the method further includes retrieving the indicator and displaying the indicator in proximity to a link describing the domain.
US09275154B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on one or more computer storage devices, for context sensitive point of interest retrieval. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a current location of a user's electronic device and retrieving multiple points of interest within a predetermined distance to the current location. Each point of interest is ranked based on the point of interest's proximity to the current location and one or more time-related attributes associated with the point of interest. Data identifying one or more of the points of interest is provided to the electronic device for presentation to the user on a display of the electronic device based on the ranking.
US09275149B2
A method, a system and a computer program product for influencing ranking of URLs in a search engine. In an example embodiment, a computer determines that a posting of a URL has occurred in a social networking environment, the computer tracks accesses of the URL subsequent to the posting of the URL. The computer further determines whether a number of accesses of the URL has increased subsequent to the posting of the URL and, responsive to determining that the number of accesses of the URL has increased subsequent to the posting of the URL, the computer determines whether the number of accesses of the URL has increased by at least a predefined threshold. Further, responsive to determining that the number of accesses of the URL has increased by at least the predefined threshold, the computer increases the ranking of the URL in a search engine.
US09275145B2
An electronic document retrieval system is disclosed. It has particular utility to World-Wide Web searching. The system requires webmasters to put forward categories into which the pages on their web-site might sensibly be divided, and to provide a list of those categories together with a list of popular keywords associated with those categories to a global search engine. The global search engine is then able to augment one or more of its search results with links to category-heading pages which most closely relate to the query provided by the user. In this way, a user is able to find the page most relevant to his query more rapidly than has hitherto been possible.
US09275144B2
A system, a method, and a computer readable article of manufacture for metadata searching. The system includes: a receiving module for receiving a search query with respect to a plurality of metadata resources; a query module for parsing the search query and searching related metadata resources and the structural information among the related metadata resources according to the parsing of the search query; and an output module for outputting the search results so as to realize a fuzzy structural search with respect to the plurality of metadata resources. The method includes the steps of: receiving a search query that does not designate complete structural information of the metadata resources; parsing the search query and searching related metadata resources to form search results that include the complete structural information; and outputting the search results.
US09275135B2
An apparatus and an article of manufacture for annotating an entity in a document corpus using cross-document signals include determining which documents in a document corpus mention an entity of interest, clustering the documents that mention an entity of interest according to a temporal signal, a structural signal and/or a content signal, thereby forming at least one cluster of documents, and annotating at least one document in the at least one cluster of documents by marking each occurrence of the entity in the at least one document.
US09275129B2
A set of trigrams can be generated for each document in a plurality of documents processed by an e-discovery system. Each trigram in the set of trigrams for a given document is a sequence of three terms in the given document. A set of trigrams for each similar document is then determined based on the set of trigrams for the original document. To facilitate identification of the similar documents, a full text index is then generated for the plurality of documents and the set of trigrams for each document are indexed into the full text index, as individual terms. Queries can be generated into the full text index based on trigrams of a document to determine other similar or near-duplicate documents. After a set of potentially similar documents are identified, a separate distance criteria can be applied to evaluate the level of similarity between the two documents in an efficient way.
US09275126B2
System, methods and computer program products for creating and maintaining an address book are described. The address book may collect or update its existing contact information from sent or received communications. Contact information associated with the existing contacts also may be collected (or updated based on information received) from outside sources (e.g., external to an application hosting or accessing the address book). The address book may intelligently combine profile data from various sources to enrich the existing records associated with the contacts.
US09275123B2
For replicating a source storage system, a scan module generates a source storage server description for each source storage server of the source storage system from a scan of the source storage system. The source storage server description includes a replication type and a source volume record for each source logical volume of the source storage server. A provision module determines a number of replicated instances of each source logical volume for a target storage system from the replication type. In addition the provision module generates a target storage server description for each target storage server of the target storage system from each source storage server description in response to the target storage system satisfying a target storage requirement.
US09275120B2
A system and method for using an easy query in a business warehouse system environment that includes external end-user systems. A method includes providing a flag in a query to a business warehouse data system, the flag marking the query for access to the query by sources external to the business warehouse data system. The method further includes providing, by the at least one data processor the access points having a number of parameters that are fixed at a design time associated with the query, providing a query result to the access points of the sources external to the business warehouse system according to the number of parameters. The system and method provide an easy way of creating an access function at design time, as well as an easy way of result set consumption provided by the function at runtime.
US09275116B2
A computer-implemented method, an apparatus and a recording medium are provided for predicting a score associated with a first user and with a first item are provided. The method comprises: storing one or more first scores in a first database, each first score being associated with a user and with an item; calculating, based on the first scores, one or more latent user features associated with one or more users including the first user and one or more latent item features associated with one or more items including the first item; calculating, based on the latent user features and the latent item features, a second score associated with the first user and with the first item; and providing the second score as a predicted score associated with the first item and with the first user. The recording medium comprises instructions to configure the apparatus to perform the method.
US09275114B2
Provided is a process of profiling a user of a mobile computing device, the process including: obtaining a location history of a user, the location history being based on signals from a mobile computing device of the user; obtaining a location-attribute score of a location identified in, or inferred from, the location history; determining, with a computer, a user-attribute score based on the location-attribute score; and storing the user-attribute score in a user-profile datastore.
US09275113B1
Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer program products are described for ranking content items identified by a search engine and delivering corresponding search results. In one aspect, search engine user language preference data is stored in association with user content item selection records. Analysis of the records is performed to identify content items that appeal to users having common language preferences. Query results can be ranked based on the language preference of the current user and/or the user's query and data derived from the selection records.
